The End of the Scharnhorst'
The bringing of the Scharnhorst' to action in the Arctic twilight off the North Cape and her destruction by Home Fleet units was a brilliant feat of seamanship. Her purpose was to make a dash from her harbourage in Alien Fjord against a large British convoy carrying munitions to Russia ; she expected to find these vessels lightly escorted and to work havoc among them before heavier ships could come to their aid. The battle that ensued was a running engagement in which cruisers and destroyers took a decisive part, though the ' Duke of York' got near enough to secure at least one direct hit ; but even so with her superior speed the r Scharnhorst' might have escaped if the destroyers had not closed with her and reduced her speed by torpedo hits, so that once again she was within range of the ' Duke of York' and the cruisers. The success with which she was shadowed and her line of escape cut off shows how well the Navy had laid its plans for just such an enterprise. It was a fleet engagement pure and simple, in which aeroplanes played no part and the little ships proved indispensable. The sinking of the `Scharnhorst' has removed the only German capital ship available at the moment for threatening our north-bound convoys. The heavier r Tirpitz ' was in no position to accompany her out of Alten Fjord, for she still lies there crippled by the attack of midget submarines last September. The Gneisenau ' and the cruiser ' Prinz Eugen ' are also still under repair in the Baltic. The only formidable vessels which Germany at present might be able to send to Norway are the pocket battleships Lutzow ' and ' Admiral Scheer,' and possibly the cruiser 'Hipper ' ; but these are vessels which could be successfully engaged without battleships. One of the results of the victory is that some of our capital ships in the North Sea might be released for duties elsewhere.
