His next appointment, in 1941, was as captain of the cruiser HMS "Kent" on the Russian convoys. HMS "Kent" was selected to carry a diplomatic party which included: H.E. Ivan M Maisky, the Soviet Ambassador; Rt Hon Anthony Eden, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs; Sir Alexander Cadogan, Permanent Under-Secretary at the Foreign Office; and Lieutenant General Sir Archibald Nye, VCIGS, to Murmansk from where they would travel by train to Moscow for talks with Stalin. As the diplomatic party were without any ciphering staff, it fell to Cunninghame Graham to inform the Foreign Secretary that the UK had declared war on Japan. In the Autumn of 1942, he became Flag-Captain to Rear-Admiral Louis ‘'Turtle'’ Hamilton who had chosen to hoist his flag in HMS "Kent".