German destroyers, and their smaller 'Torpedo Boat' cousins were relatively active, especially compared to the heavy units of the Kreigsmarine (German Torpedo Boats were destroyers for coastal tasks, and often had the same armament as older British destroyers). They fought in coastal actions and laid mines in the English Channel, escorted convoys along the Norwegian coast and carried out attacks on the Arctic convoy route. Also, for reference, there were three seperate naval actions at Narvik. The first saw the German destroyer flotilla brush aside two Norwegian coastal defence ships. The second saw a British flotilla of five destroyers attack the German flotilla of ten ships. Both sides lost two destroyers, but the Germans also lost a number of merchants and supply ships, including the one carrying the ammunition for the flotilla. The final action saw Warspite and nine British destroyers clear out the remaining ships of the German flotilla, as well as the submarine U-64. The British destroyers did most of the work, with Warspite only finishing off the damaged Erich Koellner.

After the Norwegian Campaign and the Fall of France, German light units began to move into bases along the French and Belgian coasts. They were there to interdict British coastal shipping, as well as forming part of the abortive German plan for an invasion of Britain. In September 1940, the 5th Torpedo Boat (TB) Flotilla moved to Cherbourg, while the 5th Destroyer Flotilla rebased to Brest. Both flotillas had five ships. The ships at Brest were joined by two ships from the 6th Flotilla on the 22nd. Six days later, they made a minelaying sortie against Falmouth Bay, to little effect. On the 12th October, the torpedo boats at Cherbourg sortied against coastal shipping off the Isle of Wight. They sank two armed trawlers and two sub chasers, but were forced off by five British destroyers, under the command of Lord Louis Mountbatten. A similar raid was carried out by four of the ships at Brest on the 17th. This was engaged by the British Force F (two cruisers and five destroyers) before they could find any targets. Mild damage was done to two of the German destroyers as they fled. Another destroyer joined the seven at Brest on the 22nd October. However, with the prospects of invasion lifting, five of the destroyers would return to Germany for a refit in November. The remaining three made a sortie against shipping off Plymouth on the 24th November, sinking a small freighter and avoiding any British retaliation. On the 29th, they tried again, sinking a lighter and a tug, but this time they were successfully intercepted by Mountbatten's destroyers. Unfortunately for Mountbatten, the Germans had spotted his approach, and launched torpedoes into his path; HMS Javelin was struck by two, blowing off her bow and stern. Heroic damage control efforts saved her, but no damage was done to the German ships in return. Two more of the German destroyers would return to Germany in December, bringing an end to major actions in the Channel. The torpedo boats would make a few minelaying sorties, but these were rare - there were only four in 1941.

The reason for this relative inactivity in the Channel was the German turn towards the Soviet Union. German naval units were shifted to the Baltic Sea and to Norway, to counter the heavy units of the Soviet Navy and to support the army's advances. The Germans saw the confined Baltic as a poor place to use heavy units, and relied mainly on smaller coastal forces here. However, the Soviets had a strong force there, with two battleships, three cruisers and 21 destroyers. The Germans had to retain a strong force to counter this, or to prevent it seeking internment in Sweden. By September, they had Tirpitz, five cruisers, three destroyers and four large torpedo boats. As the Soviet Baltic Fleet fell back towards Leningrad, this force did little. Meanwhile, the 6th Destroyer Flotilla had been sent to Norway to cover the German advance towards Murmansk, and to counter any Soviet amphibious operations. They made four sorties in July-August 1941, sinking three trawlers and a small survey ship. After this, they spent their time escorting coastal convoys. The four ships of the 8th Destroyer Flotilla were ordered north in December. They made their first sortie along the coast on the 17th, doing minor damage to the British minesweeper Hazard (supporting the convoy PQ6).

