German Battleship Scharnhorst

''Scharnhorst'' was a German capital ship, alternatively described as a battleship or battlecruiser, of Nazi Germany's ''Kriegsmarine''. She was the lead ship of her class, which included her sister ship . The ship was built at the ''Kriegsmarinewerft'' dockyard in Wilhelmshaven; she was laid down on 15 June 1935 and launched a year and four months later on 3 October 1936. Completed in January 1939, the ship was armed with a main battery of nine 28 cm (11 in) C/34 guns in three triple turrets. Plans to replace these weapons with six 38 cm (15 in) SK C/34 guns in twin turrets were never carried out.

''Scharnhorst'' and ''Gneisenau'' operated together for much of the early portion of World War II, including sorties into the Atlantic to raid British merchant shipping. During her first operation, ''Scharnhorst'' sank the armed merchant in a short engagement (November 1939). ''Scharnhorst'' and ''Gneisenau'' participated in Operation Weserübung (April–June 1940), the German invasion of Norway. During operations off Norway, the two ships engaged the battlecruiser and sank the aircraft carrier as well as her escort destroyers and . In that engagement ''Scharnhorst'' achieved one of the longest-range naval gunfire hits in history.

In early 1942, after British bombing raids, the two ships made the Channel Dash up the English Channel from occupied France to Germany. In early 1943, ''Scharnhorst'' joined the in Norway to interdict Allied convoys to the Soviet Union. ''Scharnhorst'' and several destroyers sortied from Norway to attack a convoy but British naval patrols intercepted the German force. During the Battle of the North Cape (26 December 1943), the Royal Navy battleship and her escorts sank ''Scharnhorst''. Only 36 men survived, out of a crew of 1,968.

Design

''Scharnhorst'' displaced at standard displacement and at full load. She was long overall and had a beam of and a maximum draft of . She was powered by three Brown, Boveri & Cie geared steam turbines, which developed a total of and yielded a maximum speed of on speed trials. Her standard crew numbered 56 officers and 1,613 enlisted men, augmented during the war to 60 officers and 1,780 men. While serving as a squadron flagship, ''Scharnhorst'' carried an additional 10 officers and 61 enlisted men.

She was armed with a main battery of nine 28 cm (11.1 in) L/54.5 guns arranged in three triple gun turrets: two turrets were placed forward in a superfiring arrangement (Anton and Bruno), and one aft (Caesar). The design also enabled the ship to be up-gunned with six 15-inch guns, which never took place. Her secondary armament consisted of twelve 15 cm (5.9 in) L/55 guns, eight of which were placed in two-gun turrets and the remaining four were carried in individual turrets. Her anti-aircraft armament consisted of fourteen 10.5 cm L/65 and sixteen SK C/30 L/83, and initially ten C/30 anti-aircraft guns. The number of 2 cm guns was eventually increased to thirty-eight. Six above-water torpedo tubes, taken from the light cruisers and , were installed in 1942.

''Scharnhorst'' had an armor belt that was thick in the central portion, where it protected the ship's ammunition magazines and propulsion machinery spaces. The ship had an armored deck that was thick on the flat portion, increasing to on downward-sloping sides that connected to the bottom of the belt. Her main battery turrets had of armor on their faces and on their sides. The conning tower was protected with 350 mm on the sides.

Commanding officers

At her commissioning, ''Scharnhorst'' was commanded by ''Kapitän zur See'' (''KzS'') Otto Ciliax. His tenure as the ship's commander was brief; in September 1939, an illness forced him to go on sick leave, and he was replaced by ''KzS'' Kurt-Caesar Hoffmann. Hoffmann served as the ship's captain until 1942. On 1 April 1942, Hoffmann, who had been promoted to ''Konteradmiral'' (Rear Admiral) and awarded the Knight's Cross, transferred command of the ship to ''KzS'' Friedrich Hüffmeier. In October 1943, shortly before ''Scharnhorst''s last mission, Hüffmeier was replaced by ''KzS'' Fritz Hintze, who was killed during the ship's final battle.

