Sinking of Königsberg

9–10 April 1940, Bergen, Norway

British success; Königsberg sunk by dive bombers

Königsberg and Köln landed troops at Bergen on the morning of the invasion. The guns of the Kvarven fortress hit Königsberg three times as she came in, and she was left alongside the quay to be repaired while Köln sailed for home. At dawn on 10 April sixteen Blackburn Skuas of 800 and 803 Naval Air Squadrons, flying from Hatston in Orkney at the limit of their range, dived on her. Three bombs hit; she caught fire, rolled over and sank. She was the first major warship ever sunk by air attack in war.