The Sinking of Scharnhorst, The Battle of North Cape 1943 - Animated

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A convoy sets sail for the Soviet Union. The feared convoy raider Scharnhorst comes out of the Norwegian Fjords to hunt, but the Royal Navy has laid a trap.
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[@TheOperationsRoom]

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[@wordsshackles441]

It's very entertaining, but you need to cross reference your sources and references with German documents and resources. As it stands, there is a strange aftertaste of BS.

[@beeble2003]

Very disappointed that you're promoting this obvious scam. It's no different from the "pay to name a star" or the "buy land on the moon" scams. Just another company that sells you a worthless certificate that you can put on your wall to show your friends that you're gullible. Think about it: if owning land in Scotland was enough to make you a Lord, everybody who owns a house in Scotland would be a Lord. Notice the weasel words on their website: "Each pack contains one square foot of dedicated land on a private estate". They're not even claiming that you own the land.

[@s1140285]

Thanks for the deal on the title, it's going to make my grandma really happy.

[@beeble2003]

@@s1140285 Please don't. It's just a meaningless certificate. It doesn't make her a Lady. You're not buying her the land. It's a scam.

[@davidprice5180]

@@wordsshackles441 y

[@declanadair734]

Admiral Fraser after the sinking of Scharnhorst in a briefing to his officers on board the Duke of York. "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 opponent many times superior, you will command your ship as gallantly as Scharnhorst was commanded today" this is one of my favourite quotes of the second world war.

[@mattblom3990]

Glad you wrote this quote or I would have, the Scharnhorst and her crew were epic until the last shot.

[@adiborza4131]

Yes form the time when respect and honor where not empty words

[@declanadair734]

adversaries in the most darkest of times still finding respect for their enemy and how they fought. I envy this seamanship.

[@orange_cat]

​@@adiborza4131 No joke, Adi. Today we have pride flags and diversity and gender changes. Great.

[@webby2275]

@@orange_cat Apparently you don't even have the decency to pretend to respect other's. Shame on you.

[@anananandsdsdsds3486]

The efforts of Harold 'Barehands' Bates to repair Duke of York's radar while under way and fighting in a Force 8 gale deserve a mention. He had to climb the mast in those conditions, while under fire, to realign the aerial, which feat of simultaneous acrobatics and engineering won him the Distinguished Service Cross.

[@ARGAR_GAMES]

07

[@alvinoflys7504]

thats friggin amazing

[@ramblingrenegade6346]

Absolute fucking madman, thank you for bringing this up

[@MarcosElMalo2]

@@alvinoflys7504 and rigging amazing.

[@BetterRedThanDead21]

Incredible, thanks for sharing this

[@Aren-1997]

Gotta feel sorry for Admiral Bey here. He saw it was a bad idea from the beginning and wanted to abort but was forced to go, got jumped and lost radar, almost made it out, only to get crippled by a final salvo from DOY, and got annihilated after that, resulting in the sad deaths of thousands of men.

[@BrianC1664]

Yeah, he did an exemplary job with the cards he was dealt, but some hands are just unwinnable.

[@jkN1337]

Well not the first time the Brits won by pure luck when it comes to naval warfare…

[@DenverDiscovery]

@@jkN1337 Funny how the Royal Navy, for centuries, kept getting lucky. 😏

[@ScrogginHausen]

A foolish waste inspired by political ambition, thankfully to the benefit of the allies.

[@daleburrell6273]

​@@BrianC1664 ...YOU SUMMED IT UP PERFECTLY-!!!

[@legit_potato2451]

It’s sad to know that Duke of York wasn’t saved as a museum ship. It’s most notable achievement was sinking the Scharnhorst. Though it also had a small skirmish with the Tirpitz. As well as transported Churchill across the Atlantic to meet FDR. If there were ever two ships that deserved to be museums that never were. It would be both Duke of York and Warspite.

[@AbbyTheAbinator]

Right? It's truly a shame that many mighty ships through history got scrapped or worse, used for testing nukes... I find it appalling. Can't imagine being one of those sailors or captains who sailed those ships, who bet their life's to keeping her safe and vise versa, only to see it nuked. Like couldn't they just assume that a nuke will cause major damage to things near by... -.-' especially for ships with such iconic and national names to them...

[@barbararice6650]

I dunno, maybe it's better to let them go than just rust away 👈😑

[@alexanderleach3365]

IT's a sad shame. 😔

[@9and7]

CRIMINAL. They even sank USS Enterprise. They did what the IJN couldn't. CRIMINAL.

[@MAAAAAAAAAA123]

When was the skirmish against Tirpitz?

[@xx765]

As a reward for participation in this glorious battle, HMS Belfast is still chilling at one of the world's most prestige mooring spot today.

[@gavinmarkert1724]

I've visited HMS Belfast, such an amazing ship!

[@GTgaming69]

Its a crime shes the only one given that respect. Shouldve gotten to keep at least 1 BB from the Dreadnought to Vanguard era

[@xx765]

@@GTgaming69 Well you kind of only want one. There are so many iconic ships in the history, but if you line them all up on the Thames it annoys people and make the country looks like a military state. Then you add all the iconic planes, tanks, rifles, statue of commanders, soldiers, war horses... it wouldn't work. Just have one thing representing all the good values would be better imo.

[@GTgaming69]

@@xx765 Do you only want one? I dont hear people complaining about having to choose which Iowa class they want to visit. If you can only have 1 though, personally id’ve chosen Warspite

[@theoutlook55]

@@xx765 a valid point. I'm guessing her mooring spot is London?

[@chonksstonks1820]

Imagine how terrifying it would be on the Scharnhorst, holyyyy

[@jimb9063]

Yes, and just about as much fun in the sea up there too. The weather is a common enemy.

[@gurk_the_magnificent9008]

You’re cruising along in a blizzard when suddenly a 14-inch salvo from a ship you couldn’t even see comes crashing in

[@oasis1282]

Easy just click leave battle.

[@khalidsaiv6613]

@@ErichHiller44 legend say they still sailing north to find the supply convoy

[@MichaelSmith-pp3wp]

Not just massively outnumbered and outgunned, but the Arctic Sea north Norway in winter just sounds about as bad as it gets. I'm actually surprised 36 were pulled out of the water and lived.

[@ftffighter]

The most incredible part of all of this to me is actually how the Scharnhorst's crew managed to keep her going 22 knots despite a direct hit on her boiler!

[@barbararice6650]

Their skins were at stake, it's surprising what you can do when they are the odds 👈😑

[@agentbarron3945]

Battle cruisers and battleships are incredibly resilient, especially due to how fragile steam power is. The Scharnhorst had 12 boilers powering 3 turbines, this is because steam, while being very cheap, and incredibly easy to maintain is stupidly fragile. Taking out even one pipe means that boiler needs to be shut down to be repaired, thus there has to be tons of redundancy. At a worst case, that shell took out 3 boilers out of the 12 leaving 9 remaining.

