during operation regenbogen, the attempt to intercept convoy jw 51b sailing from the uk to the soviet union in late december, "eckoldt", "beitzen", and escorted "admiral hipper" as she attempted to occupy the attention of the convoy's escort while "lutzow" and three other destroyers attacked the convoy. the three destroyers separated from "hipper" to search for the convoy and were successful on the morning of 31 december. the destroyer spotted them in turn and closed to investigate when the german ships opened fire at a range of . "obdurate" turned away to rejoin the convoy without sustaining any damage and the german ships did not pursue as they had been ordered to rejoin "hipper". the germans found the minesweeper , which had been detached earlier from the convoy to search for stragglers, as they maneuvered to close with the convoy and the destroyers were ordered to sink her while "hipper" engaged the convoy's escorting destroyers. this took some time in the poor visibility and "hipper" was surprised in the meantime by the british covering force of the light cruisers and . after sinking "bramble", the german destroyers "beitzen" and "eckoldt" attempted to rejoin "hipper", ignorant that british cruisers were in the area. they confused "sheffield" with "hipper" when they spotted each other at range and were taken by surprise when "sheffield" opened fire on the nearest, "eckoldt", with every gun she had. "eckholdt" broke in two and sank with all hands in less than two minutes; "beitzen" escaped unscathed.