After returning to Hvalfjörður, "Wichita" steamed to Seidisfjord at the end of June, where she joined "Tuscaloosa" and three destroyers. They were assigned to the escort for the convoy PQ 17. The convoy escort also included "Washington", "Victorious", and the battleship . The Germans organized a powerful task force, centered on the battleship and three heavy cruisers, to attack the convoy; the operation was codenamed "Rösselsprung" (Knight's Move). Swedish intelligence had meanwhile reported the German departures to the British Admiralty, which ordered the convoy to disperse. Aware that they had been detected, the Germans aborted the operation and turned over the attack to U-boats and the Luftwaffe. The scattered vessels could no longer be protected by the convoy escorts, and the Germans sank 21 of the 34 isolated transports. The next day, while south of Spitzbergen, the ships were spotted and shadowed by a pair of Fw 200s. Both "Wichita" and "Tuscaloosa" opened fire with their antiaircraft guns, but the Fw 200s escaped without damage.