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Credit: Caladan Oceanic via AP. While serving as a squadron flagship, Scharnhorst carried an additional 10 officers and 61 enlisted men. Scharnhorst and Gneisenau operated together for much of the early portion of World War II, including sorties into the Atlantic to raid British merchant shipping. This deck was 20 mm (0.79 in) thick aft, increased to 50 mm in the central portion of the ship that contained the ammunition magazines and machinery spaces, and decreased down . Four Allied capital ships, the British Hood, Nelson and Rodney, and the French Dunkerque, followed in pursuit. [27][28] Acasta also hit Scharnhorst's forward superfiring turret with her 4.7" QF guns, which did negligible damage. She was powered by three Brown, Boveri & Cie geared steam turbines, which developed a total of 159,551shp; 118,977kW and yielded a maximum speed of 31.5 knots (58.3km/h; 36.2mph) on speed trials. One of the most advanced U-boats, U-3523, set out from Denmark a few days before the end of World War II in Europe; experts think it was probably fleeing to safety. At least six warship wrecks from World War II in the Java Sea near Indonesia have almost vanished after being illegally plundered for scrap metal by salvagers. As a result, she went back to the dockyard for extensive modification of the bow. for the Germans, their orders were decoded by the British, who The wreck of the American light cruiser USS Juneau was discovered in 2018 near Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands. Source: Wikipedia. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Scharnhorst's icy foredeck, Jan 1940, photo 2 of 2. HMS Rawalpindi - Wikipedia Her conning tower was set back a little . The sub disappeared in 1942 and became the subject of a theory that it sank during a secret mission to Libya. Two days later, the German flotilla intercepted the British armed merchant cruiser Rawalpindi. At 16:50, Duke of York opened fire at a range of 11,000m (12,000yd); Scharnhorst quickly returned the fire. [40][41][42], Two of the 454kg bombs hit amidships between the 15cm and 10.5cm gun turrets; both failed to explode and instead penetrated the ship completely. Temporary repairs allowed Scharnhorst to return to 22 knots (41km/h; 25mph). He has also written for the BBC, NBC News, National Geographic, Scientific American, Air & Space, and many others. (Image credit: E/V Nautilus Multibeam Sonar Survey 2015). The Japanese aircraft carrier Kaga is only the second wreck discovered from the Battle of Midway, the June 1942 clash against a Japanese attack that was decisively won by the U.S; the other is the wreck of the American aircraft carrier USS Yorktown. [29] The ship's machinery was also significantly damaged by the flooding, and the starboard propeller shaft was destroyed. British warships were within 35nmi (65km; 40mi) of Scharnhorst's position when she turned to Stavanger. Neither warship survived World War II. Fast forward 105 years, nearly to the day, on 4 December Scharnhorst presented an imposing silhouette, with three triple turrets, a heavy bridge superstructure, and a single large stack. Shortly after 08:30 on 8 February, lookouts spotted convoy HX 106, escorted by the battleship Ramillies. His tenure as the ship's commander was brief; in September 1939, an illness forced him to go on sick leave, and he was replaced by KzS Kurt-Caesar Hoffmann. Six 53.3cm (21in) above-water torpedo tubes, taken from the light cruisers Nrnberg and Leipzig, were installed in 1942. Scharnhorst's forward turret was put out of action by severe flooding. An American submarine, the USS Grenadier, that sank in 1943 was discovered by divers at the north end of the Strait of Malacca, between the Malay Peninsula and Sumatra, in 2020. Preliminary repairs were completed by 20 June, which permitted the ship to return to Germany. Five years after a search began to rediscover it, Admiral Graf von Spee's. It passed through the upper and middle decks before exploding on the main armored deck, which contained the blast. Admiral Burnett, commanding the three cruisers Norfolk, Belfast, and Sheffield escorting Convoy JW 55B, placed his ships between the convoy and Scharnhorst's expected direction of attack. HOTLINE +94 77 