The Germans actually have very few escort ships at this point in the war and they were always stretched way too thin. Ideally you would have had an escort hold back and a screen steam ahead of the main fleet in order to maximize vision and security but when all you have is 5 destroyers how are you going to accomplish that? You can either find the target or protect your capital ships, not enough escorts to do both.
Also German DD while better armed than their British counterparts have significantly lower free-board (the distance between the waterline and the deck of the ship) and significantly heavier, making them less seaworthy boats which in rough seas severely degraded their speed and maneuverability. More often than not they simply couldn't keep up with the heavier capital ships and even if they did were a greater liability.
That's how you win, besides the British where tired of being out numbered so often against the Spanish and French during the age of sail so once the industrial revolution started to affect the Navy they made sure that it would be the British who always had superior numbers!
Her codename was "bestemor" or "grandma" in English. When she (Scharnhorst) left Langfjorden, the Partisan's of Alta sent the following message to the Allies: "Grandma has left for christmas vacation".
This programme gives scant mention of the fact that Duke Of York fired her 14" shells with phenomenal accuracy. Her very first broadside landed a shell squarely on Scharnhorsts focsle and knocked out her two forward turrets. Of 52 broadsides fired 32 of them were straddles . This is just about the best you could get from large calibre naval guns. Added to the fact that weather conditions were appalling and she was firing blind thanks to her radar. This truly was a spectacular victory for DOY.
@Dirk Bürger It would seem to me that you are a person with learning difficulties or perhaps a very low level of intelligence? In either case you are not worth any more of my time. No further comment from me.
@Dirk Bürger i know its some time since this discussion. dirk you are correct but so too is @scabbycat cat . what i fear is happening here is an aftermath of Jutland.... as in the British (i am also proudly British) gunnery at Jutland was ….. lets say a little off... and with what happened between Bismarck and Hood, British naval prestige was called into question. all the original poster was stating was how good the Dukes gunnery was. this is in no way calls into question the bravery of the Scharnhorst or her Crew. its easy to feel a sense of national pride when looking at history (i am guilty of this on many counts) but we as historians (and I am sure we all are historians in this comment section) need to set it aside as much as we can. both sides fought bravely and heroically which is often the case in many engagements in a way that we commenters could never fully comprehend. this fight see nobody without honour. god rest them.
My Grandad was a anti aircraft gunner on Duke of York. I often think of him , he must have been freezing cold on those Atlantic convoys and in fear of being hit by a torpedo at anytime!?He was a great bloke . Dennis boulter 1923-1991.
@@freshfish7529 thank you. I was living with him at the time he passed away. They where certainly a special breed. I was shocked to learn he gave up a career in the Navy to go down the pits as a miner after the war!? The pit took its toll on his body. Collapsing on him etc.. Tough men back then!
My late uncle was also on the Duke of York in this battle, morse code operator, Arthur Whitcombe. Also a great bloke. They don’t make them like these guys anymore.
Yep, that's correct. I even got to sit on one of the AA stations and move the guns around (up-down, left-right) last time I visited it around 10 years ago. :)
Just a small note of criticism. One of the destroyers that torpedoed Scharnhorst was Norwegian, named Stord (and there were eight destroyers total; four were detached from the convoy to cover the Belfast group, and torpedoed Scharnhorst after the first destroyer group) The captain of the Norwegian destroyer, Skule Storheill, gave quite a memorable order during this battle, that has become my favourite ever quote. As they were ordered to close in and attack the Scharnhorst with torpedoes, he ordered his gunnery officer, Nils Owren, to: "Find the largest Norwegian flag on the ship, and hoist it on the mainmast so the fuckers can see who they are dealing with!" ...and thus she went in
@@PercyPruneMHDOIFandBarsThe free militaries in exile from across Europe fighting for their comrades back home were mad lads. Battle of Britain, hunting the Bismarck, convoy battles, Monte Cassino, nuclear sabotage, all sorts of stuff. The Germans may be sitting in their countries, but their fighting spirit wasn’t broken.
@wolftamer5463: Absolutely! My favourite tale is the Polish destroyer teasing KMS Bismark the night before he was sunk. A tiny destroyer versus an ENORMOUS Battleship! Crazy.
After the battle Admiral Fraser was quoted to have said: "Gentlemen, the battle against Scharnhorst has ended in victory for us. I hope that if any of you are ever called upon to lead a ship into action against an opponent many times superior, you will command your ship as gallantly as Scharnhorst was commanded today"
I was in London this past July and got to tour the Belfast. I'm a US Navy veteran and it was very cool to explore my first non-American naval vessel. They have a simulation of this battle in one of the turrets. Check it out if you're in London.
Thank you for that. I live here and probably went there once when I hadn't a clue. School visit or something when I was young. I might go visit on Friday now you mention it. I hadn't realised it's significance especially now I realise how important it was to supply the Russians against the German offensive which was uniquely pitiless. 17m died? I visited Volgograd once. Stalingrad. Now that's a battle! Many regards. London
You didn't mention that one of the destroyers in the British task force was actually Norwegian, the HNoMS Stord, and after the battle Admiral Frasier sendt this message to the Admiralty: "... Please convey to the C-in-C Norwegian Navy. Stord played a very daring role in the fight and I am very proud of her..." She came as close as 400 yards/360m to the Scharnhorst in order to launch torpedoes.
I just read about Stord. She lost a crew member during that torpedo attack, to a rogue wave that crashed over the ship. Apparently a second crew member was also thrown overboard, but was then miraculously thrown *back onto the ship* by another wave.
Midgard Eagle Where did you find this information? I would love to read it. My dads Uncle was on Stord that day. He first served on HMS Eskdale in the English Channel but they were sunk by German Torpedo boats. He survived but lost 3 close friends who’s bodies were floating around him. According to my grandma he always slept with his eyes still open after that. He was later transferred to Stord and took part in the Battle of the North Cape and later the D-Day invasion.
I hope that if any of you were ever called upon to lead a ship into action, against an opponent many times superior than you, you will command your ship as gallantly as Scharnhorst has been commanded today. -Admiral Fraser
You guys probably won't believe this but I wrote this comment while I had a fever and looking back at it now, this is indeed stupid. So are we gonna have a comment war or something now?
But even if the Germans had done plan Z, it's not like the British would have sat around doing nothing. Their TOP priority bar none was to make sure the Royal Navy could defeat the German navy. So they'd just have accelerated their own production to stay ahead. It would have been the pre World War One naval arms race all over again, with the same result - Germany pouring a huge amount of wealth into an impressive navy that could not defeat the even larger British navy and was thus bottled up in port uselessly. Or sunk in a gigantic foolish battle like the German admirals planned to order in October 1918, which was so dumb it caused a revolution.
poor design played a large role in that, bismarck had a poor armor layout that failed to prevent shells from penetrating her both below the water line and above the belt and while her citadel armour was strong it was several decks lower than it should have been and failed to cover significant parts of the ship. she also had a poorly constructed stern which left her far more vulnerable to rudder damage than the contemporary british KGVs bismarck had 3 screws and a single rudder which meant that when the rudder jammed her steering was effectively useless, the KGVs had twin rudders and 4 screws so could steer with one rudder if the other was disabled and could use the engines to steer albeit less effectively. Scharnhorst on the other hand had slightly more significant design flaws, largely she wasnt very well armoured for her size, was desperately under gunned for her size and was also a rather 'wet' ship in heavy seas with the forward turret effectively out of action in a lot of the conditions she could expect to find in the north atlantic. Essentially once she encountered a KGV her choices narrowed sharply to run or die as she lacked both the armour to withstand a KGVs guns or the gunpower to trouble a KGVs armour
German ships however never blew up, took an immense pounding and were always massively outnumbered. They seem to have generally been scuttled to evade capture so well compartmentalised were they. Had they proper support from long range aircraft, an operational sister ship I doubt they would have been sunk with hands on board. No one even knows for sure whether Scharnhorst was hit in the engine room. The damage to the forward FuMO 26 radar was extremely detrimental. A few months latter the Hohtenweil radar with a PPI display was deployed. While not yet capable of blind fire they would have been useful backup sea search radars.
