Operation Wikinger

Overview

Operation Viking was a German naval sortie into the North Sea by six destroyers of the Kriegsmarine on 22 February 1940 during the Second World War. Poor inter-service communication and co-operation between the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe resulted in the loss of two German warships through friendly fire bombing and German or British mines. Only sixty survivors were rescued and the operation was called off.

Overview adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Significance

Operation Wikinger demonstrated the operational cost of failed inter-service coordination within the German military. A sortie by six Kriegsmarine destroyers into the North Sea ended in the loss of two warships — sunk by friendly fire from Luftwaffe aircraft and mines — with only sixty survivors rescued. The operation was abandoned without achieving its objective. The incident highlighted structural failures in communication and cooperation between the Kriegsmarine and Luftwaffe at an early stage of the war, losses inflicted not by enemy action but by the German military's own assets.

Forces & casualties