Admiral Scheer and convoy HX-84

November 5 1940

One of the few heavy ships in the German Navy; Admiral Scheer, intercepts and attacks the thirty-seven ships of convoy HX-84, en-route from Halifax to Britain. This is the first such encounter of the war, and the convoy's only protection is the auxiliary cruiser, Jervis Bay. The commander of Jervis Bay, Capt. Fegen, orders the convoy to scatter, then makes smoke to try and obscure his maneuvers and valiantly engages the German warship. The lightly armed escort is quickly destroyed by the Germans, and they begin to go to work on the fleeing merchantmen. By nightfall, five more ships have joined Jervis Bay on the bottom, and three others have been damaged. The attack is immensely successful, because it also causes the Allies to prevent two additional convoys from even setting sail. While Admiral Scheer heads off to the south, the British are busy redirecting three battlecruisers, two battleships, several cruisers, and their complement of destroyer escorts to meet the threat posed by the German warship.

http://www.burntofferings.us/CHAPT6.htm

------
Convoy HX.84. 5th November 1940

http://www.internet-promotions.co.uk/archives/caithness/jervisbay.htm

CAPTAIN Krancke of the German Navy was not a happy man. A traditionalist, his hour of greatest pride had come on that fateful day in November 1919 when, to avoid the disgrace of surrendering to the British, the commander of the

interned German Imperial Fleet had scuttled his great ships in the cold waters of Scapa Flow.

But 20 years had passed, a new regime was in power in Berlin, a new leader - an upstart, sprung from the baser depths of the army -- now called the tune, a tune that favoured puny submarines over great battleships; and Hitler's Germany was at war with Britain.

It was October 27, 1940, and Captain Krancke was steering his command, the pocket battleship Admiral Scheer, away from its berth at the naval base of

Kiel, on towards Stavanger in Norway, and from there out into the lonely waters of the Atlantic Ocean. His mission was simple: to sink as much British merchant shipping as possible, and so prove the worth of surface warships over their U-boat rivals. Krancke knew that the hopes of every traditional-minded German naval officer travelled with him; he knew, too, that failure on his part would award supremacy to the submarine division of the German Navy.

The day after the Scheer slipped away from Kiel, a convoy of 38 merchant ships formed into nine columns at the port of Halifax, Nova Scotia. This convoy, code-named HX84, was under the protection of HMS Jervis Bay, an armed 14,000-ton merchant cruiser which had been converted from a 1922 vintage passenger liner, used to ferry immigrants out to Australia, into a fighting ship with seven out-of-date six inch guns and an obsolete fire control system. Her captain, E.S.F. Fegan, RN, commanded a crew of 254 seamen drawn from the ranks of the Royal and Merchant navies and the Royal Naval Reserve. Among the sailors of the RNR were 18 men from a remote corner of Britain called Caithness, These were desperate times. The sea carried the economic lifeblood of Britain; without its ocean supply lines the country could not maintain its social fabric, let alone fight a war. Germany had the vast resources of occupied Europe to draw upon, resources now denied to its British antagonists, who were forced to rely on supplies from overseas, particularly from North America. The Jervis Bay was no stranger to

the life-or-death struggle being waged along the 2000 miles of cold Atlantic seaway across which the vital supplies flowed from North America to Britain. Only a month before HX84 left Halifax, the Jervis Bay had escorted 41 ships of convoy HX72 to the middle of the Atlantic, where they were met by a protection force of a destroyer, three frigates and a sloop, whose task it was to take them on to Britain.

The mid-Atlantic was the favourite hunting ground of the so-called wolf packs, small groups of U-boats whose mission it was to sink each and every Britain-bound merchant ship that came within range of their torpedoes. They preferred lone vessels, but convoys coming from North America with single warship escorts were also prime targets, Once the convoys reached the mid-way stage and, secured greater warship protection, the U-boats were not so keen. However, the four U-boats that attacked convoy MZL72 just after the Jervis Bay had handed it over managed to sink l1 of its 41 ships.

Incidentally, the submarine that spotted the convoy was U47, the commander of which was one of the greatest names in German submarine service history -- Gunter Prein, the man who had sunk the battle-ship Royal Oak in the anchorage of Scapa Flow.

