Convoy QP 11

Convoy QP 11 was an Arctic Convoy of World War II, made up of merchant ships returning from the Soviet Union to Britain after delivering their cargo to the Soviet Union. The convoy consisted of 13 merchant ships, escorted by 18 warships. The convoy was attacked by German destroyers and submarines, suffering the loss of one merchant ship as well as the light cruiser HMS Edinburgh. The German forces lost the destroyer Z7 Hermann Schoemann.

QP 11 consisted of 13 merchant ships, mostly British or American, including five ships that had been a part of Convoy PQ 13. The convoy sailed from the Soviet port of Murmansk on 28 April 1942. The convoy was escorted by the light cruiser HMS Edinburgh, the destroyers HMS Amazon, Beagle, Beverley, Bulldog, Foresight, and Forester, the Corvettes Campanula, Oxlip, Saxifrage, and Snowflake, and the armed trawler Lord Middleton.Edinburgh was not only serving as an escort, but was also carrying $20 million in gold, a payment from the Soviet Union to the United States.

On 29 April, the convoy was spotted by a German Ju-88 reconnaissance plane as well as by German U-boats. Two days after leaving Murmansk, the convoy was attacked by several U-boats. On 30 May U-88 and U-436 both made unsuccessful attacks on the convoy. Later that day, however, U-456 fired torpedoes at Edinburgh and scored two hits. 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 still afloat. Edinburgh left the convoy and headed back towards Murmansk, escorted by Foresight and Forester. Several ships were sent from Murmansk to assist Edinburgh, among them the British minesweepers Gossamer, Harrier, Hussar, and Niger, the Soviet destroyers Gremyaschi and , the Soviet guard ship Rubin, and a tug.

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