This reminds me. My great-grandfather was on a Kriegsmarine's ship en-route to Narvik, and they suddenly got a warning that the British submarine is about to torpedo the ship. The commander ordered soldiers to abandon the ship, so most of them jumped. But my great grandfather couldn't swim, so he didn't. Turns out, it was just a false alarm. The torpedos never hit the ship. Those poor souls that jumped freezed to death. Afterwards, they were captured by the Soviets and he spent whole months in a gulag. Yet he managed to escape through Siberia and returned safely home. *EDIT* Okay, I just called my grandfather to confirm or negate this story. The last time I heard it was 2 years ago, so I got some things wrong. I will leave my original comment as it was, only adding my debunking here below. Here it goes. My great-grandfather Casimir * was 21 years old when the war broke out. He was already married by that point, but had no children yet. He was from the part of East Prussia that was given to Poland after WW1, namely Działdowo/Soldau region. His brother lived few villages away, in Poland proper, so to say, and was a cavalry man in the Polish army before the war. He participated in the war games near the German border just some months before and died during the September Campaign. My great-grandfather, meanwhile, wasn't part of the military pre-war, he was just a simple farmer living with a wife. But as the Germans conquered Poland, he was forced to join the Wehrmacht. Had he refused, his wife would be shot. So he joined the artillery unit, mostly made up from Poles from Mazovia or Prussia. He didn't want to serve, really, and soon he shot himself in the foot, hoping to be discharged, or at least be able to return home. The doctor allowed him to do so, but the great-grandfather of mine was well aware that it was risky - the doctor could've easily have him shot for attempt of desertion. He spent some time home and returned to the service. It was 1940. The Battle of Narvik was happening and his unit was sent on a *transport ship* , it's possible that it wasn't even military vessel, just civilian one repurposed for the task. There was supposedly 3000 men aboard. Now, the situation I described previously really happened. As the ship was unarmed, as soon as British submarine was sighted, the order was given for the soldiers to save their lives and jump to the sea. Remember, they were at the Norwegian Sea. I'm assuming it was at least May, if not June, as my grandfather said that they were sent there pretty late, when the battle was almost over, as the reinforcement. Even then, the water *was* freezing cold. Supposedly 300 men jumped, which makes it only slight portion of all the people at the ship, but still, it was pretty scary. In the end, those people died for nothing, as the ship wasn't destroyed after all. After that they turned back, as it was too late to help the German troops at Narvik (?). They were around Aarhus, which is in Denmark. They retreated to the Baltic Sea and were *sent on the Eastern front afterwars* . They were stationed near Vorkuta, as the area was controlled by German forces. (this likely means there is a time gap in grandfather's story, as the Operation Barbarossa didn't happen in 1940, but much later). He fought for some time at the Eastern front. When the Soviet counteroffensive began, his unit (made up mainly from Polish soldiers and one German officer) sat in a bunker, with the single (?) piece of artillery. When the Soviets were charging at their position, the commanding office either fled or capitulated, only to be shot later. One Soviet soldier rushed into the bunker and the first thing he did, was to demand the golden rings and watches from the soldiers. One of the soldiers didn't have any watch, and was shot immidetely. My great-grandfather had both the watch and a wedding ring. It stuck on his finger and he had to rip the skin apart with his teeth to get it out. Those soldiers who gave up their belongings survived. The unit was then captured and forced to move on foot to a work camp. Sadly, I didn't get the name of said camp, I only know that it was somewhere in North-Western Russia, possibly near Smolensk. They walked for 7 days straight, and were not allowed to eat or drink anything. The only time they drank anything, was from a puddle. When they arrived at the work camp, they had to stand in a row. The Soviet officer pointed at each of them and counted to 10. Every tenth soldier would be responsible for the remaining 9. It was due to the luck that my great-grandfather was chosen to such a possition. Later on, he volunteered for a work (as he knew some Russian) as a quartermaster (if I got the term correctly, he was basically responsible for the camps warehouse). It was in the camp that he traded for some of the "luxury items" he then took home. Now, I don't know how the camp was guarded, but at some point, the Russian underground soldiers stopped by few times and offered him to join. He refused, but as they later on learned where he was from and as his home was still occupied by the Germans, the partisans advised him not to join until the area wasn't "freed" by the Soviet army. He spent the rest of the war in the camp and left it once the war was over. He then traveled home, carrying a suitcase with things like an axe, soap, some money and other things he could have used at a farm. The golden teeth he traded in the camp, were inside the matchbox, which he incidentally threw off the window when he thought it was empty. At the last station before his arrival at home, he was approached by few Soviet soldiers who then took this suitcase from him. So, yeah. I got *many* things wrong. The fact that it was possibly a civilian, unarmed ship, changes everything about this situation. Apologies for that. I also got some informations about the great-great grandfather, father of Casimir, who fought in the German Imperial Army during the WW1, mostly in the Balkans, around Croatia. By the time of WW2, he was an old man, so he didn't have to join the army, but he was sent to work instead. He build the road for the famous Wolfsschanze bunker in East Prussia. By the time they had only 1 km of the road left to build, the workers heard that once they would be done with it, they would be shot to keep the existance of the base a secret. So he ran and hid in the woods for a week. Mind you, it was some 100 km from home, and he returned on foot there. Some time later, he had to take up arms as a part of Volkssturm. He fought on the Eastern front and was captured by the Soviet soldiers who sent him to the workcamp, where he worked as a shoemaker. That's my mother's part of family. I don't know much about the fathers part, as my father isn't particulary interested in family history, and the only thing I know is that my grandfather, a little kid at the time when the war was ending, found the German uniforms in a forest together with his father and as it happened during the winter and they were but poor farmers, they put them on. When they were slowly returning home, some Soviet soldiers appeared and almost shot them, before my great-grandfather shouted in Russian "Don't shoot! We're Poles!".
@@tclem14 That he fought for Germany, doesn't mean he was was a Nazi.... Shame on you to say that.... My great-grandfather fought for Reich too, but he was forced. He was from Slezia (Czechia nowadays) and even he wasnt even German he had to fight for Reich (Germany).
@@tclem14 Nazi? Hell no. He was Polish, from East Prussia. He lived near the Polish border, and his brother, living one village further away, served in the Polish army - cavalry, to be exact. His brother died during the September Campaign, while my great-grandfather was forced into the Wehrmacht under the threat of his family being killed if he refused. He initially shot himself in the foot to avoid shooting his fellow Poles. After some time in hospital, he was allowed to take the leave and return shortly to home. He was lucky though - the doctor could have easily have him tried for desertion, but he let him go. When he returned, he served for a while, but as he told my grandfather, he always tried to shoot to miss. I don't know how it was possible, though, as he served in artillery unit. So if anyone could let some light on it, I would be greatful. Then he was sent to Narvik, when this all happened. About his return through Siberia, I know he was close to death at least one time, when he hid in a stag of hay, while the soldiers put some of them on fire, but the one where he hid at was left alone. He tried to take some things home, after all he was a simple farmer from a village, so things like soap, chocolate and some money he got during his travel were luxury items to him - but the Soviet soldiers had taken his bag on the last train station before he got home. Oh, and he worked as a road builder for some time and was working on the very road for a famous Hitler's base at Wolfsschanze, so there is that. Don't know if it was all him or the other great-grandfather though - sometimes I got their stories mixed up. *EDIT* Turns out, I got their histories mixed. There was this one great-grandfather which was at Narvik and then at Vorkuta or other work camp, and then he escaped and returned home, and the other one was responsible for the road and was recruted as a part of Volkssturm and fought on the Eastern Front, and he hid in the haystack.
How where they supposed to???? Wtf guys??? These gun duels are often over 10 km, and you can t simply contact them on the radio?? Don t say duch things if you don t know anything about ww2 naval battles
@@attilakatona-bugner1140 They could have raised the white flag and sailed to England. Don't buy this non-nazi German crap. Every German soldier who wasn't a Nazi should have surrendered the day the war started.
Schanhorst went down fighting to the last shell. She lived up to her World War 1 namesake, the German Armored Cruiser Scharnhorst! The way these two combat vessels, crewed in two different time periods, conducted themselves under over whelming odds, speaks to the bravery, to the discipline, and to the honor of the German sailor! Both crews, in different oceans, in different time periods, in different fighting vessels, set the stage for naval legends unsurpassed, before or since! Their fighting spirit has never been equaled!
