Operation Rubble (January 1941) was a British blockade running operation in which five Norwegian merchant ships escaped from Sweden to Britain. The ships involved were Norwegian steamships Elizabeth Bakke (5,450grt), John Bakke (4,718grt), Tai Shan (6,962grt), Taurus (4767grt) and Ranja (6,355grt). In addition to their cargoes also on board were many British and Norwegian sailors who had been in Sweden following the failure of the Allies' Norwegian Campaign. The ships left Gothenburg on 23 January 1941 and ran the German blockade of the Skagerrak. They narrowly avoided being intercepted by the two German battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau who were just starting Operation Berlin in the Kattegat. The ships navigated the North Sea with various warships being dispatched from the UK to act a