Naval History Forums

is recreated in the Norwegian film, "The King's Choice".

It's interesting to watch.

The lead ship, identified as KMS Blücher, a German heavy cruiser, continued, she came into the sights of the 61-year-old Kommandørkaptein Anderssen’s torpedoes. Those torpedoes were around 40 years old and had been made in Austria-Hungary.

They had only ever been test fired. In a three torpedo salvo, Anderssen tore a massive hole in the side of the Blücher, knocking out her engines, and flooding her. As the ship sunk, men flung themselves into the chilly waters of the fjord and swam desperately towards the shore. Seeing their lead ship flounder, explode, and sink, the remaining ships retreated.

The Norwegians had done the impossible. With only a week of training, their crew had held off one of the most advanced warships afloat. To make the victory even sweeter, they suffered no casualties.

The Germans, on the other hand, lost a powerful heavy cruiser, 650-800 dead, approximately 50 wounded, and around 1000 were taken prisoner.

The Oscarburg fortress was heavily bombed by the Luftwaffe on the following day, which was not shown in the film.