Britain's strategic failure
Norway was, however, also a major strategic failure for the British. This was a campaign that should have played to British strengths. Instead it brought out one of the major weaknesses of the contemporary Royal Navy - its incapacity to contest command of the air off a distant shore, due to its lack of radar control and high performance fighters.
In addition to the other losses, the cruiser Effingham was wrecked and the anti-aircraft cruiser Curlew bombed and sunk near Narvik, while a French cruiser was seriously damaged. A total of seven British destroyers was lost, plus one French and one Polish. Given Allied superiority in numbers these losses were not too serious, but the sense of failure was real.
'A total of seven British destroyers was lost, plus one French and one Polish.'
Even before the campaign was over, it was perceived to have gone so badly that there was a vote of no confidence in the British Parliament. The government suffered a reduced majority, and Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain resigned.
The main architect of the Norway campaign, the British First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill, who had been responsible for many of the mistakes of the campaign, was the main beneficiary of these political events. He was the favoured candidate to take over as prime minister, and thus became Britain's war leader. Such are the ironies of history.
Published: 2004-06-07
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