Service history

''Scharnhorst'' was ordered as ''Ersatz Elsass'' as a replacement for the old pre-dreadnought , under the contract name "D." The ''Kriegsmarinewerft'' in Wilhelmshaven was awarded the contract, where the keel was laid on 16 July 1935. The ship was launched on 3 October 1936, witnessed by Adolf Hitler, Minister of War Generalfeldmarschall Werner von Blomberg, and the widow of ''Kapitän zur See'' Schultz, the commander of the armored cruiser , which had been sunk at the Battle of the Falkland Islands during World War I. Fitting-out work followed her launch, and was completed by January 1939. ''Scharnhorst'' was commissioned into the fleet on 9 January for sea trials, which revealed a dangerous tendency to ship considerable amounts of water in heavy seas. This caused flooding in the bow and damaged electrical systems in the forward gun turret. As a result, she went back to the dockyard for extensive modification of the bow. The original straight stem was replaced with a raised "Atlantic bow." A raked funnel cap was also installed during the reconstruction, along with an enlarged aircraft hangar; the main mast was also moved further aft. The modifications were completed by November 1939, by which time the ship was finally fully operational.

''Scharnhorst''s first operation began on 21 November 1939; the ship, in company with her sister , the light cruiser , and nine destroyers, was to patrol the area between Iceland and the Faroe Islands. The intent of the operation was to draw out British units and ease the pressure on the heavy cruiser ("pocket battleship") , which was being pursued in the South Atlantic. Two days later, the German flotilla intercepted the British armed merchant cruiser . At 16:07, lookouts aboard ''Scharnhorst'' spotted the vessel, and less than an hour later ''Scharnhorst'' had closed the range. At 17:03, ''Scharnhorst'' opened fire, and three minutes later a salvo of her 28 cm guns hit ''Rawalpindi''s bridge, killing the captain Edward Coverly Kennedy, and the majority of the officers. During the brief engagement, ''Rawalpindi'' managed to score a hit on ''Scharnhorst'', which caused minor splinter damage.

By 17:16, ''Rawalpindi'' was burning badly and in the process of sinking. Admiral Wilhelm Marschall, aboard ''Gneisenau'', ordered ''Scharnhorst'' to pick up survivors. These rescue operations were interrupted by the appearance of the cruiser . The German force quickly fled north before using inclement weather to make the dash south through the North Sea. Four Allied capital ships, the British , and , and the French ''Dunkerque'', followed in pursuit. The Germans reached Wilhelmshaven on 27 November, and on the trip both battleships incurred significant damage from heavy seas and winds. ''Scharnhorst'' was repaired in Wilhelmshaven, and while in dock, her boilers were overhauled.

Following the completion of repairs, ''Scharnhorst'' went into the Baltic Sea for gunnery training. Heavy ice in the Baltic kept the ship there until February 1940 when she could return to Wilhelmshaven, arriving on 5 February. Between 18 February and 20 February, she participated in Operation Nordmark, a brief sortie into the North Sea as far as the Shetland Islands.

Operation Weserübung

She was then assigned to the forces participating in Operation Weserübung, the invasion of Denmark and Norway. ''Scharnhorst'' and ''Gneisenau'' were the covering force for the assaults on Narvik and Trondheim; the two ships left Wilhelmshaven on the morning of 7 April. They were joined by the heavy cruiser . Later that day, at around 14:30, the three ships came under attack by a force of British bombers, which failed to make any hits. Heavy winds caused significant structural damage that evening, and flooding contaminated a portion of ''Scharnhorst''s fuel stores.

At 09:15 the following morning, ''Admiral Hipper'' was detached to reinforce the destroyers at Narvik, which had reported engaging British forces. Early on 9 April, the two ships encountered the British battlecruiser HMS ''Renown''. ''Gneisenau''s Seetakt radar picked up a radar contact at 04:30, which prompted the crews of both vessels to go to combat stations. Half an hour later, ''Scharnhorst''s navigator spotted gun flashes from firing at ''Gneisenau''; the Germans returned fire three minutes later. ''Gneisenau'' was hit twice in the opening portion of the engagement, and one shell disabled her rear gun turret. ''Scharnhorst''s radar malfunctioned, which prevented her from being able to effectively engage ''Renown'' during the battle. At 05:18, the British battlecruiser shifted fire to ''Scharnhorst'', which maneuvered to avoid the falling shells. By 07:15, ''Scharnhorst'' and ''Gneisenau'' had used their superior speed to escape from the pursuing ''Renown''. Heavy seas and the high speed with which the pair of battleships escaped caused them to ship large amounts of water forward. ''Scharnhorst''s forward turret was put out of action by severe flooding. Mechanical problems with her starboard turbines developed after running at full speed, which forced the ships to reduce speed to .

