Forty-one ships departed Halifax, Nova Scotia on 30 January 1941, eastbound to Liverpool, England.

[1] The use of convoys was a standard tactic throughout the Battle of the Atlantic as a defence against U-boats and German commerce raiders.

The captain of Scharnhorst offered to draw off the escorting Royal Navy battleship HMS Ramillies, so that Gneisenau could sink the merchant ships.

However, Lutjens strictly followed Hitler's directive not to engage enemy capital ships, and withdrew.

[2] Later, two of the convoy's merchant ships were sunk by the submarine U-96, including Arthur F. Corwin loaded with 14,500 tons of aviation fuel.