Visibility from the turret was poor and the commander would often remain outside, relying on another crew member to stand at the wheel and follow his directions.

Storm was powered by a 1,100 indicated horsepower triple expansion steam engine, which gave her a top speed of 21 knots (38.89 km/h; 24.17 mph).

[3] Storm was armed with two quick-firing 37 mm guns and two 45 cm torpedo tubes, and was manned by a crew of 19 officers and men.

[3][4] Storm and the fellow 1. class torpedo boats Brand, Delfin and Trods, took part in the 1900 summer fleet exercises, embarking on a cruise to Kiel in Germany and Marstrand in Sweden along with the coastal defence ships Harald Haarfagre and Tordenskjold, and the gunboat Frithjof.

The exercises in 1900 focused on developing the coordination between the coastal defence ships and the torpedo boats, as the two main weapon systems of the Royal Norwegian Navy.

[9] The Royal Norwegian Navy's ships suffered much wear and tear during the First World War and many were decommissioned in 1920, including 14 torpedo boats.

[12][13] When the Germans invaded Norway on 9 April 1940, Storm was patrolling near Buarøy off Bergen under the command of Lieutenant Thorleif Pettersen.

Reports of foreign warships moving against Norway had motivated the naval commander in Bergen, Rear-Admiral Carsten Tank-Nielsen to put his forces on a war footing.

[15] Lieutenant Pettersen had suggested to Admiral Tank-Nielsen placing his vessel at the outer line of the restricted area, with further forces closer to Bergen.

Before reaching the area covered by Storm, any intruders would have to pass a line of small patrol boats with the task of identifying incoming ships and reporting back to Tank-Nielsen.

[18] When the German task force detailed to capture Bergen arrived at the Lerøyosen approaches around 02:00, the advancing warships were illuminated by searchlights at the outlying Lerøy Fort.

Following the attack, the German E-boats S-21 and S-24 attempted to intercept Storm, but the Norwegian torpedo boat managed to evade them.

[22][23] Storm next attempted to set up another attack farther north, but the German task force advanced through the area before the torpedo boat could get into position.