The German light cruiser Königsberg arrived in Bergen on 8/4/40 as part of the German invasion of Norway as part of Task force 3 along with Köln (her sister), the training ship Bremse, two destroyers & five E-boats supported by a depot ship & auxiliaries Schiff 9 & 18

Having sighted them with a reconnaissance aircraft the RAF attempted to bomb the ships with Wellingtons of 9 & 115 sqdn dispatched. Only 6 from 115 found the ships

Sqdn leader Du Buloy led his men down to between 2500-6000ft & dropped 500lb SAP in a “determined attack”. Königsberg suffered minor damage. The RAF follow up raid on 10/4 was cancelled due to bad weather.

Admiral Raeder had argued with Hitler that as soon as the warships had landed troops & refuelled they should return to the safety of Germany despite the Fuhrer wanting them to stay & provide support.

Rear Admiral Schmundt (pictured) took the Bergen force back to Germany but had to leave Königsberg behind as the ship’s machinery was playing up & required repair, much to her Captain’s (Heinrich Ruhfus) displeasure

On the 10/4 the boilers were being brought to readiness and the vessel getting ready to get underway at 26 knots.

On 9/4 Commander C. L. Howe the CO of Sparrowhawk gave the Skua squadron commanders permission to 803 & 800 sqdn to plan the mission to attack the German cruiser with much to prepare & get right for the raid

The round trip to Bergen was 660 miles and the Skuas only had a range of 760 which with fuel needed for taxiing, forming up, taking off & landing it was a tight operation

Capt Richard Partridge; “I pointed out to Bill that Bergen was about 2 hours flying each way in still air for Skuas and that our official endurance was only 4 hours 20 minutes; to which he replied that we both knew that we could stretch this a bit...

...and if we didn’t hang around over the target too long we should make it”

A meticulous route was planned combining optimum approach to the target and the minimum amount of time in the air to conserve fuel.

They would attack in two waves the first with 9 and the second with 7 arriving at first light having taken off from Hatson at 4:45.

Briefing at 3:30, breakfast at 4:00 but bad weather pushed the launch time until 5:15 after which the Skuas formed up at Auskerry before steering for Marsten at 12,000 feet under radio silence.

Whilst diverting around a rain squall Lt. Taylour’s Skua became separated from the formation & undertook the flight & navigation alone.

At 7:00 the Skuas reached the coast & approached Bergen from the south east. They formed into line astern and began their attack run clearing thin cloud at 8000 ft

Petty officer Rolph (Lt. Rooper’s gunner) said his pilot said to him; “keep a good look out for the bomb”

The Germans defence was not ready for the raid. They had already been on red alert at 6:30 when a Hudson had passed on a recon flight and Königsberg’s gunners & Captain had not long returned below deck

Ruhfus rushed back to the bridge and saw the Skuas approaching believing they were no danger as the Luftwaffe liaison officer had advised that the British had no single engine aircraft in range of Bergen an assertion backed up by the Königsberg’s Arado pilot who was on the bridge

The pilot was certain he could see German crosses on the aircraft’s wings as did several observers on the shore...

At 7:18 they dived with the sun at their backs releasing their bombs at 2000 feet to give good penetration of the SAPs but Lt.s Rooper & Harris released at 3500 & Lt.s Spurway & Lucy at 1500 feet

Lt Church has to make a second pass and flew through a cloud of flak to drop his bomb at 200 feet before pulling out undamaged other than “one large hole in mainplane close to fuselage”

The first 8 Skuas saw no flak fire until they reached 4000 feet when accurate bursts weee fired at 15 second intervals but not heavy. Flak emplacements on land & other vessels joined the cruiser’s gunners.

Aboard Königsberg fire started and smoke enveloped the aft of the ship whilst Lt Frasier-Harris hit the Forecastle, Captain McIver struck between her funnels penetrating to her engine room & blowing a hole in the hull

Taylour arrived 10
Minutes late and attacked scoring a near miss on the Mole alongside but he sighted the cruiser on fire, leaking oil and listing to port. The flames leapt to 100ft high. 50 mins after the Skuas left Königsberg capsized.

After the raid Boiler room 4 was filling with water, boiler room 3 was heavily splintered & flooding, boiler room 2 was abandoned and the last had to be shut down. With no steam they could not use the remaining pumps to fight flood or fire

Engines were damaged, electrical power was gone and only handheld fire extinguishers were available which proved fairly useless against the inferno.
Only 18 men were dead with 24 wounded but the sickbay had to be abandoned & medics worked on deck then onto a shore post

The Arado 196 could not be launched to scatter the Skuas due to damage and the list but the crew managed to get some 20mm flak gun’s ashore and start firing at the British aircraft

The crew abandoned ship as flames ripped through the ship causing the torpedo magazine to erupt (thankfully not the main magazine) and she was no more than a gutted hulk when she finally capsized at 9:51

On leaving the port Rolph reported; “shortly after leaving the entrance to the fjord I saw a Skua dice vertically into the sea from about 1000 feet”
Lt. smeeton & Midshipman Watkinson we’re both killed

The Skuas reformed at Lyso Island and turned west entering heavy cloud and formation broke up into a struggle of aircraft but all made it home;

Rolph; Some aircraft were forced to make for Sumburgh in the Shetlands due to a shortage of fuel, others of us managed to make Hatson arriving with the proverbial spoonful of fuel in our ta is. After a debriefing session shortly after our arrival at Hatson,...

...we were told that the American Consul in Bergen had managed to get through to the Admiralty & reported that the Königsberg had sunk some 2 hours after our attack”