Convoy QP 11

Convoy QP 11 consisted of 13 merchant ships, mostly British or American, including five ships that had been a part of Convoy PQ 13. The ships sailed from the Soviet port of Murmansk on 28 April 1942. The convoy was escorted by the light cruiser , the destroyers , , Beverley, , and , the s , , and , with the armed trawler . Edinburgh carried $20 million in gold, a payment from the Soviet Union to the United States. ==Voyage==

On 29 April, the convoy was spotted by a German Junkers Ju 88 reconnaissance aircraft and U-boats. On 30 April, two days out from Murmansk, and made attacks on the convoy to no effect. Later that day, hit Edinburgh twice. One torpedo hit the cruiser's forward boiler room while the other hit the cruiser's stern, destroying its rudder and two of its four propellers. Edinburgh was badly damaged but remained afloat; it left the convoy and turned towards Murmansk, escorted by Foresight and Forester. Several ships were sent from Murmansk to assist Edinburgh, among them the British s , , and , the Soviet destroyers and , the Soviet guard ship Rubin and a tug. 1 May The German command sent the three destroyers of , , and ( Alfred Schulze-Hinrichs), to attack Convoy QP 11 and then sink HMS Edinburgh. The German ships reached the convoy in the afternoon on 1 May. The weather was cold; intermittent snow and rain limited visibility. Hermann Schoemann opened fire at 14:05. The four British destroyers formed up between the German destroyers and the convoy and engaged them at a range of about . Amazon was hit twice and severely damaged. At 14:30 a German torpedo salvo hit and sank the Soviet freighter Tsiolkovski. At 17:50 the German destroyers turned to pursue Edinburgh. 2 May The flotilla found Edinburgh east of the convoy at 06:17 on 2 May, moving at . Edinburgh was escorted by Foresight, Forester, the four British minesweepers and Rubin, Gremyaschi and Sokrushitelny had returned to Murmansk due to a lack of fuel. The three German destroyers engaged the British ships. Due to the damage caused by U-456, Edinburgh was unable to manoeuvre and could only steam in circles. A snow shower separated Herman Schoemann from the other German destroyers and it attacked the British ships alone. Edinburghs targeting systems had been destroyed by the torpedo explosions but its gunners managed to hit and cripple Hermann Schoemann. At 18:45, Z24 and Z25 arrived. Z25 hit and disabled Forester and then badly damaged Foresight. At 18:52 a salvo of torpedoes from one of the German destroyers missed Foresight and Forester but one torpedo kept going and struck Edinburgh in the middle of its left side, opposite the hole made by U-456s torpedo. The German ships soon withdrew, possibly because they overestimated the strength of the British minesweepers. At 08:15, Z24 rescued most of the crew of Hermann Schoemann who were still on the deck and then scuttled it. More survivors from Hermann Schoemann who were in life rafts were later rescued by U-88. Harrier and Gossamer took survivors off Edinburgh, which was then scuttled by a torpedo from Foresight. ==Aftermath==

The rest of the voyage of Convoy QP 11 saw unsuccessful attacks on the convoy by the submarines and . The twelve remaining merchant ships of the convoy arrived in Iceland on 7 May. ==Allied order of battle==

Convoyed ships Escorts ==German order of battle==