''Scharnhorst'' and ''Gneisenau'' had reached a point north-west of Lofoten, Norway, by 12:00 on 9 April. The two ships then turned west for 24 hours while temporary repairs were effected. After a day of steaming west, the ships turned south and rendezvoused with ''Admiral Hipper'' on 12 April. An RAF patrol aircraft spotted the three ships that day, which prompted an air attack. The German warships were protected by poor visibility, however, and the three ships safely reached port later that day. ''Scharnhorst'' returned to Germany, and was repaired at the Deutsche Werke in Kiel. During the repair process, the aircraft catapult that had been installed on the rear gun turret was removed.

Operation Juno

The two ships left Wilhelmshaven on 4 June to return to Norway. They were joined by ''Admiral Hipper'' and four destroyers. The purpose of the sortie was to interrupt Allied efforts to resupply the Norwegians and to relieve the pressure on German troops fighting in Norway. On 7 June, the squadron rendezvoused with the tanker to refuel ''Admiral Hipper'' and the four destroyers. The next day, the British trawler was discovered and sunk, along with the oil tanker ''Oil Pioneer''. The Germans then launched their Arado 196 float planes to search for more Allied vessels. ''Admiral Hipper'' and the destroyers were sent to destroy ''Orama'', a passenger ship, while ''Atlantis'', a hospital ship, was allowed to proceed unmolested. Admiral Marschall detached ''Admiral Hipper'' and the four destroyers to refuel in Trondheim, while he would steam to the Harstad area.

At 17:45, the German battleships spotted the British aircraft carrier and two escorting destroyers, and , at a range of some . At 18:32 ''Scharnhorst'' (as the closer ship) opened fire with her main armament on ''Glorious'', at a range of . Six minutes after opening fire, ''Scharnhorst'' scored a hit at a range of . The shell struck the carrier's upper hangar and started a large fire. Less than ten minutes later, a shell from ''Gneisenau'' struck the bridge and killed ''Glorious''s captain. The two destroyers attempted to cover ''Glorious'' with smoke screens, but the German battleships could track the carrier with their radar. By 18:26 the range had fallen to , and ''Scharnhorst'' and ''Gneisenau'' were firing full salvos at the carrier. After approximately an hour of shooting, the German battleships sent ''Glorious'' to the bottom. They also sank the two destroyers. As ''Acasta'' sank, one of the 4 torpedoes she had fired hit ''Scharnhorst'' at 19:39. ''Acasta'' also hit ''Scharnhorst''s forward superfiring turret with her 4.7" QF guns, which did negligible damage. The torpedo hit caused serious damage; it tore a hole and allowed of water into the ship. The rear turret was disabled and 48 men were killed. The flooding caused a 5 degree list, increased the stern draft by almost a meter, and forced ''Scharnhorst'' to reduce speed to . The ship's machinery was also significantly damaged by the flooding, and the starboard propeller shaft was destroyed.

The damage was severe enough to force ''Scharnhorst'' to put into Trondheim for temporary repairs. She reached port on the afternoon of 9 June, where the repair ship ''Huaskaran'' was waiting. The following day a reconnaissance plane from RAF Coastal Command spotted the ship, and a raid by twelve Hudson bombers took place on 11 June. The Hudsons dropped thirty-six armor-piercing bombs, which all missed. The Royal Navy joined in the attacks on the ship by sending the battleship ''Rodney'' and the aircraft carrier . On 13 June, ''Ark Royal'' launched fifteen Skua dive bombers; German fighters intercepted the attackers and shot eight of them down. The other seven made it past the air defenses and attacked ''Scharnhorst'', but only scored one hit, and the bomb failed to detonate. Preliminary repairs were completed by 20 June, which permitted the ship to return to Germany. While ''Scharnhorst'' was en route under heavy escort on 21 June, the British launched two air attacks, six Swordfish torpedo bombers in the first and nine Beaufort bombers in the second. Both were driven off by anti-aircraft fire and fighters. The Germans intercepted British radio traffic that indicated the Royal Navy was at sea, which prompted ''Scharnhorst'' to make for Stavanger. British warships were within of ''Scharnhorst''s position when she turned to Stavanger. The next day, ''Scharnhorst'' left Stavanger for Kiel, where repairs were carried out, lasting some six months.

