deep into the Mediterranean, Meisel understood that the convoys between the UK, Gibraltar and West Africa were left uncovered with heavy units and he decided to operate on these shipping lanes. On 11 February, the ship encountered and sank an isolated transport from convoy HG 53, which had been dispersed by U-boat and Luftwaffe attacks. That evening, she picked up the unescorted convoy SLS 64, which contained nineteen merchant ships. The following morning, Admiral Hipper closed in and sank several of the ships. The British reported only seven ships were lost, totaling , along with damage to two more. The Germans claimed Admiral Hipper had sunk thirteen of the nineteen freighters, while some survivors reported fourteen ships of the convoy were sunk. Admiral Hipper fired all of her 12 torpedoes and claimed all torpedoes had hit. Following the attack on convoy SLS 64, Admiral Hippers fuel stocks were running low. She therefore returned to Brest on 15 February. Since the bigger dry docks had to be kept free for the eventual return of Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, Admiral Hipper was docked in a smaller one, but when moving into that dock she damaged her starboard screw on uncharted wreckage. A spare screw had to be transferred from Kiel and this caused additional delay. British bombers were regularly attacking the port, however, and the Kriegsmarine therefore decided Admiral Hipper should return to Germany, where she could be better protected. On 15 March, the ship slipped out of Brest, unobserved, and steered to a rendezvous point South of Greenland with the tanker Thorn. The refueling was delayed to 21 March because of bad weather. Since the heavy cruiser Admiral Scheer was also returning from a raid to Germany around the same time, there was a concern the two ships might hinder each other so Admiral Hipper got orders to make the breakthrough via the Denmark Strait before 28 March. She managed to do so on the 24 March. and two days later stopped to refuel in Bergen. By 28 March, the cruiser was docked in Kiel, having made the entire journey without being detected by the British. Upon arrival, the ship went into the Deutsche Werke shipyard for an extensive overhaul, which lasted for seven months. After completion of the refit, Admiral Hipper conducted sea trials in the Baltic before putting into Gotenhafen on 21 December for some minor refitting. In January 1942,