Convoy QP 2

Convoy QP 2 (3–17 November 1941) was the second return Arctic Convoy of the Second World War by which the Allies brought back the ships that had carried supplies to the Soviet Union after Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of 22 June 1941.

The convoy sailed from Arkhangelsk and arrived safely at Kirkwall in the Orkney Islands. German awareness of the reciprocal westbound convoys (Convoy QP 1 to Convoy QP 4) was too vague to plan attacks by the limited number of ships the Kriegsmarine had in the Arctic or the number of aeroplanes that Luftflotte 5 had available.

On 13 November 1941, the commander-in-chief of the Kriegsmarine, Großadmiral (Grand Admiral) Erich Raeder, told Hitler that, owing to the extreme weather and the lack of air reconnaissance, British attacks were expected imminently against German coastal traffic.

The commander of the Home Fleet, Admiral John Tovey, equally worried about a sortie by the German battleship Tirpitz and the heavy cruiser Admiral Scheer, had tried to delay the sailing of Convoy QP 2.