Air Operations, Europe

15 Hampdens drop parachute mines off the Danish coast. This is the first British aerial mining.

Battle of the Atlantic

The British submarine Narwhal lays 50 mines north of Laeso Island near Cape Skagen. 3 German minesweeper will be lost in this minefield.

Norway

2nd Battle of Narvik. The British force includes 9 destroyers along with the battleship Warspite under the command of Adm William Whitworth. The Germans has 8 destroyers under the command of Capt Erich Bey. The German destroyer Kunne was escorting the damaged destroyer Koellner towards Lindstrand when they are spotted by the British force. The Kunne retires up the fiord and the Koellner heads for Bjervik Bay. The Kunne is spotted by Warspite's amphibious plane and is sunk by torpedoes and gunfire from the destroyers Bedouin and Eskimo as well as 15-inch salvos from Warspite.

The Walrus amphibious aircraft of the Warspite then spots U-64 and sinks the U-boat with a 350-lb bomb.

Further up Ofot Fiord Whitworth's force spots the German destroyers Kunne, Ludemann, Zenker and Armin. Eskimo pursues Kunne into Herjangs Fiord where she is beached and is sunk by a torpedo. Zenker and Armin retire up Rombaks Fiord.

Whitworth's force now enters Narvik's harbor where Giese is quickly reduced to a hulk. Roeder comes under fire from Warspite and the Cossack before blowing up.

The British destroyers Eskimo, Bedouin, Forester, Hero and Icarus now go after the destroyers that fled up Rombaks Fiord. Thiele blows off the bow of Eskimo before the Thiele runs aground and capsizes. The Ludemann is pursued to the head of the fiord where Arnim and Zenker have been scuttled by their crews. The Ludemann is boarded by the British before being destroyed by a torpedo.

All 8 German destroyers that were in the area are lost. The German commander, Capt Bey, has missed several opportunities to get at least some of his ships away during the previous few days. Now, as later in his career when in command of the Scharnhorst, he is not decisive enough. Hitler is very worried by the situation in Norway and is only just prevented by his staff from issuing a series of very rash orders, particularly to the troops in Narvik.