North Cape 1943

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The German battleship Scharnhorst earned a reputation as a lucky ship, having successfully engaged a British battlecruiser and sunk a carrier early in the war. By spring 1943, she was redeployed to Norway, where, alongside the battleship Tirpitz, she threatened Allied Arctic convoys vital to Russia. Over six months, Scharnhorst made two forays into the Barents Sea but only shelled Spitzbergen, yet her presence forced the British to allocate ships to Arctic waters. After Tirpitz was incapacitated and with Hitler demanding naval support for the Eastern Front, Scharnhorst's crew prepared for action. In late December 1943, under Rear-Admiral Bey, she set out to intercept the Allied convoy JW55B in the Barents Sea, unaware that Admiral Fraser was using the convoy as bait. This led to a fierce two-day running battle in harsh conditions, culminating in the destruction of Scharnhorst and nearly all her crew. The loss marked the end of any serious German naval threat to Arctic convoys. In this illustrated study, Angus Konstam, a leading naval historian, provides a compelling analysis and narrative of this pivotal engagement, offering a fresh perspective on the battle that sank the Scharnhorst.