Damn..that quote at the end by Admiral Fraser: “I hope that....you will command your ship as gallantly as Scharnhorst was commanded today.” War really brings out the worst in humanity, but it can also bring out the best. It brings me to tears to know that even when facing such an undeniably evil and criminal enemy as Nazi Germany, some Allied commanders and soldiers still had the courage to still treat their enemies with honor.
I had the privilege of being taught by Lt. Cmdr. Michael Ogden who wrote the 1962 book on this battle. He once spent an afternoon explaining the battle on his classroom’s enormous chalkboard. He took us through the battle step by step, and this animation reminded me so much of his teaching. Great man. Deaf as a post, but a lovely human being. We also toured HMS Belfast with him (moored near Tower Bridge). He made the ‘museum’ come alive.
The man who repaired the cables to the Duke of York's radar in the Artic Storm was Lt Harold R. K. Bates (Barehands) RNVR climbed the mast and managed to repair the broken wires, He was awarded the DSC.
Father served on the Duke of York and met survivors from the Scharnhorst. He respected them. War is a terrible waste. I have the signatures of the survivors.
my father served on HMS Jamaica throughout the war. I have his medals still. He was deeply moved by the fact they couldn't save more of The Scharnhorsts crew - they had started to pick survivors up but got word that U Boats were in the area. Brave, brave men
Once again very beautiful animations, perfectly adapted to the naval battles ... We are at the heart of the action, and in the heart of a beautiful and informative video ...👍👍
It is a lot of work to establish such a vid. It could provide more infos. For example the Scharnhorst returned only fire against those ships who shot their shells with muzzle-flashes.
@zPhenomm They were ordered to engage the convoy's *estimated* position as Scharnhorst was luring the convoy escort away, which was a solid tactical decision given the information Bey had at that point. Unfortunately the estimation proved to be slightly wrong and they missed the convoy. It wasn't off by allot and it was probably mostly due to the time it took them to get to the position. Sadly they would have been better off screening for Scharnhorst, although it is debatable if that meant it would have helped Scharnhorst get away as her faith was sealed by the English destroyers catching up to her. We will never know.
That was a great storytelling! Baz, u're the best! Two my grangrandfatheres died in wwII, defending our motherland, and I hope humanity will never face such a terrible conflict again.
Sad to think of so many lives lost! The only constellation is they would’ve died from cold exposure instead of those sailers in the Pacific who may die from sharks!
Man i really gotta say that these series of WW2 naval battles are amazing, literally the best on the internet. Hopefully we will see more of these in the future! Keep it up!
A move into more modern battles (within the past 100 years) seems like a really good idea, seeing rectangles bump into each other is only interesting for so long.
Canadian Naval Radio officer William (Bill) St John was my uncle, and was on loan through most of WW2 to Norwegian fuel freighters, and survived the war. He was in the north sea and on convoys, culminating running aircraft fuel into Trieste, where even the friendlies were shooting at him. The ships were under radio silence and not marked well; he commented all radio operators had to speak English, even though they rarely were on voice!! He passed recently. RIP my uncle Bill.
As a proud U.S. NAVY veteran I salute the brave crew of both British and German ships. They performed their duties under fire in the tradition of Navies around the world in the defense of their Countries. ✌🏻🇺🇸
My grandfather was in the Royal Navy and served on the Russian Convoys. Can only imagine the horrors he went through. Sadly I never got to talk to him about it because he died when I was twelve.
@@hajoos.8360 ...what? If we were talking about someone who served at Gallipoli sure, but you really cannot blame Churchill for WWII or for the existence of the arctic convoys... unless you're criticizing him for not surrendering the country. To be clear I'm in no way defending Churchill as a person or some of the other things he did, but this is not a blame Churchill situation. When the war started he wasn't in power and the arctic convoys existed because of Barbarossa.
@@cinquine1 Well spoken l had to put right an ignorant poster who blamed Churchill for the Boer War! Some idiots have a very hazy grasp of history, but still feel free to blurt out.
One of my neighbors I grew up with once started sporting an old, brown leather jacket. It really looked worn but had something to it. I asked him what that was all about and he said he got that one from his grandpa who had recently passed away. That’s nice I thought and asked about why the jacket was important to him. He said this was the jacket his grandpa used to wear back in the war when he was serving on the SCHARNHORST. Lucky enough he was on shore leave when disaster struck.
Got to wander around the decks of the HMS Belfast last spring while over in London. I can't imagine what it would have been like scrambling through those corridors while taking heavy fire from a notorious German battleship
Excellent graphical representation of the battle. Also British naval accuracy is astounding. And all dice rolls of fate seemed to screw the german ship.
That's one of the more interesting things about this battle imo. In the early war the British big ships had a bit of a reputation for not hitting anything (partially due to missing but more due to mechanical issues), but it's clear by this point they had really turned things around.
@@joshlower1 i would not judge it so hard. Ok, our british - and US-friends are often manipulated propaganda-victims and the Germans are sunk in ill guilt complexes, which is very well to recognize when Drachifinel reported the duelling of HMS Warspite with those Nazi-coastal batteries in France. Who served the evil fascist empire? The Germans or the Brits? Not for nothing the Indian soldiers, fighting for the Brits, changed sides at Dunkirk and established the SS Legion Free India.
@mario barcelon Material support only. This is just someone else believing the US won (or at least helped win) another war just cos they exist and give weapons to just about everything.
@Josh lower. It was the middle of a brutal, ruthless war ffs! What did you expect? The ship's to come alongside each other after the 1st serious hit & give one other foot rubs & promise not to hurt each other again? No side was better than the oth but among the sailors (of all nations) there was generally a mutual respect for each other.
I think Germany's last Capital Ship is was the Prinz Eugen and Admiral Hipper,staying docked at Port,while Hipper was sunk several months before the end of the war,Prinz Eugen survived until the Fall of Berlin,in fear of losing her to the Soviets,they surrendered themselves to the British and was awarded to the US as a Trophy,they then sadly,tested 2 atomic bombs on her,she survived both Blasts,but was now radioactive and damaged,she then capsized in 1948
@@sthill1993 Technically they DO fill the role as a Capital Ship and can act as the Flagship when nothing larger is present, but they aren't suited to fighting anything bigger than themselves. If they meet a Battleship or Battlecruiser, they tend to explode.
Who unlinke the Germans actually did something with relevant info. Supposedly efficient clockwork Nazi Germany was a chaotic mess. Luftwaffe scout aircraft spotting the British battleship conveyed the info up the chain, after which WTF
I wonder if a random Russian grunt, cracking open a can of Spam, had a clue about the desperate effort and enormous suffering that revolved around him getting it
Hard to think about such things when the Germans were knocking on Stalingrad's doors and some General, named Zhukov, basically told your unit that you'll be part of the force to counter-attack said Germans
I don't think a cruiser counts as a capital ship. Battleship or aircraft carrier only. MAYBE a battlecruiser but none were there either. He fled pretty soon into the initial fight with the cruisers anyway.
no, he actually did flee after the encounter with another battleship. he already was fleeing before, but got surprised by the duke of york. it was bad luck that the first salvo had done considerable damage, otherwise he may have outrun them
I know many will emphasise the difficult position of the Scharnhorst but credit must be given to the British for a very skillful job done in very difficult conditions.
WW2 and sengoku jidai videos are awesome, but their medieval videos are the best, or maybe they can do 1500's and 1600's. They really haven't done much about those periods. i really hope they make more of those cause they haven't in a long time.
Funny Scandis, if the Germans would not have occupied Norway the Brits would have done it. The Brits reached Norway on the same days as the Gerrmans. It is a strategic question around the swedish iron ore.
@mario barcelon this is the reason your empire liberated itself from you liberators? This was war and was made about supply-routes. Britain was the biggest fascist empire ever on the planet. You never wanted to liberate anybody during your existance.
@@hajoos.8360 Sweden kindly licked German arse and supplied it with loads of iron ore. Germany was a conqueror in Europe. Something England had not done for 500 years. Germany was well out of order and you know it.
