About the Battle of the Barents Sea
The Battle of the Barents Sea was an important event during World War II. It took place on 31 December 1942 and lasted until 1 January 1943.
The battle saw the Royal Navy, under the command of Captain Robert Sherbrooke, take on a force of German ships that included destroyers, U-boats and cruisers. The British had five ships in total; three light cruisers and two destroyers.
In contrast, the German force included four destroyers, one torpedo boat and one U-boat. During the engagement, both sides fired torpedoes at each other but neither side was able to inflict serious damage to their enemies’ vessels.
Despite this stalemate, it was still seen as a victory for the British Navy as it kept the German ships at bay and prevented them from attacking Allied convoys in the area.
The Battle in the Barents Sea was an important event in World War II and is often seen as a turning point in the war’s history. It showed that the Royal Navy was able to stand up to the German threat, even when outnumbered, and was a sign of their determination to protect Allied convoys from attack. Today, it stands as one of Britain’s most successful naval engagements during World War II.
The Battle Prequel
31 December marked the commencement of Unternehmen Regenbogen (Operation Rainbow) in North Norway, led by Vice-Admiral Oskar Kummetz and his squadron on Admiral Hipper. The German force had been waiting to aim their assault at Convoy PQ 18 until Allied forces caused a temporary hold with Operation Torch in the Mediterranean, as well as Operation FB which routed single ships towards Russia. With this lack of opportunity to begin the operation, they set sail that day.
Adolf Hitler’s powerful naval force was made up of the cruisers Admiral Hipper and Lützow (formerly known as Deutschland), complemented by six destroyers, namely Friedrich Eckoldt, Richard Beitzen, Theodor Riedel, Z29 ,Z30 and Z31.
On December 22nd, 1942, the JW 51B launched from Loch Ewe and encountered its escort off Iceland on Christmas Day. Afterward, they traveled northeast to face tumultuous gales between 28th and 29th of December which caused a few ships in the convoy to drift away. When conditions improved again, Oribi and Vizalma had gone missing alongside five merchant ships – consequently Bramble was sent out for them. Eventually three of those merchants reunited with their group while the others continued towards Kola Inlet separately.
On the 24th of December, a German reconnaissance plane noticed the convoy and from that point onwards it was monitored by U-354 (Kptlt. Karl-Heinz Herbschleb). Once news about this reached the Naval Staff, Kummetz received orders to sail right away in order to intercept the group. Consequently, he separated his forces into two divisions led respectively by Admiral Hipper and Lützow.
Finally, the Battle
On the morning of December 31st, JW 51B was approximately 140 miles away from the coast of Finnmark, proceeding east. Oribi and another ship were detached from the convoy to search for something 15 nautical miles northeastward; meanwhile Bramble was looking out for them at a distance of 17 miles. Something else grabbed Vizalma’s attention 45 nautical miles offshore while Burnett’s cruisers took position 30 nautical miles southeastwards— that is 56 kilometers apart from their current position within the convoy.
At a distance of 150 nautical miles (170 miles; 280 kilometers) to the East, convoy RA 51 was heading West homeward. To its North, Admiral Hipper and three destroyers were rapidly approaching, while Lützow and her band of three escorts were closing in from 50 nautical miles(58 mi; 93km) away towards the South.
At 8:00 sharp, the destroyer Friedrich Eckholdt located and reported the convoy to Admiral Hipper. Twenty minutes later, Obdurate noticed three German destroyers at the back of their formation (west) while Onslow detected Admiral Hipper in a similar position. Understanding they had no chance against these odds, Orwell together with Obedient and Obdurate directed themselves towards interception while Achates was commanded to stay beside the convoy as it created smoke for cover.
