The Battle of North Cape, 1943: The Icy Death of Battleship Scharnhorst

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It was a frigid December night in the Arctic Sea. Aboard the Scharnhorst, the forecast of harsh weather had everyone on edge. Battling fierce winds and towering waves, the German battleship pressed on, its crew risking detection with every radio transmission. Despite the severe conditions, they sailed northward, determined to intercept an Allied convoy. Unbeknownst to the crew aboard Scharnhorst, British intelligence had decrypted their communications, and Admiral Bruce Fraser’s forces were converging. As dawn broke, Scharnhorst advanced, unaware that British cruisers, equipped with radar, were positioning themselves between the German battleship and the convoy. The storm raged, and the battle was about to begin…
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0:00 Introduction
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Written by House of History
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Опубликовано:

21 июн 2024

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Комментарии : 162

@HoH 6 дней назад

🌍 Check out MOVA Globes and support the channel! Get 10% off 6” and 8.5” MOVA Globes with code HISTORY10 at bit.ly/houseofhistoryMOVA

@michaeldantoni4292 5 дней назад

Those Mova Globes are really cool. 😎

@thassiloerbacher3041 5 дней назад

I was super excited about them aswell, had seen them online for a while and always wanted one. When I got mine last Christmas, for our family, I couldn't have been more annoyed, disappointed and angry. It spins and everything and therefore isn't broken or malfunctioning but the quality is just meh. Hardly better than one of those cheap toys/souvenirs Obviously I only got one, the one which shows the city lights at night, so I can't speak for the whole range Wouldn't recommend spending money on it. Better ways to support HoH or other channels My experience anyways..

@HoH 5 дней назад

@thassiloerbacher3041 I am surprised to hear you say that. My experience is quite different. Aside from them sponsoring the video, I was positively surprised by the quality of the Mova Globe. It's spinning next to my YT play button as we speak, it's a really cool decoration to have in my opinion. I am sorry it disappointed you, hopefully that's a one-off because it's totally different from my experience.

@INDO-ANDLESL День назад

@@HoH,Can you make Battle of cape engano?

@Alex-cw3rz 6 дней назад

It's amazing how in the middle of a storm Duke of York was able to hit Sharnhorst on her first salvo. That was excellent gunnery, some of the best in the war and that's being modest.

@grossadmiral1 6 дней назад

Gewiss, aber mit Funkmess nur ein kleines Kunststück, tatsächlich lag das deutsche Feuer wesentlich besser und "Scharnhorst" wäre beinahe entkommen. Alles tapfere Männer und ewige Mahner Frieden zu halten! Scharnhorst immer voran!

@emmeriankiwi6993 5 дней назад

Considering some ships of the time they would fire the first salvo to see their accuracy then readjust and the battle would start.

@jesusandresramirezblanco2134 5 дней назад

I think it also has to do with the fact that the Duke of York's radar was one of the most efficient in the British Fleet, although Goddess Fortune also has to do with everything, always chance and luck.

@Alex-cw3rz 5 дней назад

@@jesusandresramirezblanco2134 a lot of it was skill, just having Radar doesn't solve everything especially in a storm and especially with WW2 Radar, this was one of the earliest examples (if not the first) of "Radar directed" fire on another vessel.

@recoil53 5 дней назад

@@Alex-cw3rz The Second Naval Battle of Guadalcanal happened a month and a half earlier.

@Alex-cw3rz 6 дней назад

10:15 correction Norfolk had 8 inch guns and Norfolk didn't have flashless powder like the 6 inch cruisers. So Bey thought that Norfolk with such bigger flashes was a Queen Elizabeth class or Revenge class battleship with 15 inch guns. This was another reason the turn away apart from the damage.

@volk4all805 5 дней назад

My great grandfather died on Scharnhorst. Rip

@johannesaarto1631 5 дней назад

Rip

@CIMAmotor 5 дней назад

My great-uncle died on HMS Hood. I hope he's having a beer with your great-grandfather in the afterlife.