@@leod-sigefast we are on a military channel. here are people with a military interest. The III. Reich was involved in a military border-conflict with the Polish military dictatorship, even the Sovjetunion invaded Poland by different opinions on borders, due to a retribution to the polish-sovjet-war in 1921. So Britain and France declared war on the the III. Reich, but not on the Sovjetunion, funny isn't it? And the fascist British Empire sent an army. At Dunkirk the East-Indian soldiers changed sides and formed the SS Legion Free India to fight against the British fascist colonial rule. The III. Reich had to secure the supply lines against the alliied warmongers on land, because the Royal fascist Navy ruled the waves. What you would have done, if do you would have been the Führer?
Video doesn’t mention that the battle was planned as a trap for Scharnhorst, into which it obligingly sailed. Instead, watching this, the viewer might imagine that it was pure luck that lead to the RN to victory instead of Fraser’s careful planning to lure the Nazis out with two convoys and then get between Scharnhorst and Norway, cutting off its escape.
>the Nazis This is how we know you're an idiot. It wasn't a trap; the British had intelligence on German (not "Nazi") movements and they planned accordingly.
@@aisthpaoitht Actually Nazi is the accurate term, although German is just as accurate. All German military personnel swore an oath directly to Hitler, the head of the Nazi government. So they were fighting for the Nazis not for Germany.
I don't think you get it. They are getting shelled from starboard, and they know that they are heading to port with their current course. Why do they turn around? They had been directing fire by looking at muzzle flashes previously, so they obviously have methods to find out the direction of the new enemy ships. So holding course should be the obvious choice? Unless they thought they were being cut off in front?
I'm no expert but maybe at that point the British ships were faster and they wouldn't have gotten away, so they tried to outmaneuver them if the British ships turn slower. I could be wrong though.
That British squadron that engaged - looks comparable to the entire Royal Navy Surface Fleet Combatants we’ve actually got today. To think Bruce back then had 100s of other ships under his command too.
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The germans just love sending lone battleships on adventures
Death Cruises is what you meant to say
And the British, aircraft carriers
They didn't have that many ships, so it was that or nothing.
But still , it would still be better to send pairs or the whole group together than sending them out alone
波斯貓?BSM I've always thought that too?
What is it whith german capital ships always losing their escorts.
It seems like standards protocol.
The Germans actually have very few escort ships at this point in the war and they were always stretched way too thin. Ideally you would have had an escort hold back and a screen steam ahead of the main fleet in order to maximize vision and security but when all you have is 5 destroyers how are you going to accomplish that? You can either find the target or protect your capital ships, not enough escorts to do both.
Also German DD while better armed than their British counterparts have significantly lower free-board (the distance between the waterline and the deck of the ship) and significantly heavier, making them less seaworthy boats which in rough seas severely degraded their speed and maneuverability. More often than not they simply couldn't keep up with the heavier capital ships and even if they did were a greater liability.
Jerry can't sail
@@a05odst62 fair enough
The British really had no chill when it came to naval warfare, they always went in as hard as they possibly could
That's how you win, besides the British where tired of being out numbered so often against the Spanish and French during the age of sail so once the industrial revolution started to affect the Navy they made sure that it would be the British who always had superior numbers!
Overkill is preferable to complacency
- Sun Tzu, probably
@@Joker-yw9hl yep it’s not justified way of war but it’s certainly far more effective
Yes my great grandad was the gunnery officer on HMS Belfast and was one of the officers that decided it was a good idea to keep chase
_they always went in as hard as they possibly could_
Not always. Look at Cape Spartivento, for example.
Her codename was "bestemor" or "grandma" in English.
When she (Scharnhorst) left Langfjorden, the Partisan's of Alta sent the following message to the Allies: "Grandma has left for christmas vacation".
Lol now that's a good fact he should've included at the end of the video
and the following message was sent upon the SCH sinking, "grandma got run over by a reindeer"
@@BigSkyCurmudgeon ;
Only if Duke of York's codename was Reindeer!
more like grandma has left for shopping
LOL
@@smc1942 what was Duke of York's codename?
This programme gives scant mention of the fact that Duke Of York fired her 14" shells with phenomenal accuracy. Her very first broadside landed a shell squarely on Scharnhorsts focsle and knocked out her two forward turrets. Of 52 broadsides fired 32 of them were straddles . This is just about the best you could get from large calibre naval guns. Added to the fact that weather conditions were appalling and she was firing blind thanks to her radar. This truly was a spectacular victory for DOY.
Nice story. Thanks
Amazing.
@Dirk Bürger What have I said that differs in anything you have said. ?
@Dirk Bürger It would seem to me that you are a person with learning difficulties or perhaps a very low level of intelligence? In either case you are not worth any more of my time. No further comment from me.
14' foot shells?...maybe u mean 14''
@Dirk Bürger i know its some time since this discussion. dirk you are correct but so too is @scabbycat cat . what i fear is happening here is an aftermath of Jutland.... as in the British (i am also proudly British) gunnery at Jutland was ….. lets say a little off... and with what happened between Bismarck and Hood, British naval prestige was called into question. all the original poster was stating was how good the Dukes gunnery was. this is in no way calls into question the bravery of the Scharnhorst or her Crew. its easy to feel a sense of national pride when looking at history (i am guilty of this on many counts) but we as historians (and I am sure we all are historians in this comment section) need to set it aside as much as we can. both sides fought bravely and heroically which is often the case in many engagements in a way that we commenters could never fully comprehend. this fight see nobody without honour. god rest them.
My Grandad was a anti aircraft gunner on Duke of York. I often think of him , he must have been freezing cold on those Atlantic convoys and in fear of being hit by a torpedo at anytime!?He was a great bloke .
Dennis boulter 1923-1991.
He died on the collapse of the soviets? I salute the poor chap
I am sorry for your loss. He sounded like a great and fearless man. I commend his effort and heroism for his country
@@freshfish7529 thank you.
I was living with him at the time he passed away. They where certainly a special breed. I was shocked to learn he gave up a career in the Navy to go down the pits as a miner after the war!? The pit took its toll on his body. Collapsing on him etc..
Tough men back then!
Dude was just an AA gunner fearing to encounter submarines, just to be greated with a god damn battleship, how scary this must be.
My late uncle was also on the Duke of York in this battle, morse code operator, Arthur Whitcombe. Also a great bloke. They don’t make them like these guys anymore.
HMS Belfast is a museum ship docked on the Thames in central London these days I believe. I'm sure I went on it as a kid
Yep, that's correct. I even got to sit on one of the AA stations and move the guns around (up-down, left-right) last time I visited it around 10 years ago. :)
Interesting hearing what it did in WW2!
If HMS Hood survived her encounter with Bishmark, she would most likely be the ship in Thames
@@andmos1001 Irhhhhhhhh sad times :'(
Yup it's still there. I even picked up a Scharnhorst model in the gift shop a couple years back.
Just a small note of criticism. One of the destroyers that torpedoed Scharnhorst was Norwegian, named Stord (and there were eight destroyers total; four were detached from the convoy to cover the Belfast group, and torpedoed Scharnhorst after the first destroyer group)
The captain of the Norwegian destroyer, Skule Storheill, gave quite a memorable order during this battle, that has become my favourite ever quote. As they were ordered to close in and attack the Scharnhorst with torpedoes, he ordered his gunnery officer, Nils Owren, to:
"Find the largest Norwegian flag on the ship, and hoist it on the mainmast so the fuckers can see who they are dealing with!"
...and thus she went in
And that just goes to prove how mad those Vikings are! Seriously heroic people though!
@tonyantonio8956en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/HNoMS_Stord_(G26)
@@PercyPruneMHDOIFandBarsThe free militaries in exile from across Europe fighting for their comrades back home were mad lads. Battle of Britain, hunting the Bismarck, convoy battles, Monte Cassino, nuclear sabotage, all sorts of stuff. The Germans may be sitting in their countries, but their fighting spirit wasn’t broken.
@wolftamer5463: Absolutely! My favourite tale is the Polish destroyer teasing KMS Bismark the night before he was sunk. A tiny destroyer versus an ENORMOUS Battleship! Crazy.