But U-boats were not the sole hazard facing convoy HX.84 as it began its voyage across the Atlantic; winter weather, randomly sown mines and, as British Naval Intelligence had recently discovered, the threat of the battleship Admiral Scheer were additional menaces to the convoy's well-being. How remote their cosy firesides must have seemed to those 18 Caithness seamen as they helped save the Jervis Bay out into the unknown dangers of the winter Atlantic.

The Admiral Scheer had passed out into the wide ocean when, during the night of October 30/31, Captain Krancke received intelligence that convoy HX.84 had left Halifax and was sailing on a virtual collision course with his ship. This was splendid news; 38 merchant ships would soon be at the mercy of the Scheer's 11-inch guns. The sinking of such an important convoy would be a powerful advocate for the building of more battleships at the expense of the hated U-boats.

No mention had been made of the Jervis Bay in the intelligence report. One problem only served to cloud Krancke's optimism; he must not, under any circumstances, allow the Scheer's presence to become known to his target convoy which, assuredly, would scatter to the four winds the moment it heard of his ships presence. He therefore issued strict orders that any single vessel detected by his ships radar was to be avoided at all costs.

The morning of November 5 broke fine and clear, as indeed the previous seven mornings had done - remarkably good weather for the time of the year. Aboard the Jervis Bay, Captain Fegan and his crew had reason to be well pleased with their steady nine knots per hour progress, which had taken them almost to the mid-point of their journey.

Mindful of the submarine menace, the Jervis Bays lookouts were all engaged in scanning the waters for the telltale signs of a U-boats periscope. They saw none; neither did they notice a German Arado float plane, 196 miles away and hidden behind a bank of cloud. The German aircraft, however, saw convoy HX.84 and hastened back to the Admiral Scheer, from whose flight deck it had been launched earlier in the day. The fates appeared to have delivered the lambs into the waiting jaws of the sea wolf.

Krancke knew that time was now almost his only enemy. Fearful that any delay on his part might result in the convoy rendezvousing with some strong protection force sent out from Britain to meet it, he ordered full speed ahead. Suddenly, his plans threatened to go seriously awry. A lone vessel stood between the Admiral Scheer and convoy HX.84. This vessel was the s.s. Mopan, a banana boat of 8000 tons. Steering a wide berth to avoid the Mopan would cost valuable time, time he may not have, and the thought of a running fight with a force of British warships was a poor substitute to the certainty of watching defenceless merchantmen sinking in a sea of flames.

Krancke took a bold decision; using a signal lamp, he ordered the Mopan to stop immediately, and under no circumstances to use its radio. To the German captain's amazement, the banana boat did exactly as instructed. No doubt the thought of being blown out of the water, or being left to face the rigours of the cold Atlantic without a lifeboat, acted as a powerful source of persuasion to the skipper of the Mopan. In the event, his ship was sunk, but not before himself and his crew had been taken of it. The Scheer had made its first kill. Krancke, however, was more relieved than pleased; by now it was late afternoon, daylight was fading. He ordered that full speed ahead be resumed at once.

It was growing dark when one of the Jervis Bays lookouts spied the outline of an unknown ship on the twilight horizon. Suspecting it to be the leading warship of their expected protection squadron, Captain Fegan flashed the signal "What ship?". No reply being forthcoming, Fegan ordered his signal to be repeated. Again, no answer was received and, with the unknown ship less than 10 miles distant and getting closer by the minute, the Captain of the Jervis Bay began to feel doubtful as to the intentions of the strange vessel. By 1730 hours, and with darkness fast closing in, the unidentified ship was seen to turn broadside on. It was then about eight miles away from the Jervis Bay and its convoy.

SUDDENLY, all doubt as to the intentions of the unknown ships were removed, as six flashes lit up the horizon and a sound like an express train out of control filled the evening sky. As the first salvo from the Admiral Scheer fell around his ship, Captain Fegan sprang to action, ordering the convoy to scatter at once, and for the Jervis Bay to make full ahead towards its antagonist, dropping a trail of smoke floats as it went.

An experienced Navy man, Fegan knew without a doubt that his obsolete guns with their antiquated control system were hopelessly outmatched by those of the powerful German warship that was now beginning to find the Jervis Bay's range; he knew too, that the chances of his even getting within shooting distance of his enemy were slim to say the least; he also knew that the consequences for his crew in the likely event of the Jervis Bay being sunk (for the enemy would not, and the convoy could not stop to pick up any survivors fortunate enough to make it into a lifeboat) was almost certain death from starvation.

