To prevent any disruption of the invasion by the British, the Kriegsmarine had dispatched a force under Vice Admiral Günther Lütjens to protect the troop convoy landing at Narvik.

[2] Shortly after departing German waters on 7 April, Lütjens' force was attacked by British bombers, which did no damage to the squadron.

As Admiral Hipper left, she met and engaged the British destroyer HMS Glowworm which had become separated from Whitworth's force.

[8] The early salvos were sporadic and lasted until 05:00, when the engagement was broken off for 20 minutes due to waves breaking over Renown's forward turrets as the German ships headed directly into the storm to escape.

[9][10] By this time Renown's destroyer escort had fallen back due to the severe weather and Scharnhorst started to suffer radar problems at about 04:20.

[15] Damaged and determined to steer clear of what he thought was a superior force, Lütjens managed to shake off the British squadron and end the action by sailing west into the Arctic Ocean.

[16] With her damaged bulge and the problems of firing forwards into a storm, Renown was forced to break off the search, instead moving to cut off the ships should they turn round.

[17] Despite the Royal Navy winning a minor tactical victory over the Kriegsmarine, the Germans considered the engagement a strategic success due to the fact that Whitworth's force was delayed long enough to keep it from interfering with the landings at Narvik.

With the British squadron occupied, the German destroyer-transports managed to make their way through to Narvik after destroying two Norwegian coastal defence ships in their path.