 On 22 February 1940 , Richard Beitzen and five other destroyers , Z3 Max Schultz , Z1 Leberecht Maass , Z6 Theodor Riedel , Z13 Erich Koellner and Eckoldt , sailed for the Dogger Bank to intercept British fishing vessels in " Operation Wikinger " . En route , the flotilla was erroneously attacked by a Heinkel He 111 bomber from Bomber Wing 26 ( Kampfgeschwader 26 ) . Leberecht Maass was hit by at least one bomb , lost steering , and broke in half , sinking with the loss of 280 of her crew . During the rescue effort , Max Schultz hit a mine and sank with the loss of her entire crew of 308 . Hitler ordered a Court of Inquiry to be convened to investigate the cause of the losses and it concluded that both ships that been sunk by bombs from the He 111 . The Kriegsmarine had failed to notify its destroyers that the Luftwaffe was making anti @-@ shipping patrols at that time and had also failed to inform the Luftwaffe that its destroyers would be at sea . Postwar evidence revealed that one or both ships struck a British minefield laid by the destroyers Ivanhoe and Intrepid . 