[@Tepid24]

It actually lines up pretty well with what you'd expect. The Scharnhorst had 12 boilers in 3 boiler rooms. If one of those three boiler rooms is penetrated and starts flooding, you have just lost a third of your engine power. For a ~31kn ship, you'd expect a loss of 30% to bring it down to maybe about ~25-26kn (since you need exponentially more power per knot of speed, rather than linearly). Account for all the flooding you're now getting into said boiler room and previous hits and being dropped to ~22kn is about what you get.

[@danieljones7843]

They were given the fright of their lives when brought aboard the Duke of York because Fraser and Bey looked strikingly similar. They all thought they were looking at a ghost

[@navyseal1689]

GERMAN Engineering , FINEST IN THE WORLD

[@mjszczepankiewicz8496]

Gentlemen, the battle against the Scharnhorst has ended in victory for us. I hope that any of you who are ever called upon to lead a ship into action against an opponent many times superior, will command your ship as gallantly as the Scharnhorst was commanded today. - Admiral Bruce Fraser

[@barbararice6650]

The fuck he said that, that's second hand from second hand of what someone said he said, and now we've got the nazi boys turning it into a nice quote 👈😑

[@ScienceChap]

Admiral Sir Bruce Fraser, if you'll excuse me being slightly pedantic...

[@thelastshadow8623]

Ofc they forgot to include that in the video

[@garymoore2535]

OK we have a German Pocket Battleship on a mission to sink unarmed Merchant Ships that on 3 occasions when it meets actual British warships attempts to flee........where is the Gallantary ? 🤷‍♀️

[@archmagosdominusbelisarius8836]

@@garymoore2535 Scharnhorst and Gneisenau (her sister ship) engaged the HMS Renown battlecruiser, and sank the aircraft carrier HMS Glorius, and her escort destroyers HMS Acasta and HMS Ardent. retreating when you are alone and 12 enemy ships are attacking you isnt cowardice

[@generaladvance5812]

Duke of York was the MVP here. Very impressive gunnery skills.

[@beeble2003]

Not often you hear those words after what Prince Andrew's been up to...

[@KermitTheGamer21]

I would also have to give credit to Norfolk for her opening shots disabling Scharnhorst's forward fire control.

[@cmotdibbler4454]

@@KermitTheGamer21 and Belfast for keeping tabs on her for the almost the entire engagement

[@tcpratt1660]

The lieutenant who climbed the mast to repair the radar cables on the HMS Duke of York was definitely the MVP of the MVP this day.

[@burnstick1380]

she was the only ship to be able to sink her with her guns. The cruisers could "just" damage her superstructure which of course helps massively

[@dwrabauke]

Seriously. I have NEVER seen animated stories of historical events in such an extraordinarily awesome quality before until I found your videos. Great narration, easy to understand visuals that underline the story being told. This channel is a gem. Gladly subscribed.

[@NfcdxAdhmc4993]

This channel never fails to deliver quality content!

[@johnbray3143]

The Battle of the North Cape is important to me as my uncle Alf manned the guns on HMS Jamaica and saw the whole thing. He was one of the few people still alive in 2014 when he collected the Arctic Star aged 92.

[@johnhenderson131]

Unbelievable that the Scharnhorst was able to survive so many hits including torpedoes strikes as well and not only stay afloat but maneuver back towards the British fleet and launch even a single torpedo! Incredibly well armored ship and a tough disciplined crew. She was the enemy in my eyes but I still admire such bravery! It always sad to see any ship sunk and while I’m not surprised so few survived the frigid water, what a shame only 36 survived. 15:27

[@OntologicalQuandry]

The only shame here is that you failed to mention the message by Admiral Bruce Fraser: "Gentlemen, the battle against the Scharnhorst has ended in victory for us. I hope that any of you who are ever called upon to lead a ship into action against an opponent many times superior, will command your ship as gallantly as the Scharnhorst was commanded today."

[@NimbleTack]

The crew of the Scharnhorst may have been on the wrong side of history, but you have to admire their courage.

[@DiD86]

“Gentlemen, the battle with the Scharnhorst has resulted in victory for us. I hope that if you are ever called upon to take your ship into action against a much superior foe, you will command as gallantly as Scharnhorst was today!” - Admiral Bruce Fraser.

[@daleburrell6273]

...YOU BETCHER LIFESAVERS-!!!

[@TheYeti308]

For me ; The German Navy might just have well , gone for broke given their circumstance .

[@1977ajax]

And are we also to admire that they all expected to receive large estates in the east formerly worked by murdered Slavic farmers, those who do survive the German conquest now to be slaves to the crew? The German Navy's job was to destroy England and to spread the filthy politics of the Nazis as far as possible. Mysteriously, many seem to forget this.

[@easterworshipper730]

There Is no wrong side of History. "History Is a bunch of lies we agreed upon" Napoleón Bonaparte.

[@tng2057]

I visited Nordkapp at Norway years ago and I recall seeing a plague commemorating the deaths at this battle, in particular those on the Scharhorst. Really have to appreciate how those men fought in super adverse cold and rough sea conditions and the deaths must have been very awful.

[@glenchapman3899]

Yep anyone in these battles have two enemies. The other guy and the ocean. The ocean generally does not take prisoners

[@gumbo88888888]

a plague? thats a unique way to commemorate a battle

[@Spacewanderer.]

Might wanna say plaque not plague lol

@@Spacewanderer. Most likely a victim of Autocorrect.

[@Spacewanderer.]

@ damn you auto correct!

[@jamespurs]

My Grandad served on Belfast during the war, and I have her tattooed. So glad she is still on the Thames- if anybody gets a chance you definitely should visit her!

[@BrianEmbleton1]

My Dad was on HMS Belfast

[@Chinaman7608-b3j]

What was his name? My dad served on her.

[@nickyb6435]

My grandad too, good job those lad's survived eh!

[@RabAusten]

Same. My grandad was also serving as a Marine, on board, during The Battle of North Cape. I have a postcard with signatures of all the survivors from the Scharnhorst, as well as those of Fraser and Burnett.

[@maths-monkey]

I've been on her many times and my dad was partly responsible for her restoration. A great ship. She can be hired for parties and dinners.

[@ColinStachowski]

What I love about this video: 1. That smokescreen animation at 6:56. 2. Shells landing in the water. 3. Smoke from turrets at 12:43 - looks really dirty and smokey! 4. That there are indeed no muzzle flashes from the British ships. 5. That final blow animation at 15:15, what a carnage. 6. How detailed the ships are at close-ups! 7. Everything else, well done, Sir!

