"The first warship to be sunk by aerial bombing" Topic

"On the night of 8th/9th April 1940 German forces invaded Norway. In the early morning of the 9th German naval force landed troops in Bergen harbour, support being given by the two cruisers Königsberg and Köln, the gunnery training ship Bremse together with torpedo-boats, E-boats and armed trawlers. The Norwegian harbour defences were hampered by fog, and confused by the fact that the German force approached flying British flags. However the Kvarvan battery guarding the entrance to the harbour did score hits on the Königsberg, Bremse and the E-boat tender Carl Peters. The Königsberg's engines were damaged and two of her 3.7 cm anti aircraft gun positions put out of action, her fire-fighting mains and auxiliary power were also damaged. This did not stop her guns helping to silence the Norwegian coastal batteries around Bergen. Later that day (9th April) a reconnaissance flight by the RAF revealed the two cruisers to be in harbour and a strike by Bomber Command was launched. Two squadrons (one of Hampdens the other of Wellingtons) attacked at about 1800 hrs and dropped thirty 500 lb bombs but not a single hit was achieved (although one was claimed and it seems the bombing somehow caused a small number of casualties to Köln's crew, but just how is unclear*).

The Germans knew that a force of Royal Navy cruisers was off the coast heading for Bergen and they feared this force would catch their ships in harbour. The Königsberg was unfit to sail and so was moored alongside the Skoltegrund Mole with her stern towards the harbour entrance so that two of her three triple 5.9 inch turrets and her port torpedo tubes could engage any Royal Navy ship that attempted to enter. With radio equipped spotters on the hills west of Bergen the Königsberg could also have employed her guns to bring plunging fire onto any ships approaching Bergen up the channel from the South, between the coastline and the archipelago of offshore islands. Only the front half of the cruiser was alongside the mole, perhaps to make use of the cruiser's Arado floatplane easier, or perhaps to allow the use of the crane at the end of the mole to help with repairs. The cruisers position would also have allowed her to be run astern and sunk as a blockship to seal off the inner harbour in the event of a British assault. In fact the British force off the Norwegian coast was heavily damaged by German bombers that day loosing the destroyer Gurkha, and in any event the force had been ordered by the Admiralty not to try and retake Bergen. That night the Köln made her escape along with the torpedo boats Leopard and Wolf. The German assault troops occupying Bergen had no heavy AA guns, they were to have arrived on board the transport ship SS Barenfels. In the event, she did not arrive until late on 10 April.

On board the aircraft that first spotted the cruisers in Bergen harbour was Lt Cdr Geoffrey Hare, of 800 Squadron Fleet Air Arm who had been lent to the RAF to identify naval targets. He got a flight from the RAF base at Lossiemouth to Hatston on the Orkney Islands where 800 and 803 squadrons were based, providing fighter cover for the Fleet anchorage at Scapa Flow. Although the two squadrons had only trained and operated as fighters for many months and their dive-bombing skills were rusty, it was decided to try for a dawn attack on Bergen harbour, at the limit of the Skuas range, demanding spot-on navigation and formation night flying…"
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Armand

Something wrong here – surely ' In fact the British force off the Norwegian coast was heavily damaged by German bombers that day loosing the destroyer Gurkha,' suggests that Konigsberg was the second warship to be sunk by bombing?

I think the suggestion is that Konigsberg was the first "major" warship sunk, Gurkha being "only" a destroyer.

I thought Ostfriesland was the first.

I think Virtualscratchbuilser is right, although it was being used in a test.

First sinking by dive-bombing?

I thought ships were sunk by air attack in WWI.

I cannot find any major combat vessels sunk by aircraft – though seaplanes torpedoed supply ships in 1915.

If the criteria are
1) Actual combat
2) things bigger than a destroyer (Konigsberg was a light cruiser)

Then the Chinese lost the Protected Cruiser Chai Ho in September 37 to aircraft but I do not know what type – here sister ship I can find references to being attacked and sunk by dive bombers, the Light Cruiser Ning Hai was lost to Japanese aircraft in September 37 as well though the coup de grace by torpedo but her sister ship Ping Hai had the same fate and was hit by, as far as I can find out, about 8 bombs…
So between the four of them I suspect at least one went down just to bombs (and two seem likely) which would torpedo the idea Konisberg was first if correct.

And, of course the US gunboat Panay was sunk by Japanese aircraft in 1937 :)