But Captain Fegan also knew his duty. Whatever the outcome, the actions of the Jervis Bay would buy valuable time for convoy HX.84. Out of range though they were, the four forward six-inch guns of the Jervis Bay opened fire on the German warship.

Aware now of the rapid approach of the British warship, Captain Krancke ordered all his guns to bear on the Jervis Bay. By the third salvo, the German gunners had found their range. An 11-inch armour-piercing shell weighs over 600 pounds. It is a fearful thing to consider when it is lying inert in its rack; imagine, then, how frightful it becomes when six of them are approaching at velocity of 2000 feet per second. A man must needs have a firm control over his bowels in such a situation.

When the first of these projectiles struck the Jervis Bay it met next to no resistance from such puny armour that the ship possessed, less still from the unfortunate crew. Lucky those who were killed outright by the force of the exploding shells, for they were spared the horrors which suddenly burst out around them. The choking fumes from burning paint, showers of red-hot metal splinters flying everywhere, the agony of burst eardrums, the smell of human flesh on fire, and the sight and sound of screaming men with shattered bones, sliced limbs, and heat-seared eyes.

The foredeck was the first place to receive the full brunt of the Scheer's broadside; the bridge was next, part of it being ripped to bits with total loss of the gunnery control system.

But the Jervis Bay maintained her course towards the Scheer, guns still firing. A shell now struck one of the forward guns, killing most of the crew instantly; then the bridge took a direct hit. Captain Fegan, one arm torn off, stuck doggedly to his post, restoring morale and inspiring the men around him by his example. The next shell that hit the bridge killed the gallant captain, but his example lived on; a mass of flames and twisted metal from bow to stern, the Jervis Bay kept course towards the German warship, her remaining guns yet firing. The closer the ships came, the greater the havoc wreaked by the Scheer's guns.

At last the inevitable happened - a shell struck a vital part of the Jervis Bay, bringing it to a shuddering halt. A moment more, she turned on her side, orders were given to abandon ship immediately, and the stricken vessel began to sink bow first into the dark Atlantic water.

Once started, the end came swiftly, the Jervis Bay plunging to the bottom along with 187 of her gallant crew. She was still too far away for her guns to have had any effect on the Admiral Scheer.

A useless sacrifice, some might say; 187 men dead and not so much as a scratch on the enemy warship. These figures cannot be disputed, but what is certainly true is that the Jervis Bay's heroic action saved far more sailors than were lost through it. For 22 minutes the brave ship had occupied the full attention of the Admiral Scheer - Which had expended 335 valuable shells in sinking her. These 22 minutes afforded a priceless opportunity for the ships of convoy HX.84, to make good their escape under cover of a welcome darkness.

In the aftermath of the Jervis Bay sinking, the Scheer went on to overhaul and sink seven ships from the convoy, with the loss of 253 lives; but the remaining vessels escaped to bring their much-needed cargoes to Britain. Save for the Jervis Bays gallantry, the likelihood is that the vast majority of the ships in convoy HX.84, along with their crews, would have fallen victim to the Admiral Scheer's guns.

HEROISM begets admiration, and to the skipper of the swedish ship Stureholm, who had witnessed the action, the heroism of the Jervis Bay was impressive to such a degree that, neutral though he was, the skipper could not sail by and leave the survivors to their grim fate. Waiting until the Scheer - whose progress through the night was marked by searchlights, starshells and explosion - moved away from the scene, the Stureholm's skipper sailed his ship to the last resting place of the Jervis Bay and began a search for survivors. He managed to rescue 65 men, among whom were nine from Caithness. The remaining survivors were picked up at intervals over the next few days.

Heroism also begets honours and immortality. Captain Fegan was the posthumous recipient of the Victoria Cross, his nations highest reward for gallantry. According to the rules and traditions of military honours, this was all right and proper; he was the captain, and it was his decision to do what he knew to be his duty, even though he fully realised the fatal consequences of his actions.

But he did not act alone; his crew are entitled to a due share of Captain Fegan's coveted reward. They may not have received any medals, but their names deserve to be remembered. How many of us today would have willingly exchanged places with them?

 

Heres a timeline of the operation by the Admiral Scheer:

June 25, 1931-The keel of the Admiral Scheer is laid down in the Reichsmarinewerft shipyards of Wilhelmshaven.