[@chicagotypewriter2094]

HOW DID I NOT NOTICE NO BRITISH MUZZLE FLASHES OMG

[@ColinStachowski]

@@chicagotypewriter2094 Hah! Pretty cool once you spot it, isn't it?

[@chicagotypewriter2094]

@@ColinStachowski Very! TOR's animations have gotten loads better since I started watching the channel a year or two back!

[@doctor_alfa]

@@chicagotypewriter2094 OMG WHAT YOU DID NOT SPOT THEM ????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

[@chicagotypewriter2094]

@@doctor_alfa Well how do I spot something that doesn't exist ;)

[@KlLLERROBOT99]

What happened to the 5 German destroyers that were sent North?

[@Orangefan77]

They went Beyond The Wall, and the wights got them.

[@atibbs14]

@@Orangefan77 they a should have known better.

[@Dexs911]

HMS Warspite happened (probably)

[@Kyle_Hubbard]

Not really all that interesting to be honest. They remained in Norwegian waters for more or less the next two years and then made way back to Germany in 1945 before eventually the German navy was carved up between multiple countries. In the end most of them ended up being scuttled the year after or some years after. One got damaged in an air raid in Germany and was scuttled that year.

[@jimb9063]

@@Dexs911 Ha yeah, I can SMELL destroyers in Norwegian waters again! I imagine by this time she would have been seeing off glide bombs, or saving the solar system from alien invasion by making the aliens dizzy with her strange unorthodox rotary motions. How on earth do you wargame with Warspite? "Sustained rudder damage, +1000 on all attributes".

[@d.olivergutierrez8690]

One of the few battleship vs battleship engagements of ww2 where they were a key factor in the fight

[@dannymongrain4788]

you know it will be a goooood day when a new video is available from The Operations Room. Keep 'em coming, so good!

[@wolfu597]

Before the battle, the commander of the Norwegian destroyer Stord, captain Skule Storheil, was promoted and was about to be transferred to a safer post on land. When he found out that his ship was due to engage one of Nazi-Germanys last major warships in Norwegian home waters, he removed a stripe on his uniform and thereby demoted himself, just to be part of this operation. Sounds like something from a movie script right, but if that's what you're thinking, let me tell you something. You're wrong. Because this was a fight he did not wanna miss.

[@S0RGEx]

Stord would receive direct praise from both Admiral Frasier and Duke of York's captain for her role in the battle.

[@ladela7348]

He was a chad. Got the highest military decoration in Norway for his deeds.

[@GosWardHen98]

The Norwegians were famous for their loyalty to the RN & even today, they think nothing of it to keep the area safe with the RN. Outstanding loyalty & professionalism.

[@hourlardnsaver362]

Absolute masterpiece. I never knew Scharnhorst had tried a torpedo run. I only have a minor quibble: Stord’s prefix was HNoMS, not HMS.

[@TheLocalLt]

Norway didn’t use a unique prefix in 1943, so I think it would default to “SS Stord” if you really wanted to use a prefix However “HNoMS” doesn’t really make any sense to me, the prefix used by Norway is KNM, why is it translated into English to “HNoMS” when we don’t do it for, for example, the prefix SMS when talking about German and Austrian ships? KNM doesn’t even translate to “His Majesty’s Ship” it translates to “Royal Norwegian Ship”, so using a variant of HMS doesn’t make sense from that perspective either, because if you really wanted to translate it into English you just could say “RNS”

[@derrickstorm6976]

​@@TheLocalLt Internet historians, am I right...

[@ThatIsALakeSir]

HNoMS sounds way too long for me

[@BrianEmbleton1]

My Dad was on HMS Belfast on that day. He was in “A” Turret on the Port gun. It was his 21st birthday. A birthday he never forgot!

[@peppapig9987]

I want to eat breakfast. BUT IT'S AN OPERATIONS ROOM UPLOAD!

[@andrewmontgomery5621]

6:02:"I'm no one really. Just a maid passing by." Royal Navy light cruiser Belfast.

[@james_poika3186]

You bloody weeb.

[@jvtagle]

Best maid

[@andrewmontgomery5621]

@@jvtagle .This battle is her first time.

[@jcohasset23]

Always great to see a new video and you choose some of the most interesting battles, many of which are unknown by the general population and so you help to keep the memory of those that participated in them alive. Any chance for the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands? It's the last major naval battle of the Guadalcanal campaign that hasn't been covered yet and it overlapped with the Battle of Guadalcanal/Battle for Henderson Field.

[@RedentSC]

the best operations room yet. snappy editing, valued historic photos, smooth animations and a respectful narrator. perfect my friend.

[@tcpratt1660]

One point about the KMS Scharnhorst's radar - per Drachinifel's video of the Battle of North Cape, the radars of the Scharnhorst weren't completely destroyed - only the main radar covering the forward arc of the ship. There was a secondary radar that covered the aft arc, but with some limitations in that aft arc coverage as well. So Scharnhorst wasn't entirely blind, radar wise, but was definitely very vulnerable to Duke of York's surprise salvo... ...also, per Drachinifel, Duke of York preceded its gunnery salvos with its own star shells - 14" star shells definitely got the Scharnhorst's attention!

[@benwilson6145]

Scharnhorst's Radar was not good . Report from Chief Petty Officer Godde. He was at his action station on the Port Captains Sight. It was at exactly 0824 when he suddenly saw great columns of of water through his binoculars. These are shell splashed from medium caliber guns he reported to the Captain, several shells estimated to be 8 inch about 400 to 500m from the Port side At that moment the first star shell burst into brilliant light through the thick snow squalls. The German Captain asked "No report from the Radar set?" The radar report came through just as the second salvo crashed into the water. In the action for the n. A single hit is received that passed through the foremast in the next 15 minutes , Then we shall have to rely on the after radar that does no operate ahead and is placed lower on the mast.

[@Trek001]

Germans had terrible issues with forward radar sets

[@solbergsindre]

No, the Duke of York did not fire 14" star shells - no British capital ships ever had stars hells for their main batteries. The reason was simple: proper illumination required a constant stream of shells to be fired, as the shells obviously fell into the sea or burned out after some time. This would interfere with the actual job of the main artillery, which was to sink enemy ships, so the star shells were always fired by a ship's secondary battery; 5.25" guns in Duke of York's case. The same was true for Belfast, which used her 4" secondaries for star shells. It is also a myth that it was Belfast that illuminated Scharnhorst before Duke of York opened fire. She tried to, as ordered, but somehow missed badly, so Duke of York ended up illuminating Scharnhorst herself with her own star shells. Also, you should stop taking what Drach says for gospel. His videos are riddled with factual errors like that

[@5000mahmud]

@@solbergsindre I've noticed his video on the Kamchatka and the Russian 2nd pacific squadron mostly uses an unreliable source that shifts blame to the Kamchatka instead of the numerous issues that infested the entire Russian navy. It seems basic source reliability checks is becoming a lost art.

