Battle of North Cape

On the northern coast of Norway in the Arctic Sea, the Battle of North Cape was fought on the 26^th December 1943. The battle was the last big-gun naval battle between Britain and Germany in the European theatre of the war. The western Allies, since August 1941 had been regularly supplying the Soviet Union with convoys escorted by warships. German battleships Scharnhorst and Tirptiz were based on the northern coast of German-occupied Norway. By December 1943 the German army was being forced into a continuous retreat by Soviet troops. It therefore became increasingly important to intercept the supplies to the Soviet Union from the Allies. German Admiral Karl Dörnitz and Fuhrer Adolf Hitler held a conference to discuss the problem on the 19^th – 20^th December 1943. It was decided Scharnhorst would be employed against the next Allied convoy. The outcome was Scharnhorst was ordered by Dönitz to be ready to go to sea at three hours’ notice. British/Polish Intelligence had broken the German Enigma Code earlier on in the war and were aware of the German plans. The next convoy to leave for the Soviet Union was JW55B which departed on the 20^th December 1943. On the 22^nd December1943, German reconnaissance aircraft located the convoy 460 miles (740 km) west of Tromso. Two days later the convoy was spotted again heading for the Soviet Union. Dörnitz ordered Scharnhorst into action at 09:00 on the 25^th December 1943 after a report of the convoy’s position by a U-boat. Being pre-warned of Scharnhorst’s intentions, Commander-in-Chief Admiral Sir Bruce Fraser of the Home Fleet, in his battleship HMS Duke of York escorting the convoy, left Loch Ewe. He was accompanied by one cruiser and four destroyers. Fraser also brought to the encounter the escorting warships of returning convoy RA55A. Additional protection from Group 1 was provided by a force consisting of flagship HMS Belfast and two destroyers HMS Norfolk and HMS Sheffield. Stormy weather during the early morning of the 26^th December 1943 resulted in Scharnhorst being unable to locate the enemy. To increase the search area the commander of Scharnhorst, Konteradmiral Erich Bey, sent his escorting destroyers off to the south. Scharnhorst was now completely separated from her escorting destroyers. Shortly after 09:00 Belfast was the first to obtain radar contact on unescorted Scharnhorst. Rapidly closing the range to approximately 13,000 yds. (12,000 km) three British ships open-fired on the battleship. Scharnhorst was hit by two British shells, one of which destroyed the forward radar controls. In response she fired salvoes at the British warships but missed. She was now virtually blind in a mounting snowstorm. Bey assumed he was facing Duke of York as they were firing flash-less shells. The British ships were also firing flash-less shells. Bey turned south in an effort to escape where his superior speed soon out-paced his pursuers. Scharnhorst then turned northwest in an attempt to attack the convoy from another direction. The additional warships of Group 1 anticipated such a manoeuvre and positioned themselves to protect the convoy. Radar contact located Scharnhorst again as she was approaching the convoy. Exchanging gun-fire Scharnhorst scored two hits on Norfolk. Following this exchange Bey ordered his escorting destroyers to attack the convoy, while he returned to port. However, the given position of the convoy was inaccurate and the destroyers could not locate the convoy. Scharnhorst turned south again and her superior speed outpaced Sheffield and Norfolk, whose speed had slowed after suffering engine problems. The out-gunned Belfast was the sole pursuer and very vulnerable to long-range shelling. However, they soon located Scharnhorst on the radar and Belfast sent a series of messages to the Duke of York to intercept. In the meantime the Duke of York escort warships attempted to get into a torpedo-launching position. After locating Scharnhorst on radar, Duke of York was brought into a position for a torpedo broadside attack. At 16:48 Belfast fired a starlight shell which illuminated Scharnhorst and was clearly visible to Duke of York. She immediately opened fire at a range of 11,920 yds. (10,900 km). Without working radar Scharnhorst was un-prepared for the attack as her gun turrets were trained fore and aft. The first salvo disabled her foremost turrets, a second salvo destroyed the ship’s aircraft hangar. By turning north Bey was engaged by Norfolk & Belfast, he then turned east at high speed (32 knots – 57 km/h), but now was being attacked from two sides. Scharnhorst was able to increase the distance from the British warships, but was taking heavy punishment from Duke of York’s 14 inch shells. Scharnhorst’s speed dropped to 11 knots (19 km/h). Emergency repairs enabled her to increase her speed to 22 knots (41 km/h) but was vulnerable to torpedo attacks. Scharnhorst did, however, succeed in hitting Duke of York with two of her own 11 inch shells. One shell severed some wireless aerials, the second knocking over the radar-aerial, which was soon back in operation again despite the appalling weather. At 18:20 Duke of York fired a shell from extreme range and hit and destroyed Scharnhorst’s N^o 1 boiler room. At 18:50 Scharnhorst turned to starboard and engaged two of Duke of York’s escorts who scored two torpedo hits. Continuing to turn Scharnhorst suffered three torpedo strikes to her port side. Duke of York’s escort destroyer HMS Saumarez was hit several times by Scharnhorst and suffered 11 killed and 11 wounded. Scharnhorst’s speed again dropped to 11 knots (19 km/h) and Duke of York and one escort destroyer HMS Jamaica resumed firing shells at Scharnhorst after closing the gap. Belfast joined in the attack from the north. All British warships subjected Scharnhorst to a deluge of shells. A total of 21 torpedoes were fired at her and at 19:45 she capsized and sank. 36 Germans survived the attack out of a complement of 1,968 officers and men. The British by contrast lost 11 sailors killed, 11 wounded, one damaged battleship, one cruiser and one destroyer damaged. The sinking of Scharnhorst was a major victory for the Allies in the Arctic Theatre. It also demonstrated the importance of radar in modern naval warfare. The Allied navies were able to be relocate their resources away from the Arctic Theatre. The remaining German battleships were either out of service or being repaired. The Battle of the North Cape was the last battle involving battleships in European waters. The final battle of the war involving battleships was at the Battle of Surigao Strait in October 1944 during the Pacific Theatre.

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