Alphen,
Netherland. 26 December, 2013. Seventy
years ago today one of the most important and least known naval battles in
history took place. At the height of the
Second World War the German battle-cruiser KM
Scharnhorst ventured out of a Norwegian fjord to attack a British convoy en
route to Murmansk, Russia. She was
ambushed and sunk by the Royal Navy in what was the first ever use of
synchronised computers, radar and heavy guns.
In the perpetual dark of the December Arctic the Battle of North Cape was
the last exclusively battleship-to-battleship gun duel in naval history and in
effect the dawn of the guided missile age at sea.
On 25
December the Scharnhorst had set sail from Alta fjord under the command of
Konteradmiral Erich Bey with five Narvik-class
destroyers in escort to attack convoy JW55B.
Little did Bey know he was sailing into a carefully laid British
trap. Supporting the convoy over the
horizon steamed Force 2 comprising the
heavy battleship HMS Duke of York
under the command of Admiral Sir Bruce Fraser, together with the light cruiser HMS
Jamaica and four destroyers. Critically, HMS
Duke of York was armed with ten fourteen inch guns and equipped with the
latest radar technology. Directly
supporting the convoy was Force 1
comprising a heavy cruiser HMS Norfolk
armed with eight eight-inch guns, two two light cruisers HMS Belfast and HMS Sheffield,
and four destroyers under the command of Vice-Admiral Robert Burnett.
At 0900
hours on 26 December the Scharnhorst,
shorn of its destroyers unable to cope with the mountainous seas, engaged Force 1.
Twice during the subsequent hours Burnett anticipated Bey’s moves and beat
the Scharnhorst off even though the
British cruisers' guns were no match for the eleven inch guns of the German battle-cruiser. Critically, during these early engagements Scharnhorst lost what limited radar
capability she possessed.
All this
time HMS Duke of York was closing the
Scharnhorst. At 1648 hours HMS Belfast fired star shell illuminating Scharnhorst fore and aft and HMS
Duke of York opened fire at the short-range of 11900 yards (10900 metres). Using her Type 284M radar gunnery control
system she straddled and hit the German battle-cruiser with her first
salvo. Thereafter, thirty-one of fifty-two radar-controlled salvoes straddled and hit Scharnhorst. The Scharnhorst was caught so completely unawares
of the British battleship’s presence that her main armament was trained fore
and aft. Petty Officer Godde, one of 36
survivors from a crew of 1968 (11 British sailors died on HMS Saumarez) said later that the first time the Scharnhorst realised she was under
attack from a British heavy battleship was when enormous waterspouts erupted around her. These could
only have come from the heaviest of guns.
Scharnhorst used her superior speed
to escape the trap laid by an enemy that now numbered one battleship, four cruisers
and some eight destroyers. However, as
the range opened between HMS Duke of York
and the Scharnhorst so did the plunging
power of the British fourteen inch shells.
At 1820 hours a shell plunged deep into Scharnhorst’s vitals and destroyed No. 1 boiler room drastically
reducing her speed to ten knots. Scharnhorst’s fate was sealed.
Scharnhorst was steadily-overhauled
and at 1825 hours Bey sent the forlorn signal “We shall fight on till the last
shell is fired”. By 1850 hours Scharnhorst was surrounded by British
ships which were pouring fire into her at close range. She was pummelled to destruction.
Admiral
Fraser later said that Scharnhorst’s last
hour was most distasteful. However,
living up to the honour of the Germany Navy and her own motto “Scharnhorst
immer Vorwaerts”, the beautiful German battle-cruiser refused to
surrender. At 1945 hours she eventually
sank given the coup de grace by
torpedoes from the Norwegian destroyer Stord
and HMS Scorpion. Fraser sent the succinct message to the
Admiralty “Scharnhorst sunk”. “Grand well done”, came back the reply.
The
destruction of the Scharnhorst marked the effective end of the challenge of
Germany’s once powerful surface fleet.
The German battleship KM Tirpitz
lay broken in Tromso Fjord badly damaged by a British midget-submarine attack
earlier in 1943. She would never fight
again. On 12 November 1944 the RAF
Lancaster’s of 617 Dambusters
Squadron, under the command of Wing Commander J.B. Tait, sank her with twelve
thousand pound Tallboy bombs. Scharnhorst’s sister-ships Admiral Scheer and Gneisenau were holed up in the Baltic and would never again pose a
threat.
Relevance
today? Any military worthy of its duty
must have high-end military capability that properly combines eyes, ears, speed,
firepower and protection. Scharnhorst sacrificed armour and firepower
for speed. However, with her new radar HMS
Duke of York negated the very concept of the battle-cruiser proving how
quickly military systems can become obsolete as the electronic age of warfare dawned.
The KM Scharnhorst fought with the
professionalism and honour one would expect from the German Navy and which one
sees in today’s German Navy. On the
evening of the battle Admiral Fraser said to his officers, “Gentlemen, the
battle against Scharnhorst has ended
in victory for us. I hope that if any of
you are ever called upon to lead a ship into action against an enemy many times
superior, you will command your ship as gallantly as Scharnhorst was commanded today”.
This note
is in honour of the men of both sides who fought and died in the icy seas off
Norway’s North Cape seventy years ago today and the men and women of the modern
Royal Navy and German Navy…friends and allies.
The Battle
of North Cape was a tragedy of war, but it was war and it had to be fought and
won. The battle is still with us
today. HMS Belfast is moored at peace opposite the Tower of London her
guns pointing protectively northwards over the great city.
Julian
Lindley-French
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.