The sinking of the aircraft carrier, HMS Glorious, on 8th June 1940 by the battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau left a bitter taste in the mouths of many in the Royal Navy but there was little that could be done with both German ships withdrawing to Trondheim. Admiral Wilhelm Marschall was worried about the torpedo damage on Scharnhorst and emergency repairs needed to be made but this opened up a possibility for revenge.
In the wake of the success Marschall broke up his squadron to attempt further attacks on British convoys escaping Narvik but left Scharnhorst behind as the flooding had slowed her speed tremendously.
The British, on gaining photo reconnaissance pictures of her forlornly sat in harbour, decided that action had to be taken to sink her. Attacking the fjord was out of the question with capital ships but a flight of dive bombers could sink her.
Completely undetected by German aircraft or shipping, the Ark Royal moved to her planned launched site of 64 degrees 23’ North by 03 degrees 19’ West and prepared fifteen Skua dive-bombers for take off.
The Blackburn Skua was a Fleet Air Arm, single engine fighter dive-bomber which had first flown on 9th February 1937. Fitted with a Bristol Perseus XII which produced 890 Hp and a top speed of 225 mph, the Skua was slower than contemporary German fighters and could even be outrun by the newer German bombers like the Ju 88 or He 111 K but was what the Fleet Air Arm could get as a fighter (beyond the Sea Gladiator) during the late 30s and its armament of four .303 Brownings and a Vickers K gun in the rear of the cockpit with the Air Gunner/navigator. However as a dive-bomber, the Skua, was quite a bit different with “Winkle” Brown describing the Skua’s characteristics post war:
It was while diving that the Skua really came int its own… subsequently I was to fly quite a number of US and German dive bombers and the Skua matched up well with the best of these as regards to its diving characteristics, ut it had only a two-position propeller and this tended to overspeed in the dive before terminal velocity was reached. However, a nicely screaming propeller was always to be considered a psychologically aggressive asset in any dive bomber.
The Skua also had a comparatively slow rate of climb so post dive they were vulnerable at low levels and would have to rely on their manoeuvrability to avoid anti-aircraft fire and enemy fighters. There was also one other major drawback with the Skua which George Baldwin, a pilot with 801 Squadron would describe post war.
It (the Skua) was slow though it was very manoeuvrable of course but that would be about its only defensive manoeuvre. It had two unprotected fuel tanks in the back cockpit where the unfortunate air gunner sat so one tracer in the aircraft would have destroyed it without a doubt. (IWM sound archive Cat No 12038)
However, the Royal Navy could point to the success of the Skuas in sinking the cruiser Konigsberg back in April so they planned a similar raid for Trondheim.
But Trondheim was not Bergen.
The Germans had had time to put in defences, including Luftwaffe patrols, and the Scharnhorst was a much more heavily armoured and armed warship than Konigsberg and would be providing a lot more fire.
The RAF were asked to assist the raid by providing fighter escort for the Skuas and a force of Blenheim Mk I fighters was organised to meet the strike force after their take off. The twin engine Blenheim fighter was the only fighter aircraft with the range to get to Norway but this was similarly slow and less manoeuvrable than contemporary German fighters however they would be employed in “beating up” the nearby aerodromes and keeping the German fighter crews from getting to their stations.
Fifteen Skuas were organised on the deck of Ark Royal with six from 800 squadron and nine from 803 Squadron and made up with the pilots with dive-bombing experience reserving the fighter experienced pilots to stay to provide protection for the fleet. The pilots were somewhat apprehensive about the planned raid but none voiced their concerns officially. Lt. Donald Gibson would later remark that:
The trouble with dive bombing is that in order to get a hit with dive bombing, which is a very effective method of bombing, you’ve got to point your aeroplane straight at the target and that gives the gunners a low deflection shot. So you are really reenacting something like the Charge of the Light brigade.
Ronald Jordan, an armourer for the Skuas, was running amongst the aircraft as their engines ran and consulting with the crews for any last minute stores or equipment they might want. On this occasion he was bringing Aluminium sea markers for Lieutenant Robin S. Bostock the airgunner of Captain R. T. Partridge’s 6A. As Ron clambered onto the wing to hand Bostock the supplies Partridge turned up the throttle to “full” as part of his test which caused such force that Jordan was knocked off his feet and almost blown overboard.
