page_title: Norwegian campaign
section_title: Fleet movements
hierarchical_section_title: Norwegian campaign / German invasion / Fleet movements
caption_attribution_description: English: Image taken from HyperWar. Color added by uploader for clarity.
context_page_description: The Norwegian campaign was an attempted Allied occupation of northern Norway, during the early stages of World War II.
  Some early stages of the Allied operation preceded the German invasion and occupation of the Norwegian mainland on April 9, 1940. Planned as Operation Wilfred and Plan R 4, while the German attack was feared but had not happened, HMS Renown set out from Scapa Flow for the Vestfjorden with twelve destroyers on April 4. British and German naval forces met at the first Battle of Narvik on 9 and 10 April, and the first British forces landed at Åndalsnes on 13 April. Thus, the Allied movements could be presented as an attempt to prevent the Germans from capturing northern Norway. The main strategic reason for Germany to invade Norway was to seize the Norwegian port of Narvik and guarantee the raw materials needed for the critical production of steel
  The Allied campaign continued until June 10, 1940 and did not succeed, but it resulted in the successful escape of King Haakon VII and his heir apparent Crown Prince Olav to Great Britain.
  A British and French expeditionary force of some 38,000 servicemen continued to land in northern Norway.
context_section_description: The German invasion first started on 3 April 1940, when covert supply vessels began to head out in advance of the main force. The Allies initiated their plans on the following day, with sixteen Allied submarines ordered to the Skagerrak and Kattegat to serve as a screen and give advance warning for a German response to Operation Wilfred, which was launched the following day when Admiral William Whitworth in HMS Renown set out from Scapa Flow for the Vestfjorden with twelve destroyers.
  On 7 April, bad weather began to develop in the region, blanketing the area with thick fog and causing rough seas, making travel difficult. Renown's force was soon caught in a heavy snowstorm, and HMS Glowworm, one of the destroyer escorts, had to drop out of formation to search for a man swept overboard. The weather aided the Germans, providing a screen for their forces, and in the early morning they sent out Gruppe 1 and Gruppe 2, who had the largest distance to travel.
  Although the weather did make reconnaissance difficult, the two German groups were discovered 170 km (110 mi) south of the Naze (the southernmost part of Norway) slightly after 08:00 by Royal Air Force (RAF) patrols and reported as one cruiser and six destroyers. A trailing squad of bombers sent out to attack the German ships found them 125 km (78 mi) farther north than they had been before. No damage was done during the attack, but the German group's strength was reassessed as being one battlecruiser, two cruisers and ten destroyers. Because of a strict enforcement of radio silence, the bombers were not able to report this until 17:30.
  On learning of the German movement, the Admiralty came to the conclusion that the Germans were attempting to break the blockade that the Allies had placed on Germany and use their fleet to disrupt Atlantic trade routes. Admiral Sir Charles Forbes, Commander-in-Chief of the British Home Fleet, was notified of this and set out to intercept them at 20:15.
  With both sides unaware of the magnitude of the situation, they proceeded as planned. Renown arrived at the Vestfjord late that night and maintained position near the entrance while the minelaying destroyers proceeded to their task. Meanwhile, the Germans launched the remainder of their invasion force. The first direct contact between the two sides occurred the next morning without either side's intention.
  Glowworm, on her way to rejoin Renown, happened to come up behind Z11 Bernd von Arnim and then Z18 Hans Lüdemann in the heavy fog around 08:00 on 8 April. Immediately a skirmish broke out and the German destroyers fled, signalling for help. The request was soon answered by Admiral Hipper, which quickly crippled Glowworm. During the action, Glowworm rammed Admiral Hipper. Significant damage was done to Admiral Hipper's starboard side, and Glowworm was destroyed by a close range salvo immediately afterwards. During the fight Glowworm had broken radio silence and informed the Admiralty of her situation. She was not able to complete her transmission though, and all the Admiralty knew was that Glowworm had been confronted by a large German ship, shots were fired, and contact with the destroyer could not be re-established. In response, the Admiralty ordered Renown and her single destroyer escort (the other two had gone to friendly ports for fuel), to abandon her post at the Vestfjord and head to Glowworm's last known location. At 10:45, the remaining eight destroyers of the minelaying force were ordered to join them as well.
  On the morning of 8 April, the Polish submarine ORP Orzeł confronted and sank the clandestine German troop transport ship Rio de Janeiro off the southern Norwegian port of Lillesand. Discovered amongst the wreckage were uniformed German soldiers and various military supplies. Though Orzeł reported the incident to the Admiralty, they were too concerned by the situation with Glowworm and the presumed German breakout to give it much thought and did not pass the information on. Many of the German soldiers from the wreck were rescued by Norwegian fishing boats and the destroyer Od
caption: German and British naval movements from 7–9 April
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