After the battle Admiral Fraser was quoted to have said:
"Gentlemen, the battle against Scharnhorst has ended in victory for us. I hope that if any of you are ever called upon to lead a ship into action against an opponent many times superior, you will command your ship as gallantly as Scharnhorst was commanded today"
Even when facing enemies, the British still act like gentlemen.
mildlymenacingmeem as long as they’re European.
@@Nazeem2010 churchill was no gentleman, but a dictator as bad as Hitler
Robin de Roos well he wasn’t a dictator, but he was pretty evil nonetheless
Nazeem sounds about right.
Hitler: I want the biggest battleships of the world
also Hitler: I dont want the biggest battleship of the world, I want Uboats
Years later when they had lost the surfice war.
@@gunarsmiezis9321 they already lost the momentum when they lost the battle of britain
@@nikel- they focused on tactics over strategy, so in an aircraft production war they could not win
that was a big part of the problem. many ideas, no plan
@@eljanrimsa5843 strategy is something they did not think about enough.
I was in London this past July and got to tour the Belfast. I'm a US Navy veteran and it was very cool to explore my first non-American naval vessel. They have a simulation of this battle in one of the turrets. Check it out if you're in London.
Thank you for that. I live here and probably went there once when I hadn't a clue. School visit or something when I was young. I might go visit on Friday now you mention it. I hadn't realised it's significance especially now I realise how important it was to supply the Russians against the German offensive which was uniquely pitiless. 17m died? I visited Volgograd once. Stalingrad. Now that's a battle!
Many regards. London
I've been aboard the HMS Belfast, she's one fine lady,
Yeah I saw it as well when I was there late August and it was really really cool.
You didn't mention that one of the destroyers in the British task force was actually Norwegian, the HNoMS Stord, and after the battle Admiral Frasier sendt this message to the Admiralty: "... Please convey to the C-in-C Norwegian Navy. Stord played a very daring role in the fight and I am very proud of her..." She came as close as 400 yards/360m to the Scharnhorst in order to launch torpedoes.
I just read about Stord. She lost a crew member during that torpedo attack, to a rogue wave that crashed over the ship. Apparently a second crew member was also thrown overboard, but was then miraculously thrown *back onto the ship* by another wave.
@@safe-keeper1042 the sea was like, "nah we only want the other guy"
Midgard Eagle Where did you find this information? I would love to read it. My dads Uncle was on Stord that day. He first served on HMS Eskdale in the English Channel but they were sunk by German Torpedo boats. He survived but lost 3 close friends who’s bodies were floating around him. According to my grandma he always slept with his eyes still open after that. He was later transferred to Stord and took part in the Battle of the North Cape and later the D-Day invasion.
Dp
@@safe-keeper1042
logic 100
I hope that if any of you were ever called upon to lead a ship into action, against an opponent many times superior than you, you will command your ship as gallantly as Scharnhorst has been commanded today.
-Admiral Fraser
This is one of the most under appreciated quotes outside of naval history circles.
Fighting till the very end. Not bad for a bunch of brainwashed souls.
Random UserPerson Wow... that’s seriously disrespectful, those men were ten times better than you will ever be.
@@michaelagustinsantos3015 This is just ignorant.
You guys probably won't believe this but I wrote this comment while I had a fever and looking back at it now, this is indeed stupid.
So are we gonna have a comment war or something now?
Kriegsmarine: we need 9 years for plan Zed.
Hitler: *invades France*
Kriegsmarine: .....
Hitler: why are you so bad!!
France has declared war on Germany!
But even if the Germans had done plan Z, it's not like the British would have sat around doing nothing. Their TOP priority bar none was to make sure the Royal Navy could defeat the German navy. So they'd just have accelerated their own production to stay ahead. It would have been the pre World War One naval arms race all over again, with the same result - Germany pouring a huge amount of wealth into an impressive navy that could not defeat the even larger British navy and was thus bottled up in port uselessly. Or sunk in a gigantic foolish battle like the German admirals planned to order in October 1918, which was so dumb it caused a revolution.
If dont invades ussr, they will have time to plan z
@@viniciusmozini6919 And USSR will have time to re-arm.
british navy wouldn't have stood a chance against 300 submarines, esp if a lot were Type IX's
I am proud to say my late uncle was on board HMS Duke of York during this battle. May he and all his crew mates rest in peace. 🙏🏻
The accuracy of the gunnery crews aboard HMS Duke of York was pretty bloody impressive, two main guns in one salvo in the dark isn't bad.
8:00
"Light 'em up!"
_fires flares_
"Not quite what I meant, sailor! But good job!"
"Least we can see 'em, sir!"
"Very good, leftenant; open fire main armament!"
well, they hit them on the first salvo. Impressive.
Makes sense you’d want to police the sea lanes with a commander named Donitz. Cops and donitz go together.
That's corny af
Delete this comment.
Yeah!!!!!!!Boo!
Now that's what I call tremendous reach!
This was amazing
German capital ships really have F-tier luck, always having a vital component hit by a lucky shot at the beginning of the battle
Hood did even worse.
@@Yora21 that wasn't luck that was caliber 36cm German engineering
poor design played a large role in that, bismarck had a poor armor layout that failed to prevent shells from penetrating her both below the water line and above the belt and while her citadel armour was strong it was several decks lower than it should have been and failed to cover significant parts of the ship. she also had a poorly constructed stern which left her far more vulnerable to rudder damage than the contemporary british KGVs bismarck had 3 screws and a single rudder which meant that when the rudder jammed her steering was effectively useless, the KGVs had twin rudders and 4 screws so could steer with one rudder if the other was disabled and could use the engines to steer albeit less effectively.
Scharnhorst on the other hand had slightly more significant design flaws, largely she wasnt very well armoured for her size, was desperately under gunned for her size and was also a rather 'wet' ship in heavy seas with the forward turret effectively out of action in a lot of the conditions she could expect to find in the north atlantic. Essentially once she encountered a KGV her choices narrowed sharply to run or die as she lacked both the armour to withstand a KGVs guns or the gunpower to trouble a KGVs armour
@@Sprottel_SFM 38CM, non treaty calibre engineering actually ;)
German ships however never blew up, took an immense pounding and were always massively outnumbered. They seem to have generally been scuttled to evade capture so well compartmentalised were they. Had they proper support from long range aircraft, an operational sister ship I doubt they would have been sunk with hands on board.
No one even knows for sure whether Scharnhorst was hit in the engine room. The damage to the forward FuMO 26 radar was extremely detrimental. A few months latter the Hohtenweil radar with a PPI display was deployed. While not yet capable of blind fire they would have been useful backup sea search radars.
Not just royal navy though, one of the destroyers was Norwegian. (KNM Stord, S class destroyer under norwegian command).
That's why the narrative says allied. Brits, USA and others but grafted under the command of British Naval commander so,,, You know now. Lol.
Muffiiet Kaliman at 10:10 they say british destroyers not allied. With one of them being Norwegian that is obviously wrong.
This reminds me. My great-grandfather was on a Kriegsmarine's ship en-route to Narvik, and they suddenly got a warning that the British submarine is about to torpedo the ship. The commander ordered soldiers to abandon the ship, so most of them jumped. But my great grandfather couldn't swim, so he didn't. Turns out, it was just a false alarm. The torpedos never hit the ship. Those poor souls that jumped freezed to death.
Afterwards, they were captured by the Soviets and he spent whole months in a gulag. Yet he managed to escape through Siberia and returned safely home.
*EDIT* Okay, I just called my grandfather to confirm or negate this story. The last time I heard it was 2 years ago, so I got some things wrong. I will leave my original comment as it was, only adding my debunking here below.
Here it goes.
My great-grandfather Casimir * was 21 years old when the war broke out. He was already married by that point, but had no children yet. He was from the part of East Prussia that was given to Poland after WW1, namely Działdowo/Soldau region. His brother lived few villages away, in Poland proper, so to say, and was a cavalry man in the Polish army before the war. He participated in the war games near the German border just some months before and died during the September Campaign. My great-grandfather, meanwhile, wasn't part of the military pre-war, he was just a simple farmer living with a wife. But as the Germans conquered Poland, he was forced to join the Wehrmacht. Had he refused, his wife would be shot. So he joined the artillery unit, mostly made up from Poles from Mazovia or Prussia.
