Operation Counterblast

'Counterblast' was a British naval attack by elements of Admiral Sir Henry Moore’s Home Fleet on German shipping off the south-west coast of German-occupied Norway (12/13 November 1944 and December 1944).

With carrierborne fighter cover provided by 'Steak', Rear Admiral R. R. McGrigor’s Force 1 (the escort carrier Pursuer, the heavy cruiser Kent, the light anti-aircraft cruiser Bellona, and the destroyers Myngs, Verulam, Zambesi and Canadian Algonquin of the 26th Destroyer Flotilla) swept the waters off the Lister light near Egersund in south-western Norway. The force found the German KS.357 convoy of four freighters escorted by six light warships, and sank two of the former (3,324-ton Cornouailles and 996-ton Greif) and five of the latter (minesweepers M 416 and M 427, and submarine chasers UJ 1221, UJ 1223 and UJ 1713). As they attempted a rescue operation during the morning of 13 November, the Germans also lost the motor minesweeper R 32 to an air attack.