April 1, 1933-The Admiral Scheer is launched.

November 12, 1934-The Admiral Scheer is commissioned. The next five months, through April 18, 1935, is spent in training.

October through November 1935-The Admiral Scheer is involved in North Atlantic battle drills.

June 1936-The Admiral Scheer leaves for Stockholm after a voyage around Great Britain with the Deutschland.

July 24 through August 1936-Admiral Scheer takes part in the First Spain operation.

October 2 through December 3, 1936-The Admiral Scheer is involved in the Second Spain operation.

March 15 through April 7, 1937-The Admiral Scheer participates in the Third Spain operation.

May 9 through June 1, 1937-The Admiral Scheer takes part in the Fourth Spain operation.

July 30 through October 11, 1937-The Admiral Scheer is involved in the Fifth Spain operation, then embarks on fleet operations until March 1938.

March 19 through June 29, 1938-The Admiral Scheer participates in the Sixth Spain operation.

April through May 1939-The Admiral Scheer enters the Atlantic for trials.

September 4, 1939-The Admiral Scheer is in Wilhelmshaven during the first British air raid, and shoots down a Bristol Blenheim IV bomber.

Winter 1939 through April 1940-The Admiral Scheer’s conning tower is replaced, and the ship is reclassified as a heavy cruiser.

July through September 1940-The Admiral Scheer is in the Baltic Sea for trials.

October 23, 1940-Admiral Scheer is authorized for commerce warfare.

November 5, 1940-Just five days after passing through the Denmark Straits, the refrigerator ship Mopan was sunk by the Admiral Scheer. The Admiral Scheer then attacks convoy HX84. The Maiden, Trewellard, Kenbame Head, Beaverford, and Fresno are sunk, with other ships damaged. The auxiliary cruiser Jervis Bay manages to keep the Admiral Scheer busy long enough for the rest of the convoy to escape, but is still sunk.

November 12, 1940-The Admiral Scheer is refueled by the tanker Eurofeld.

November 14, 1940-The Admiral Scheer is resupplied by the Nordmarck.

November 24, 1940-The Admiral Scheer sinks the Port Horbard near the Bermudas.

December 1, 1940-The Admiral Scheer sinks the Tribesman.

December 18, 1940-The Admiral Scheer captures the refrigerator ship Duquesa. The supplies from the Duquesa are used to resupply the Thor, Pinquin, and Nordmarck.

December 26, 1940-The Admiral Scheer meets the Thor, Pinguin, Nordmarck, Duquesa, and the Eurofeld at ‘Andalusien point’.

January 9 through January 12, 1941-The Admiral Scheer attempts to attack a troop convoy. The convoy had been previously attacked by the Admiral Hipper barely two weeks earlier.

January 17, 1941-The Admiral Scheer captures the Norwegian Sandefjord, sending the ship to Bordeaux.

January 20, 1941-The Admiral Scheer sinks the Dutch Barneveld and the British Stanpark.

January 24 through January 28, 1941-The Admiral Scheer, Nordmarck, and Thor rendezvous at Andalusien Point.

February 3, 1941-The Admiral Scheer passes the Cape of Good Hope, heading east.

February 14, 1941-The Admiral Scheer rendezvous with the auxiliary cruiser Atlantis, freighter Tannenfels, and the captured Speybank and Letty Brövi.

February 20, 1941-The Admiral Scheer sinks the Greek Gregorios, then captures the British Advocate.

February 21, 1941-The Admiral Scheer is ordered home after sinking the Canadian Cruiser. While returning, the Admiral Scheer sinks the Indonesian Rantaupandjang The Admiral Scheer is then spotted by the British cruiser Glasgow’s search plane.

February 22, 1941-The Admiral Scheer slips past the hunting British and Australian ships, consisting of the carrier Hermes, and the cruisers Canberra, Australia, Shropshire, Emerald, Cape Town, and Glasgow.

March 9, 1941-Almost a week after passing the Cape of Good Hope, the Admiral Scheer meets the Pinguin, Kormoran, Nordmarck at Andalusien Point.

March 11 through March 24, 1941-The Admiral Scheer meets the freighters Portland and Astarufer.

March 23, 1941-The Admiral Scheer reaches Bergen after passing thruogh the Denmark Strait.

April 1, 1941-The Admiral Scheer returns to Kiel.

