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Battle of the Atlantic · United Kingdom, Canada and Norway vs Germany

Battle of the North Cape

26 December 1943

Scharnhorst sailed to attack convoy JW 55B and was twice driven off by the cruisers Belfast, Norfolk and Sheffield. Retreating, she was caught by the battleship Duke of York, slowed by gunfire and sunk by torpedoes in the Arctic dark. Thirty-six of 1,968 men survived.

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— Scharnhorst

Scharnhorst leaves Altafjord on Christmas night under Rear-Admiral Bey to attack convoy JW 55B, and sends her five destroyers off to search to the south-west, where they miss everything and are ordered home. Burnett's cruisers Belfast, Norfolk and Sheffield find her by radar at 09:24 in the polar dark, drive her off with gunfire that wrecks her forward radar, and, when she works round to the north to try again, meet her a second time at 12:21 and drive her off for good. Bey turns for home, unaware that Admiral Fraser in Duke of York has cut the corner from the west; Belfast lights her by starshell at 16:48 and the battleship opens fire at 12,000 yards. Slowed by a shell through a boiler room and torpedoed by the destroyers Savage, Saumarez, Scorpion and the Norwegian Stord, Scharnhorst sank at 19:45; 36 men of 1,968 were picked out of the water.

For documentary purposes the German Federal Archive often retained the original image captions, which may be erroneous, biased, obsolete or politically extreme. Schlachtschiff "Scharnhorst" Schlachtschiff "Scharnhorst"
For documentary purposes the German Federal Archive often retained the original image captions, which may be erroneous, biased, obsolete or politically extreme. Schlachtschiff "Scharnhorst" Schlachtschiff "Scharnhorst"UnknownUnknown · CC BY-SA 3.0 de · source
A Warship Which Took Part in the Action Off the North Cape on 31 December 1942. HMS Sheffield, at Greenock, 10 January 1943. Some of the gun's crew of the HMS SHEFFIELD which took part in the battle off the North Cape, 3
A Warship Which Took Part in the Action Off the North Cape on 31 December 1942. HMS Sheffield, at Greenock, 10 January 1943. Some of the gun's crew of the HMS SHEFFIELD which took part in the battle off the North Cape, 3Beadell, S J (Lt) · Public domain · source
For documentary purposes the German Federal Archive often retained the original image captions, which may be erroneous, biased, obsolete or politically extreme. Schlachtschiff "Scharnhorst" Schlachtschiff "Scharnhorst"
For documentary purposes the German Federal Archive often retained the original image captions, which may be erroneous, biased, obsolete or politically extreme. Schlachtschiff "Scharnhorst" Schlachtschiff "Scharnhorst"UnknownUnknown · CC BY-SA 3.0 de · source
Damage to the director of the destroyer HMS SAUMAREZ which received a direct hit from an 11-inch shell during the Battle of North Cape, when the German battlecruiser SCHARNHOST was sunk on 10 January 1943. A close up of
Damage to the director of the destroyer HMS SAUMAREZ which received a direct hit from an 11-inch shell during the Battle of North Cape, when the German battlecruiser SCHARNHOST was sunk on 10 January 1943. A close up of John Alfred Hampton · Public domain · source

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