Battle at sea

While the Italian front made steady gains for the allies and the Russians began their much awaited offensive in the east, the Kriegsmarine once again sought to destroy the much needed Russian convoys to the north of Norway.

The weather in June had been inclement, with a great deal of fog, which allowed the Scharnhorst, which had avoided being sunk in the winter of ’43, to slip her moorings and once again sail to destroy the merchant ships supplying Stalin’s war effort.

The Royal Navy knew the Scharnhorst was at sea and soon she was being trailed by the cruisers Belfast, Sheffield and Norfolk in rough conditions. The german ship turned on her pursuers, but found their gunfire to be accurate, especially that of the Norfolk, who’s 8 inch shells managed to do some serious superficial damage to the German battlecruiser. All the while the battleship Duke of York was closing as fast as she could, but just as the vessel got in range, she was detected by the German surface raider and the Scharnhorst managed to escape into a fog bank.

Later on the 12th June, the weather cleared and Scharnhorst was once again picked up by the three cruisers who closed with her, trying to keep her occupied before the Duke of York arrived again. However the battleship was many miles away and the three cruisers soon got more than they bargained for when the Scharhorst turned on her pursuers, quickly damaging all three vessels.

The Norfolk suffered terribly at the hands of the German 11 inch guns. Soon the flooding from several below the waterline hits became unmanageable and the Norfolk sank. Worse was to follow for the British as Sheffield met a similar fate. She put up a brave fight but was also lost. H.M.S. Belfast, seeing that she was now alone, fled.

Although the Scharnhorst had sunk two ships, she had been severely damaged and only just managed to make it back to port before being intercepted by H.M.S. Duke of York. The Royal Navy wanted revenge, but the vital convoys reached their destination unmolested by the Kriegsmarine surface raider.