September through October 1941-The Admiral Scheer is assigned to the Baltic Fleet.

January through February 1942-The Admiral Scheer is moved to Drontheim.

May 1942-The Admiral Scheer is moved to Narvik.

July 1942-The Admiral Scheer, Lützow, and several destroyers attack convoy PQ-17, but the convoy breaks up prematurely and the attack is aborted.

August 16 through August 31, 1942-The Admiral Scheer is with three U-boats for Operation Wunderland. The Russian Alexander Siriyakov is sunk, then the group shells Port Dickson on the 27th.

November 11, 1942-The Admiral Scheer returns to Kiel.

January 1943-The Admiral Scheer undergoes repairs at Wilhelmshaven, then is decommissioned and used as a training ship.

October 1944-The Admiral Scheer is recommissioned.

November 1944 through February 1945-The Admiral Scheer supports the German Army.

March 1945-The Admiral Scheer shells Diefenov and Swinemünde., then returns to Kiel, taking 200 wounded and 800 refugees from Pilau.

May 9 through May 10, 1945-The Admiral Scheer is sunk after several bomb hits.

July 1946-The wreck of the Admiral Scheer is broken up.

Statistics:

Maximum displacement: 15,423 tons
Top speed: 28.3 knots
Length: 187.9 meters
Beam: 21.34 meters
Armament:

2-Aircraft (Arado Ar 196)
6-11 inch guns
8-15 cm guns
6-8.8 cm guns
8-3.7 cm guns
28-2 cm machine guns
8-53.3 cm torpedoes

http://www.angelfire.com/ia/totalwar/kmsScheer.html

 

Ross :

Is the Scheer armament stats for early 1940's ? there should be a refit with twin 2cm and possibly newer 3.7cm's installed I think....mid to late 1944 ?
thanks for the chronology

~E

 

Erich i think they are. She was in for refit between 43 and 44 after which she served in the baltic.

Here is a bit mor on her operations in the war:

The Admiral Scheer first saw action in the Second World War when she shot down a RAF airplane while lying in the Schillig Roads off Wilhelmshaven.
In 1940 she was withdrawn from active service for a general refit: the solid, rather typical pocket battleship control-tower and bridge were replaced by a lighter type of mast, and she was also given a clipper bow.

After trials, she eventually broke out into the Atlantic-during October 1940-under command of Theodor Krancke and went into action against convoy HX84. During this engagement she sank the British auxiliary cruiser HMS Jervis Bay. Afterwards, Admiral Scheer refuelled from the supply ship Nordmark and headed south, crossing the equator on 16 December 1940. She captured the refrigerated freighter Duquesa, which replenished the food stores of Admiral Scheer plus those of the raiders Thor and Pinguin and the supply ship Nordmark. All these ships met up on Boxing Day 1940 to exchange Christmas greetings. Admiral Scheer continued on her own and managed to capture another ship - this time the Norwegian tanker Sandefjord, which was taken to France by a prize crew. There was another meeting with Nordmark and, later, with the auxiliary cruiser Atlantis, commanded by Bernhard Rogge. Two other captured ships, Speybank and Ketty Brovig, were also present at this gathering on the high seas, plus the blockade-breaker Tannenfels.

Admiral Scheer then moved off on her own to operate in the Indian Ocean, off Mozambique, where she received orders to return home. On her way back, she was sighted by a reconnaissance aircraft from the British cruiser Glasgow, and a massive search operation was launched to engage the German pocket battleship. Admiral Scheer managed to dodge through the net of six cruisers and the aircraft carrier Hermes and, early in March 1941, she met up with the auxiliary cruisers Kormoran and Pinguin. She also rendezvoused with U-124 under the command of Kptlt. Wilhelm Schulz, which had brought some vital spare parts for Scheer's radio. She then headed north, crossing the equator on 15 March 1941 and arriving in Bergen fifteen days later. During this successful cruise, she had sunk fourteen ships and one British auxiliary cruiser, and had captured two other ships.

After a complete overhaul, Admiral Scheer operated in the Baltic under the command of Kpt.z.S. Wilhelm Meendsen- Bohlken, who, towards the end of the war, was made Fleet Commander. There was no noteworthy action, and eventually the ship sailed to Trondheim, from where she continued up the coast to Narvik and joined a task force in search of Convoy PQ17. She remained in the Arctic, near Bear Island, and after very little action she returned to Wilhelmshaven, passing through the Kiel Canal in November 1942.