The following year saw more action in the English Channel. In February 1942, the 5th Flotilla, plus three torpedo boat flotillas, supported Scharnhorst, Gneisenau and Prinz Eugen during Operation Cerberus - the famous 'Channel Dash'. This saw the German heavy units return to Germany from Brest, where they had ended up after raiding sorties into the Atlantic, through the heavily defended Channel. Heavy confusion and poor coordination by the British meant that they were barely challenged. The poorly coordinated air attacks only damaged two torpedo boats, while an attack by five old destroyers was beaten off with little damage done to the German ships. HMS Worcester was heavily damaged, while Campbell suffered minor damage. On the 14th March, the 5th TB Flotilla supported the merchant raider Michel as it made a run out of the Channel. Five British destroyers engaged them, but did little damage. On the 28th, the flotilla ran into two British destroyers supporting the Saint Nazaire raid, but both forces disengaged with little done. One of the torpedo boats, Jaguar, would engage and sink one of the motor launches that had participated in the raid, ML306. In October, the 3rd TB flotilla made another attempt to run a merchant raider through the Channel, the Komet. This time, the British response was well organised, and a combined attack by destroyers and motor torpedo boats sank Komet and damaged all four of the torpedo boats.

There was similarly heavy action in the far north. On the 29th March 1942, three ships of the 8th Flotilla made an attack on the convoy PQ13, on the Arctic route to Russia. They sank one of the stragglers, before attacking the convoy as a whole. Unfortunately for them, the first ship they ran into was the British cruiser Trinidad. Trinidad did heavy damage to Z26 and light damage to Z25. Unhappily, as she fired a salvo of torpedoes to finish off Z26, one of the torpedoes, affected by the freezing weather, circled round and hit her, doing serious damage. Z26 tried to escape, but was finished off by the British destroyer Eclipse, despite the efforts of her two companions. There was a sortie against PQ14 on the 11th April, but bad weather forced its cancellation. The next convoy to be attacked, QP11, had been escorted by the cruiser Edinburgh, but she had been heavily damaged by a U-boat and forced to turn back. This left both the convoy and the cruiser vulnerable. Three destroyers sortied to attack both targets. They encountered the convoy on the 1st May, but the escort (four old destroyers, four corvettes and an armed trawler) was well-handled; they turned away in search of easier prey with the cruiser, having sunk a single freighter and done minor damage to HMS Amazon. The next day, the German destroyers encountered the force helping Edinburgh limp back to Murmansk. Although Edinburgh had no steering and her turrets unpowered, she managed to fire a salvo that heavily damaged the German destroyer Hermann Schoemann. The German destroyer was then set on fire by Edinburgh's destroyer escorts, Forester and Foresight - then the other two German ships closed in, doing heavy damage to both British destroyers and putting another torpedo into Edinburgh before breaking off. Both Edinburgh and Hermann Schoemann were scuttled following the battle. The next few convoys on the Arctic route avoided attack by surface forces, though a few raids were planned and cancelled due to bad weather, poor reconnaissance and the lack of fuel. There were some coastal operations. Five destroyers and the cruiser Hipper laid mines off Novaya Zemlya in September, and sank a Soviet tanker at the start of November. On the 31st December, Hipper, Lutzow and six destroyers attacked Convoy JW51B. This had a close escort of five destroyers, two corvettes, a minesweeper and two trawlers, and would be easy pickings. However, the escort fought an excellent delaying action, buying time for the distant escort - the cruisers Sheffield and Jamaica - to arrive. The British cruisers had an immediate impact, damaging Hipper and sinking the German destroyer Friedrich Eckoldt. In return, the Germans had been able to sink the minesweeper Bramble and the old destroyer Achates, as well as doing heavy damage to the more modern destroyer Onslow. This was the last attack on an Arctic convoy by surface forces until Christmas 1943, when Scharnhorst and five destroyers sortied to attack JW55B and RA55A. Bad weather forced the destroyers to turn back, while Scharnhorst would go on to be sunk at the Battle of the North Cape.