April 11th, 1940 (THURSDAY)
NORWEGIAN CAMPAIGN:General Laake Commander in Chief of the Norwegian Army resigns and General Ruge is appointed.
Bombing - Shipping in the Kattegat.
10 Sqn. Six aircraft. One returned U/S, one bombed ship without result.
51 Sqn. Five aircraft. One bombed ship without result.
77 Sqn. Six aircraft. One returned U/S. No ships sighted. One FTR.
102 Sqn. Six aircraft. One bombed and destroyed an 8,000 ton ammunition ship.
RAF Bomber Command: 6 Wellingtons attack Stavanger airport, this is the first RAF bombing operation against a target in the interior.
Returning from the Oslo landings, pocket battleship Lutzow is torpedoed and badly damaged by submarine HMS Spearfish in the Skagerrak.
Cruiser HMS Penelope is damaged when she runs aground in Vestfjord on
her way into Narvik.
Fleet Air Arm aircraft attack Trondheim.
(Mark Horan adds): When the German invasion of Norway began, the Royal Navy
was quick to respond, sending the Home Fleet to sea to support its other
elements at sea and to, hopefully, crush the Kriegsmarine forces involved.
One of the ships dispatched to join the gathering forces was the sole Royal
Navy carrier in home waters, HMS Furious. Unfortunately for future
operations Furious, which had been in the Clyde, had only had on hand her
two Swordfish TSR Squadrons, 816 and 818. Her presence with the fleet being
considered a necessity, the ship did not close the Orkneys to embark her
Skua equipped fighter-dive bomber Squadron, 801, than at Evanton in
Scotland. Thus, when she joined the fleet off Trondheim on 10 April, she
embarked but 18 Swordfish.
RAF reconnaissance reports having placed KMS Admiral Hipper in Trondheim on 10 April, plans were drawn up for Furious's squadrons to make a dawn torpedo attack on Trondheim Harbour and sink the foe. This was to be the first aerial torpedo attack of the war to date. All 18 aircraft were to participate, 816 Squadron being led by Lt.Cdr. H. Gardner and 818 Squadron by Lt.Cdr. P. Sydney-Turner.
Takeoff commenced at 0400, with the entire force taking its departure at 0419, the squadrons proceeding independently to attack from different directions. Climbing to 8,000 feet en-route, the 816 Squadron sighted Trondheim Fjord at 0514, the roads being entirely obscured in cloud. Hoping to surprise the foe, the formation commenced a diving attack at 0519. Emerging from the clouds at 3,000 feet, the cruiser was nowhere to be seen, having "flown the coup" the prior evening. Flying towards Skjoren Fjord, the Squadron sighted a destroyer at anchor an opted for her, the attack commencing at 0522. All nine aircraft made good drops, but to their horror, about 500 yards from the target, all the torpedo tracks ended, four of the nine exploding. Not equipped with proper maps, the attackers had not realized the target was protected by shoals!
Meanwhile, 818 Squadron sighted a Maas-class destroyer in Trondheim fjord heading towards the harbour. Opting for her, eight of the nine attackers were able to release their "kippers". Two exploded prematurely, the other six being avoided. It was a very disheartened band that returned to the ship at 0630.
Later that morning, Furious dispatched a two Swordfish of 816 Squadron on an armed reconnaissance over Trondheim harbour. After completing the main task, they opted to dive bomb the German destroyer still anchored in Skjoren Fjord at 1220. Unfortunately, all the six bombs dropped fell wide of the mark. Both aircraft returned safely at 1345..
MEDITERRANEAN SEA: HMS ARK ROYAL and HMS GLORIOUS arrive independently at Malta, and then depart for Gibraltar escorted by the destroyers HMAS STUART, HMS BULLDOG, HMS WESTCOTT and HMS WISHARD.