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Scharnhorst 鈥� Battle of North Cape
By John G. Wass

I joined the Royal Navy in 1942 and after training as a Telegraphist/Coder I joined HSM Scorpion, a newly built state of the art Fleet Destroyer. She had all the latest equipment, radar, asdic (sonar) and HFD equipment. She was armed with four 4.7-inch guns, 8 torpedoes, multibarrelled pompoms and other light flack weapons.
We were based at Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands, and our first operations were anti U-boat sweeps between the Orkneys and Iceland. Basically this was a 鈥� shake down cruise鈥� to get every member of the crew working together as a team. As about half the crew were 18 to 20 year olds, who had never been to sea before most of us were seasick owing to the heavy sea conditions.
After this we joined the fleet of destroyers and other escorts, protecting the convoys of merchant ships carrying war materials from the United States and Britain to the North Russian ports of Murmansk and Archangel.
Owing to the danger from German aircraft and U-boats based all along the Norwegian coast most of the convoys were run between October and April so that the convoys were to some extent protected by darkness. Convoys run during the summer months had resulted in heavy losses due to enemy action.
As well as the weather (an ever present danger to ships) we had to contend with aircraft and U-boat attacks and by 1942 German heavy surface ships. Tirpitz, Luetzow and Hipper were in Norwegian fjords waiting to attack convoys, which happened in July and December of that year. In March 1943 the battleship Scharnhorst joined the other big ships at Altenfjord in North Norway to be in a good position to attack convoys going to North Russia.
On December 12th 1943 a convoy number JW55A sailed from Scotland and was escorted by the battleship Duke of York together with 11 destroyers including HMS Scorpion. This convoy arrived at Kola Inlet on Dec. 22nd and proceeded to unload at Murmansk. At 10.45 on Dec. 21st Admiral Fraser, C in C Home Fleet on the Duke of York learned via ULTRA, that Scharnhorst had been brought to 鈥�3 hours notice for sea鈥�. He decided that Scharnhorst was preparing to attack the next loaded convoy going to Russia, and the Duke of York together with my ship HMS Scorpion and 3 other destroyers left Kola at high speed on the same afternoon heading for Akureyri in Iceland to refuel. After refuelling Duke of York, Scorpion and the other ships of Force 2 left Akureyri at 22.00 GMT on Dec. 23rd. Early on Dec. 24th Scorpion with Jamaica, acting as Scharnhorst, exercised to check radar. We were heading into a force 8 gale at 17 knts. Admiral Fraser later wrote, 鈥淭here was an unpleasant sea. Conditions in Duke of York were most uncomfortable, few people obtaining any sleep鈥�. I consider this to be a gross understatement! Duke of York was 42,000 tons, she could slice through a storm quite easily. Conditions in Scorpion, a ship of 2,000 tons, were appalling. Heavy seas were sweeping over the ship; it was dangerous to go onto the upper deck, and one seaman, a well-known wag commented, 鈥淚 think we are serving on a bloody submarine鈥�. For the first time in my service at sea, water was coming through the ventilation shafts wetting everything and leaving 2 inches of water sloshing back and forth on the mess deck as the ship pitched and rolled on the way north.
Convoy JW55B was making its way slowly north towards Bear Island, a mountain top that sticks out of the sea half way between the northern tip of Norway and Spitzbergen. This was the point of the greatest danger, as the loaded convoy would pass the convoy of empty ships coming back from Russia. It was in this area that the Royal Navy concentrated our naval forces to protect these convoys.
On Christmas Day about 19.00 Scharnhorst with 5 destroyers left Altenfjord to attack the convoy. The C in C of the German navy had instructed Admiral Bey in charge of Scharnhorst to attack the loaded convoy in order to relieve the pressure on the German armies fighting on the eastern front. Admiral Bey was finding that his destroyers could not keep up with him due to the storm, and ordered them to string out at 5 miles intervals and sweep the sea to locate the convoy while he went off with Scharnhorst alone.
At about 04.00 on the morning of Dec. 26th we received a message 鈥淎dmiralty appreciates Scharnhorst at sea鈥�. I now knew that there was every possibility of being involved in a fight with the German battleship and decided that I would keep a copy of my logbook for the future.
