April 8, the Navy mined Norwegian territorial waters to close the inshore iron ore loophole from Narvik. The next day, for the only time in the war, the German fleet got there first and succeeded in
land but at the expense of at least putting an expeditionary force on twelve transports and supply ships to British submarines.
April 10, five British destroyers dashed into Narvik, took on six heavier and more modern Germans, sinking one, setting three on fire and destroying six supply ships in the harbour and a munitions ca outside. Two British ships were lost. Three days later they were back again, led by the battleship Warspite, and sank seven more German destroyers and some other ships.
There are other highlights—the submarine which put torpedoes into two cruisers off the Elbe, the destroyers which tied up to the quay at Calais and duelled with the German field artillery. But the great feat of the navy was the withdrawal from Dunkirk, executed with great brilliance against odds which always looked crushing.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.