[@davidmccann9811]

Back in the 80s I accompanied my grandfather to an evening event held onboard HMS Belfast, at which I met several of the men involved in this battle.

[@BjrnOttoVasbottenbjovas]

The phrase "the exiled norwegian destroyer Stord" is maybe a little unprecise. The crew was certainly exiled, but the ship itself was originally under construction as the HMS "Success" of the S-class. Of course a very notable battle for the norwegian navy, with the crew being able to play a key part in the battle, so close to the norwegian coast.

[@fraseredk7433]

My maternal grandfather was on those Arctic convoys , Captain A.B. MacRae DSO and Bar. Brave men.

[@MadilynnBrock-f5w]

This channel never fails to deliver quality content!. Imagine how terrifying it would be on the Scharnhorst, holyyyy.

[@thecynicaloptimist1884]

Fun fact: Onboard HMS _Jamaica_ served Commander Eric Hitchens, father of the late journalist and author, Christopher Hitchens.

[@sevenodonata]

Fun fact: Christopher has a brother Peter, Peter is an insufferable prick.

[@jimb9063]

Sad end to a beautiful ship. The sailing of Scharnhorst seems to have similar reasons to why Bismarck was launched on her first and last mission. A need to prove the capability of the Kriegsmarine to a former soldier who never understood naval warfare and who relegated his navy to a very poor third place in his plans.

[@jayo3074]

Are you for real?

[@thelostone6981]

A sad end? Built to an authoritative, fascist dictatorship that caused millions and millions to suffer including my grandfather who dropped bombs on Germany (and all his friends that paid the ultimate price) and my wife’s Norwegian parents and family, it was built to kill. So good riddance. That’s not a knock on the average soldier who either had no choice on serving or did t know any better and bought into the dogma. But it’s such an odd comment my friend. Are you rooting for Adolfo’s side of the war? If so, then you need to learn why we must never let this type of thing to ever happen again.

[@tylernewman825]

@@thelostone6981 you’re an absolute goof ball, the ship and sailors on that ship were doing a job. A job which even though the country was ran by a horrible person had a long standing of respect and act of duty, way before the mustache man came along. You must really suck some non nazi toes, less than 30% of German citizens and military personnel believed in nazi ideals. The others were scared or like I said just doing a job.

[@jimb9063]

@@thelostone6981 I thought it was obvious what was sad, since I explained. Any warship sent on a futile mission for non military reasons that gets destroyed is sad. The politics, or which side the ship is fighting for has nothing to do with it at the human level when the shells start flying. If you just want to focus on the big picture as a whole, yes, since you asked, I'm glad the Allies won (never had to write THAT before). My grandparents, like millions of others served at this time too. I personally think that it was a disgrace not to award the bomber crews a campaign medal like everyone else had. If there was guilt about the fire bombing of cities, guilt rests with the decision makers not the crews, who faced the worst life expectancy odds of any branch of the forces. It's worth remembering that a lot of German civilians could claim the same things that you claimed about Scharnhorst, but possibly with more reason. Bombers are also built to kill, so good riddance to them. I'm pretty sure Scharnhorst didn't destroy as many cities and civilians as the air forces of WW2 either.

[@Riccardo_Silva]

@@thelostone6981 you have a point, Sir, and i do agree with you. However, i think he was referring to the useless sacrifice of nearly 2000 seamen and of a ship that, by a sailor's point of view, can be considered a fine naval achievement. This, after all, was the point of view of Lord Fraser himself, wasn't it?

[@slabbadanks5829]

I've heard this tale countless times from various history books and podcasts, but these videos still help visualize the maneuvers better than anything else.

[@ernestogarcia2393]

I seriously get so excited when I see that you put out a video. Keep up the good work.

[@jimduffy1967]

Thank you for this wonderful video,it seems to bring the sea battle to life,very concise and accurate and makes for compelling viewing.respect to all combatants on both sides of this battle.

[@chrismodini7225]

To take so much damage and still be able to resist is beyond me. Against such an overwhelming force the Scharnhorst went down fighting. Thanks for the great breakdown of the battle. The visuals keep getting better every time. Attempt 3: any chance you’ll be releasing videos on battles during the Falklands war?

[@darkdill]

Historigraph has some videos on the Falklands.

[@s00-x2h]

He has one on Black Buck One, the Vulcan raid on the Falklands

[@OregonOutdoorsChris]

Truly stunning how tough that ship was. Even once they started hitting it with torpedoes it continued to fight.

[@darkdill]

Germany did have the toughest ships in WW2. That turtleback armor was no joke.

[@youraveragescotsman7119]

@@darkdill Even if it was heavily inefficient and outdated for the time. Ship can stay afloat for longer, but it can't stay in the fight for long.

[@TTTT-oc4eb]

​@@youraveragescotsman7119 All ships have plenty of soft spots, FC, radars, communication systems, bridge and guns. South Dakota lost most of her systems and was disabled in half an hour by a combination of her own fire (which caused the electrical problems) and a couple of dozen hits from a bunch of cruisers as well as one, single 14 inch HE shell. POW was effectively sunk by one, single torpedo. And the "exposed cables" of Bismarck is just a myth. 2800 shells and 60 torpedoes were fired against Bismarck, of which probably around 400 shells (including 80-110 from the battleships) and 5-7 torpedoes hit. Under the same conditions, no battleship would have done better than Bismarck - on the contrary any AoN ship would very likely gone down earlier. The supposed weaknesses of the turtleback armor was never tested, because not a single WW2 battleship was sunk by plunging fire.

[@TR-zx1lc]

Admiral Fraser has by far, the most badass full title of any known warrior: Admiral of the Fleet Bruce Austin Fraser, 1st Baron Fraser of North Cape." *Sometimes Lord is used in place of 1st Baron.

[@ScienceChap]

I must say that, as a class, the King George V class ships were a really good investment for the RN. They were built and sufficiently armoured to get into knife fighting range and pummel enemy ships with large broadsides of 14 inch shells, which whilst not the heaviest guns, were fitted in such numbers as to provide a high hit rate. They were actually remarkably successful in this role, accounting between them for 2 Kriegsmarine capital ships - Bismarck and Scharnhorst. Not 18 inch superbattleships for sure, but solid workhorses which did the job when required. Oddly enough, as I watch this video, I'm building a model of Duke of York...

[@MasterCheeks-2552]

I think every KGV engaged in a battleship duel at least once. Exactly what they were designed for.