Operation Berlin

Following the completion of repairs, ''Scharnhorst'' underwent trials in the Baltic before returning to Kiel in December 1940. There she joined ''Gneisenau'', in preparation for Operation Berlin, a planned raid into the Atlantic Ocean designed to wreak havoc on the Allied shipping lanes. Severe storms caused damage to ''Gneisenau'' but ''Scharnhorst'' was undamaged. The two ships were forced to put into port during the storm: ''Scharnhorst'' went to Gotenhafen while ''Gneisenau'' went to Kiel for repairs. Repairs were quickly completed, and on 22 January 1941, the two ships, under the command of Admiral Günther Lütjens, left port for the North Atlantic. They were detected in the Skagerrak and the heavy units of the British Home Fleet deployed to cover the passage between Iceland and the Faroes. The Germans' radar detected the British at long range, which allowed Lütjens to avoid the British patrols, with the aid of a squall. By 3 February, the two battleships had evaded the last British cruiser patrol, and had broken into the open Atlantic.

On 6 February, the two ships refueled from the tanker ''Schlettstadt'' south of Cape Farewell. Shortly after 08:30 on 8 February, lookouts spotted convoy HX 106, escorted by the battleship . Lütjens' orders prohibited him from engaging Allied capital ships, and so the attack was called off. ''Scharnhorst''s commander, ''KzS'' Hoffmann, however, closed to in an attempt to lure ''Ramillies'' away from the convoy so that ''Gneisenau'' could attack the convoy. Lütjens ordered Hoffmann to rejoin the flagship immediately. The two battleships steamed off to the northwest to search for more shipping. On 22 February, the pair spotted an empty convoy sailing west, which dispersed at the appearance of the battleships. ''Scharnhorst'' managed to sink only one ship during the encounter, the 6000 ton tanker ''Lustrous''.

Lütjens then decided to move to a new area, as the surviving members of the dispersed convoy had sent distress signals. He chose the Cape Town-Gibraltar convoy route, and positioned himself to the northwest of Cape Verde. The two ships encountered convoy SL 67, escorted by the battleship , on 8 March. Lütjens again forbade an attack, but he shadowed the convoy and directed U-boats to attack. A pair of U-boats sank a total of 28,488 tons of shipping on the night of 8–9 March. ''Malaya'' turned on the two battleships and closed to , well within the range of the Germans' guns, but Lütjens refused to be drawn into an engagement. He instead turned toward the mid-Atlantic, where ''Scharnhorst'' sank the Greek cargo ship ''Marathon''. The two ships then refueled from the tankers ''Uckermark'' and ''Ermland'' on 12 March.

On 15 March, the two battleships, with the two tankers in company, encountered a dispersed convoy in the mid-Atlantic. ''Scharnhorst'' sank two ships. Several days later, the main body of the convoy was located, and ''Scharnhorst'' sank another seven ships totaling 27,277 tons. One of the surviving ships radioed the location of the German battleships, which summoned the powerful British battleships ''Rodney'' and . ''Scharnhorst'' and ''Gneisenau'' used their high speed to escape in a squall, and the intervention by the British battleships convinced Lütjens that the chances of further success were small. He therefore decided to head for Brest in occupied France, which the ships reached on 22 March. Throughout the operation, ''Scharnhorst'' had difficulties with the superheater tubes in her boilers. Repair work lasted until July, which caused the ship to be unavailable during Operation Rheinübung, the sortie by the new battleship in May 1941.

Air raid on 24 July 1941

After repairs were completed in July, ''Scharnhorst'' went to La Pallice for trials on the 21st, where she easily steamed at . She did not return to Brest to avoid an undesirable concentration of heavy units in one port (the ''Prinz Eugen'' had arrived there on 21 July) but moored alongside at La Pallice on 23 July. The RAF had planned a large, complicated raid on the capital ships in Brest for the night of 24 July, but an aerial reconnaissance photograp