At 00:02, with a force 3 south easterly wind blowing over the vessel and the sun shining in a Scandinavian summer night, Ronald Skinner stood watching from the bridge as the fifteen aircraft took off armed with 500lb SAP (Semi Armour Piercing) bombs with the two squadron commanders Lieutenant Commander Casson and Partridge’s Skuas taking off last, Skinner recorded all fifteen.
After waiting for a while for the RAF the Skuas eventually departed without them as they looked at their fuel gauges unknowing (and unable to communicate with the fighters) that they were running twenty minutes late. When the RAF did arrive they could make out aircraft in the distance but did not know they were the Skuas. They decided to head to the target area independently.
The Skua force arrived over the Norwegian coast 1:23 a.m. at 11,000 feet. Froya Island lay below and nearby the Haltern lighthouse. It was painfully obvious that there was an attack about to happen and the harbour was still forty minutes away and if anyone was watching, including the lighthouse keeper, and telephone the Germans in advance. It has been considered that this is what had happened by some of the aircrews and the post operation review.
They continued up the Fjord towards the harbour before moving to their attack positions.
The weather was clear and bright over the Scharnhorst as she lay in harbour but the battleship was not alone as the Hipper and light cruiser Nurnberg as well as destroyers Karl Galster, Hans Lody, Erich Steinbrinck & Hermann Schoemann but none of these vessels were napping and the gunners immediately began opening up. To make it worse the Luftwaffe were also already in the air with a swarm of Bf 109s from II./Jg 77 and at least four Bf 110 Ds from 3./ Zg 76 led by their Staffelkapitan, Oberleutnant Gordon Gollob. The RAF had already launched a raid earlier against the Scharnhorst using Bristol Beauforts and the Germans were still on standby and waiting for them.
803 Squadron formed a line astern for their attack whilst 800 broke away to 11,500 feet
803 carried out a shallow dive to 8000 feet and made their approach while still north of the target, which was the Scharnhorst and Admiral Hipper. They were met by heavy anti-aircraft fire immediately. By the time I was in an attack position to run from north to south along the deck of the battle-cruiser, the anti-aircraft fire was exceeding fierce. (Lt. D. C Gibson 803 squadron)
The fire from the battle-cruiser and cruiser was very heavy and they appeared to be using many Bofors and Oerlikon, firing tracer up to 8000 feet and above. Each ship was using a separate colour of tracer an seemed to be firing by the hosepipe method. Lt K. V. Spurway 800 Squadron
It was quite difficult to concentrate with all that gunnery going on and fighters coming on behind and we didn’t get any hits. Lt D. C. Gibson 803 Squadron
To make matters worse both squadrons were approaching from opposite ends of the battleship and so also had to avoid each other in the dive.
Gollob claimed the first Skua and then the rest of the fighters engaged the slower dive-bombers though some of the descriptions are listed as “half-hearted”
Pat Gordon Smith, my observer, in his matter of fact voice, told me that four Messerschmidt (sic) 109s were astern of our section and I could see four Messerschmidt 110s on my starboard beam. I could also see Skuas going down in flames; being in a perfect position I therefore led my lot down Lt D. C. Gibson 803 Squadron
Spurway made his attack behind Partridge’s at an angle of 60 degrees and both released their 500lb bombs at somewhere between 3-2000 feet and his observer, Petty Officer R. F. Hart, thought he saw two flashes on the Scharnhorst on the Port side abaft the funnel
6k pulled up to 5000 feet until clear of the gun area and then dived low over the land to the Northward as an Me110 was observed on the starboard beam. An Me109 was observed some distance away. The fighters apparently failed to observe 6K against the dark ground. 6K subsequently returned in company with 6Q, which joined up on leaving the coast… A large ball of flame was seen in the sky over the ships by Petty Officer Hart. It is possible that this was an aircraft shot down in flames Lt. K. V Spurway 800 Squadron.