[@ScienceChap]

@@MasterCheeks-2552 Anson and Howe never did, but KGV, PoW and DoY all did. They sank more enemy capital ships than the Iowas ever did.

[@stevek8829]

Rodney had a key role against Bismark and I believe was 15".

[@MasterCheeks-2552]

@@stevek8829 16"

[@stevek8829]

@@MasterCheeks-2552 as an obvious troll offered the info, I automatically know to rule out 16 from my guessing.

[@geordiedog1749]

Marvellously done mate. Excellent work! Again. Small - very small - point. It was pressure on the KM ‘surface fleet’ to do something and not the whole KM as that included the U boots who were hard at work (drowning mostly) in the Atlantic.

[@jonathan_hitt7589]

I kept expecting the German Destroyers to come back and join the fight.

[@glenchapman3899]

The sea state was a major issue. The only British destroyers to get into the fight were sailing west. Anything coming from the north and west were facing walls of water

[@MrPicklerwoof]

Also, the German destroyers were far less sea-worthy than British destroyers in WW2. Any sort of rough sea would hinder them from being much use. Strange how poorly-designed they were in comparison to their capital ships.

[@youraveragescotsman7119]

@@MrPicklerwoof I mean I'd still consider German capitals to be rather poorly designed as well for the time. No Dual-Purpose secondaries, two FCS systems for AA guns because the designs are incompatible, incremental armour when All-Or-Nothing is way better, etc.

[@glenchapman3899]

@@MrPicklerwoof No experience. During the interwar years the German navy had no destroyers before the Nazis came to power. The closest they had were light cruisers from the turn of the century

[@thomasmarren2354]

I visited HMS Belfast when I was in London this summer. Amazing ship! While there I was under the impression that the Belfast herself sank the Scharnhorst. But in reality it was a team effort. How many of Belfast's shells do you think hit the German battleship, were any of Belfast's hits crippling? The radar and star shell spotting was more effective though, at least Belfast gets credit for that. I also learned that the HMS Belfast also bombarded the German positions on the beaches of Normandy on D-Day and later went on to Korea to fire more shells than she had in WW2. Maybe this channel can cover those adventures of Belfast as well.

[@barbararice6650]

The Belfast's guns couldn't penetrate the armoured belt of that thing so could only cause secondary damage, the butcher was the Duke of York with it's 14.2" guns, it acted like Rodney against the Bismarck, crippled the kraut and retired to let the kids play 👈😑

[@barbararice6650]

@uNnHkP8mza Well you pull its penis every thirty minutes so I guess it wasn't hard to do 👈😕

[@BrianEmbleton1]

My Dad was on HMS Belfast on this day and also during the D-Day landings. He was in “A” turret on the Port gun.

[@steveholmes11]

Belfast was running the show through her superior surface search radar, radio communications and star shells. Setting up her fellow ships for the kill.

[@ChizAfterHours]

Really an excellent video. It should be noted, that the British destroyers would have rescued more survivors, however they were notified that German Uboats were in the area. This lead to the decision to break off the rescue attempt. The report was partially true, Uboats were in the area, but wouldn't arrive for another hour. An unfortunate over estimation, but in the fog of war, the risk was great. A few of the German survivors did give reports to the British afterward, and later for books and interviews, that they had not seen the captain in the water, but Bey was seen clinging to debris before losing his battle to the Arctic waters just before the destroyers would have picked him up.

[@KatyushaLauncher]

There were no reports of any U-boats before, during, or even after the Battle of North Cape, the weather conditions were proportionally worse with visibility pretty much near zero, U-boats would have extreme difficulty traversing or even attack enemy ships. The only reason the Destroyers saved so little men was because of the aforementioned weather, it's hard to search for survivors being in a middle of a snow storm and the sun not reaching high enough to provide sunlight

[@ChizAfterHours]

@@KatyushaLauncher John Baxendale, a gunner on HMS Scorpion states in an interview, "...we would have picked them all up, but we had to move because we were told there's Uboats in the vicinity." You can watch this as part of a documentary on the ship itself. U-boats had been on notice during the operation and were called to Scharnhorst's aid toward the end of the engagement by the destroyer flotilla. They would not reach the site until midnight that evening (time mistake on my part). Wilhelm Godde, the senior survivor of the battle, has spoken several times regarding the rumor of U-boats. Once being told by a British sailor that U-Boats were close after breaking off for Murmansk. He also speaks in with more detail about a conversation with a former U-boat commander who corroborated the claim that U-boats had been asked to come to Scharnhorst's aid but arrived far too late due to their reduced speed from the weather. This can be found in the same documentary, as well as written interviews and books such as "The Drama of the Scharnhorst" Fritz-Otto Busch 1951 and "Schlachtschiff Scharnhorst" by Heinrich Bredemeier and Helmuth Giessler 1978. The weather played a huge role in the lack of survivors with many dead or dying by the time nets and lassos dropped to the water. However, the threat of U-Boats was there and is corroborated by several British veterans of the battle.

[@brenrob7403]

Such a fascinating battle which I just really learned about a few months ago. The conditions were horrific, pretty amazing any of this could occur in frigid high seas.

[@AlbertD711]

Excellent video. My father was a Merchant Marine and sailed in one convoy to Murmansk, USSR on a Liberty Ship. He was 15 years old at the time. Most of his trips were to Liverpool and I think a port in Scotland.

[@mattblom3990]

People worship the Bismarck, but Scharnhorst is the ship that deserves their true respect.

[@oasis1282]

Meanwhile Gneisenau being used as block ship

[@joew6277]

Right, I would say it was the most successful German battleship. It definitely has more stories than Bismarck.

[@snebbywebby2587]

Bismarck's only really famous cause she's big and got stupidly lucky once

[@barath4545]

@@snebbywebby2587 Naah, she would always beat Hood, being much more modern and tough. I'd argue that Bismarck got unlucky with the rudder hit, and considering what she had of firepower and didn't just sink the lot of what came after her near Greenland. Bismarck is famous because of the insane amount of shelling it took to sink her, even when she was defenseless.

[@MasterCheeks-2552]

*Wehraboos worship the Bismarck

[@alexsmith5501]

Thanks

[@TheOperationsRoom]

Thanks!

[@NATO32Nations]

This is the first time I’ve seen an in-depth look at this engagement. I’m surprised the German Destroyers did not participate.

[@uteriel282]

@@timf2279 the weather was too bad for smaller ships to operate effectively. even if the destroyers wanted to help scharnhorst they were in no position to do so.

[@silverhost9782]

The comment section is surprisingly calm. Normally i'd expect lots of arguments by now

[@tuckeyuk]

You don't half advertise some drivel at the start of your videos haha, but I'm really pleased you have sponsors because your content is superb, thank you for every minute of it!