@briancarey1159 4 дня назад

Rest in peace sailor

@thatscrazy3749 4 дня назад

My granduncle too... RIP

@susannemalik2554 4 дня назад

My father hat to go to technical school just before Scharnhorst left Germany to go north. Christmas was never real happy at home...

@rasmusstorjohann645 5 дней назад

This whole engagement would have happened in the dark, there is no sunlight that far north in December.

@HoH 5 дней назад

Indeed, as mentioned in the video. But it wouldn't be friendly to my viewers if I showed a black screen for 10 minutes. 😉

@Khookies-lp2lu 5 дней назад

@@HoHInteresting April fools idea, try that for next year!

@maryholder3795 2 дня назад

Thank god for the Duke of Yorks radar, otherwise Scharnhorst would probably have got away.

@marcusott2973 6 дней назад

Much awaited, much appreciated excellent insights as always from you.

@jesusandresramirezblanco2134 5 дней назад

Honestly, when the Scharnhorst lost its radar system with the first confrontation, it was time to cancel the mission, knowing that they were virtually blind and that they would be outmatched in combat by the British as they lacked any type of radar system. However, it can be understood why Bey continued with the mission, the Kriegsmarine surface fleet was too depleted and Hitler was disappointed by its performance (even though the idiot did not give Raeder and his subordinates time to prepare their forces). forces and that the fat drug addict Goering almost never helped cover the navy with his planes) and was seriously thinking about scrapping the surface fleet (something that honestly shows what an idiot and brute he was for), Bey had the pressures of many members of the Kriegsmarine for him to achieve some success against the allies, therefore, it is clear that he decided to continue with the mission knowing the enormous disadvantage that his ship had (it reminds me of Cradock and Von Spee in WWI), however , that pressure ended up costing the Germans much more dearly than it could have initially, losing their last battleship and leaving the surface fleet completely out of combat. Greetings from Venezuela.

@beecepticon День назад

"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)

@mchrome3366 2 дня назад

One of the better videos of this battle of the many I’ve watched. Great job with a battle that had so many separate actions.

@KHK001 6 дней назад

Amazing video as always!

@landsea7332 19 часов назад

Great Presentation . Recall that when the HMS Belfast was damaged by a mine in Nov 1939 , it took 2 years to repair the light cruiser . Whoever decided to re - equip the boat with a new radar system made a good decision . .

@pomicultorul 5 дней назад

thank you for your continuous work!

@MetalRodent 2 дня назад

Couple of corrections: you state Burnett's cruisers only had 6" guns but Norfolk had 8", and for some reason the silhouette used for Belfast appears to be a WW1 CL

@LordKingPotato 6 дней назад

I'm sure I requested this one! Great job 👏👍

@HoH 6 дней назад

Hope you enjoyed it!

@tforlee2955 3 дня назад

It’s great how there are so many animated videos about these naval battles and yet each style brings something slightly different

@rodgerscott6405 4 дня назад

Thank you for your excellent review of this engagement. Very educational. The best I have seen.

@williammitchell9001 4 дня назад

I suggest something on the Malta Convoy named 'Operation Pedestal', with a particular focus on the incredible journey against all the odds of the SS Ohio that reached Malta badly damaged but succeeded in bringing invaluable fuel oil supplies to the beleaguered island.

@brokenbridge6316 5 дней назад

I heard that the Scharnhorst might've been able to escape the battle had it's engine room not been hit by enemy fire. Great video.

@karl3998 5 дней назад

She would have escaped - damaged severely, yes, but escaped. However the history of naval battles is full of "what if this one freak hit wouldn't have happened": a few that come to my mind from WW 2 alone: the shell that disabled Lützow during the battle at Oscarbourgh. While the fact that Blücher was sunk there is of course both wider known in theory Lützow could still have force open the way - her 2x3 11 inch guns being a major threat. However she had a triple turret fore and after and in the narrows thus could only use the forward one. However one of the shore batteries scored a 1-in-a-billion hit on her: a shell hitting the turret right above a gun and then with it's splinters ripping apart the hydraulic systems to elevate all 3 guns. A single freak hit and yet it disabled all the forward main battery forcing a retreat. the torpedo that hit Bismark's rudder - enough videos about that one. the single Fritz-X hit on Roma sinking the battleship by a combination of massive flooding and a magazine detonation Arizona likewise being sunk by a single bomb hit causing a magazine detonation (the other hits while damaging were not crippling)

@recoil53 5 дней назад

Given the relative facing of the Duke of York and Scharnhorst, it's not really a lucky hit.