of ''Scharnhorst'' in her berth at La Pallice caused a last minute alteration to the operation. The Handley Page Halifax, Halifax heavy bombers of No. 35 Squadron RAF and No. 76 Squadron RAF flew the extra to reach ''Scharnhorst'' and the rest of the raid on Brest went ahead as planned, with ''Prinz Eugen'' and ''Gneisenau'' as their principal targets. The 15 Halifaxes attacked ''Scharnhorst'' at her moorings. They scored five hits in an almost straight line on the starboard side, parallel to the centerline. Three of the bombs were armor-piercing bombs, and the other two were high-explosive bombs. One of the 227 kg bombs hit the deck just forward of the starboard 15 cm twin turret next to the conning tower. It passed through the upper and middle decks before exploding on the main armored deck, which contained the blast. The joints with the torpedo bulkhead were weakened enough to cause leaking. The second 227 kg bomb fell forward of the rear main battery turret and penetrated the first two decks. It also exploded on the armored deck and tore a small hole in it. The explosion caused splinter damage and disabled the ammunition hoists for the 37 mm anti-aircraft guns.

Two of the 454 kg bombs hit amidships between the 15 cm and 10.5 cm gun turrets; both failed to explode and instead penetrated the ship completely. The first went through each deck and exited the ship through the double bottom, while the other was deflected by the torpedo bulkhead and penetrated the hull beneath the side belt armor. The third 454 kg bomb hit aft of the rear 28 cm turret, about from the side of the ship. It too failed to detonate, and passed through the side of the hull, which was not protected by the main armor belt. These three hits caused significant flooding and an 8 degree list to starboard. The forward and rear gun turrets were temporarily disabled, along with half of her anti-aircraft battery. Two men were killed and fifteen were injured in the attack. Damage-control teams managed to correct the list with counter-flooding, and although draft increased by , ''Scharnhorst'' was able to leave for Brest at 19:30. On the morning of 25 July, one of the escorting destroyers shot down a British patrol plane. The ship reached Brest later that day and went into dry dock for repairs, which took 4 months. While the damage was being repaired, a new radar system was installed aft, the power output for the forward radar was increased to 100 kW, and the 53.3 cm torpedo tubes were installed.

The strategic position following the damage to ''Scharnhorst'' was serious. ''Gneisenau'' was still being repaired following torpedo damage on 6 April and bomb damage on 9–10 April. The ''Prinz Eugen'' had been seriously damaged by a bomb on 1 July. ''Bismarck'' had been sunk on 27 May. All German capital ships deployed to the Atlantic were therefore out of action. In addition, ''Tirpitz'' was still working up and not ready for service; ''Lützow'' had been seriously damaged by a torpedo on 13 June 1941; ''Admiral Scheer'' and ''Admiral Hipper'' were in dockyards for maintenance.

Operation Cerberus

On 12 January 1942, the German Naval Command, in a conference with Hitler, made the decision to return ''Scharnhorst'', ''Gneisenau'', and the heavy cruiser ''Prinz Eugen'' to Germany. The intention was to deploy the vessels to Norway to interdict Allied convoys to the Soviet Union. The so-called "Channel Dash", codenamed Operation Cerberus, would avoid the increasingly effective Allied radar and patrol aircraft in the Atlantic. Vice Admiral Otto Ciliax, ''Scharnhorst''s first commander, was given command of the operation. In early February, minesweepers swept a route through the English Channel undetected by the British.

At 23:00 on 11 February, ''Scharnhorst'', ''Gneisenau'', and ''Prinz Eugen'' left Brest. They entered the Channel an hour later; the three ships sped at , hugging the French coast along the voyage. The British failed to detect their departure, as the submarine that had been tasked with observing the port had withdrawn to recharge its batteries. By 06:30, they had passed Cherbourg, at which point they were joined by a flotilla of torpedo boats. The torpedo boats were led by ''Kapitän'' Erich Bey, aboard the destroyer . ''General der Jagdflieger'' (General of Fighter Force) Adolf Galland directed Luftwaffe fighter and bomber forces (Operation Donnerkeil) during ''Cerberus''. The fighters flew at masthead-height to avoid detection by the British radar network. Liaison officers were present on all three ships. German aircraft arrived later to jam British radar with chaff. By 13:00, the ships had cleared the Strait of Dover; half an hour later, a flight of six Swordfish torpedo bombers, with Spitfire escort, attacked the Germans. The British failed to penetrate the Luftwaffe fighter shield, and all six Swordfish were destroyed.

