page_title: HMS Duke of York (17)
section_title: Action with Scharnhorst
hierarchical_section_title: HMS Duke of York (17) / Operational history / Second World War / Action with Scharnhorst
caption_attribution_description: English: The King Pays 4-day Visit To the Home Fleet. 18 To 21 March 1943, at Scapa Flow, the King, Wearing the Uniform of An Admiral of the Fleet, Paid a 4-day Visit To the Home Fleet. The King inspecting some of the ship's company on the battleship HMS HOWE.
context_page_description: HMS Duke of York was a King George V-class battleship of the Royal Navy. Laid down in May 1937, the ship was constructed by John Brown and Company at Clydebank, Scotland, and commissioned into the Royal Navy on 4 November 1941, subsequently seeing combat service during the Second World War.
  In mid-December 1941, Duke of York transported Prime Minister Winston Churchill to the United States to meet President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Of the journey through seas rough even for the North Atlantic, Churchill wrote to his wife “Being in a ship in such weather as this is like being in a prison, with the extra chance of being drowned.” Between March and September 1942 Duke of York was involved with convoy escort duties, including as flagship of the Heavy Covering Force of Convoy PQ-17, but in October she was dispatched to Gibraltar where she became the flagship of Force H.
  In October 1942, Duke of York was involved in the Allied invasion of North Africa, but saw little action as her role only required her to protect the accompanying aircraft carriers. Duke of York stopped the Portuguese vessel Gil Eannes on 1 November 1942 and a commando arrested Gastão de Freitas Ferraz.
context_section_description: In 1943, the German battleship Scharnhorst moved to Norway, a position whence she could threaten the Arctic convoys to Russia. With Tirpitz and two armoured ships also in Norwegian fjords, it was necessary for the Royal Navy to provide heavy escorts for convoys between Britain and Russia. One of these was sighted by the Germans in early December 1943, and Allied intelligence concluded that the following convoy, Convoy JW 55B, would be attacked by the German surface ships. Two surface forces (Forces 1 and 2) were assigned to provide distant cover to JW 55B, which had left Loch Ewe on 22 December. On 25 December 1943, Scharnhorst was reported at sea, escorted by five Narvik-class destroyers (Z-29, Z-30, Z-33, Z-34, and Z-38). Force 1, comprising the County-class heavy cruiser Norfolk, and the Town-class light cruisers Belfast and Sheffield, made contact shortly after 0900 on 26 December. A brief gunnery engagement followed, without damage to Force 1, but two hits from a cruiser's guns upon Scharnhorst resulted in the destruction of her radar controls. In worsening weather, unable to effectively control her fire, Scharnhorst was unable to convert a tactical advantage of greater range and weight of shot. Fearing she was in a gunnery duel with a battleship, Scharnhorst turned away, outdistancing her pursuers. She again outran Force 1 after a second brief skirmish around noon that did not further damage Scharnhorst, but did result in hits on Norfolk which disabled a main battery turret and her radar. Kriegsmarine Konteradmiral (Rear Admiral) Erich Bey, aboard Scharnhorst, having already detached his destroyers to independently seek out Convoy JW 55B, ordered Scharnhorst to return to port at Altafjord, Norway.
  Meanwhile, Force 2, comprising Duke of York, the Crown Colony-class light cruiser Jamaica, and four destroyers (the S-class Saumarez, Savage, and Scorpion, and the Norwegian destroyer Stord), was closing, and it was estimated that a night action with Scharnhorst would commence around 1715. But Scharnhorst altered course, and Belfast regained radar contact, passing it to Force 2. Duke of York made her initial radar contact at 1617, at a distance of 45,500 yd (41,600 m), and Force 2 began to manoeuvre for broadside fire and torpedo runs by the destroyers. Belfast fired star shells at 1648 to illuminate Scharnhorst, followed by another star shell from one of Duke of York's 5.25 in (133 mm) guns, taking Scharnhorst by surprise with her main battery trained fore and aft. By 1650, Duke of York had closed to less than 12,000 yd (11,000 m) and opened fire with a full 10-gun broadside, scoring one hit. Although under heavy fire, Scharnhorst's return fire straddled Duke of York a number of times and hit her twice. A 28.3 cm (11.1 in) shell passed through the mainmast and its port leg without detonating, but fragments from the hit destroyed the cable for the main search radar. A 15-centimetre (5.9 in) shell also pierced the port strut of the foremast without exploding. At 1655, a 14 in (356 mm) shell from Duke of York silenced Scharnhorst's forward main battery turrets Anton and Bruno, but she maintained speed so that by 1824 the range had opened to 21,400 yd (19,600 m), when Duke of York ceased fire after expending 52 broadsides. However, one shell from the final salvoes pierced Scharnhorst's armour belt and destroyed her No. 1 boiler room, slowing the ship and allowing the pursuing British destroyers to overtake her.
  Force 2's destroyers attacked at 1850 with torpedoes, launching 28 and scoring hits with four. This further slowed Scharnhorst, and at 1901 Duke of York and Jamaica again opened fire, at a range of 10,400 yd (9,500 m). At 1915, Belfast also began shelling Scharnhorst, and both Belfast and Jamaica fired their remaining torpedoes. At least ten 14-inch shells had already hit the German battleship, causing fires and explosions, and silencing most of the secondary battery. By 1916, all three main 28.3-centimetre (11.1 in) turrets aboard Scharnhorst had ceased firing, and her speed had been cut to 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
caption: King George VI and Admiral Bruce Fraser aboard Duke of York at Scapa Flow, August 1943
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