@fezparker2401 5 дней назад

@@karl3998 you missed the biggest one . hood

@iankerridge5720 4 дня назад

@karl3998 The Grand Old Lady, HMS Warspite barely survived a FritzX hit, mainly because it went through Her and detonated outside Her hull

@brokenbridge6316 3 дня назад

@@iankerridge5720---Wow. That ship got royally lucky in that instant.

@robertm4919 4 дня назад

Thanks!

@HoH 4 дня назад

Thank you very much, Robert!!

@markstott6689 6 дней назад

Another tremendous video. 😊❤😊

@eduardodpino 8 часов назад

Great video.

@SennaAugustus 5 дней назад

Would love to hear more of 2 of the biggest "battles" of the war, the sinkings of U-110 and U-559.

@HoH 5 дней назад

Great suggestions, thank you!

@EliteFuller 6 дней назад

amazing video

@Warmaker01 5 дней назад

HMS Sheffield trying to chase down Scharnhorst? She was the Cruiser that shadowed Bismarck in 1941 with Radar, keeping the British appraised of her location.

@fezparker2401 5 дней назад

yep. got attacked mistakenly by swordfish

@danielsantiagourtado3430 6 дней назад

Thanks For this! Never miss a video ❤❤❤

@HoH 6 дней назад

Thanks for watching! Appreciate it.

@danielsantiagourtado3430 6 дней назад

@@HoH np

@mohammedsaysrashid3587 6 дней назад

It was an informative and wonderful historical coverage episode about scharnhorst battleship sank during WW2 in North Sea ( North cape)... convoy aids for the USSR at that time. A group of cruisers and battle ship hunted German Scharnhorst . squad British vessels .episode shared by an amazing ( house of history) channel....thanks for sharing.

@richardstone5552 4 дня назад

Thanks

@hughsmith7850 День назад

Sir, you may want to take a look at the history of the USS Biscayne a sea plane tender converted to the Flag Ship. She was a true fighting ship and was at the front of every amphibious landing in the Mediterranean and was then sent to fight in the Pacific. Fascinating story.

@Ares28Pictures 4 дня назад

Great video! As a suggestion, I'd love to learn more about submarine operations. It might be interesting to see a video about Laconia incident or capturing of enigma machine aboard uboat.

@tomref4001 Час назад

I suppose it was the radar that prevented German Intelligence from working out that their naval codes had been cracked-that feat of masking the intercepted communications for such a long time was probably one of the hardest and worthiest efforts of the war and a much under-rated achievement. In fact quite an 'under the radar' achievement. Personal losses on comments here very poignant-but incredible prowess on all sides displayed in such conditions.

@samyong2343 5 дней назад

Please do the battle of midway

@ricbarker4829 День назад

I was going to order one of those globes....until I found out hey were for "the person that has everything" I still have a lot of things on my list before I have everything, I'll just have to wait.

@notthefbi7932 2 дня назад

The Germans knew how to build ships to take a punch

@herbsuperb6034 4 дня назад

Excellent video. One can't help but salute the seamanship and courage of both sides in this engagement. A great shame that so many sailors lost their lives. I'd hope that the British Sailors were after the ship, not the crew, and vice versa. PS - I have two Mova Globes and have given others away as gifts. They're SO much fun, and always draw much attention and curiosity from passers by. Really a neat little gadget.

@barryhoggle2354 4 дня назад

I would love to hear something on the USS Alabama

@gctzx 5 дней назад

Can you do the Battle of Endor next please? 😊

@akrabat 5 дней назад

Now, that's a good choice for a 1st April release!