''Scharnhorst'' did not make the voyage unscathed, however; at 15:31 she struck an air-dropped magnetic mine in the mouth of the Scheldt, abreast of the forward superfiring turret. The blast damaged the ship's circuit breakers and knocked out her electrical system for 20 minutes. The explosive shock caused serious damage; turret Bruno was jammed, as were the twin and single 15 cm mounts on the port side. The blast also damaged the fuel oil pumps and the bearings in the turbo-generators, which brought the ship to a halt. The power outage disabled the emergency shut-off switches to the boilers and turbines, which could not be turned off until power was restored. The explosion tore a large gash in the side of the hull and allowed of water into the ship, flooding 30 watertight spaces within five main watertight compartments. ''Scharnhorst'' took on a list of one degree and was down by the bows by a meter.

While the ship was immobilized, Admiral Ciliax transferred to ''Z29''. The engine room crews managed to restart the first turbine at 15:49, nearly twenty minutes after the mine explosion. The second and third turbines were restarted at 15:55 and 16:01, respectively, which permitted a speed of . At around the time the last turbine was restarted, a single bomber dropped several bombs approximately off ''Scharnhorst''s port side, which caused no damage. Once the ship was back under way, twelve Beauforts launched a 10-minute attack that was beaten off by anti-aircraft fire and the escorting Luftwaffe fighters. The British carried out a series of attacks that were all unsuccessful; ''Scharnhorst''s anti-aircraft guns were red-hot by the end of the action, and one 20 mm gun had burst from the strain.

The ship struck another mine off Terschelling on the starboard side at 22:34. The mine briefly knocked out the power system and temporarily disabled the rudders. Two of the three turbines were jammed, and the third had to be turned off. Another tons of water flooded ten watertight spaces in four main compartments. Only the centerline shaft was operational, which permitted a speed of only . Partial power was eventually restored to the starboard turbine, which allowed speed to be increased to . The shock damaged the rotating parts of all of the ship's gun turrets, and three of the 15 cm turrets were seriously jammed. By 08:00, ''Scharnhorst'' had reached the Jade Bight but ice prevented the ship from entering Wilhelmshaven. While waiting outside the port, Admiral Ciliax returned to the ship. The ice had been cleared by noon, permitting ''Scharnhorst''s entrance to Wilhelmshaven. Two days later, ''Scharnhorst'' went to Kiel for permanent repairs. Work was conducted in a floating dry dock and lasted until July 1942. Afterward, another round of trials were conducted in the Baltic, which revealed the necessity of replacing several of the boiler tubes.

Deployment to Norway

In early August 1942, ''Scharnhorst'' conducted exercises in cooperation with several U-boats. During the maneuvers, she collided with the , which caused damage that necessitated dry-docking for repairs. Work was completed by September, and the ship conducted further training in the Baltic. ''Scharnhorst'' steamed to Gotenhafen in late October for a new rudder, the design of which was based on the lessons learned from the torpedoing of ''Prinz Eugen'' and ''Lützow'' earlier in the year. Boiler and turbine troubles kept the ship in Germany for the remainder of 1942. By December, only two of the three shafts were operational and a complete overhaul of the propulsion system was required. In early January 1943, the ship was back in service, and after trials, left Germany on 7 January in company with ''Prinz Eugen'' and five destroyers. Reports of heavy activity in British airfields near the coast prompted the force to return to port, however. Another attempt to reach Norway was canceled under similar circumstances. On 8 March, however, poor weather grounded the British bombers, and so ''Scharnhorst'' and four destroyers were able to make the journey to Norway. A severe storm off Bergen forced the destroyers to seek shelter but ''Scharnhorst'' was able to continue on at the reduced speed of . At 16:00 on 14 March, ''Scharnhorst'' dropped anchor in Bogen Bay outside Narvik. There she met ''Lützow'' and the battleship .

On 22 March, ''Scharnhorst'', ''Tirpitz'', and ''Lützow'' steamed to Altafjord for repairs to damage incurred in heavy storms. In early April, ''Scharnhorst'', ''Tirpitz'', and nine destroyers conducted a training mission to Bear Island in the Arctic Ocean. On the 8th, a serious internal explosion occurred in the aft auxiliary machinery space above the armor deck. The explosion killed or injured 34 men and prompted the crew to flood the magazines for turret Caesar as a precaution against a magazine explosion. A repair ship completed work on the vessel in two weeks. Fuel shortages prevented major operations for the next six months, during which ''Scharnhorst'' was able to conduct only short training maneuvers.

