In the evening of 7 June German aircraft bombed and destroyed an oil tank facility in the town. At around 0200hrs, before "Nordkapp" was ready to sail west and start five years of service in exile, two ships arrived at Svolvær and started destroying the remaining oil tanks with artillery fire. Assuming the ships to be German the second in command of "Nordkapp", Ensign Andersen, who was in command of the ship as Lieutenant Commander Seip was in a conference on land at the time, sailed out and attacked the two unknown ships. As he opened up on the two ships with his single cannon, they quickly returned fire and a 45-minute artillery duel ensued. Neither side managed to hit their adversary during the fight, and eventually the two sides discovered each other's true identity. The ships "Nordkapp" had been battling for three-quarters of an hour were "Ranen" and the 655-ton Royal Navy ASW trawler "Northern Gem". "Ranen" had been bombarding German positions together with "Nordkapp" just four days previously.