2 114 119. The underwater survey vessel Sverdrup II, operated by the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment, was used to scan the sea floor. The second torpedo hit the ship on the port side and caused some minor flooding, and the third struck toward the rear of the ship and damaged the port propeller shaft. Battlecruiser Scharnhorst | World War II Database - WW2DB The Scharnhorst - only 36 members of the crew escaped a watery grave [54], On 25 November 1943 Scharnhorst carried out a two-hour full-power trial achieving 29.6 knots (54.8km/h; 34.1mph) and it was noted that her draught had increased by over 0.5 metres (1.6ft) from her 1940 trials where she had attained 31.14 knots (57.67km/h; 35.84mph). A member of McGrath's family dived to the wreck as part of the research. A German warship that sank in 1942 is still polluting the North Sea with toxic chemicals from its fuel and ammunition, according to a 2022 study. The two ships encountered convoy SL 67,[33] escorted by the battleship Malaya, on 8 March. The explosion killed or injured 34 men and prompted the crew to flood the magazines for turret Caesar as a precaution against a magazine explosion. The conning tower was protected with 350mm on the sides. The ship was sunk by a Japanese torpedo during the Battle of Guadalcanal in November 1942. HMS Belfast and the rest of the convoy were no longer embarking on a return journey home, they were heading for battle. The ship defended itself successfully against air raids on numerous occasion. Scharnhorst at sea.Photo: Bundesarchiv, DVM 10 Bild-23-63-12 CC-BY-SA 3.0 By 1942, the Scharnhorst had become well-known among the British servicemen as an opponent that always has the upper hand. According to the Reuters news agency, Norwegian broadcasters also reported that the underwater images taken by the ROV included a medallion on the warship decorated with a Nazi swastika symbol. The Germans reached Wilhelmshaven on 27 November, and on the trip both battleships incurred significant damage from heavy seas and winds. Scharnhorst Wreck : In Pictures - Rebellion Research [45] By 13:00, the ships had cleared the Strait of Dover; half an hour later, a flight of six Swordfish torpedo bombers, with Spitfire escort, attacked the Germans. Note ship's badge mounted on her bow, and snowy conditions at right. The Karlsruhe was the flagship of an attack group on the port city of Kristiansand during the German invasion of Norway on April 9, 1940. Repair work lasted until July, which caused the ship to be unavailable during Operation Rheinbung, the sortie by the new battleship Bismarck in May 1941. [59], With the rapidly deteriorating military situation for the German Army on the Eastern Front, it became increasingly important to interrupt the flow of supplies from the Western Allies to the Soviet Union. German Navy Ships--Scharnhorst (1939-1943) - ibiblio Images reveal extent of HMS Royal Oak torpedo attack - BBC News Editor's Note: This article was updated to correct a statement that said Karlsruhe was was equipped with nine 15-inch guns. [4], Scharnhorst had an armor belt that was 350mm (13.8in) thick in the central portion, where it protected the ship's ammunition magazines and propulsion machinery spaces. Norway's electric grid operator Statnett located the shipwreck near its underwater power cables on sonar scans of the seafloor in 2017, according to a Statnett statement. Live Science is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Scharnhorst was a battleship/battlecruiser that served with Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II.Commissioned in 1939, the ship mounted a main armament of nine 11-inch guns and was capable of 31 knots. Heres how it works. It too failed to detonate, and passed through the side of the hull, which was not protected by the main armor belt. Three of the bombs were 454kg (1,001lb) armor-piercing bombs, and the other two were 227kg (500lb) high-explosive bombs. Captured German newsreel showing the sinking of Scharnhorst after dramatic sea battle. The following day a reconnaissance plane from RAF Coastal Command spotted the ship, and a raid by twelve Hudson bombers took place on 11 June. "Most big warships in deep waters have turned [over] on the way down to the seabed because