Operation Barefoot

'Barefoot' was a British and Free Norwegian naval raid on the western coast of German-occupied Norway (1/3 October 1941).

The operation got under way on 1 October as the pre-World War I Free Norwegian destroyer Draug, of only 578 tons, departed Scapa Flow in the Orkney islands group towing the Free Norwegian navy’s MTB-56, whose operational range was thereby usefully increased. On 3 October MTB-56 was released to intercept the 3,015-ton Norwegian tanker Borgny off Kyrholmen while this requisitioned ship, carrying 3,500 tons of aviation fuel, was on passage to Trondheim escorted by the German auxiliary minesweeper M-1101 and patrol boat V-5505. Evading the fire of the two German escorts and the coastal battery at Korsneset, the motor torpedo boat then returned to Draug, which was standing off the port to provide gunfire support if necessary, and the two vessels were thus able to return to Lerwick in the Shetland islands group.