He didn't want to serve, really, and soon he shot himself in the foot, hoping to be discharged, or at least be able to return home. The doctor allowed him to do so, but the great-grandfather of mine was well aware that it was risky - the doctor could've easily have him shot for attempt of desertion. He spent some time home and returned to the service.
It was 1940. The Battle of Narvik was happening and his unit was sent on a *transport ship* , it's possible that it wasn't even military vessel, just civilian one repurposed for the task. There was supposedly 3000 men aboard.
Now, the situation I described previously really happened. As the ship was unarmed, as soon as British submarine was sighted, the order was given for the soldiers to save their lives and jump to the sea. Remember, they were at the Norwegian Sea. I'm assuming it was at least May, if not June, as my grandfather said that they were sent there pretty late, when the battle was almost over, as the reinforcement. Even then, the water *was* freezing cold. Supposedly 300 men jumped, which makes it only slight portion of all the people at the ship, but still, it was pretty scary. In the end, those people died for nothing, as the ship wasn't destroyed after all.
After that they turned back, as it was too late to help the German troops at Narvik (?). They were around Aarhus, which is in Denmark. They retreated to the Baltic Sea and were *sent on the Eastern front afterwars* . They were stationed near Vorkuta, as the area was controlled by German forces. (this likely means there is a time gap in grandfather's story, as the Operation Barbarossa didn't happen in 1940, but much later). He fought for some time at the Eastern front. When the Soviet counteroffensive began, his unit (made up mainly from Polish soldiers and one German officer) sat in a bunker, with the single (?) piece of artillery. When the Soviets were charging at their position, the commanding office either fled or capitulated, only to be shot later. One Soviet soldier rushed into the bunker and the first thing he did, was to demand the golden rings and watches from the soldiers. One of the soldiers didn't have any watch, and was shot immidetely. My great-grandfather had both the watch and a wedding ring. It stuck on his finger and he had to rip the skin apart with his teeth to get it out. Those soldiers who gave up their belongings survived.
The unit was then captured and forced to move on foot to a work camp. Sadly, I didn't get the name of said camp, I only know that it was somewhere in North-Western Russia, possibly near Smolensk. They walked for 7 days straight, and were not allowed to eat or drink anything. The only time they drank anything, was from a puddle. When they arrived at the work camp, they had to stand in a row. The Soviet officer pointed at each of them and counted to 10. Every tenth soldier would be responsible for the remaining 9. It was due to the luck that my great-grandfather was chosen to such a possition. Later on, he volunteered for a work (as he knew some Russian) as a quartermaster (if I got the term correctly, he was basically responsible for the camps warehouse). It was in the camp that he traded for some of the "luxury items" he then took home.
Now, I don't know how the camp was guarded, but at some point, the Russian underground soldiers stopped by few times and offered him to join. He refused, but as they later on learned where he was from and as his home was still occupied by the Germans, the partisans advised him not to join until the area wasn't "freed" by the Soviet army. He spent the rest of the war in the camp and left it once the war was over.
He then traveled home, carrying a suitcase with things like an axe, soap, some money and other things he could have used at a farm. The golden teeth he traded in the camp, were inside the matchbox, which he incidentally threw off the window when he thought it was empty. At the last station before his arrival at home, he was approached by few Soviet soldiers who then took this suitcase from him.
So, yeah. I got *many* things wrong. The fact that it was possibly a civilian, unarmed ship, changes everything about this situation. Apologies for that. I also got some informations about the great-great grandfather, father of Casimir, who fought in the German Imperial Army during the WW1, mostly in the Balkans, around Croatia. By the time of WW2, he was an old man, so he didn't have to join the army, but he was sent to work instead. He build the road for the famous Wolfsschanze bunker in East Prussia. By the time they had only 1 km of the road left to build, the workers heard that once they would be done with it, they would be shot to keep the existance of the base a secret. So he ran and hid in the woods for a week. Mind you, it was some 100 km from home, and he returned on foot there.
Some time later, he had to take up arms as a part of Volkssturm. He fought on the Eastern front and was captured by the Soviet soldiers who sent him to the workcamp, where he worked as a shoemaker.
That's my mother's part of family. I don't know much about the fathers part, as my father isn't particulary interested in family history, and the only thing I know is that my grandfather, a little kid at the time when the war was ending, found the German uniforms in a forest together with his father and as it happened during the winter and they were but poor farmers, they put them on. When they were slowly returning home, some Soviet soldiers appeared and almost shot them, before my great-grandfather shouted in Russian "Don't shoot! We're Poles!".
wow amazing
@@tclem14
That he fought for Germany, doesn't mean he was was a Nazi.... Shame on you to say that.... My great-grandfather fought for Reich too, but he was forced. He was from Slezia (Czechia nowadays) and even he wasnt even German he had to fight for Reich (Germany).
Nazisusuallyhave Nocock usuallyhave Nocock (FYI I am saying that Nazisusuallyhave Nocock doesnt have a cock)
@@tclem14 Nazi? Hell no. He was Polish, from East Prussia. He lived near the Polish border, and his brother, living one village further away, served in the Polish army - cavalry, to be exact. His brother died during the September Campaign, while my great-grandfather was forced into the Wehrmacht under the threat of his family being killed if he refused. He initially shot himself in the foot to avoid shooting his fellow Poles. After some time in hospital, he was allowed to take the leave and return shortly to home. He was lucky though - the doctor could have easily have him tried for desertion, but he let him go.
When he returned, he served for a while, but as he told my grandfather, he always tried to shoot to miss. I don't know how it was possible, though, as he served in artillery unit. So if anyone could let some light on it, I would be greatful.
Then he was sent to Narvik, when this all happened. About his return through Siberia, I know he was close to death at least one time, when he hid in a stag of hay, while the soldiers put some of them on fire, but the one where he hid at was left alone.
He tried to take some things home, after all he was a simple farmer from a village, so things like soap, chocolate and some money he got during his travel were luxury items to him - but the Soviet soldiers had taken his bag on the last train station before he got home.
Oh, and he worked as a road builder for some time and was working on the very road for a famous Hitler's base at Wolfsschanze, so there is that.
Don't know if it was all him or the other great-grandfather though - sometimes I got their stories mixed up.
*EDIT* Turns out, I got their histories mixed. There was this one great-grandfather which was at Narvik and then at Vorkuta or other work camp, and then he escaped and returned home, and the other one was responsible for the road and was recruted as a part of Volkssturm and fought on the Eastern Front, and he hid in the haystack.
@@pavels.6670 Dont worry hes just another youtube troll.
I feel pretty bad for the Germans onboard. They must've been scared shitless during the whole pursuit, knowing they were most likely going to die.
They could have surrendered you know.
@@DarioHawkeye yeah same for the bismark
How where they supposed to???? Wtf guys??? These gun duels are often over 10 km, and you can t simply contact them on the radio?? Don t say duch things if you don t know anything about ww2 naval battles
@@attilakatona-bugner1140 they're speaking english, not dutch.
@@attilakatona-bugner1140 They could have raised the white flag and sailed to England. Don't buy this non-nazi German crap. Every German soldier who wasn't a Nazi should have surrendered the day the war started.
Schanhorst went down fighting to the last shell. She lived up to her World War 1 namesake, the German Armored Cruiser Scharnhorst! The way these two combat vessels, crewed in two different time periods, conducted themselves under over whelming odds, speaks to the bravery, to the discipline, and to the honor of the German sailor! Both crews, in different oceans, in different time periods, in different fighting vessels, set the stage for naval legends unsurpassed, before or since! Their fighting spirit has never been equaled!
Damn..that quote at the end by Admiral Fraser: “I hope that....you will command your ship as gallantly as Scharnhorst was commanded today.” War really brings out the worst in humanity, but it can also bring out the best. It brings me to tears to know that even when facing such an undeniably evil and criminal enemy as Nazi Germany, some Allied commanders and soldiers still had the courage to still treat their enemies with honor.
Undeniably stupid comment , out of place, pityful
@@p.jhodeflea789 Okay Nazi apologist
I think you'll find that the professional German Navy as with all navies always have respect for the enemy. For it is the sea.
@@p.jhodeflea789 cope
I believe the navy was also the least Nazi of all the military branches. I might be wrong but remember reading that’s somewhere.