[@AllanHumphreys]

Love this! My Grandad was on board HMS Duke Of York in this battle. He was my hero and the reason i joined the Royal Navy.

[@SmileyXY]

A relative of a friend of mine died on board KMS Scharnhorst in this battle. He was not very much liked by his family because unlike them he was a nazi. His name was Erich Bey.

[@joost00555]

Some time ago I was looking at all the videos on Germany's naval efforts and I was like "There is one missing, though I'm sure we will get it one day soon" and here we are.

[@weibherrman]

A simple format like this just lands every time, great vid

[@fountainman5044]

This animation of Sheffeild's schadenfreude of Scharnhorst is most entertaining. All Hail the algorithm, may our all-knowing overlord bless this video.

[@patrickforrest3109]

I'm a world War 2 buff & I like these documentaries on many operations during WW2 great information.

[@iamllenn]

this just shows how helpless the kriegsmarine were against the royal navy

[@d.olivergutierrez8690]

Even their plan z was useless in helping in that regard since the Royal Navy was actually going to also increase their size and unlike Germany they still have a ww1 fleet to modernize

[@geordiedog1749]

“Moral supremacy” over the enemy - Corelli Barnet.

[@Sky_Guy]

Radar supremacy combined with superior codebreaking technology. Whether you're in the Atlantic or Pacific, it's an unbeatable combo.

[@oskary2833]

@@geordiedog1749 and resource supremacy

[@uteriel282]

because of hitler not being interested in creating a fleet capable of directly threatening the royal navy germany´s surface fleet was severely underpowered. the german submarines however were superior and continued to restrict allied shipping in the atlantic throughout the war. if germany had split the activities of its sub fleet between convoy raiding and hunter groups things might have gone differently.

[@nickyb6435]

Thanks for the explanation my grandfather was on Belfast. I have a great pic of him in front of the main guns thick with ice. It's amazing what these young lads did

[@stevenmoore4612]

It honestly astounding what it took to finally sink her! In way Scharnhorst’s demise was kind of similar to the Bismarck’s last stand! She was outnumbered and alone and their brave crews fought until the last shell could be fired! Perhaps if she wasn’t alone and a least had another ship as back up maybe she could’ve survived the battle. A similar scenario happened to the Bismarck she was alone and outnumbered with no backup to help her out.

[@adventussaxonum448]

If she'd had a companion, the Kriegsmarine would have lost 2 ships.

[@stevenmoore4612]

@@adventussaxonum448 Not necessarily. If say the Gneisenau which was just back in operation at the time of rheinubung. If she had met up with the Bismarck in the mid Atlantic before she got her rudder jammed by the torpedo she would’ve at least not been alone when the torpedo bombers found her and the attention would’ve been divided between two ships instead one. That scenario could have changed history.

[@ChrisCrossClash]

@@stevenmoore4612 The Royal Navy was just better than the Kriegsmarine and that's a fact.

[@stevenmoore4612]

@@ChrisCrossClash Yes the Royal Navy had way more experience and long naval history behind them. The Germans by contrast were still formidable, though lacked the experience and allocated recourses to be on par with the British.

[@danielslocum7169]

bigger;not better.@@ChrisCrossClash

[@TexasGTO]

I like how the Scharnhorst escort just completely dip.

[@cpuuk]

Actually you can't call yourself a Laird or Lady by buying a bit of Scotland, because by that very definition every person in Scotland who owns a dwelling or allotment could call themselves a gentrified title, but guess what, they don't... because they can't. Great recap.

[@DanY-mj4gl]

Scharnhorst is a battleship. It's fairly the average speed of one, has extraordinary armor for one, the only thing is it's smaller calibre guns

[@kidpagronprimsank05]

For German nany classification, their battlecruiser traded firepower for more protections and speed. Although, yes, Scharnhorst was classified as battleship by German. Royal Navy did classified her as battlecruiser for aforementioned reason

[@jamesscalzo3033]

Loved the video @The Operations Room! Can't wait for the next video man! I have waited so long for this Battle to make it's way, Glad to finally see it! While I am glad that HMS Belfast, Along with C-class, Ca-group Destroyer HMS Cavalier, Tribal-class Destroyer HMCS Haida, Flower-class Corvette HMCS Sackville and River-class Frigate HMAS Diamantina, are Preserved as Museum Ships, it's just a Real shame that Larger Warships like HMS Renown, HMS Ramilles, HMS Duke of York, HMS Warspite or any of their Sisters (apart from Repulse being lost with HMS Prince of Wales) aren't among them as well. To be honest, I'd love to be able to see a King George V-class, Nelson-class, Queen Elizabeth-class, Royal Sovereign/Revenge-class or Renown-class Battleship or a C, D, and E-class, Leander-class (Leander and Perth/Amphion Groups), Dido-class (Dido and Bellona Groups), Town-class (Southampton and Gloucester Groups), or Crown Colony-class (Fiji and Ceylon Groups) Light Cruisers or a County-class (Kent, London and Norfolk Groups) Heavy Cruiser or maybe walk around in the HMS Saumarez or HMCS St. Laurent (Formerly HMS Cygnet) or HMS Javelin, HMAS Nizam or even HMS or HMS Formidable. Scapa Flow could basically become a Cross between Pearl Harbor's Battleship Row and Patriots Point, South Carolina and be a place where they can be Moored as Museum Ships. Sure it would probably cost Billions upon Trillions of British Pounds, but at least there would be a D@mn sight more of British Naval History For the National and International Public to Appreciate. Also, as Someone in the Azur Lane Community, I thought it was a nice touch to show a Picture of The Flagship of Royal Navy Camp's Maid Corps herself at the end. 83 Years old, and yet Belfast doesn't look a Day over 20 LMAO! Some of us call Azur Lane HMS Belfast as "Best Girl", but I call her (and I'm sure many other people in the Azur Lane Community agree with me) "Best Girl of the Maid Corps".

[@jamesscalzo3033]

Correction: "HMS and HMS Formidable" should read as "HMS Illustrious and HMS Formidable" if Autocorrect wasn't such a Technological Pain in everyone's Backside!

[@prestontucker6171]

This one was really excellent. Thank you!

[@charlescomly1]

Great history, thanks for bringing it to us.

[@BobMuir100]

Excellent piece of work on so many levels, animations to facts. Thank you Bob England

[@mgr_video_productions]

Awesome. First of heard of this battle from a video made by Bazbattles.

[@scottjuhnke6825]

I truly wish people would stop calling Scharnhorst a Battlecruiser. She was a Battleship. Granted 11inch guns are not 18 inch guns, but, they are Battleship guns.

[@givenfirstnamefamilyfirstn3935]

It isn’t at all clever, battle cruisers had light armour for speed, Scharnhorst had heavy armour.

