[4] Unlike all the preceding Norwegian torpedo boats the Officers' Mess on board Kjell was located in the bow section, with easy access to the command position in the tower.

The background for the decision to deploy the torpedo boats as the main Norwegian patrol force was based on the small ships being more economic to operate than the navy's larger vessels in a time of uncertain coal and oil supplies.

Twenty-three torpedo boats, including Kjell, were obliged to continue in service due to budgetary restrictions despite being long outdated and ready for replacement.

At the conclusion of the 20-day anti-smuggling cruise each member of the torpedo boat's crew received the then-substantial amount of 382 Norwegian kroner in prize money.

[13][14] One incident in which Kjell was involved was when she on 14 October 1939 rescued from the skerry Østre Flandern near Flekkerøy the three-man crew of Marinens Flyvebaatfabrikk M.F.11 F.320, which had made an emergency landing after suffering engine failure.

Kjell recovered the Royal Norwegian Navy Air Service crew in the early afternoon of 14 October, while the wreck of F.320 was retrieved by the patrol boat Lyngdal the next day.

[15] One of the tasks given to the Norwegian torpedo boat force as part of their renewed neutrality protection duties was the escort and inspection of vessels belonging to the warring parties.

On her return voyage to Germany she was carrying 299 British merchant sailors as prisoners of war (POWs), and entered Norwegian waters north of Trondheimsfjord on 14 February 1940.

[16] On the day after she entered Norwegian waters, 15 February, the Altmark was spotted by British reconnaissance aircraft and soon after confronted by a force of six Royal Navy destroyers.

In an effort to avoid capture Altmark sought shelter in the Jøssingfjord, in the area between Egersund and Flekkefjord, now under the escort of Kjell and fellow torpedo boat Skarv.

The failure of Kjell and the other Norwegian warships to intervene in the blatant neutrality violation led Hitler to speed up plans for a German invasion of Norway, six days after the incident appointing General Nikolaus von Falkenhorst as commander of the operation.

However, before the vessel could be made war ready orders came through from the commander of the local naval section that resistance to the German invasion in the Kristiansand area was to cease.