The Sinking of Scharnhorst, The Battle of North Cape 1943 - Animated

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Admiral Fraser after the sinking of Scharnhorst in a briefing to his officers on board the Duke of York. "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" this is one of my favourite quotes of the second world war.

The efforts of Harold 'Barehands' Bates to repair Duke of York's radar while under way and fighting in a Force 8 gale deserve a mention. He had to climb the mast in those conditions, while under fire, to realign the aerial, which feat of simultaneous acrobatics and engineering won him the Distinguished Service Cross.

It’s sad to know that Duke of York wasn’t saved as a museum ship. It’s most notable achievement was sinking the Scharnhorst. Though it also had a small skirmish with the Tirpitz. As well as transported Churchill across the Atlantic to meet FDR. If there were ever two ships that deserved to be museums that never were. It would be both Duke of York and Warspite.

Gotta feel sorry for Admiral Bey here. He saw it was a bad idea from the beginning and wanted to abort but was forced to go, got jumped and lost radar, almost made it out, only to get crippled by a final salvo from DOY, and got annihilated after that, resulting in the sad deaths of thousands of men.

The most incredible part of all of this to me is actually how the Scharnhorst's crew managed to keep her going 22 knots despite a direct hit on her boiler!

Imagine how terrifying it would be on the Scharnhorst, holyyyy

As a reward for participation in this glorious battle, HMS Belfast is still chilling at one of the world's most prestige mooring spot today.

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

I visited Nordkapp at Norway years ago and I recall seeing a plague commemorating the deaths at this battle, in particular those on the Scharhorst. Really have to appreciate how those men fought in super adverse cold and rough sea conditions and the deaths must have been very awful.

The Battle of the North Cape is important to me as my uncle Alf manned the guns on HMS Jamaica and saw the whole thing. He was one of the few people still alive in 2014 when he collected the Arctic Star aged 92.

Duke of York was the MVP here. Very impressive gunnery skills.

The only shame here is that you failed to mention the message by Admiral Bruce Fraser: "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."

Unbelievable that the Scharnhorst was able to survive so many hits including torpedoes strikes as well and not only stay afloat but maneuver back towards the British fleet and launch even a single torpedo! Incredibly well armored ship and a tough disciplined crew. She was the enemy in my eyes but I still admire such bravery! It always sad to see any ship sunk and while I’m not surprised so few survived the frigid water, what a shame only 36 survived. 15:27

Absolute masterpiece. I never knew Scharnhorst had tried a torpedo run. I only have a minor quibble: Stord’s prefix was HNoMS, not HMS.

The crew of the Scharnhorst may have been on the wrong side of history, but you have to admire their courage.

Before the battle, the commander of the Norwegian destroyer Stord, captain Skule Storheil, was promoted and was about to be transferred to a safer post on land. When he found out that his ship was due to engage one of Nazi-Germanys last major warships in Norwegian home waters, he removed a stripe on his uniform and thereby demoted himself, just to be part of this operation. Sounds like something from a movie script right, but if that's what you're thinking, let me tell you something. You're wrong. Because this was a fight he did not wanna miss.

One point about the KMS Scharnhorst's radar - per Drachinifel's video of the Battle of North Cape, the radars of the Scharnhorst weren't completely destroyed - only the main radar covering the forward arc of the ship. There was a secondary radar that covered the aft arc, but with some limitations in that aft arc coverage as well. So Scharnhorst wasn't entirely blind, radar wise, but was definitely very vulnerable to Duke of York's surprise salvo... ...also, per Drachinifel, Duke of York preceded its gunnery salvos with its own star shells - 14" star shells definitely got the Scharnhorst's attention!

6:02:"I'm no one really. Just a maid passing by." Royal Navy light cruiser Belfast.

Seriously. I have NEVER seen animated stories of historical events in such an extraordinarily awesome quality before until I found your videos. Great narration, easy to understand visuals that underline the story being told. This channel is a gem. Gladly subscribed.