shortly before dawn on 10 april, the five destroyers of the british 2nd destroyer flotilla surprised the german ships in narvik harbor. they torpedoed two destroyers and badly damaged the other three while suffering only minor damage themselves. as they were beginning to withdraw they encountered the three destroyers of the german 4th flotilla which had been alerted when the british began their attack. the germans opened fire first, but the gunnery for both sides was not effective due to the mist and the smoke screen laid by the british as they retreated down the ofotfjord. the german ships had to turn away to avoid a salvo of three torpedoes fired by one of the destroyers in narvik. "giese" and "koellner" were very low on fuel and all three were running low on ammunition, so commander bey decided not to continue the pursuit of the british ships since they were being engaged by the last two destroyers of group 1.