In April 1941, Raeder planned to follow up the success of Operation Berlin with Operation Rheinübung, where "Gneisenau", , and would be sent out on an extended raid into the North Atlantic under the command of Admiral Günther Lütjens. On the night of 10/11 April 1941 "Gneisenau" was badly damaged by a British bombing attack that put her out of commission for months. At that point, Admiral Lütjens advised cancelling the operation as having one battleship with only one heavy cruiser in support operating alone in the Atlantic was too risky, but was overruled by Raeder, who insisted on going ahead. Raeder's principal reason for going ahead with "Rheinübung" was his knowledge of the upcoming Operation Barbarossa, where the "Kriegsmarine" could only play a very small part, and his desire to score a major success before Barbarossa that might impress upon Hitler the need not to cut the budget for capital ships. Lütjens wanted Rheinübung put off until "Scharnhorst" was finished refitting in July 1941, but since Barbarossa was due to start on 22 June 1941, Raeder insisted that the operation go ahead in May 1941. Though Rheinübung saw "Bismarck" sink the battlecruiser , it ended with the sinking of "Bismarck".