Battle of the North Cape
1943 battle during the Arctic campaign of WWII / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Battle of the North Cape was a Second World War naval battle that occurred on 26 December 1943, as part of the Arctic campaign. The German battleship Scharnhorst, on an operation to attack Arctic convoys of war materiel from the western Allies to the Soviet Union, was brought to battle and sunk by the Royal Navy's battleship HMS Duke of York with cruisers and destroyers, including an onslaught from the destroyer HNoMS Stord of the exiled Royal Norwegian Navy, off the North Cape, Norway.
Battle of the North Cape | |||||||
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Part of World War II | |||||||
German battleship Scharnhorst, c. 1939 | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
United Kingdom Canada Norway | Germany | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Bruce Fraser | Erich Bey † | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
1 battleship 1 heavy cruiser 3 light cruisers 8 destroyers |
1 battleship 5 destroyers | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
21 killed 11 wounded 1 battleship slightly damaged 1 heavy cruiser damaged 1 destroyer damaged |
1,932 killed 36 captured 1 battleship sunk |
The battle was the last between British and German big-gun capital ships. The outcome increased the British advantage in major surface units. It was also the penultimate engagement between battleships in history, the last being the October 1944 Battle of Surigao Strait.[1]