Battle of The Barents Sea - The Battle

The Battle

The encounter took place in the middle of the polar night and both the German and British forces were scattered and unsure of the positions of the rest of their own forces, much less the enemy's. Thus the entire battle became a rather confused affair. During the battle it was not clear who was firing on whom or even how many ships were engaged.

At 08:00 on 31 December, the main body of JW 51B, twelve ships and eight warships, were some 120 miles north of the coast of Finnmark heading east. Detached from the convoy were the destroyer Oribi and one ship, which took no part in the action; 15 miles astern (north-east) of the convoy Bramble was searching for them. North of the convoy, at 45 miles distance, was Vizalma and another ship, while Burnett's cruisers were 15 miles southeast of them, and 30 miles from the convoy. To the east, 150 miles away, the home-bound convoy RA 51 was heading west. To the north of the convoy, Hipper and three destroyers were closing, while 50 miles away Lützow and her three destroyers were closing from the south. At 08:00 the destroyer Eckholdt sighted the convoy and reported it to Hipper.

At 08:20 on 31 December, Obdurate, stationed south of the convoy, spotted three German destroyers to the rear (west) of the convoy. Then, Onslow spotted Admiral Hipper, also to the rear of the convoy, and steered to intercept with Orwell, Obedient and Obdurate, while Achates was ordered to stay with the convoy and make smoke. After some firing, the British ships turned to make a feigned torpedo attack. Heavily outgunned, Sherbrooke knew that his torpedoes were his most formidable weapons and once launched, that threat would be gone. The ruse worked: Hipper temporarily retired, since Kummetz had been ordered not to risk his ships. Admiral Hipper returned to make a second attack, hitting Onslow causing heavy damage and many casualties including 17 killed. Although Onslow ultimately survived the action, Sherbrooke had been badly injured by a large steel splinter and command passed to Obedient.

Hipper then pulled north of the convoy, stumbled across Bramble, a Halcyon-class minesweeper, which opened fire; Hipper returned fire with her much heavier guns. The destroyer Eckholdt was ordered to finish Bramble off, (who sank with all hands) while the Admiral Hipper shifted target to Obedient and Achates to the south. Achates was badly damaged, but she continued to lay down smoke until she eventually sank. (The trawler Northern Gem rescued many of the crew of Achates.) The Germans reported sinking a destroyer, but this was on the basis of the sinking the minesweeper Bramble, which they mistook for a destroyer. They never realised Achates had been hit.

The shellfire attracted the attention of Force R, which was still farther north. Sheffield and Jamaica approached unseen, and they opened fire on Admiral Hipper at 11:35, hitting her with enough six-inch shells to damage (and cause minor flooding) to two of her boiler rooms, and reducing her speed to 28 knots. Kummetz initially thought that the attack of the two cruisers was coming from another destroyer, but upon realising his mistake, he ordered his ships to retreat to the west. In another case of mistaken identity, Eckholdt and Richard Beitzen mistook Sheffield for Admiral Hipper; after attempting to form up with the British ships, they were engaged by Sheffield with Eckholdt breaking into two and sinking with all hands.

Meanwhile, Lützow approached from the east and fired ineffectively at the convoy (which was still hidden by smoke from the crippled Achates). Heading northwest to join Admiral Hipper, Lützow also found Sheffield and Jamaica, which opened fire. Coincidentally, both sides decided to break off the action at the same time, each side fearing imminent torpedo attacks upon their heavy ships from the other's remaining destroyers. This was shortly after noon. Burnett with Force R continued to shadow the German ships at a distance until it was evident that they were retiring to their base, while the ships of the convoy re-formed and continued towards Kola Inlet.