Operation Judgement, Kilbotn

Operation Judgement
Part of Second World War
Operation Judgement. The main targets of the attack - depot ship Black Watch and U-711 are hidden behind water columns and smoke
Date 4 May 1945 Location Kilbotn, Norway Result British victory
Belligerents
United Kingdom	Germany
Commanders and leaders
Rhoderick McGrigor	Hans-Günther Lange
Strength
3 Fleet Air Arm Squadrons: 44 aircraft from 3 Escort carriers	Various anti aircraft defences, shipping, U-boats
Casualties and losses
2 aircraft 4 killed	1 U-boat sunk 2 ships sunk 150 killed or wounded

Operation Judgement was an operation carried out at the end of World War II by the Home Fleet of the British Royal Navy in North Norway on 4 May 1945, when 44 aircraft of the Fleet Air Arm attacked a U-boat base 5 miles (8.0 km) south of the town and port of Harstad. The attack was directed at vessels in the natural harbour at Kilbotn. It lasted seven minutes and left two ships and a U-boat sunk. No Norwegians in the village of Kilbotn were injured during or after the attack. Operation Judgement was the last air raid of World War II in Europe.

From 1939 to 1945 the German war effort made extensive use of the U-boat as a strategic weapon. From bases in Northern Norway U-boats sailed against the Allied convoys making for Russian ports in the Arctic Ocean. In autumn 1944, when German forces retreated from the extreme north, the U-boat base at Hammerfest was moved south to Kilbotn.

The base consisted of the 5000-ton depot-ship Black Watch, a former North-Sea passenger ferry, supported by a Norwegian cruiser converted by the Germans into a flak-ship, two barges fitted with anti-aircraft guns, and numerous gun emplacements on the land round the harbour. Several other ships were employed in ferrying supplies and ammunition to the base at Kilbotn, including the 950-ton Norwegian cargo ship Senja. The attack destroyed Black Watch and Senja and also U-711, which had been moored alongside Black Watch. Two British aircraft with four aircrew were lost, and an estimated 150 German personnel were either wounded or lost their lives.

The attack was carried out by the First Cruiser Squadron under the command of Vice Admiral Rhoderick McGrigor, second-in-command of the Home Fleet, in his flagship Norfolk. The force included the cruiser Diadem, three escort carriers, and eight destroyers and other vessels. In the carriers three Naval Air Squadrons were embarked: 846 Squadron in Trumpeter contributed eight Avenger torpedo-bombers and four Wildcat fighters to the attack, 853 Squadron in Queen contributed eight Avengers and four Wildcats, while 882 Squadron in Searcher contributed twenty Wildcats. The force sailed from Scapa Flow on 1 May.

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