Perhaps the most significant outcome of the raid was the capture of a set of rotor wheels for an Enigma machine and its code books from the German armed trawler Krebs.

German naval codes could thereafter be deciphered at Bletchley Park, providing the intelligence needed to allow Allied convoys to avoid U-boat concentrations.

Churchill told the joint chiefs of staff to propose measures for an offensive against German-occupied Europe and stated that "... they must be prepared with specially trained troops of the hunter class who can develop a reign of terror down the enemy coast".

The man initially selected as the commander was Admiral Roger Keyes, a veteran of the Gallipoli Campaign and the Zeebrugge Raid in the First World War.

[6] After an inauspicious start, the first large-scale commando raid was to be on the Lofoten Islands just off the Norwegian coast, inside the Arctic Circle, about nine hundred mi (1,400 km) from Britain.

The naval forces taking part were the escorts from the 6th Destroyer Flotilla: HMS Somali, Bedouin, Tartar, Eskimo and Legion under the command of Captain C. Caslon.

[9] The landing force were to destroy the oil-producing facilities in the ports of Stamsund, Henningsvær, Svolvær and Brettesnes, engage the German garrison and attempt to take prisoners of war found in the area.

[9] The force began its assembly at Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands on 21 February 1941 and remained there for almost a week, before leaving for Norway just after midnight on 1 March 1941.

The problems the navy perceived providing gunfire support were also discussed, as the destroyers would not be able to approach closer than 1 mi (1.6 km) to shore owing to the shallows.

Plans were also made for them to look after themselves in case the destroyers were called away to deal with a naval threat, which included every man being ordered to take enough rations to last for 48 hours ashore.

Refuelling took five hours and the naval task force headed north towards the Arctic to avoid detection by German air and sea patrols.

[10] Damage and civilian casualties occurred as Bedouin sank the Norwegian passenger ship D/S Mira, which entered the scene of the action.

The landing forces sank the merchant ships Hamburg, Pasajes, Felix, Eilenau, Rissen, Andø, Grotto, and Bernhard Schulte, which amounted to 18,000 tons.

These were rescued from the sinking Krebs, although her commander, Lieutenant Hans Kupfinger, threw his machine (one of three known to be on the island) overboard minutes before he was killed.

Captured documents showed the Kriegsmarine Home Waters key for February and also helped solve the April traffic which was sent between 1 March and 10 May.

[1] Their capture enabled Bletchley Park to read all German naval codes for some time and provided the intelligence needed to allow Allied convoys to avoid U-boat concentrations.