At 08.00 on Dec. 26th Scharnhorst received a sighting report from a U-boat and altered course. 3 British Royal Navy cruisers, HMS Belfast, HMS Norfolk and HMS Sheffield (Force 1), were covering this convoy. At 08.30 Norfolk picked up Scharnhorst on its radar screen at 33,000 yards distance, and at 09.29 Norfolk opened fire on Scharnhorst and a gun battle commenced. At 09.40 a shell from Norfolk damaged the main radar aerial of Scharnhorst that sped away at 30 knts, radar contact was lost. Scharnhorst worked its way round the convoy to attack from a different direction but at 12.30 ran into the 3 cruisers again. Another gun battle ensued that lasted for about 20 min., during which time Norfolk was hit in the rear gun turret, which put it out of action. Scharnhorst then left the convoy and steamed S.S.E for the next 3 hours on course for a favourable interception by us in Force 2, which included Scorpion. During this time the 3 cruisers of Force1 were shadowing Scharnhorst and reporting its position and speed to us. At 15.25 Admiral Fraser in Duke of York signalled the destroyers that Scharnhorst was 56 miles away and converging 鈥� Scorpion went to action stations and closed all watertight doors. Those of us in the W.T. office were very busy dealing with the flood of messages coming in by radio. At 16.30 Duke of York opened fire on Scharnhorst at 11 miles distance and Scharnhorst returned fire.
I decided I wanted to see what was happening, so I nipped out of the office onto the upper deck but could only see the gun flashes. The flashes from the Duke of York appeared to be yellow in colour, and the flashes from Scharnhorst appeared to be of a more a reddish hue. I quickly went back to my office closing the watertight door behind me. Shortly after this Admiral Fraser signalled Scorpion and the other destroyers 鈥淭ake up advantageous position for firing torpedoes but do not attack until ordered鈥�. About an hour later Scorpion and the other 3 destroyers were ordered to 鈥渁ttack with torpedoes at first available opportunity鈥�. We were now trying to get into a position for firing, but this was proving difficult because Scharnhorst was moving very fast.
About this time Scorpion was asked by C in C 鈥淐an you report my fall of shot鈥�. Scorpion replied 鈥淵our last salvo 200 yards short鈥�. At this time Scorpion and the other destroyers were firing star shells but many were being shot down.
Down the voice tube I heard our captain speaking to the torpedo officer about the attack, so I again went out onto the upper deck to have a quick look and received a shock. Sharnhorst was a little more than a mile away with 3 or 4 star shells hanging over her. She was a beautiful but frightening sight ploughing so smoothly through the waves. She had so many guns and I felt that her secondary armament could have blasted us out of the water in an instant. I could not help exclaiming, 鈥淢y God, how are we going to get out of this mess!鈥�. A young seaman, called 鈥淪tormy鈥� Evans shouted, 鈥淧ut out wires and fenders we鈥檙e going alongside the bastard鈥�. I scuttled back to my office in great haste, not that the thin sides of a destroyer would have afforded much protection.
At 18.40 we had managed to close Scharnhorst. The destroyers Savage and Saumarez were astern of Scharnhorst and Scorpion and Stord were on her starboard beam. Com. Mevrick of Savage was coordinating the torpedo attack, but Savage and Saumarez were seen by Scharnhorst who opened fire on them. Saumarez was badly hit and Savage less so. As Scharnhorst turned away from their attack she presented Scorpion with an excellent target and Scorpion fired a spread of 8 torpedoes. Scorpion sent a message to Fraser 鈥淎ttack completed鈥�. Immediately Scorpion sent another message to Fraser reading 鈥淭wo hits on enemy鈥�. After firing torpedoes, Scorpion turned at high speed and left the area zigzagging and laying a smokescreen as we went, with 6inch and 4inch shells from Scharnhorst dropping around us. On board Scorpion we heard underwater explosions 鈥� rumblings that echoed through the ship as vibrations. We all felt that Scharnhorst could not escape its fate. These were the first torpedoes to hit Scharnhorst. Savage reported, 鈥淓stimate 1 hit鈥�, but Saumarez was unable to fire its torpedoes due to damage. She had 13 men killed and 11 wounded. Later Savage claimed 3 hits.