[@kidpagronprimsank05]

​@@givenfirstnamefamilyfirstn3935German battlecruiser are known for the opposite; heavy armour, but smaller armament than the opposite

[@givenfirstnamefamilyfirstn3935]

@@kidpagronprimsank05 Then the German WW1 ships were clearly not cruiser killing battlecruisers as defined by Fisher’s 1907 _HMS Invincible,_ they were hard slugging fleet fast battleships. Apples are not a variety of Oranges.

[@Housey1985]

Why is the ship’s jack (which I assume had a swastika on it) blurred out at 16:06 ? Isn’t this an entirely legitimate historical use of such imagery?

[@TheOperationsRoom]

Tell it to youtube 😄

[@Housey1985]

@@TheOperationsRoom I thought that may be the issue…in which case it just demonstrates how ridiculous and shorn of context their policy is. Keep up the good work 👍

[@TheOperationsRoom]

@@Housey1985 it's frustrating because they demonetise stuff which such inconsistency. I think according to their rules you are actually allowed to show the swastika in educational videos, but then you're placing trust in their ai to accurately identify your video as educational, which it frequently doesn't until its too late

[@importantname]

Another well told historical report! Interesting to see the concept of honour in duty, when your duty or mission was to sink unarmed merchant ships. Humans are weird.

[@Purvis-dw4qf]

The allies took every opportunity to sink "unarmed" merchant ships and even slaughtered survivors who were sometimes Allied POWs. War is ....

[@johnhenderson131]

My mother’s cousin (my second cousin) was in the British merchant marines during WW II. He was assigned to running war supplies to Russia on both the Murmansk and Arc Angel ports. He had 2 ships torpedoed from under him and fortunately survived both times. Which was remarkably lucky (but very traumatizing) because that water was pretty damn cold and men didn’t last long, but he still continued to do the same dangerous job throughout the war. I remember spending time with him, after my parents immigrated to Canada and would return on visits to Scotland. I was very young but he didn’t speak to anyone and was considered strange by others (I know now he was suffering from severe PTSD) but at that time he was ignorantly judged as Just Odd! However, possibly because I was so young and innocently non judgmental, I spent many wonderful hours with him. He would tell me exciting stories, showed me how to do woodworking on a lathe…he was a very kind man that I enjoyed and nothing else in my young eyes.He avoided other adults but to me he was just cousin Norman, a patient kind and gentle man and I still treasure the time we shared. I guess I wasn’t a threat to him and it was only when I was older and started reading about WW II that I understood what a brave and heroic man he was! What a shame the way he was labeled, then mistreated and shunned! I’ve often wondered how many others that served so bravely and honorably endure the same unfair treatment! To have survived not one sinking but 2 and continue doing the same job would affect anyone. I’m humbled and proud that I got the chance to know him.

[@MatsLM]

FOR EVERYONES INFORMATION! Established Titles is actually NOT recognized in the Scottish Office, so I highly doubt they’ll actually give you a little of lord in any real governmental or formal transactions. By Scottish Office I mean the Lord Lyon King of Arms of Scotland, who is responsible for the tracking real tittles, they have no connections nor contact with Established Titles, so it’s kind of a scam.

[@RW77777777]

but building a pub for OR fans could be a Field of Dreams

[@YamatoPower9000]

Sending your best ship alone... Amazing idea...

[@AuxArcClimbing]

Appreciate all of your work on these documentaries. Really awesome production.

[@goodguy3623]

5:32 Legends know that those destroyers are still searching for the convoy XD

[@stevenmacdonald9619]

With the full respect of the Royal Navy, Scharnhorst was a true warrior. He, and all his souls. There has always been a shared admiration between Navies on the high seas. When it all ends, very few get to leave the battlefield. There is no real retreat without power, and I salute Captains from any nation who purposefully go down with their charges.

[@OrganicBench419]

German ships are regarded as he

[@legoeasycompany]

@@OrganicBench419 Bismarck was the sole example of that doesn't count for the rest of the navy

[@stevenmacdonald9619]

@@OrganicBench419 Thank you for that. Edited and correct

[@herberthoover8379]

@@stevenmacdonald9619 It's not really true. Only a few were sometimes referred to in that manner. Ships are "she".

[@Yora21]

This far north in December, the sun doesn't rise at all. There's about three hours of twilight if the sky is clear, but that's about it. Fighting in the freezing cold in a storm in darkness must the most miserable sea battle imaginable.

[@actonman7291]

Hell yeah!! its back!

[@MarshFlyFightWin]

Awesome video, love to see a video on Admiral Scheer vs the Jervis Bay and her convoy. Or on the SMS Emden

[@avnut5517]

Great detailed video. To all of the viewers, just let those adds run. He deserves all the add revenue he gets.

[@calorion]

16:11 …why is the flag obscured?

[@apieceofdirt4681]

Didn’t “Established Titles” end up being a scam?

[@Sh_rib]

Certainly did lol this advert didn't age well 🤣

[@roysimmons3549]

All fine and dandy so long as our efforts are not talked down. Too often the case. Like the yarn that we didnt sink the Bismarck. It was scuttled. Plenty believe that.

[@saberdogface]

Amazing how accurate British naval gunnery was in WW2.

[@raymondscott6720]

DOY had full radar control of its main battery. A German survivor recalled that although Scharnhorst zig-zagged all over the place, the shells followed. They couldn't understand it. Remember it was Arctic night and DOY was using flashless ammunition.

[@skdKitsune]

@@raymondscott6720 You make it sound like germans didn't understand the concept of radar, when they were the ones who invented it lol

[@AdamosDad]

It's a miracle that any survived those waters, while a crewman aboard the USS Newport News (CA-148) in those same waters, we were told that if we went overboard our life expectancy was about 3 minutes, before hyperthermia would kill us. "Fair Winds and Following Seas" Brothers of the sea 🇺🇸⚓

[@korbendallas5318]

Apparently the secret German Naval base was able to make some major reconstruction during the batlle, rebuilding it from a battlecruiser to a battleship.

[@raphaelambrosiuscosteau829]

How... How do you "fail to report a course change" as formation's commander?

[@markc7899]

Your videos are great, but you keep choosing dubious sponsorship deals. Really, please don't! 🙁 I certainly support your channel having sponsorships, and I would use the code if one interests me to support the channel, but unlike most other youtubers, I at least get the impression that here any sponsorship is accepted no matter who they are

[@crisespinoza1979]

Just recently found this channel and already subscribed. Great animation and blow by blow narration.

