She would depart Trondheim at 12:00 on Tuesdays and carry passengers and cargo to the coastal towns on her way north to Narvik and back again.

[2] Until the delivery of Nordnorge, the Trondheim-Narvik route had been served by the older and slower steamer Barøy, without the call in Lødingen.

The negotiations were concluded successfully on 1 November 1936, with Ofotens Dampskibsselskap gaining a contract and Narvik being included in the Hurtigruten route.

[9] When Nazi Germany invaded Norway on 9 April 1940, initiating the 62-day Norwegian campaign, Nordnorge was in dry dock undergoing the final day of her annual maintenance work.

[2] On 7 May 1940 the German occupiers of Trondheim confiscated Nordnorge and replaced her Norwegian crew with Kriegsmarine personnel from the destroyers Paul Jakobi and Theodor Riedel.

In Operation Wildente, the Germans aimed at using the Norwegian coastal steamer to bring their own troops the 500 kilometres (310 mi) to Hemnesberget, well behind the Allied lines which were south of Mo i Rana.

A successful operation would break up the Allied defence line in Nordland county and cut off Norwegian and British forces, leaving the way north open for the advancing Germans, which at that point were struggling to move forward in the Mosjøen area.

While Hauptmann Anton Holzinger led the operation, Kapitanleutnant Ernst Vogelsang captained Nordnorge during the voyage north.

[2][10][11][12][13][14][15] The Germans had armed Nordnorge with two 20 mm automatic cannon and two machine guns, mounted respectively at the bridge and at the bow of the ship.

Delayed by German air raids on the Royal Navy base in Skjelfjord in Lofoten, the British warships only got under way at 15:00, too late to intercept Nordnorge.

1 Independent Company and some 120 Norwegian landvern troops (of Infantry Regiment 14) opened small arms fire at the ship from covered positions.

Following the capture of Hemnesberget, Nordnorge was unloaded of ammunition and supplies, and Allied and German dead and wounded brought on board.

[27] Before Nordnorge was sunk, the Germans had managed to unload the two mountain guns, while the other supplies lost in the sinking were replaced the next day by seaplanes.

During the initial advance of the counter-attack the Norwegian forces captured three of the German naval personnel who had manned Nordnorge, before being pushed back.

The Germans continued their advance on 14 May, while two Royal Navy ships bombarded Hemnesberget the same day, destroying around 160 houses.

[29][30][31] Following the success of Operation Wildente, the Germans made another attempt at bypassing the Allied front lines in Nordland.

On 19 May the German-manned cargo ship Albion attempted to bring supplies to the German forces advancing in Nordland.