It was the thirteenth of the numbered series of convoys of merchant ships westbound from the Arctic ports of Arkhangelsk and Murmansk to the United Kingdom, Iceland, and North America.Convoy QP 13 was escorted by five destroyers, Achates, Garland, Inglefield, Intrepid and Volunteer; two ASW minesweepers, Hussar and Niger; and four corvettes Honeysuckle, Hyderabad, Roselys and Starwort: These were supplemented by the anti-aircraft ship Alynbank.The covering force was commanded by Admiral John Tovey aboard the flagship Duke of York.In poor visibility Niger mistook an iceberg for Iceland’s North Western Cape and six merchant ships followed her into Northern Barrage minefield SN72 laid one month earlier at the entrance to the Denmark Strait.No crewmen were lost from Exterminator, Hybert and Rodina;[4] but one crewman died abandoning Hefron, five drowned when John Randolph broke in two, and Massmar sank with 17 merchant seamen, 5 Naval Armed Guards, and 26 survivors she was carrying from the sinking of Alamar in convoy PQ 16.