@maryholder3795 2 дня назад

😂😊😂

@Zygybar 5 дней назад

You should redraw the german controlled zon so it incompasses Norwar and not Norway and a thrid of Sweden. :)

@robbabcock_ 5 дней назад

Terrific video! I'm a sucker for any good content about the German pocket battleships.

@fezparker2401 5 дней назад

its not a pocket battleship.that would be the deutchand class cruisers

@Cailus3542 День назад

Scharnhorst was a battleship. The Deutchland-class cruisers (eg. Graf Spee) were called "pocket battleships" because they had battleship-sized guns on a heavy cruiser. This proved to be a bad idea, as Graf Spee demonstrated af River Plate.

@MrShirial 5 дней назад

Could you do a video about Altmark Incident?

@Axgoodofdunemaul 16 часов назад

All those brave, long-suffering men lost.

@alexanderleach3365 5 дней назад

Like Bismarck, she went down fighting battling the Royal Navy.

@kali3665 5 дней назад

I saw a comic years ago depicting the Scharnhorst and how the Germans believed that the ship was jinxed, making its final fate pre-ordained. Presume it was fantasy, but you never know....

@iankerridge5720 4 дня назад

Really? Arguably Scharnhorst was the lucky one: Her Sister, Gneisenau, was forever getting damaged

@g2301 5 дней назад

seen this from bazbattle

@zillsburyy1 5 дней назад

savage

@George_M_ 4 дня назад

There were many mistakes and miscommunications but the fatal error for sure was not turning for home when radar was out. Not the first or last time the Nazis made a critical error due to politics. (this being treated as the surface fleet's only chance to prove its worth)

@oliverhughes610 5 дней назад

Duke of York would have been firing salvos of 6 shells from that position, not 3, no?

@user-dc5qc1vb9c 2 дня назад

Suffolk had 8” guns

@Warmaker01 5 дней назад

Of all the navies of WWII, I often laugh at the idiocy of the Kriegsmarine the most. They get surprised when a sole battleship, Bismarck, is run down, isolated, and destroyed in 1941 by superior Allied forces. But the Germans never learned the lesson and repeated their stupid ways with Scharnhorst suffering a similar fate in December 1943. She too was alone, got run down by superior Allied forces, isolated, and destroyed. In both Bismarck and Scharnhort's cases, both Lutjens and Bey were quite against doing these sorties to begin with. Lutjens knew it was a suicide run.

@Cailus3542 День назад

There was originally a plan to send a larger force, meaning Bismarck, Gneisenau, Scharnhorst and whatever escorts could be scrounged up. They were still horrendously outnumbered, but a force like that prowling around, all capable of 30 knots, would've been a serious threat.

@vincereynard4890 2 часа назад

When Bismark was launched a German admiral was heard to comment - "They are magnificent ships - when they meet the Royal Navy they will die gloriously!" They were in no delusions about what chance they had. They were also serious flawed in design so as to be fast and look good. (Nazi posing.)

@rhodrifielding4682 5 дней назад

My great granddad was involved when the scharnhorst sunk

@jerrykim7777 6 дней назад

why don't they ever surrender when it's obvious they were gonna lose? with only one turret working, I'd be worried that maybe I missed the abandon ship order because surely fighting on at this point is futile

@eisengott8467 5 дней назад

"Surrender" does not exist on warrior's vocabulary who pledged to fight until the end. If death is their fate then so be it.

@kulot-ki1tu 5 дней назад

accepting surrenders from opposing crews in wartime was basically unheard of in ww2, much less in dark icy cold wet conditions like the waters around northern norway

@Matt_Alaric 5 дней назад

@@kulot-ki1tu Give me an example of someone refusing to accept a ship surrendering, cos that sounds very unlikely.

