Sinking of Edinburgh

30 April – 2 May 1942, Barents Sea, north of Murmansk

Both sides lost a ship; Edinburgh and Hermann Schoemann sunk

The cruiser Edinburgh left Murmansk with convoy QP 11 carrying more than four tons of Soviet gold, part-payment for Allied supplies. On 30 April U-456 hit her with two torpedoes that blew off her stern and steering, and she turned back for Murmansk at a crawl, steered by a minesweeper towing her stern. On 1 May the destroyers Hermann Schoemann, Z24 and Z25 attacked the convoy; its four escorting destroyers beat them off five times, though Amazon was badly hit. The Germans went after Edinburgh instead. They found her the next morning with two destroyers and four minesweepers. Steaming in circles, Edinburgh opened fire and wrecked Hermann Schoemann's engine rooms with her second salvo. Foresight and Forester were both badly hit, and a German torpedo struck Edinburgh on the side away from the first hits, almost cutting her in two. Her crew were taken off by the minesweepers, and Foresight sank her with her last torpedo. Hermann Schoemann was scuttled; Z24 and Z25 took off most of her crew. In 1981 divers brought up almost all the gold.