I had the privilege of being taught by Lt. Cmdr. Michael Ogden who wrote the 1962 book on this battle. He once spent an afternoon explaining the battle on his classroom’s enormous chalkboard. He took us through the battle step by step, and this animation reminded me so much of his teaching.
Great man. Deaf as a post, but a lovely human being.
We also toured HMS Belfast with him (moored near Tower Bridge). He made the ‘museum’ come alive.
A new video from BazBattles. *Today is a good day!*
Hell Yeah!
The man who repaired the cables to the Duke of York's radar in the Artic Storm was Lt Harold R. K. Bates (Barehands) RNVR climbed the mast and managed to repair the broken wires, He was awarded the DSC.
Father served on the Duke of York and met survivors from the Scharnhorst. He respected them. War is a terrible waste. I have the signatures of the survivors.
I was worried about HMS Belfast for a minute there, then I realised I've actually been onboard her, and I was born in the 80s :)
spoilers :)
Belfast went on to have quite the career post-WW2. She served on tours in the Pacific and in the Korean War.
my father served on HMS Jamaica throughout the war. I have his medals still. He was deeply moved by the fact they couldn't save more of The Scharnhorsts crew - they had started to pick survivors up but got word that U Boats were in the area. Brave, brave men
Same thing happened after the sinking of Bismarck.
Once again very beautiful animations, perfectly adapted to the naval battles ... We are at the heart of the action, and in the heart of a beautiful and informative video ...👍👍
It is a lot of work to establish such a vid. It could provide more infos. For example the Scharnhorst returned only fire against those ships who shot their shells with muzzle-flashes.
You do these naval battles incredibly well. Very tense!
I wonder where these german destroyers ended up :D
Legend has it that they are still searching for the convoys to this day.
@@LaVictoireEstLaVie
And people still blame Somalian pirates...
@@Saeronor it was the Germans all along
Probably at the bottom of the sea.
@zPhenomm
They were ordered to engage the convoy's *estimated* position as Scharnhorst was luring the convoy escort away, which was a solid tactical decision given the information Bey had at that point.
Unfortunately the estimation proved to be slightly wrong and they missed the convoy. It wasn't off by allot and it was probably mostly due to the time it took them to get to the position.
Sadly they would have been better off screening for Scharnhorst, although it is debatable if that meant it would have helped Scharnhorst get away as her faith was sealed by the English destroyers catching up to her. We will never know.
That was a great storytelling! Baz, u're the best!
Two my grangrandfatheres died in wwII, defending our motherland, and I hope humanity will never face such a terrible conflict again.
12:00 Great speech by Fraser. Respect for a brave and resourceful enemy is a good thing. Then again, respect for any human life is a good thing.
*Now that is some good quality video might I say!*
Rest in peace to the men who died fighting in the cold waters of the arctic
Amen. Little known epic story of how we supplied the red army...allies against Nazism.
Sad to think of so many lives lost! The only constellation is they would’ve died from cold exposure instead of those sailers in the Pacific who may die from sharks!
@@ralphfoster6283 reminds me of USS Indianapolis
Funnily enough, the HMS Belfast now resides in the Thames as a museum ship.
This and the Hunt for the Bismark are my favorite episodes. I absolutely love the story of a ship and its endeavors.
Man i really gotta say that these series of WW2 naval battles are amazing, literally the best on the internet. Hopefully we will see more of these in the future! Keep it up!
Great Job! Grandfather served in Z34 during this Operation.
Mine served in G20 HMS Savage, one of the destroyers credited with torpedo hits.
Mine was on the HMS Norfolk he also witnessed the sinking of the Bismarck too
RIP the crew of the Scharnhorst. They fought hard.
every fuckin' last ss bitch fought hard. So what? Would've been better if they didn't.
@@VasilyKiryanov Except Kregismarine members cannot be part of the SS.
@@VasilyKiryanov most German soldiers were drafted & probably would have endangered not only themselves but their families if they deserted
@@VasilyKiryanov Why so mad hohol? :)
322 frank ”why so mad"
no comments
it's so cool how you animate this, more battles would be awesome to see
A move into more modern battles (within the past 100 years) seems like a really good idea, seeing rectangles bump into each other is only interesting for so long.
Canadian Naval Radio officer William (Bill) St John was my uncle, and was on loan through most of WW2 to Norwegian fuel freighters, and survived the war. He was in the north sea and on convoys, culminating running aircraft fuel into Trieste, where even the friendlies were shooting at him. The ships were under radio silence and not marked well; he commented all radio operators had to speak English, even though they rarely were on voice!! He passed recently. RIP my uncle Bill.
As a proud U.S. NAVY veteran I salute the brave crew of both British and German ships. They performed their duties under fire in the tradition of Navies around the world in the defense of their Countries. ✌🏻🇺🇸
My grandfather was in the Royal Navy and served on the Russian Convoys. Can only imagine the horrors he went through. Sadly I never got to talk to him about it because he died when I was twelve.
You should give some thanks to Churchill, this old warmonger.
So did my Grandfather. He was a Chief Petty Officer on HMS Kent. County class cruiser.
@@hajoos.8360 ...what?
If we were talking about someone who served at Gallipoli sure, but you really cannot blame Churchill for WWII or for the existence of the arctic convoys... unless you're criticizing him for not surrendering the country.
To be clear I'm in no way defending Churchill as a person or some of the other things he did, but this is not a blame Churchill situation. When the war started he wasn't in power and the arctic convoys existed because of Barbarossa.
@@cinquine1
Well spoken
l had to put right an ignorant poster who blamed Churchill for the Boer War!
Some idiots have a very hazy grasp of history, but still feel free to blurt out.
@@247micko i agree with you, but you sound really condescending
Exceptional presentation! I am speechless, you guys are better and better with each new episode. Congratulations!
One of my neighbors I grew up with once started sporting an old, brown leather jacket. It really looked worn but had something to it.
I asked him what that was all about and he said he got that one from his grandpa who had recently passed away.
That’s nice I thought and asked about why the jacket was important to him.
He said this was the jacket his grandpa used to wear back in the war when he was serving on the SCHARNHORST. Lucky enough he was on shore leave when disaster struck.
I've seen hundreds of WW2 docs and these animations are some the best depictions of naval warfare I've ever seen. An interesting and fresh technique.
I wonder how the torp frenzy must have felt like onboard the DD's, watching it taking hit after hit. Oldschool warfare is fascinating as hell.
Just imagine this Battleship wreaking havoc on Allied convoys......
I love the world war 2 BazBattles, please create more of them. Great job!!! It's very thrilling
Got to wander around the decks of the HMS Belfast last spring while over in London. I can't imagine what it would have been like scrambling through those corridors while taking heavy fire from a notorious German battleship
Amazing animation & beautifully narrated, a truly excellent job
Excellent graphical representation of the battle. Also British naval accuracy is astounding. And all dice rolls of fate seemed to screw the german ship.
That's one of the more interesting things about this battle imo. In the early war the British big ships had a bit of a reputation for not hitting anything (partially due to missing but more due to mechanical issues), but it's clear by this point they had really turned things around.
"The commander of the British home fleet" Well boys, were dead.
And it's Brilliant the HMS Belfast is still here today.
Remains of the past. The RN is done for. Without the US support Britain would have lost the Falkland war.
@@joshlower1 i would not judge it so hard. Ok, our british - and US-friends are often manipulated propaganda-victims and the Germans are sunk in ill guilt complexes, which is very well to recognize when Drachifinel reported the duelling of HMS Warspite with those Nazi-coastal batteries in France. Who served the evil fascist empire? The Germans or the Brits? Not for nothing the Indian soldiers, fighting for the Brits, changed sides at Dunkirk and established the SS Legion Free India.
@@hajoos.8360 Perhaps you would like to explain what support the US gave the British during the Falklands campaign?
@mario barcelon Material support only. This is just someone else believing the US won (or at least helped win) another war just cos they exist and give weapons to just about everything.
@Josh lower. It was the middle of a brutal, ruthless war ffs! What did you expect? The ship's to come alongside each other after the 1st serious hit & give one other foot rubs & promise not to hurt each other again? No side was better than the oth but among the sailors (of all nations) there was generally a mutual respect for each other.