@kulot-ki1tu 5 дней назад

@@Matt_Alaric its not that they didnt want to accept that but in those conditions its impossible tell me how you are supposed to make out any form of identification signal while the ship you are firing upon is either firing back, or your vision is clouded by smoke, or you're doing evasive manuevers under the threat of torpedo attack, etc its hypocritical of me to say this because i havent experienced it myself but if you have ever been in a rocking ship on horrific north atlantic weather trying to figure out they are surrendering is the LEAST of your concerns also, there are several scenarios (especially in the pacific) where warships refused to take on or killed surrenderees because it was so rare, the japanese literally issued orders to kill any and all allied sailors or aircrews in the water. IJN Tone's officers personally massacred allied prisoners in the double digits captured after sinking the steamer Behar there was also a case where HMS Baralong's captain ordered to kill swimming survivors attempting to surrender from the uboat U-27 after being largely destroyed (this was in ww1) i know its hard to grasp because the majority of people here dont have a clear grasp of just how barbaric naval combat can be, but just read up about the pacific war instead of focusing centrally on the european theatre

@user-lh5fp7bf2c 4 дня назад

Battlecruiser!!!!!

@boreasreal5911 4 дня назад

No!!!!!

@-ZM_Gaming- 3 дня назад

Cruiser-Battlecruiser

@givenfirstnamefamilyfirstn3935 День назад

Heavier Armour than Bismarck☂️☂️☂️☂️☂️

@andywomack3414 6 дней назад

How many U-Boats could the Germans build and crew with the resources and people sunk into it's battleships?

@marshallrojas2676 6 дней назад

The sharnhorst in 1942 cost about 143.5 million and an average German submarine cost around 2.4 million so around 59.79 submarines could’ve been build

@andywomack3414 5 дней назад

@@marshallrojas2676 Could an additional 200 U-Boats have made a difference in the battle of the Atlantic? Assuming four German battleships not built.

@kulot-ki1tu 5 дней назад

@@andywomack3414 dont forget you arent just buying 200 uboats, you need the resources to build them, build port facilities to construct and maintain them, get crews for them, supply their munitions at that point 4 battleships mightve been easier to supply logistically than a further 200 uboats, those 200 more uboats assuming they were properly supported could have caused a rise in allied convoy sinkings but there was nothing that was going to stop the allied navies from their increasing anti-submarine capability through innovation of new tactics and technology those battleships (while literally accomplishing nothing of significant note to alter the war) did manage to tie up alot of royal navy assets, tirpitz literally sat in port for basically all her life but entire squadrons of royal navy aircraft and vessels were constantly on watch incase something happened, and they couldve been better used in the mediterannean, atlantic or even the pacific

@andywomack3414 5 дней назад

@@kulot-ki1tu Just one factor of several factors, "would not have made a difference."

@kulot-ki1tu 5 дней назад

@@andywomack3414 what are you referring to by this

@astros_fan_0073 3 дня назад

Straight up copy of what baz battles already did.

@pierredecine1936 3 дня назад

the Brits launched their guns - right !

@Ausf.D.A.K. 5 дней назад

Bro, your cute globes cost over $200. Are you kidding?

@christopherhanton6611 6 дней назад

good video but that was the one fatal order that sealed Scharnhorst fate. she should NEVER have left her escort dds

@Alex-cw3rz 6 дней назад

4 destroyers in that weather would have not changed anything

@christopherhanton6611 6 дней назад

@@Alex-cw3rz true

@christopherhanton6611 6 дней назад

@Alex-cw3rz the ship was lost when radar got destroyed first hits on ship.

@user-lh5fp7bf2c 4 дня назад

Easily the most beautiful Battlecruiser ever built.

@boreasreal5911 4 дня назад

Also easily not a battlecruiser

@givenfirstnamefamilyfirstn3935 День назад

Airship easily.

@jamesscully7108 5 дней назад

👀🇮🇪⚓

@asifsaad5827 5 дней назад

i believe Bey was the most outdated and useless commander in kriegsmarine at that time

@user-lx9tf1hc4c 5 дней назад

Scharnhorst >>> Bismarck

@smfarqadain7223 3 дня назад

Way Bey a Turkish Muslim ?

@Cailus3542 День назад

No. He was German, and certainly not Muslim.