After some firing, the British ships seemingly changed course in order to launch a torpedo attack. Although Sherbrooke was heavily outgunned, he knew that his torpedoes were more powerful than any physical force; and thus, commenced a feigned attack as soon as their threat had expired. This trickery worked splendidly: Admiral Hipper forwent his counterattack since Kummetz had been instructed not to endanger his fleet. However, when Hipper returned for another strike on Onslow he caused major destruction along with 17 deaths from the heavy casualties sustained.
Despite Onslow coming through the scuffle unscathed, Sherbrooke was seriously hurt by a large steel shard and consequently handed over command to Obedient.
After navigating north of convoy, the Admiral Hipper encountered Bramble, a Halcyon-class minesweeper. A rapid barrage ensued between them with the more powerful guns belonging to Admiral Hipper causing a huge detonation on Bramble that led to its demise – taking all hands down with it. Friedrich Eckholdt was then commanded to move south and target Obedient and Achates instead.
The Achates experienced immense damage, yet valiantly continued to emit smoke until eventually slipping beneath the waves. Thankfully, many of her crew members were saved by the Northern Gem trawler. The Germans mistakenly reported sinking a destroyer when in fact it had been misidentified; they hadn’t realized that it was actually the Achates who took a direct hit.
Undetected, Sheffield and Jamaica approached Force R at 11:35 PM and opened fire on Admiral Hipper – their shellfire catching the attention of those further north. The six-inch shells that came raining down damaged two of her boiler rooms while minor flooding caused her speed to be reduced to 28 knots (52 km/h; 32 mph).
Kummetz initially believed that the attack of the two cruisers was coming from another destroyer; however, upon realizing his misperception, he commanded his vessels to retreat westward. Similarly, Friedrich Eckholdt and Richard Beitzen mistook Sheffield for Admiral Hipper. After they attempted to align themselves with their British counterparts, they were assaulted by Sheffield which resulted in Friedrich Eckholdt being ripped apart and sinking along with all crew members aboard her.
Moving from the east, Lützow fired at the convoy that was still concealed by smoke stemming from Achates. When heading northwest to join Admiral Hipper, he came across Sheffield and Jamaica who immediately responded with shots of their own. As it happened both forces decided to end the confrontation concurrently due to their mutual concerns about potential torpedo strikes on their major vessels caused by each other’s destroyers.
At a little after noon, Force R and Burnett maintained their watch on the German ships from afar until it became clear that they were retreating back to the harbour. Meanwhile, the convoy vessels regrouped and voyaged towards Kola Inlet.
After the Battle of the Barents Sea
In the midst of a seemingly never-ending polar night, German and British forces were scattered with limited knowledge of their own allies’ locations, let alone that of the enemy. Consequently, the fight was disorganized and chaotic; at times it wasn’t clear who exactly was shooting in which direction nor how many vessels had been recruited for battle.
Despite Germany’s attempts, all 14 merchant ships reached the USSR unharmed. Hitler was enraged by what he perceived to be the futility of surface raiding- particularly after two heavy cruisers were stalled back by destroyers before reinforcement from two light cruisers arrived. This failure caused much tension and almost led other Hitler to make a drastic decision: scrap his entire surface fleet in order for it to focus entirely on U-boat warfare.
Admiral Erich Raeder, the highest-ranking officer of the German Kriegsmarine offered his resignation and Hitler graciously accepted. To succeed him as supreme commander, Admiral Karl Dönitz was appointed – he had previously led the U-boat fleet with great success.
By preserving the German surface fleet from decommissioning, Grand Admiral Dönitz saved his navy a great deal of trouble after the battle of the Barents Sea. Of note is that only Admiral Hipper and two light cruisers (Emden and Leipzig) were set aside for later use with repairs on battleship Gneisenau being neglected altogether. Despite this, E-boats continued to be active in French waters until one more major sea mission was carried out after the battle had ended.
In an endeavor to shut down Convoy JW 55B, the battleship Scharnhorst was avowedly dispatched. However, it ultimately met its fate at the hands of a British task force in what is now referred to as the Battle of North Cape.