Despite these efforts, it was clear by the end of May that French forces were on the verge of collapse and Norway was a sideshow compared to the German advance to the English Channel. Operation Alphabet was instigated to move Allied troops from Narvik to Britain. "Ark Royal" and "Glorious"—screened by the destroyers , , , , and —sailed from Scapa Flow on 1 June to cover the evacuation, which commenced the next day. "Ark Royal" carried out air patrols and bombing raids from 3–6 June, before redeploying to Narvik on 7 June. Disaster struck the next day, when "Glorious", escorted by "Acasta" and "Ardent", was detached to return to Britain. The three ships were attacked and sunk by the German battlecruisers and . A search by "Ark Royal"s aircraft failed to locate the German ships, which had returned to Trondheim.