My late father served on the Duke of York during this battle as well as running the Artic convoys may he and all who sailed on her rest in peace
I truly enjoyed watching this interesting and professionally made video. I loved the graphics and the concise narrative. Nice job guys!
I've been on board the Belfast. Great exhibit
Two videos within a few weeks??? Thanks for spoiling us
Side note: HMS Belfast was the most modern ship afloat at this time previously having the ship bent by a magnet mine.
I think Germany's last Capital Ship is was the Prinz Eugen and Admiral Hipper,staying docked at Port,while Hipper was sunk several months before the end of the war,Prinz Eugen survived until the Fall of Berlin,in fear of losing her to the Soviets,they surrendered themselves to the British and was awarded to the US as a Trophy,they then sadly,tested 2 atomic bombs on her,she survived both Blasts,but was now radioactive and damaged,she then capsized in 1948
A bit of a stretch to call two heavy cruisers capital ships.
@@sthill1993
Technically they DO fill the role as a Capital Ship and can act as the Flagship when nothing larger is present, but they aren't suited to fighting anything bigger than themselves.
If they meet a Battleship or Battlecruiser, they tend to explode.
You make documentary level animations of major battles and some not so major ones, which I must commend you for. It really is excellent work
They were also spotted by Norwegian resistance, who sent the info straight back to London.
Who unlinke the Germans actually did something with relevant info. Supposedly efficient clockwork Nazi Germany was a chaotic mess. Luftwaffe scout aircraft spotting the British battleship conveyed the info up the chain, after which WTF
Scharnhorst also struck the HMS Saumarez with her secondary armament and 11 of Saumarez’s crew killed.
Dora Music*
Lone German battleships: WHERE ARE WE GOING?
The sea bed.
A ferocious battle where almost 2000 men died narrated by a calm soothing voice. I don't know if I'm disturbed by it or relaxed by it.
These videos are just brilliant. I cannot thank you enough. You have done so well and communicate in an excellent way. Thank you.
I wonder if a random Russian grunt, cracking open a can of Spam, had a clue about the desperate effort and enormous suffering that revolved around him getting it
No need or time to have a clue. He had his own desperate effort to deal with.
Hard to think about such things when the Germans were knocking on Stalingrad's doors and some General, named Zhukov, basically told your unit that you'll be part of the force to counter-attack said Germans
This is basically a World of Warships-Game when one team has only one Ship left.
So basically he loses his destroyer escort and dis-obeys orders by engaging and not running to port with a faster ship not once but twice.
I don't think a cruiser counts as a capital ship. Battleship or aircraft carrier only. MAYBE a battlecruiser but none were there either. He fled pretty soon into the initial fight with the cruisers anyway.
no, he actually did flee after the encounter with another battleship. he already was fleeing before, but got surprised by the duke of york. it was bad luck that the first salvo had done considerable damage, otherwise he may have outrun them
I know many will emphasise the difficult position of the Scharnhorst but credit must be given to the British for a very skillful job done in very difficult conditions.
My great Uncle Sid served on corvettes on the Murmansk run. He didn't talk about it much. A lovely, modest and gentle man.
50% of Bazbattles openings start with "It was a dark and cold morning"...
Your german acent is very good, i love it.
PLEASE KEEP GOING THESE VIDEOS ARE FREAKING AWSOME
WW2 and sengoku jidai videos are awesome, but their medieval videos are the best, or maybe they can do 1500's and 1600's. They really haven't done much about those periods. i really hope they make more of those cause they haven't in a long time.
These are my favorite thing on RUclips at the moment
The quality of this video was outstanding!, looking forward to see more modern battle videos!
Cause of death: HE spam, as usual
BazBattles would you do the battle of tsuhima ?
Thanks for specifying occupied Norway, seen some channels stating we were allies to Germany.
Funny Scandis, if the Germans would not have occupied Norway the Brits would have done it. The Brits reached Norway on the same days as the Gerrmans. It is a strategic question around the swedish iron ore.
@mario barcelon this is the reason your empire liberated itself from you liberators? This was war and was made about supply-routes. Britain was the biggest fascist empire ever on the planet. You never wanted to liberate anybody during your existance.
@mario barcelon to stop the iron ore supply for the Germans, Narvik rail-road. Same reason why U-boats sunk your merchantmen from Canada.
@@hajoos.8360 Sweden kindly licked German arse and supplied it with loads of iron ore. Germany was a conqueror in Europe. Something England had not done for 500 years. Germany was well out of order and you know it.
@@leod-sigefast we are on a military channel. here are people with a military interest. The III. Reich was involved in a military border-conflict with the Polish military dictatorship, even the Sovjetunion invaded Poland by different opinions on borders, due to a retribution to the polish-sovjet-war in 1921. So Britain and France declared war on the the III. Reich, but not on the Sovjetunion, funny isn't it? And the fascist British Empire sent an army. At Dunkirk the East-Indian soldiers changed sides and formed the SS Legion Free India to fight against the British fascist colonial rule. The III. Reich had to secure the supply lines against the alliied warmongers on land, because the Royal fascist Navy ruled the waves. What you would have done, if do you would have been the Führer?
This is really illustration. Watching this while playing World of Warships :)
It is dark freezing evening 22nd of january, 2019 and I can finally watch another great battle from one and only BazBattles!
Im a simple man, I see a new BazBattle video I click Like
Men do what they must!
Just like typical wows player playing German BB
“It’s ok, I’ll charge headfirst into battle alone, my secondaries will protect me”
BUT when you are taking fire, and look back, sadly, for God's sake!!! where are my secondaries?!!!
British navy found a lone german battleship absurdly thrown in the middle of ocean
*awwww shit, here we go again*
I'm so glad you're doing WW2 naval engagements in addition to the mideivel battles.
This is the finest hour for the Maid herself Belfast.
Erich Bey is my bae
he should've kept dönitz at bay tho
Erich Bae.
Explains the “Just a maid passing by” comment
DayAndFinishedOn Definition you know it!
Belfast best girl
DayAndFinishedOn Definition I got her through competing a challenge. Kinda dumb cause other options included Enty
Video doesn’t mention that the battle was planned as a trap for Scharnhorst, into which it obligingly sailed.
Instead, watching this, the viewer might imagine that it was pure luck that lead to the RN to victory instead of Fraser’s careful planning to lure the Nazis out with two convoys and then get between Scharnhorst and Norway, cutting off its escape.
>the Nazis
This is how we know you're an idiot. It wasn't a trap; the British had intelligence on German (not "Nazi") movements and they planned accordingly.
@@aisthpaoitht Actually Nazi is the accurate term, although German is just as accurate. All German military personnel swore an oath directly to Hitler, the head of the Nazi government. So they were fighting for the Nazis not for Germany.
That was a real pleasure to watch this high quality video! Artwork! Thanx for creating! 🙂
More "sea battles"!!!!!!!!!! These are literally the best sea battle videos on youtube and IMO the best BazBattles videos!!! LOVE the visualization
Baz, please could you credit the narrator? I really love his work :)
I'm guessing he's the narrator -
Also would love to see a behind the scenes done
8:21 Why does Scharnhorst not simply hold their course to port? It seems like the maneuver north cost them their ship.
because their Radar was out of Action. so they were blind
I don't think you get it. They are getting shelled from starboard, and they know that they are heading to port with their current course. Why do they turn around? They had been directing fire by looking at muzzle flashes previously, so they obviously have methods to find out the direction of the new enemy ships. So holding course should be the obvious choice? Unless they thought they were being cut off in front?
@@Luke-nf5oo They still had a compass between that and being vet sailors just using dead reckoning could have got them home.
@@Wallyworld30 maybe they wanted to flee from the enemy ships
I'm no expert but maybe at that point the British ships were faster and they wouldn't have gotten away, so they tried to outmaneuver them if the British ships turn slower. I could be wrong though.
i always liked these naval battles series. i hope in the near future you will be able to cover the engagement in the south pacific during 1942-1943.
That British squadron that engaged - looks comparable to the entire Royal Navy Surface Fleet Combatants we’ve actually got today.
To think Bruce back then had 100s of other ships under his command too.