After a refit, the ship came under the command of Fregkpt. Ernst Gruber, who had been the Communications Officer on the ill-fated Blucher. In February 1943, he was succeeded by Kpt.z.S. Richard Rothe-Roth, under whom Admiral Scheer served as a training ship in the eastern Baltic. From October 1944, when under the command of Kpt.z. S. Ernst Thienemann, she helped the Special Combat Units 'Rogge' and 'Thiele'. (These two units were created very hurriedly to help fight Russian forces in the East; they were named after their commanders, Bernhard Rogge of the legendary Atlantis, and August Thiele, who commanded the pocket battleship Deutschland, later renamed Lutzow, shortly after the start of the war.) Towards the end of the war, Admiral Scheer headed west from Pillau, laden with a thousand refugees and wounded, bound for Kiel. There she was bombed and capsized on 9/10 April 1945.


Commanders Of Admiral Scheer:
KptzS Wilhelm Marschall - Nov./34 - Sep./36
KptzS Otto Ciliax - Sep./36 - Oct./38
KptzS Hans-Heinrich Wurmbach - Oct./38 - 24.10.1939
KptzS Theodor Kranke - Oct.25/39 - Jun.12/41
KptzS Wilhlem Meendsen-Bohlken - Jun.13/41 - Nov.1/42
FKpt Gruber - Nov.1/42 - Feb./43
KptzS Richard Rothe-Roth - Feb./43 - Apr./44
KptzS Ernst-Ludwig Thienemann - Apr./44 - Apr./45

http://www.warships1.com/GERbc07_Lutzow_history.htm

[ 02. May 2003, 06:05 AM: Message edited by: Mahross ]

 

Thanx alot Mahross!





Admiral Scheer

 

Had to make comment.......wonderful material gentlemen ! here is another neat site to check out although in Deutsch U can easily follow along.

www.admiralscheer.de

E

 

Incredible information and tales about the Admiral Scheer, Kai and Mahross. Thank you very much! I shall come with some tale about the last moments of the ship based in my dear Kriegsmarine book. I now have to find the time because I need to post the tales about the war in the Baltic in 1944-1945 and the British U-boats.

 

Fried, I'll try to post some later stages of the ship but please add the series of mission ops in the Baltic in 44-45 and personally I am most interested in this.......also from another thread but I will ask U here again.

When U have time as you post from your Kriegsmarine book, would U please list the title, the copyright date and the full ISBN number plus author(s), bitte ?!

vielen Dank !!

~E

 

I am only going to throw a tasty tid-bit on the Scheer out to everyone as I expect some interesting materials from Fried.

Septmeber 1944 Admiral Scheer is sent to the Baltic to help the Lützow and Prinz Eugen as a major task force against Soviet ground positions.
The duties of the task force were:

to engage the Soviet fleet if it were to break out of Leningrad.
To support the army(seems to be the main task)
Secial operations in the Aaland Sea.

the Scheer exchanged it's AP for HE and reamined battleworthy and not until October was it ordered to prepare for active duty. It with the Admiral Hipper were suppose to take action but neither did. The Scheer in November had it's 3.7cm SKC/30 guns given protective shields and on 21 November the Scheer finally went into action in Operation "Hammer" along with T 3 and T 12 as support, this against the island of Sworbe........

ok Fried fire away !

~E

 

Thanx Erich!,

and congrats on breaking the 4,000 line...

 

Thanks Kai !

I await Fried's contibtuion since I am almost certain he has a high degree of information from his Deutsche buch.....

if he cannot I can further install more.....

~E

 

Erich, I have the book in my hands and have been reading it to post a BIG tale about the topics I had promised... and Thre will be someting today, I promisse. But which one do you preffer? The battle in the Baltic which includes many, many incidents and battles since August 1944 until the surrender in May 1945? Or may I post the things I promissed about the British U-boats in the Mediterranean (which is from another book)?

I will do both, but I need time. I have been really busy. A lot of work and some problems at the house... But there will be something TODAY. You choose, Erich.

And I saw, there's no ISBN number, but I have the complete bibliography:

C.D. Bekker, Kampf und Untergaang der Kriegsmarine, Düsseldorf, 1953. And the version I own was translated to Spanish by Eduardo Escalone and printed in Mexico City in 1955. I could photo-copy the book and send it to you, but it wouldn't be very worth it in Spanish, would it?

