 On 6 September, a squadron consisting of "Tirpitz", the battleship "Scharnhorst", and nine destroyers weighed anchor in Altenfjord and Kåfjord and headed for Spitsbergen, to attack the Allied base.At dawn on 8 September 1943, "Tirpitz" and "Scharnhorst" opened fire against the two 3-inch guns which comprised the defences of Barentsburg, and the destroyers ran inshore with landing parties, destroying a supply dump and wrecking a landing station.By noon, the hostilities had ended, with the landing parties returning to the ships, along with some prisoners.