''Scharnhorst'', ''Tirpitz'', and nine destroyers embarked from Altafjord on an offensive on 6 September known as Operation Zitronella; the ships were tasked with bombarding the island of Spitzbergen. During the operation, ''Scharnhorst'' destroyed a battery of two guns and shelled fuel tanks, coal mines, harbor facilities, and military installations. Of particular importance was the weather station that was transmitting weather information to the Allies, which was used to schedule convoys to the Soviet Union. The destroyers landed some 1,000 troops, which pushed the Norwegian garrison into the mountains, completing the mission without major loss. On 22 September, a pair of British X-craft mini-submarines attacked and seriously damaged ''Tirpitz'', which reduced the Arctic Task Force to ''Scharnhorst'' and her five escorting destroyers.

On 25 November 1943 ''Scharnhorst'' carried out a two-hour full-power trial achieving and it was noted that her draught had increased by over from her 1940 trials where she had attained .

Battle of the North Cape

With the rapidly deteriorating military situation for the German Army on the Eastern Front, it became increasingly important to interrupt the flow of supplies from the Western Allies to the Soviet Union. By December 1943, the German Army was forced into continuous retreat. The Luftwaffe had been seriously weakened by four long years of war, and increasing Allied anti-submarine capabilities were steadily degrading the effectiveness of the U-boats. The only effective weapon at the disposal of the Germans in Norway was ''Scharnhorst''—''Tirpitz'' was badly damaged, and the four remaining heavy cruisers were committed to the Baltic. During a conference with Hitler on 19–20 December, ''Großadmiral'' Karl Dönitz decided to employ ''Scharnhorst'' against the next Allied convoy that presented itself. Erich Bey, by now promoted to ''Konteradmiral'', was given command of the task force.

On 22 December Dönitz ordered Bey to be ready to go to sea on a three-hour notice. Later that day, reconnaissance aircraft located a convoy of some 20 transports escorted by cruisers and destroyers approximately west of Tromsø. The convoy was spotted again two days later, and it was determined that the course was definitively toward the Soviet Union. A U-boat reported the convoy's location at 09:00 on 25 December, and Dönitz ordered ''Scharnhorst'' into action. In his instructions to Bey, Dönitz advised him to break off the engagement if presented with superior forces, but to remain aggressive. Bey planned to attack the convoy at 10:00 on 26 December if the conditions were favorable for the attack. At this time of year, there was only 45 minutes of full daylight and six hours of twilight, which significantly limited Bey's operational freedom. The Germans were concerned with developments in Allied radar-directed fire control, which allowed British battleships to fire with great accuracy in the darkness; German radar capabilities lagged behind those of their opponents.

''Scharnhorst'' and her five destroyers left port at around 19:00 and were in the open sea four hours later. At 03:19, Bey received instructions from the Fleet Command that ''Scharnhorst'' was to conduct the attack alone if heavy seas interfered with the destroyers' ability to fight. Unbeknown to the Germans, the British were able to read the ciphered Enigma radio transmissions between ''Scharnhorst'' and the Fleet Command; Admirals Robert Burnett and Bruce Fraser were aware of Bey's plan for the attack on the convoy and could position their forces accordingly. At 07:03, ''Scharnhorst'' was some southwest of Bear Island when she made a turn that would put her in position to attack the convoy at 10:00. Admiral Burnett, commanding the three cruisers , , and escorting Convoy JW 55B, placed his ships between the convoy and ''Scharnhorst''s expected direction of attack. Fraser in the powerful battleship , along with the cruiser and four destroyers, moved to a position southwest of ''Scharnhorst'' to block a possible escape attempt.

An hour after making the turn, Bey deployed his destroyers in a line screening ''Scharnhorst'', which remained behind. Half an hour later, ''Scharnhorst''s loudspeakers called the crew to battle stations in preparation for the attack. At 08:40, ''Belfast'' picked up ''Scharnhorst'' on her radar. Unaware that they had been detected, the Germans had turned off their radar to prevent the British from picking up on the signals. At 09:21, ''Belfast''s lookouts spotted ''Scharnhorst'' at a range of . The cruiser opened fire three minutes later, followed by ''Norfolk'' two minutes after. ''Scharnhorst'' fired a salvo from turret Caesar before turning and increasing speed to disengage from the cruisers. The battleship was hit twice by 20.3 cm (8 in) shells; the first failed to explode and caused negligible damage, but the second struck the forward rangefinders and destroyed the radar antenna. The aft radar, which possessed only a limited forward arc, was the ship's only remaining radar capability.