 

No Espanol my friend. Sadly I lack the beautiful Spainish communicative skills. Just having the title and author is good for a start as I can look for the book in the antiquarian shops here and in Europe. Wasn't this title translated some years ago into English ?

Personally I would like to hear of the events of the A. Scheer in relationship to it's bombarding role in the Baltic/Ostsee, but others may want to stay on the original topic. The last months of war really fascinate me and the only copy decent episode in textural form that I have comes from M.J Whitley's "German Captial Ships of WW 2", ISBN # 0-85368-970-9. do believe this is OOP, but there are a couple of other newer titles coming out covering the Scheer along with the other Schwere Schiffe......

do as you would like. Curious to compare Cajus Bekker's notes with what Whitley and two other authors have to say about the fall 44 through May 45 roles of the big boy ship...

~E

 

OK, Erich. Look for the first part of my article in the Russian Front forums to-morrow.

But first I have to add that the Admiral Hipper Class pocket battleships were too overrated and they were not worth their cost.

Fisrt, some statistics about the Admiral Hipper, (maybe they could be different to the ones you posted before)...

Class: Admiral Hipper pocket battleship

Weight: 13.900 tons (standard) 18.600 tons (full-loaded)

Dimensions: 206 metres long, 21,3 metres wide, 5,8 metres high

Engines: Turbines Blohm und Voß of three-weehled axis, 132 hp to the axis, 12 Lamont boilers

Speed: 32 knots (59,26 kilometres per hour)

Weaponry: Eight (4X2) 8"; twelve (6X2) 4"1; twelve (6X2) Flak 37mm; four (4X1) Flak 20mm; twelve (4X3) 21" torpedo tubes

Hydroplanes: 3X Ar-196

Armour: Hull 76mm; turrets 101mm; decks 32-63mm

Fuel/Range: 4.250 tons of fuel; 10.880 at 20 knots

Crew: Men and officers

History: Launched on February 6th 1937; commisioned in 1939. She took part in operations in the North Sea in 1939-1940 and was damaged during the Norwegian campaign because a ramming by HMS Glowworm. Between June 1940 and February 1941 sank 12 ships in the North Atlantic. Then she was sent to Norway were she and the Lützow failed to attack a British convoy heading Russia in the Barents Sea Battle. She ended her days in the Baltic supporting the German troops trapped in the Baltic coast. She was damaged in Kiel by an air raid and later was sunk by its crew.

As the Italians and the Japanese, the German engineers found out that it was IMPOSSIBLE to gather all the qualities of great speed, armour and fire power within the 10.000 tons rule of the international treaties. The enormous power of the engines didn't produce as much power to reach faster speeds than other nation's less powerful cruisers. The range of the ship was very short and was not good for long raids. Admiral Hipper suffered cronichal problems with her engines because of the high steam-pressure. The armour was thick but was concentrated around the floating line and the turrets, leaving the engines-rooms very exposed.

 

good ! I'd like to add my two cents if it helps your text but will of course wait to see what you have.....

gotta run for some hours

~E

 

And I had forgotten! Here is the man that the ship was named after:



Admiral Franz von Hipper (1863-1932), who lead the German Imperial High Seas Fleet during WWI. He was the responsible of sinking several ships of admiral Sir John Jellicoe during Jutland.

 

Done. The first stages of the war in the Baltic and the first time the Soviets tasted the 8-inches guns of the 'Prince' is already posted in "WAr in Russia" forums. Next to come: the ramming of the Leipzig by the Prinz Eugen.

 

it appears you will be covering the whole Task force instead of just the Admiral Scheer.....sehr Kühl !

~E

 

Admiral Hipper and the damage by HMS Glowworm

The second pic from top

něm. Admiral Hipper - Válečné lodě druhé světové války

 

good stuff Kai, well we should wait for Gottfried to finish up what he can, then I can add the Barbara AA gun refit program initiated to the Scheer though it was never completed to the standard it was suppose to be brought up to with increased Flak-vierlings and quick firing Zwilling 3.7cm mounts and Zwilling 2cm. I also beleive that single 4cm bofors were suppose to be added like the Prinz Eugen.
now that I brought this up I better go back and check my data to see where I put that from years ago...

E