commander bey was ordered during the afternoon of 10 april to return to germany with all seaworthy ships that evening, but "koellner" needed more time to refuel and make repairs. they were completed the following day and the ship was ordered to patrol the mouth of the ofotfjord that evening for picket duty. she ran aground shortly before midnight and started to take on water through damaged hull plating. she returned to narvik on the morning of 12 april. "koellner" could not be repaired with the resources available to the germans so she was ordered to tårstad, inside the ramnes narrows at the mouth of the ofotfjord, to act as a floating battery in case of british attack. the water at tårstad was too shallow to use torpedoes, so they were off-loaded and transferred to her sisters "bernd von arnim" and "theodor riedel ". much of her fuel was also transferred to them and 90 men not needed were put ashore.