On 9 April 1940, Germany invaded Norway, and "Gurkha" was part of a naval force (consisting of the cruisers , , , and , together with the destroyers , "Gurkha", "Sikh", , , and ) detached from the Home Fleet to attack Bergen, where a German cruiser was reported. The attack was cancelled by the British Admiralty, however, and the British force was attacked by 47 German Ju 88 and 41 He 111 bombers of Kampfgeschwader 30 and Kampfgeschwader 26. In an attempt to obtain better firing conditions, "Gurkha" moved away from the mutual protection of the naval force. She then became an easy target for concentrated air attack and soon was stopped by a single bomb hit. The crew were rescued by the cruiser "Aurora" and the destroyer "Mashona", with "Gurkha" sinking with the loss of 16 of her crew.