By Richard Johnstone-Bryden. Reprinted with permission of the editor, Broadsheet, 2003.

Since 1971 the heavy (sic) cruiser HMS Belfast has been preserved in the Pool of London as the last of the big gun armoured ships to have served in the Royal Navy during the Second World War. Sixty years ago she played an important role in the destruction of the German battlecruiser Scharnhorst. When the Arctic convoys to Russia resumed in November 1943, Scharnhorst posed a major threat to the safe passage of these vital supplies.  

The winter ice forced the convoys to steam to the south of Bear Island, bringing them within easy striking range of the battlecruiser operating from her base in Altenfiord. To counter this threat the Home Fleet reinforced the convoys' destroyer escort as it passed within the vicinity of Bear Island with close support from a force of cruisers and distant cover provided by a battleship.

Initially, the German Naval War Staff decided against using Scharnhorst to attack these convoys because they feared that the Royal Navy's more effective radar could prove decisive in an engagement during the Arctic winter's long hours of darkness. However, by late December, with the successful passage of three eastbound and two westbound convoys, political considerations became more pressing as the C-in-C of the German Navy, FADM Doenitz, needed to prove the continued importance of Scharnhorst to a sceptical Hitler.

Scharnhorst sorties

To do this Doenitz decided to deploy the battlecruiser against the next Arctic convoy. Wearing the flag of VADM Robert Burnett, HMS Belfast headed the cruisers of Force One, while Force Two was under the personal command of the C-in-C Home Fleet ADML Sir Bruce Fraser in Duke of York.

Duke of York (left) was C-in-C Home Fleet's flagship, while Belfast wore the flag of VADM Robert Burnett. HMS Belfast is classified as a Town class light cruiser, first commissioned in August 1939. She displaced 11,553 tons from a 187 x 21 x 6 metres (613.5 x 69 x 19.75 feet) hull. Four boilers and four turbines delivered 80,000 SHP and permitted a maximum speed of 32 knots. A complement of 750 to 850 served the armament of 12 x 15.2 cm (6-inch), eight 101.6 mm (4-inch), four x 6- or 8-barrrell pom-pom mounts, eight 0.5 inch guns and two triple 533 mm (21-inch) torpedo tubes. The ship was fitted to carry two Supermarine Walrus aircraft. Twelve 40mm Bofors replaced the pom-poms in 1959.

Having covered the east and west bound convoys, in the first half of December 1943 Force One stopped at Kola Inlet to take on fuel while Force Two called in at Akureyri. Following their brief stopovers both forces sailed on 23 December to cover the next pair of convoys (OW55B and RA55A). JW55B left Loch Ewe on 20 December and was soon detected by the Germans who began to shadow it with aircraft and U-Boats. Believing that the convoy's protection would not be reinforced by a British battleship the German Naval War Staff issued orders to RADM Erich Bey in Scharnhorst on 25 December.

North Cape

The battlecruiser was to leave her Norwegian base and intercept the convoy off North Cape at first light the following morning. In the event of an enemy capital ship appearing Scharnhorst was to withdraw immediately. Admiral Fraser received confirmation of Scharnhorst's departure from the Admiralty at 0339 on 26 December. The constant surveillance of JW55B by the Germans led ADML Fraser to believe that Scharnhorst would attack this convoy rather than the westbound convoy.

Scharnhorst sorties 26 December 1943.

By 0400 JW55B was 50 miles south of Bear Island while Force One was 150 miles to the east of JW55B and Force 2 was 350 miles to the south west. To frustrate VADM Bey's efforts in locating the convoy ADML Fraser diverted JW55B to the north and ordered VADM Burnett's cruisers to close the convoy for mutual support. ADML Fraser hoped this would buy him valuable time to close in with Duke of York and bring Scharnhorst to action.

The German battlecruiser Scharnhorst commissioned 7 January 1939. Displacing 38,430 tonnes, her dimensions were 231 x 30 x 9.9 metres (758 x 98 x 32.5 feet). Armament included 9 x 29 cm (11 inch), 12 x 15 cm (6 inch), 14 x 10.5 cm (4 inch), 17 x 37 mm and 38 x 20 mm guns and 6 x 53.3 cm (21 inch) torpedo tubes.The ship was equipped to carry 1968 crew and three Arado ar 196 seaplanes. Propulsion from 12 boilers and three Brown-Boveri turbines  delivered 160,000 hp and drove the ship at up to 32 knots.