an attack would be difficult for large warships to evade. Due to the slow closing speed, Lucas instead ordered each sub-flight to attack independently. The first attack was made by the sub-flight under Lucas's personal control. The aircraft approached Tirpitz from her port side and released their torpedoes at 9:18 am from a very low altitude and a distance that was probably greater than 1,000 yards from the battleship. Tirpitz turned sharply to port, and evaded these torpedoes. A sub-flight from 817 Squadron then made a similar attack from the port side of the battleship, with their torpedoes also missing. Tirpitzs manoeuvring forced the other two sub-flights to attack from astern rather than from starboard as their commanders had intended. This required their crews to fly into heavy gunfire. They released their torpedoes at extreme range, and two Albacores were shot down by Tirpitz's anti-aircraft gunners; all six airmen aboard the aircraft were killed. No hits were achieved, though a torpedo came within of the battleship. Following this attack the British aircraft returned to Victorious, and landed at around 11:00 am. The German sailors were relieved to have escaped the British attack without any damage being inflicted on Tirpitz. Their only casualties were three men who had been wounded by gunfire from the British aircraft. Ciliax awarded Topp the Iron Cross on the spot for his skill in evading the British torpedoes. The surviving British airmen were berated by Victoriouss senior officers when they were debriefed. In his report, Bovell criticised Lucas for beginning the attack before his aircraft were in the proper position and judged that the other pilots had released their torpedoes at too great a distance from the battleship. Tovey did not attempt a second torpedo bomber attack on Tirpitz as Victoriouss aircraft were unable to operate in the defended airspace around Narvik with any prospect of success. 9–13 March The failure of the torpedo bomber attack meant that the Home Fleet was unable to bring Tirpitz to battle before she reached safety. The German battleship anchored near Narvik at 8 pm on 9 March. In the late afternoon of 9 March the Home Fleet turned to the west to evade possible German air attacks. German reconnaissance aircraft began shadowing the fleet, but none of Victoriouss Fulmar fighters were flown off as it was thought that they would be unable to intercept them. At 3:45 pm three