that night he received word to expect an attack the following day by british capital ships escorted by a large number of destroyers and supported by carrier aircraft. the battleship and nine destroyers duly appeared on 13 april, although earlier than commander bey had expected, and caught the germans by surprise. "koellner" had not been able to reach tårstad and lieutenant commander (fregattenkapitän) alfred schulze-hinrichs, the ship's captain, had decided to anchor near djupvik on the south side of the fjord instead. as the british ships approached, "koellner" was spotted by the supermarine walrus amphibian from "warspite" and the leading british destroyers were fully prepared when they came around the headland behind which "koellner" was hiding. the range was so close, , that the three british ships were able to use their light automatic weapons to silence the german ship's guns and they set her on fire as well as blowing off her bow with a torpedo. the semi-armor-piercing shells from "warspite" went through the ship without detonating, but visibly tilted her over each time. thirty-one crewmen were killed, and 34 wounded, but none of the british ships were even damaged. "erich koellner" was scuttled shortly afterwards by detonating a depth charge in her auxiliary machinery spaces. in the aftermath of the battle, 155 of the ship's crew, including schulze-hinrichs, were taken prisoner by norwegian forces. the captured crewmen were first incarcerated in vardøhus fortress in finnmark and later transferred to skorpa prisoner of war camp in troms until released after the end of the norwegian campaign. the wreck was raised and scrapped in 1963.