@ManMetKoekje 3 дня назад

Can you do the raid on Medway? The Dutch invasion of Britain where they brutally destroyed tons of ships and stole the royal Charles (ship of the British king) (Michiel de ruyter was the mind behind the succesfull operation) the raid on Medway is still one of Britain’s worst defeats in history

@dalek3086 4 дня назад

pocket battleship - the British navy and army in WW2 called it a pocket battleship.

@hashteraksgage3281 3 дня назад

Those were the Deutschland class heavy cruisers

@1st_PA_Scout 3 дня назад

No they didn't. The 'pocket battleships' were the Deutschland class of Panzerschiffe ('armoured ships'), built in the late 1920s and reclassified as heavy cruisers by the war. They were armed with a slightly older version of the same guns used in Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, albeit two triple 11 in turrets to the latter's three.

@dalek3086 3 дня назад

@@1st_PA_Scout The RAF pilots in Coastal Command in WW2 called it a pocket battleship. Guess no WW2 RAF pilots in your family then. Call them whatever you like .

@grahamlowe314 3 дня назад

@@dalek3086 The Graf spee was a pocket battleship

@1st_PA_Scout 3 дня назад

@@dalek3086 You said the British army and navy called it that, not 'some pilots in the RAF'. Maybe some of your family as the latter did, but the overwhelmingly popular description for the much smaller and disproportionately powerfully-armed Deutchlands was pocket battleship. Keep your story straight if you want to get shirty. There's nothing 'pocket' about the Scharnhorst. Yeah, the guns are relatively small but it still weighed nearly 40,000 tons fully loaded.

@F1lmtwit 6 дней назад

death of a Battle-cruiser.....

@Viking88Power 6 дней назад

Battleship.

@danielseelye6005 6 дней назад

I prefer "Super Cruiser" If a BC is a Heavy Cruiser in armor and speed, but with BB guns then Scharnhorst and Gneisenau don't fit as they had the same armor scheme and speed as the Bismarcks (12.5" main belt, 30 knots) just smaller cruiser-sized guns. Everything else was on par. They were more battleship than battlecruiser, but I'd just call them Super Cruisers until they got the 15"s they never received. Plus, it looks like they were planning to swap out the 3 Triple 11"s for three double 15"s or 2 triple 15"s. Chalk it up to them being designed and built before the Bismarcks took things to the next level like the Dakotas, Alabama and North Carolina before the Iowas became the pinnacle of American Fast Battle Wagons but I would stick with Super Cruisers.

@F1lmtwit 6 дней назад

@@danielseelye6005 - nearly same tonnage, similar speed, slightly smaller guns and better armor in some places then the USS Alaska... ergo Battle Cruiser. But even as we see here, it couldn't remotely take on an actual Battle Ship... because it wasn't a Battle ship... it was Battle Cruiser. End of story.

@danielseelye6005 6 дней назад

@@F1lmtwit No, that's comparing apples to oranges. Battleships to Battlecruisers are done within the same navy, not to other navies. It doesn't matter about the _Alaska,_ the Scharnhorsts' classification is based on the _Bismarcks_ whether they are heavy cruisers with battleship guns (battlecruiser) or a battleship with cruiser guns (Super Cruiser). Plus, your example of the USS Alaska isn't helping, just exacerbates it as there is as much difference of opinion on her classification as the Scharnhorsts. Drachinifel had an interesting breakdown on her.

@F1lmtwit 5 дней назад

@@danielseelye6005 - So where in the World Navy Classification Laws does it say any of that ... eeerr... oh it doesn't say any of that because the Scharnhorst had nearly same tonnage, similar speed, slightly smaller guns and better armor in some places then the USS Alaska... ergo Battle Cruiser. But even as we see here, it couldn't remotely take on an actual Battle Ship... because it wasn't a Battle ship... it was Battle Cruiser. End of story

@hashteraksgage3281 3 дня назад

The Brits love calling this one sided fights battles. When both sides have similar strength the Brits tend to lose though.