 Three raids against Tirpitz were cancelled after launch due to unfavourable weather during April and May 1944 . The first of these attacks , Operation Planet , began when the Home Fleet sailed from its base at Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands on 21 April . This operation involved the same aircraft carriers as had taken part in Operation Tungsten , aside from the substitution of the escort carrier HMS Fencer with her sister ship Striker . The fleet reached the position where its aircraft were to be flown off three days later , but the raid was cancelled when Allied agents near Kaafjord reported bad weather over the target area . The fleet then sailed south , and attacked a German convoy near Bodø , sinking three merchant ships for the loss of six aircraft . The Home Fleet put to sea to attack Tirpitz again in mid @-@ May in what was designated Operation Brawn . A strike force of 27 Barracudas escorted by Vought F4U Corsair and Supermarine Seafire fighters took off from the carriers HMS Furious and Victorious on the afternoon of 15 May , but encountered heavy cloud over Kaafjord and returned without attacking . The next raid , Operation Tiger Claw , was launched in late May . The planned attack on Kaafjord — which would have also involved aircraft flying from Furious and Victorious — had to be cancelled due to bad weather on 28 May . Instead , the carriers sailed south in search of German convoys . In a raid conducted on 1 June , the carriers ' aircraft sank four merchant vessels near Ålesund . No further attacks were attempted during June as the ships of the Home Fleet were needed to support the Normandy landings that month . 