[@GrinderCB]

It's clear that all through WWII the surface fleet of the Kriegsmarine was fairly impotent. In all the famous battles, the Allies prevailed over Germany. Graf Spee at the start of the war, Bismarck, Tirpitz, Gneisenau, and Scharnhorst all bit the dust but there don't seem to be any notable sea battles where the Germans won. Its a wonder that Raeder and Doenitz kept their jobs that long.

[@noobster4779]

-The aircraft carrier HMS Glorious was sunk by Scharnhorst with its two escort destroyers in 1940 -Scharnhorst and Gneisenau usccesfully raided allied convoys in the atlantic on one mission in 1941 Hood went down -The invasion of norway, a naval invasion of 4 ports while sailing right through the british blockade unnoticed until the invasion happened. All depsite royal navys compleat naval supremacy over the Kriegsmarine - Arguably the Kriegsmarine bound several times the ammount of british ships it had itself to stay in britain, stretching the allies thin in the mediterrainian and pacific (the british could send big naval reinforcemeants to the pacific do to the germans beeing annoying so the japanease absolutely destroyed the british reinforcemeant Force Z in 1941 and 1942. You have to remember, fighting the royal navy was NOT the main goal of the Kriegsmarine at all, it was fighting the convoys. German doctrine was "strong enough to defeat normal escorts, fast enough to evade heavy british ships". And it came close to working several times, problem was it required a lot of luck. Bismarck for example successfully destroyed Hood and successfully evaded the british Home fleet with its superior speed. The only reason the british caught it was the luckiest torpedo hit in torpedo history. The Home fleet had effectively no chance cathcing her without that hit. Unlike in WW1 the german navy in WW2 was NEVER designed to fight the royal navy. It was a hit and run force to raid convoys and force the royal navy to send heavy ships as escorts of convoys instead of enforcing a blockade or assist in offensive naval operations. The main issue for the germans was that they simply had to few ships for their strategy to work and the british simply to many. The german navy was everything except ready for war in 1939.

[@KatyushaLauncher]

@@noobster4779 "The aircraft carrier HMS Glorious was sunk by Scharnhorst with its two escort destroyers in 1940" - They only sank HMS Glorious for the fact that D'Oyly-Hughes decided not have a single one of his planes on air patrol or even be at action stations when they're in enemy waters "Scharnhorst and Gneisenau usccesfully raided allied convoys in the atlantic on one mission in 1941" - Practically the last victory German warships achieved over merchant shipping. With Operation Rheinubung in 1941 being an absolute failure as Bismarck and Prinz Eugen actual objective was to convoy raid, both ships achieving nothing close to that as one ship got obliterated and another having engine problems before engaging any merchant shipping "Hood went down" - And in exchange for a 20 year old battlecruiser, Germany lost one of only 4 of their battleships "Arguably the Kriegsmarine bound several times the ammount of british ships it had itself to stay in britain, stretching the allies thin in the mediterrainian and pacific" - Though the Kriegsmarine did manage to tie some Royal Navy warships, the real reason the Royal Navy is stretching thin is because their the only navy who's fighting on 3 different fronts at the same time (being the Pacific, Atlantic, and Mediterranean Sea) "German doctrine was "strong enough to defeat normal escorts, fast enough to evade heavy british ships". And it came close to working several times, problem was it required a lot of luck" - A doctrine that requires a lot of luck instead of skill and experience will probably meet its inevitable doom as demonstrated perfectly with the Kriegsmarine "Bismarck for example successfully destroyed Hood and successfully evaded the british Home fleet with its superior speed. The only reason the british caught it was the luckiest torpedo hit in torpedo history. The Home fleet had effectively no chance cathcing her without that hit." - Bismarck sank a 20 year lord battlecruiser (which hasn't seen a major refit since its commissioning) with one of the luckiest shot in naval history and got destroyed a few days later, you make it sound as if that's a victory. The Germans objective with Operation Rheinubung was to destroy enemy shipping and that ended with their utter defeat and that cost them precious men, one of their only battleships and complete abandoning of convoy raiding in the Atlantic with warships. The Royal Navy on the other hand succeeded on their objective on not letting Bismarck hamper the supply line of merchant shipping and it cost them the Hood

[@GrinderCB]

@@noobster4779 I should have been more clear. What I intended to emphasize was that at the start of the war, the Kriegsmarine's primary task was to cut off supplies to Great Britain. Initially the U-boat strategy was effective during "the happy time" but the use of capital ships as commerce raiders wasn't a major factor. Yes, German battleships sank a number of British warships but we never hear tales of them tearing up a supply convoy. Point is that Hitler was narrowly focused on the land war in Russia and fired his Generals many times, yet Raeder and Doenitz kept their jobs almost the entire six years.

[@ryanthorne5432]

Awesome as always

[@wgoulding]

Fun fact: the Scharnhorst and the Gneisenau are the first battleships to have sunk a carrier.

[@S.Fortunato]

To be fair the sinking of HMS Glorious was more due to British incompetence than German valour, speaking of which, let's appreciate HMS Acasta's sacrifice

[@jnik_3234]

@@S.Fortunato you just want to down talk german success in a small battle from 80yrs ago

[@S.Fortunato]

@@jnik_3234 I've never doubted the professionalism of the Kriegsmarine, they did the best they could during the war despite being hopelessly outnumbered, I'm just pointing out that the British sent a carrier virtually undefended because they arrogantly thought that the Germans would never dare to challenge their navy Edit: also glorious couldn't even launch its planes because of the horrible wind

[@silverhost9782]

@@S.Fortunato They sent the carrier virtually undefended because of the pre-war doctrine of leading anti-submarine sorties with carriers. The man in charge of Glorious was also a Destroyer captain who made some poor decisions whilst in charge of such a large ship. It wasn't because the British didn't think the Germans would come out to fight them

[@jnik_3234]

@@S.Fortunato you're right, sorry I misunderstood your earlier comment.

[@danielslocum7169]

wow! never realized there were so many torpedo hits. Scharnhorst was one tough ship indeed.

[@Bootneck-RMC]

Superb and accurate re-telling of this engagement. Credit, where credit is due, The Scharnhorst did try his (Germany classed their ships as male) best. 👍

[@wildcolonialman]

Excellent effort. Very grateful.

[@Riccardo_Silva]

I remember one of the witnesses of the excellent BBC tv broadcast "Life and death of the Scharnhorst" by Ludovic Kennedy, saying "what a waste. I'm by no means a "nazi nostalgia" bloke but, as a ship lover, i can't but subscribe. What a waste. 1968 poor souls.

[@benwilson6145]

Ludovic Kennedy wrote many good books on the War at sea, His father was killed by the Schanhorst when Captain on the Armed Merchant cruiser Rawalpindi.

[@jonnyinch8158]

I live by the north cape! I can say that the idea of abandoning ship here in the middle of cold, dark december is terrifying