''Scharnhorst'' turned south and attempted to work around the cruisers, but the superior British radar prevented Bey from successfully carrying out the maneuver. By 12:00, ''Scharnhorst'' was to the northeast of the convoy, but ''Belfast'' had reestablished radar contact; it took the cruisers twenty minutes to close the range and begin firing. ''Scharnhorst'' detected the cruisers with her aft radar and opened fire with her main battery guns before turning away to disengage a second time. Shortly before 12:25, ''Scharnhorst'' hit ''Norfolk'' twice with 28 cm shells. The first shell hit the forward superstructure and disabled ''Norfolk''s gunnery radar. The second 28 cm round struck the ship's "X" barbette and disabled the turret. ''Scharnhorst'' then turned again and increased speed, in the hopes of escaping the cruisers and finding the convoy. Burnett chose to keep his distance and shadow ''Scharnhorst'' with radar while Fraser made his way to the scene in ''Duke of York''. Meanwhile, the five German destroyers continued searching for the convoy without success. At 13:15, Bey decided to return to base, and at 13:43, he dismissed the destroyers and instructed them to return to port.

At 16:17, ''Duke of York'' made radar contact with ''Scharnhorst''; thirty minutes later, ''Belfast'' illuminated the German battleship with star shells. At 16:50, ''Duke of York'' opened fire at a range of ; ''Scharnhorst'' quickly returned the fire. Five minutes after opening fire, one of ''Duke of York''s 14 in (35.6 cm) shells struck ''Scharnhorst'' abreast of her forward gun turret. The shell hit jammed the turret's training gears, putting it out of action. Shell splinters started a fire in the ammunition magazine, which forced the Germans to flood both forward magazines to prevent an explosion. The water was quickly drained from turret Bruno's magazine. The ship was now fighting with only two-thirds of her main battery. Shortly thereafter, another 14 in shell struck the ventilation trunk attached to Bruno, which caused the turret to be flooded with noxious propellant gases every time the breeches were opened. A third shell hit the deck next to turret Caesar and caused some flooding; shell splinters caused significant casualties. At 17:30, shells struck the forward 15 cm gun turrets and destroyed them both.

At around 18:00, another 14 in shell struck the ship on the starboard side, passed through the thin upper belt armor, and exploded in the number 1 boiler room. It caused significant damage to the ship's propulsion system and slowed the ship to . Temporary repairs allowed ''Scharnhorst'' to return to . She managed to add to the distance between her and ''Duke of York'', while straddling the ship with several salvos. Shell splinters rained on ''Duke of York'' and disabled the fire-control radar.

At 18:42, ''Duke of York'' ceased fire, having fired 52 salvos and having scored at least 13 hits, but ''Scharnhorst'' was pulling away. Many of these hits had badly damaged the ship's secondary armament, which left her open to destroyer attacks, which Fraser ordered. The destroyers and launched a total of eight torpedoes at 18:50, four of which hit. One torpedo exploded abreast of turret Bruno, which caused it to jam. The second torpedo hit the ship on the port side and caused some minor flooding, and the third struck toward the rear of the ship and damaged the port propeller shaft. The fourth hit the ship in the bow. The torpedoes slowed ''Scharnhorst'' to , which allowed ''Duke of York'' to close to . With only turret Caesar operational, all available men were sent to retrieve ammunition from the forward turrets to keep the last heavy guns supplied. Fraser then ordered ''Jamaica'' and ''Belfast'' to move into range and finish the crippled ship off with torpedoes. After several more torpedo hits, ''Scharnhorst'' settled further into the water and began to list to starboard. At 19:45, the ship went down by the bow, with her propellers still slowly turning. British ships began searching for survivors, but were soon ordered away after just a few were pulled out of the water even though voices could still be heard calling for help from the darkness. Of the crew of 1,968 officers and enlisted men, only 36 men survived.

Wreck discovery

In September 2000, a joint expedition to find the sunken battleship conducted by the BBC
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