of their large superstructure, but the Karlsruhe has gone straight down and is resting on its keel.". stop the ships with air and surface attacks, though both Scharnhorst On 13 June, Ark Royal launched fifteen Skua dive bombers; German fighters intercepted the attackers and shot eight of them down. Until the Sammy B was located, the world's deepest known shipwreck was that of the USS Johnston, a destroyer that was also sunk during the Battle of Leyte Gulf. https://www.britishpathe.com/ Explorers find WWII Navy ship, deepest wreck discovered - Phys.org Battleship scharnhorst Stock Photos and Images - Alamy In his instructions to Bey, Dnitz advised him to break off the engagement if presented with superior forces, but to remain aggressive. The wreck of a German steamship that was sunk in the Baltic Sea near the end of World War II may hold the precious panels from Russia's 18th-century Amber Room. The wreck of an Australian navy submarine that disappeared in 1914 was found off an island in Papua New Guinea in 2017. [61] During a conference with Hitler on 1920 December, Groadmiral Karl Dnitz decided to employ Scharnhorst against the next Allied convoy that presented itself. The battlecruiser Scharnhorst sank on Dec. 8, 1914, with more than 800 crewmembers on board, including German Adm. Maximilian Graf von Spee. to reach Germany. The ship had an armored deck that was 20 to 40mm (0.79 to 1.57in) thick on the flat portion, increasing to 105mm (4.1in) on downward-sloping sides that connected to the bottom of the belt. A Japanese submarine that was sunk in World War II and then bombed by a salvager 30 years later is now the subject of a virtual-reality study. Damage-control teams managed to correct the list with counter-flooding, and although draft increased by 1m (3.3ft), Scharnhorst was able to leave for Brest at 19:30. She managed to add 5,000m (5,500yd) to the distance between her and Duke of York, while straddling the ship with several salvos. Some very good footage of the battleships at sea during sea battle. By Stephen Sherman, June, 2011.Updated March 21, 2012. More than 250 warships took part in the battle on May 31 and June 1, 1916; HMS Warrior was damaged by gunfire, and it sank as it attempted to make its way back to the U.K. 10 epic battles that changed history (opens in new tab) As Acasta sank, one of the 4 torpedoes she had fired hit Scharnhorst at 19:39. [9], Scharnhorst was ordered as Ersatz Elsass as a replacement for the old pre-dreadnought Elsass, under the contract name "D."[4] The Kriegsmarinewerft in Wilhelmshaven was awarded the contract, where the keel was laid on 16 July 1935. Scharnhorst and Gneisenau : Germany's Raiders of World War 2 [16], At 09:15 the following morning, Admiral Hipper was detached to reinforce the destroyers at Narvik, which had reported engaging British forces. Once the ship was back under way, twelve Beauforts launched a 10-minute attack that was beaten off by anti-aircraft fire and the escorting Luftwaffe fighters. On Christmas day 1943, Scharnhorst and several destroyers In addition, Tirpitz was still working up and not ready for service; Ltzow had been seriously damaged by a torpedo on 13 June 1941; Admiral Scheer and Admiral Hipper were in dockyards for maintenance. A week later, on 26 December, the Scharnhorst lay at the bottom of the Barents Sea, sunk off Norway in the Battle of North Cape. Meanwhile, the five German destroyers continued searching for the convoy without success. The second 28cm round struck the ship's "X" barbette and disabled the turret. [31] Severe storms caused damage to Gneisenau but Scharnhorst was undamaged. The RAF had planned a large, complicated raid on the capital ships in Brest for the night[citation needed] of 24 July, but an aerial reconnaissance photograph[37] of Scharnhorst in her berth at La Pallice caused a last minute alteration to the operation. The 20 most mysterious shipwrecks ever (opens in new tab) [18] Scharnhorst's radar malfunctioned, which prevented her from being able to effectively engage Renown during the battle. Gruppe, Jagdgeschwader 3: This image is thought to show the German battleship Scharnhorst with its escort of destroyers, headed for Trondheim in June 1940. [57] Fraser in the powerful battleship Duke of York, along