diff --git a/drivers/nvme/host/fc.c b/drivers/nvme/host/fc.c
index a10c77139f76..b76ba4629e02 100644
--- a/drivers/nvme/host/fc.c
+++ b/drivers/nvme/host/fc.c
@@ -2938,6 +2938,9 @@ nvme_fc_delete_ctrl(struct nvme_ctrl *nctrl)
 	 * waiting for io to terminate
 	 */
 	nvme_fc_delete_association(ctrl);
+
+	/* resume the io queues so that things will fast fail */
+	nvme_start_queues(nctrl);
 }
 
 static void