Spurway lost sight of his CO during the dive and believed he never pulled out of it but Partridge had escaped and was attempting to evade the German fighter patrols by flying low. After almost colliding with a He 115 he was set upon by two Bf 109s who came hammering after him firing their MG FF cannon. One of these shells ripped a chunk out of one of the wings and set a fuel tank on fire and Partridge decided to bail out. Partridge didn’t know if Bostock was alive or not, during the cannon strikes he had heard him cry out and he didn’t attempt to bail out. Partridge was rescued by fishermen but due to the nature of his injuries he was turned over to the Wehrmacht for treatment.
The Skuas made that survived the dive made for the low hanging morning mist and tried to break for the coast as quickly as they could, anyone who tried to gain height was dispatched. Only one Skua made a second pass, Sub Lieutenant G. W. Brokensha circled the area twice to see if he could assist anyone before pulling out.
The low flying Skuas were spotted by a schoolboy, Johs Halsen who would later recall that;
There were four planes - two British, two German; the Germans behind the British - flying very low down the fjord. Two came over the trees by my window, very fast, the German shooting
The aircraft in question was Lt Commander John Casson’s which the Squadron CO was flying to extremes. He was a bit of a stunt flyer by nature but he had had an idea on how to get the Jg 77 pilots of his tail and that was to use his speed, or lack there of, to try and evade them and that he could move at lower altitude with more skill with more reaction time. He also tried to play chicken with a cliff in the hope that the Luftwaffe fighter would not be able to pull out in time.
It was a gamble…
It didn’t pay off and his observer and Squadron navigator, Lieutenant Fanshawe was wounded in the shoulder and the petrol tank blown open forcing him to ditch in the fjord. Both men escaped the aircraft before it sank and were rescued whilst sipping brandy from a hip flask by Norwegian fishermen.
Gibson, had been followed by four Bf 109s during his dive but had managed to shake them off. After dropping his bomb he made his attempt at a daring escape;
I put up my flaps and went into Trondheim itself right flat on the deck. There was a bit of mist about and I escaped like that. I was very low and when leaving Trondheim by means of a road there was a bank on the side of the road and I distinctly remember looking up at a horse that was on the bank. So I must have been extremely low! On the way back to the ship we met four twin engine aeroplanes and I thought “My god, here are four more Messerschmitt 110s but they turned out to be our Blenheim fighter escort.
The fleet moved into the mist for protection and awaited their Skuas and for news of successes and inevitable losses.
By 03:45 Lieutenant Gibson had landed.
He was the last of seven aircraft to return out of the original fifteen.
It was the worse thing to happen to the air flying people, they lost odd ones who crashed or ran out of fuel but… all we knew was that we had seen the fifteen fly off and when they started coming back there were only seven to count. We knew that they had had a rough time of it all together - Geoffrey Denny, Sailor on Ark Royal.
On the bridge Ronald Skinner made the official count of the aircraft coming back in with melancholy slowly overtaking him as he realised the amount of devastation to the Skuas.
That was one of my worst days… Although I was lower deck I got to know all of the officers because it was my job to keep all their names and all the accounts about them… so i knew most of them although certainly by name.
What was the effect of the raid?
Scharnhorst was struck by a solitary bomb which pierced the upper deck but then failed to explode. Hipper, which was also attacked, suffered no hits either.
Of the aircraft that failed to come back nine were taken prisoner, six of the sixteen aircrew were killed and Naval Airman Stuart R. Stevenson of 803 squadron, died in hospital on 31st May 1941 from his wounds, he was 20 years old and he is buried at Trondheim.
The official reason for the failure of the attack was put down to the loss of surprise as the Skuas had to travel across land for about fifty miles which gave the Germans plenty of warning that they were coming as did earlier actions by the RAF though the crews were hailed as having bravely pressed on and attacked despite the Messerschmitts and heavy anti-aircraft fire. Gibson would later opine that it was because the mission was rushed and planned by people who were not particularly good at their jobs.
The Germans were saved by later raids by cloudy weather and as soon as they were able, evacuated Scharnhorst south to Germany for repairs.
On the day of the raid, Gordon Gollob was awarded the Iron Cross First Class, he would later serve as Galland’s replacement as General of Fighters.
Good to see the Skua getting the credit the type deserves