The British retreated out of the fjord after a great success but their luck was about to turn. Six un-damaged and battle-ready destroyers came out from all corners of the fjord and attacked the British. Georg Thiele and Bernd von Armin concentrated their fire on HMS Hardy which quickly became damaged and had to be stranded in order to avoid sinking. HMS Hunter was hit and lost speed, HMS Hotspur which was following Hunter did not have the time to stop and ran into Hunter. Both ships became the target of a heavy cannon bombardment from Georg Thiele and Bernd von Armin, but despite this the British managed to salvage Hotspur. Hunter went to the bottom of the sea with its 111 crew-members.

Both destroyer forces withdrew to lick their wounds but the British destroyers leaving Ofotfjorden managed to get a hit on the German cargo ship Rauenfels which was carrying Ammunition, clothing, food and other necessary war materials. Thereby the British denied the Germans a very important cargo. The other cargo ships never reached Ofotfjorden, Alster was hi-jacked in Vestfjorden while Bährenfels and Kattegat where sunk further south.

The German Destroyer group had suffered great losses. After the battle two destroyers where sunk and five where damaged to the point that they where not sea-worthy. The remaining three destroyers where low on ammunition. On both April 11 and 12 the harbor was being bombed by aircrafts from the carrier HMS Furious. During these attacks Senja was sunk and Michael Sars was so damaged that it later sank.

Even though the British force was bigger the five German destroyers went out to meet the British on the open sea. The battle lasted over an hour without any losses on either side. None of the German ships where damaged but on the British side HMS Punjabi sustained some damage. The Germans where now running low on ammunition and fell back into Herjangenfjorden and Rombaksfjorden. Hermann Künne went into Herjangenfjorden where the destroyer was ran ashore and blown up. While the other destroyers where retreating the destroyer Erich Giese came out of Narvik harbor to assist but suddenly found that it was alone versus six British destroyers. Erich Giese was soon damaged and sunk. The British force split in half and HMS Warspite with three destroyers went into Narvik's harbour. The destroyer Dieter von Roeder still remained in the harbor and although it was the target of heavy bombardment the ship continued fighting until they ran out of ammunition. When a British destroyer came up alongside the ship it was scuttled by its own crew.

In Rombaksfjorden only four German destroyers remained. Bernd von Arnim and Wolfgang Zenker where out of ammunition and where run ashore and blown up by their own crews. Georg Thiele and Hans Lüdemann stayed and waited for the British destroyers. After a short battle Hans Lüdemann also ran out of ammunition and was ran ashore by the crew. While the crews from the 3 destroyers in Rombaksfjorden where trying to get them-selves ashore Georg Thiele tried to keep the five British destroyers away out in the fjord. Heavily damaged Georg Thiele fired their second to last torpedo (History says their last but this is incorrect) and hit HMS Eskimo who had its bow torn off. As the last destroyer Georg Thiele was also ran ashore at 15.00. Hans Lüdemann was still afloat and was torpedoed by HMS Hero. The remaining merchant ships where either torpedoed or had their bottom valves opened. Only a few ships where left afloat, among them was the German Tanker Jan Wellem which laid behind another ship and wasn’t sunk until the Germans occupied Narvik on April 28.