orders to join the British Home Fleet as part of an American force composed of , , , , , and seven other destroyers. On 25 March, she departed Casco Bay, Maine, in company with Wasp, Washington, Wichita, Tuscaloosa and the destroyers of Destroyer Squadron 8 (DesRon 8), with Commander DesRon 8 (ComDesRon 8) embarked. (This US Navy involvement allowed the Royal Navy to release ships for the invasion of Madagascar.) The task unit reached Scapa Flow, in the Orkney Islands north of the British Isles, on 3 April. Until the fall of 1942, Wainwright participated in convoy operations between Iceland, Orkney, and northern Russia. During this period, she had frequent brushes with Luftwaffe planes and Kriegsmarine submarines. Her most famous and most successful encounter with the enemy came three months after she arrived in European waters while the destroyer was protecting the North Russia convoys. She was then part of the covering force for the ill-fated Convoy PQ 17, making the run from Iceland to Archangel. The force, built around , Tuscaloosa, Wichita, , Wainwright, , and seven British destroyers, departed Seydisfjord, Iceland, on 1 July. PQ 17 suffered Luftwaffe and submarine attacks on 2 and 3 July, but Wainwright did not get involved directly until 4 July. In mid-afternoon, the destroyer joined the convoy to refuel from Aldersdale. On her way to the rendezvous, the warship assisted the convoy in repulsing two torpedo-plane raids. During the first, her long-range fire kept the six enemy planes at a distance sufficient to make their torpedo drops wholly inaccurate. The second was a desultory, single-plane affair in which the warship easily drove off the lone torpedo bomber. During the ensuing dive-bombing attack, she evaded the enemy handily, the nearest bomb landing at least away. After that attack, a two-hour lull in the action allowed Wainwright to resume her original mission, refueling, but the enemy returned at about 1820. At the sight of 25 Heinkel 111s milling about on the southern horizon, the warship turned to port to clear the convoy. At that juncture, the Heinkels divided themselves into two groups for the attack; one on her starboard quarter and the other on her starboard bow. Wainwright took the group off her quarter under fire at extreme range, about 10,000 yards (9.1 km) distant, and maintained her fire until it endangered the convoy. At that juncture, she shifted her attention to the