with the cruiser Jamaica and four destroyers, moved to a position southwest of Scharnhorst to block a possible escape attempt. Less than ten minutes later, a shell from Gneisenau struck the bridge and killed Glorious's captain. In the spring of 1940 the [39] One of the 227kg bombs hit the deck just forward of the starboard 15cm twin turret next to the conning tower. The WW1 Battle of the Falklands was significant in that it saw the destruction of . In early January 1943, the ship was back in service, and after trials, left Germany on 7 January in company with Prinz Eugen and five destroyers. IT'S FULL OF GREAT DOCUMENTARIES, FASCINATING INTERVIEWS, AND CLASSIC MOVIES. Southeast Asian nations are struggling to crack down on the illegal salvaging of metal from the region's numerous war wrecks. Dramatic new images have revealed the extent of damage to HMS Royal Oak after it was sunk by torpedoes. After locating a large submerged object, the research team then used the Royal Norwegian Navy's underwater recovery vessel HNoMSTyr to examine the object visually. New York, Gneisenau was hit twice in the opening portion of the engagement, and one shell disabled her rear gun turret. (Image credit: Lance Cpl. The so-called "Channel Dash", codenamed Operation Cerberus, would avoid the increasingly effective Allied radar and patrol aircraft in the Atlantic. Ltjens again forbade an attack, but he shadowed the convoy and directed U-boats to attack. Not a light cruiser. The wreck lies 21,180 feet (6,456 m) below the ocean surface off the island of Samar in the Philippines, where it sank after an intense battle with Japanese warships. BBC - History - World Wars: The Sinking of the 'Scharnhorst' End Of The Scharnhorst (1943) - YouTube and severely threating British seaborne supply lines. The Luftwaffe had been seriously weakened by four long years of war, and increasing Allied anti-submarine capabilities were steadily degrading the effectiveness of the U-boats. [18] Half an hour later, Scharnhorst's navigator spotted gun flashes from Renown firing at Gneisenau;[13] the Germans returned fire three minutes later. Scharnhorst detected the cruisers with her aft radar and opened fire with her main battery guns before turning away to disengage a second time. Unaware that they had been detected, the Germans had turned off their radar to prevent the British from picking up on the signals. In the latter action, Scharnhorst SMS Scharnhorst was the flagship of German. He therefore decided to head for Brest in occupied France, which the ships reached on 22 March. The British failed to penetrate the Luftwaffe fighter shield, and all six Swordfish were destroyed. During World War II, this catapult system was used to launch float planes (either Mitsubishi F1M2s or Aichi E13As) from a Japanese warship. Two of the three turbines were jammed, and the third had to be turned off. and other German ships threatening the convoy route to the USSR. "wet" when at sea. In a three-hour battle in the frigid Arctic seas, [50] The engine room crews managed to restart the first turbine at 15:49, nearly twenty minutes after the mine explosion. [11] Scharnhorst was commissioned into the fleet on 9 January for sea trials,[12] which revealed a dangerous tendency to ship considerable amounts of water in heavy seas. One of the world's most famous dive sites, the wreck of the British freighter SS Thistlegorm in the Red Sea, is now a virtual-reality experience. The other, HNLMS K XVII, was sunk by bombs from Japanese warplanes in February 1942. L ike the Royal Navy's ill-fated Hood, the Scharnhorst was technically a battle-cruiser, but is generally called a battleship. A 3D sonar scan of the remains of British warship HMS Electra, one of several war wrecks in the Java Sea thought to have been plundered by metal scavenging operators. Some 900 men went into the cold, northern waters that evening and they faced a horrifying ordeal. The first went through each deck and exited the ship through the double bottom, while the other was deflected by the torpedo bulkhead and penetrated the hull beneath the side belt armor. presented on the pages listed below. [51] The shock damaged the rotating parts of all of the ship's gun turrets, and three of the 15cm turrets were seriously jammed.