After her guns were installed, "West Nohno" had made her way to Sydney, Nova Scotia, by 27 December when she sailed as a part of transatlantic Convoy SC 86. With her destination set for Murmansk, "West Nohno" peeled off from the convoy and headed to Reykjavík, Iceland. While at anchor in Iceland, "West Nohno" experienced a winter storm from 15 to 19 January 1942. On 15 January, the storm, packing winds of and gusts of up to , drove "West Nohno" into , damaging the heavy cruiser. Apparently suffering no major damage herself in the collision, "West Nohno" joined Arctic convoy PQ 9, which sailed on 1 February and arrived at Murmansk nine days later. Though the convoy had arrived at its destination, the danger of German attack was still present. The nearest German airfield was away—about 7 to 10 minutes flying time—which gave almost no advance warning of air raids. German dive bombers would silently glide in below Soviet anti-aircraft fire, drop their payloads, and fly away. Despite the fact that Murmansk had limited port facilities and typically slow unloading of cargo, sometimes requiring ships to remain in port for weeks or months, "West Nohno" was ready to sail in Convoy QP 8 on 1 March, returning to Reykjavik on 11 March. She sailed for Halifax eleven days later and arrived on 7 April.