The convoy sailed in late April 1942, reaching the Soviet northern ports after air attacks that sank three ships out of twenty-five.

The convoy consisted of 25 merchant ships and was accompanied by one auxiliary, the oiler RFA Gray Ranger, which travelled with a destroyer escort.

German aircraft sighted the convoy on 28 April while it was 250 nmi (290 mi; 460 km)south-west of Bear Island.

No attack developed for two days as the German forces were busy with the reciprocal Convoy QP 11, which left Murmansk in the Soviet Union on 28 April.

The Distant Cover Force suffered two losses when King George V and the destroyer HMS Punjabi collided in fog.