the presence of the battle group at Trondheim, the Home Fleet was directed to provide a powerful distant covering force for the next Arctic convoys; this was the first time that this had been done. The British also stepped up their air patrols of the Trondheim area and Norwegian Sea to monitor German naval movements. Two Arctic convoys sailed simultaneously on 1 March 1942. PQ 12 left Iceland bound for the Soviet Union, and QP 8 departed Murmansk in northern Russia to return ships to the Atlantic. PQ 12 was made up of 17 merchant ships and was escorted by a heavy cruiser, 2 destroyers and several armed Norwegian whalers. QP 8 comprised 15 merchant vessels and had a weak escort of 2 corvettes and 2 minesweepers. Tovey had requested that the convoys sail simultaneously to make it easier for the Home Fleet to protect them while they passed through the waters between Jan Mayen and Bear Islands where they would be at greatest risk of attack by German surface ships. On 3 March a force under the Home Fleet's deputy commander Vice-Admiral Alban Curteis departed Iceland to protect the convoys. It comprised the battleship , battlecruiser and six destroyers. Tovey was on board King George V at the fleet's main base at Scapa Flow. He preferred to remain there with the battleship and Victorious to remain in contact by telephone with his sources of intelligence and intercept Tirpitz if she attempted to break out into the Atlantic. Retaining part of the fleet at Scapa Flow would also help to keep ships and their crews combat ready over what was anticipated to be a lengthy campaign, with Tovey believing that Gneisenau and Scharnhorst would join Tirpitz over the summer after they were repaired. The Admiralty disagreed with this strategy and ordered Tovey to put to sea on 3 March so that the full force of the Home Fleet could be brought to bear against Tirpitz if she sailed. In doing so it accepted responsibility for the consequences if the German battleship entered the Atlantic. Tovey sailed shortly afterwards with King George V, Victorious, Berwick and six destroyers. The two main elements of the Home Fleet met up to the east of Jan Mayen on 6 June. Tovey was under orders to give precedence to protecting the convoys over destroying Tirpitz. He was unhappy with this, and regarded the sinking of