Shortly after this Savage reported 鈥淢ain target stopped鈥� and by now the Duke of York had stopped firing. Admiral Fraser then sent a message to the 23rd Destroyer Flotilla (which was Scorpion鈥檚 group) 鈥淒estroyer with searchlight illuminate target鈥�. The destroyer with searchlight was Scorpion and as we approached, Scharnhorst appeared to be lying on its side under a pall of smoke, with fires burning on her. We could see a lot of wreckage on the sea with men in the water and on rafts. It was pitch black, snowing, at the tail end of a storm. They had lights on their life jackets, and as they went up and down on the swell the lights appeared to be twinkling. Within the reach of the searchlight I could see approximately 200 men who were blowing whistles and shouting. Commander Clouston allowed the Scorpion to drift down onto these survivors so they would not be drawn under the ship. Scorpion then sent a message to Admiral Fraser reading, 鈥淪urvivors are from Scharnhorst. Survivors state 鈥楽charnhorst has sunk鈥欌�� We were the ship nearest to Scharnhorst, but nobody except survivors saw it sink.
Admiral Fraser then sent a message to the 23rd Destroyer Flotilla and Scorpion instructing them to accompany Saumarez to Murmansk at its 鈥渂est speed鈥�, which turned out to be 10 knts owing to the damage it had sustained.
From the time that Scorpion鈥檚 searchlights illuminated the scene the captain had ordered Scorpion鈥檚 crew to put scrambling nets over the side of the ship with the intention of picking up survivors. Seamen were standing on these nets in pairs pulling the survivors up to deck level, where others including myself carried them down to our mess deck. The survivors were frozen, covered in Scharnhorst鈥檚 fuel oil and totally exhausted. It is generally thought that 15 min. in the sea at these latitudes was lethal. However we quickly stripped off their oil soaked clothing, rubbed them down with our towels (mine never lost their oil stains) and wrapped them in blankets; after which we gave them hot cocoa to drink, which made them sick. Since they spewed up oil they felt better for it. We next provided them with clothes as we had thrown all their oil soaked clothing over the ship鈥檚 side; but not before I had collected a few souvenirs (amongst which was a life jacket), which now resides with my other artefacts in the museum on HMS Belfast in London.
It was interesting to see that the dry clothes, which we issued to them, had been supplied by the Red Cross. I can only assume it was intended for the use of survivors from British ships sunk by the Germans, but we were giving them to the Germans sunk by the British!
That night we and the German sailors bedded down together in a heap, owing to the lack of space on our mess deck. It was an unusual sight and left me wondering, what would happen if we were attacked by U-boats before we got to Murmansk Our ship鈥檚 doctor Lt. Miller examined the survivors and was surprised to find them so fit, only two were put into the sickbay with minor injuries, one of which was Helmut Feifer who later became my firm friend.
In the morning I was surprised to see how cheerful our German prisoners were, one of which, named Jonnie Merkle spoke perfect English with a North American accent. I asked him how he came to speak such good English, and he said that he had lived in the USA for some years. I later learned that he had been born and brought up in Canada and his family being of German origin had sent him to Germany for his education. He was particularly confident, and knowing that I worked in the wireless office he asked me if I could listen in to the German radio to see what was being said about the sinking of Scharnhorst. I told him that this was not allowed. Of the approximately 2000 men on board Scharnhorst there were only 36 survivors, 30 of which were picked up by Scorpion and 6 by another destroyer.
We arrived in Kola Inlet (near Murmansk) about lunchtime and it was decided to transfer the prisoners to the Duke of York. This was because the battleship had more space and facilities 鈥� feeding and showering etc. - than a destroyer, that was cramped even for its own crew.
To transport them from Scorpion to the Duke of York a Russian trawler came alongside Scorpion to take them across to the battleship. There was consternation amongst the prisoners and Jonnie Merkle, who was by now their spokesman said,鈥� It would have been better to have left us in the sea rather than hand us over to the Russians鈥�. One of our officers assured them that they were not been handed over, but they were being put on board the Duke of York. An officer went with them and when they left the ship, the survivors gave 鈥淭hree cheers鈥� for Scorpion and its crew.
Shortly after that we returned to Scapa Flow and were cheered round the fleet.

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