Battle of the Barents Sea

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The Admiral Hipper in Norway-1942

Date	December 31, 1942
Location	Barents Sea, north of North Cape, Norway
Result	Strategic British Victory

Combatants

United Kingdom

Nazi Germany

Commanders

Rear-Admiral Robert L. Burnett
Captain Robert St. Vincent Sherbrooke

Vice-Admiral Oskar Kummetz

Strength

2 Cruisers (after 3 hours)
6 Destroyers
2 Corvettes
1 Minesweeper
2 Trawlers

1 Heavy Cruiser
1 Pocket Battleship
6 Destroyers

Casualties

1 Destroyer
1 Minesweeper

1 Destroyer

Atlantic Campaign
River Plate – Altmark – SC-7 – HX-84 – HX-106 – Berlin – Denmark Strait – Bismarck – Mediterranean – Channel Dash – St. Lawrence – Laconia – PQ-17 – Barents Sea – North Cape

The Battle of the Barents Sea took place on December 31, 1942 between British ships escorting convoy JW 51B to Kola Inlet in the USSR, and German surface raiders. The action took place in the Barents Sea north of North Cape, Norway.

1 Approach
2 The battle
3 Aftermath
4 External links

[edit] Approach

Convoy JW 51B comprised fourteen merchant ships carrying war materials to the USSR - some 202 tanks, 2,046 other vehicles, 87 fighters, 33 bombers, 11,500 tons of fuel, 12,650 of aviation fuel and just over 54,000 tons of other supplies. They were protected by the destroyers HMS Achates, Orwell, Oribi, Onslow, Obedient, and Obdurate; the Flower class corvettes Rhododendron and Hyderabad; the minesweeper HMS Bramble; and two trawlers Vizalma and Northern Gem. The overall commander was Robert St. Vincent Sherbrooke, in Onslow. The convoy sailed in the dead of winter to preclude attacks by German aircraft that had decimated an earlier Arctic convoy, PQ-17.

In addition to the convoy escort, two cruisers, Sheffield and Jamaica, were independently stationed in the Barents Sea to provide cover for the convoy. These two ships, known as "Force R", were under the command of Rear-admiral Robert L. Burnett, in Sheffield.

The German forces included the heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper; pocket battleship Lützow; and destroyers Friedrich Eckholdt, Richard Beitzen, Theodor Riedel, Z 29, Z 30, and Z 31. These ships were based at Altafjord in northern Norway, and were under the overall command of Vice-admiral Oskar Kummetz in Hipper.

Convoy JW 51B sailed from Scapa Flow on December 22, 1942 and met its escort off Iceland on December 25. From there the ships sailed northeast, meeting heavy gales on December 28 and 29 December that caused the ships of the convoy to scatter. When the weather moderated, five merchantmen, the Oribi, and the Vizalma were missing, and Bramble was detached to search for them. Three of the straggling merchantmen rejoined the following day; the other ships proceeded independently towards Kola Inlet.

Meanwhile, on 30 December, the convoy was sighted by the German submarine U 354. When the report was received by the German Naval Staff, Kummetz was ordered to sail immediately with his force to intercept the convoy. Kummetz divided his force into two divisions led by Hipper and Lützow, respectively.

[edit] The battle

Because the battle took place during the darkest time of the year and both the German and British forces were scattered and unsure of the positions of the rest of their own forces, much less the enemy's, the entire battle was a rather confused affair. During the battle it was not clear who was firing on whom or even how many ships were engaged.

At 0820 on December 31, the Obdurate, stationed south of the convoy, spotted three of the German destroyers to the rear (west) of the convoy. Then Onslow spotted Admiral Hipper, also to the rear of the convoy, and steered to intercept with Orwell, Obedient, and Obdurate, while Achates was ordered to stay with the convoy and make smoke. After some firing, the British ships turned in a feigned torpedo attack. Heavily outgunned, Sherbrooke knew that his torpedoes were his most formidable threat and once launched, that threat would be gone. The ruse worked: Hipper temporarily retired as Kummetz had been ordered not to risk his ships. The Admiral Hipper returned to make a second attack, hitting Onslow and causing heavy damage although Onslow would ultimately survive the action. Sherbrooke was badly injured by a splinter and gave command to Obedient.

Hipper then pulled north of the convoy, bumbled into Bramble, and opened fire. Destroyer Eckholdt was ordered to finish Bramble off, while Admiral Hipper shifted targets to Obedient and Achates to the south. Achates was badly damaged, but it continued to lay smoke until it eventually sank; much of the crew would be rescued by the trawler Northern Gem. Ironically, the Germans would report sinking a destroyer, but this was on the basis of sinking the minesweeper Bramble which they mistook for a destroyer; they never realized Achates was hit.

This firing attracted the attention of Force R, still further to the north. Sheffield and Jamaica opened fire on Admiral Hipper at 1130, causing some damage. Kummetz initially thought the attack of the two cruisers was coming from another destroyer, but realizing his mistake, he ordered the ships in his division to retreat to the west. In another case of mistaken identity, Eckholdt mistook Sheffield for Admiral Hipper, and was quickly sunk.

Meanwhile, Lützow approached from the east, and fired ineffectively at the convoy (which was still hidden by smoke from the sinking Achates). Heading northwest to join Admiral Hipper, Lützow also found Sheffield and Jamaica, which opened fire. Coincidentally, both sides decided to break off the action at the same time, each side fearing imminent torpedo attack on their capital ships from the other's remaining destroyers. This was shortly after noon. Burnett with Force R continued to shadow the German ships at a distance until it was evident that they were retiring back to their base, while the ships of the convoy re-formed and continued towards Kola Inlet.

[edit] Aftermath

The German attack on convoy JW 51B was a complete strategic failure since all fourteen of the merchant ships reached their destinations in the USSR. Even more critically for the outcome of the war, Adolf Hitler was so infuriated at what he perceived as the uselessness of the surface raiders that he ordered much of the German surface fleet to be decommissioned and scrapped, and for the German Navy to concentrate on U-boat warfare. Admiral Raeder, supreme commander of the Kriegsmarine, offered his resignation which Hitler reluctantly accepted. Raeder was replaced by Admiral Dönitz.

On the British side, Captain Robert St. Vincent Sherbrooke was awarded the Victoria Cross.