But these two episodes were only the curtain raiser to a giant mix-up in the air. As the five destroyers emerged from the minefield, they were attacked indiscriminately by both German and British plaines. Flying in and out of low cloud together were ME 109s and Beauforts. Higher up in the clouds, flying wing to wing with Hampdens, were Dorniers and ME 110s. Still higher, Heinkels and JU-88s flew next to Wellingtons, Halifaxes and Manchesters, with Spitfires darting between them. Many British aircraft took their own destroyers for German, and on several occasions destroyers opened fire on Wellingtons and Hampdens before they were recognized as belonging to the RAE
When Pizey and Wright saw the great mass of aircraft overhead, they wished the Hunt Class destroyers had been fast enough to accompany them, for their 4-inch guns could have done considerable damage. As it was, the five destroyers fired their 3-inch A.A. guns and machine-guns at the German aircraft.
The weather grew increasingly bad. It was blowing hard with a heavy westward swell and waves were breaking over the gun crews as they stood at their posts. Visibility suddenly decreased from seven to four miles, which was a relief to the destroyer captains since it would help to mask their attack.
They had two pieces of good fortune. One was the mine which stopped Scharnhorst and slowed her down, thus keeping her out of the destroyer action. The other was Campbell's up-to-date radar. Three weeks before being ordered to Harwich, Campbell was refitting in Chatham. Originally, she was fitted with a fixed aerial type of radar with a range of 4,000 yards, which could only pick up ahead. While they were refitting, Captain Pizey inspected a 271 set which was due to be fitted to another ship. This was not only a more powerful radar with a range of twelve miles, but was a rotating set which meant it could pick up objects in any direction. As the ship for which it was intended was not ready to receive it, Captain Pizey persuaded the dockyard superintendent to get Admiralty approval to let him have it. This radar then replaced the 4.7 gun director on the back of the bridge. It had to be installed in such a hurry that electricians were still aboard putting the finishing touches to it as Campbell sailed from Chatham to Sheerness. A leading telegraphist aboard Campbell was an enthusiast about radar. It was only his knowledge that enabled them to make it work quickly.
At 3:17 p.m., when the destroyers were twenty-two miles from the Hook of Holland, this new radar performed perfectly. Two large "blips" began to show on the screen, indicating ships nine and a half miles away. As they went full ahead, the sea became even rougher and the destroyer decks were awash with big waves. Then a look-out shouted "Gun flashes ahead!" This was the German battleships firing at RAF planes. It was just after 3:30 p.m.
On the starboard bow, Campbells bridge officers saw gunfire flickering through the grey curtain of cloud on the horizon. Through binoculars, the German ships could be seen as black blobs silhouetted against the darkening sky. They were steaming fast four miles away on a course converging very slightly with their own.
The cry came, "Enemy in sight!" and Campbell hoisted her battle ensign on the yard-arm. Through mist and rising spray they could see the big White Ensign battle flags sprouting on the masts of the other destroyers.
Aboard Whitshed the bosun's mate commented, "Isn't it glorious to see the battle flag flying!" His views were shared by many young wartime ratings who had never seen action before. It was indeed an inspiring historic sight — five old British destroyers thumping and rolling as they steamed through the mounting waves to attack the pride of the German Navy. They did not know then that Scharnhorst was out of range.
At 3:42 p.m., amid gun flashes and A.A. tracer, the German warships could be clearly seen in line ahead from Campbells bridge. They were now so near that many of the German aircraft flying over them thought the approaching British destroyers were friendly and fired off their recognition signal — four balls in the shape of a diamond.
Aboard Worcester, gun-layer Douglas Ward peered through his telescopic sights, and saw one German battleship looming very large. Within a short time she became so clear that he did not need his optical viewer. He could see her quite plainly over open sights.
With RAF bombers diving on them and Spitfires and Messerschmitts batding overhead, the German commanders were so worried about the aerial threat that Captain Fein now commanding the squadron aboard the leading ship, Gneisenau, was unaware the British destroyers were approaching at high speed.
At 3:45 p.m., standing on the bridge of Gneisenau, he saw shells bursting near with the greenish-yellow smoke typical of British ammunition. For a moment he was uncertain what was going on, but suddenly a look-out shouted, "Enemy in sight on port bowl" As a line of grey silhouettes came steaming out of the mist, Fein ordered his gunnery officer Kahler to open fire. He also radioed Group North at Kieclass="underline" "Am in action with enemy destroyers."
But was the destroyer attack a feint? He ordered the German destroyers forward to see if there were any bigger ships waiting to attack as soon as he went into battle against Pizey's destroyers. He also ordered his own ship and the Prinz Eugen to zigzag. This was mainly because the RAF were delivering a fierce attack on Prinz Eugen, whose flak guns were blazing away at the planes diving on her. The attack was so intense that Commander Paulus Jasper, her gunnery officer, had gone himself to the main flak position to direct operations.
At 3:43 p.m. the operational telephone rang from the bridge warning him that British destroyers were approaching on the port side at top speed. He ran to the fbretop and gave the preliminary order to the big guns: "Prepare to open fire." Then Jasper made out a line of shadowy shapes which he took to be four destroyers.
At the same time, Senior Midshipman Bohsehke, in charge of the forward heavy gun position, saw four British destroyers steaming from the stern on a parallel course. Campbell came on with flashes coming from all her guns, and Bohsehke and Petty Officer Gustav Kuhn tried to identify her. Both thought Campbell had such a high superstructure that she was probably a cruiser. Commander Jasper thought she had three funnels.
Then British destroyer shells began to explode around Prinz Eugen, their red-hot shrapnel hissing into the water. As Campbell ran parallel to Prinz Eugen at full speed, Bohsehke managed to get a "fix" on her. When Jasper gave the order, there was a tremendous flash and crash as Bohsehke opened fire with a full 8-inch salvo. As the big shells burst around her, Campbell still came on, taking advantage of the smoke screen laid down by the German escort vessels.
There came a series of further blinding flashes as the Gneisenau began to fire her big 11-inch guns as well as the 5.9s of her secondary armament, which alone were big enough to deal with the destroyers.
At the same time, Captain Brinkmann of Prinz Eugen signalled, "Am in action with cruisers and destroyers." An action signal of this nature is always given top priority in any navy. But in this case there was such confusion in her signal room that it was not transmitted. Signals were in the hands of a first lieutenant assisted by a midshipman, neither of whom were very experienced. During the voyage, the signals room dealt with 800 messages, but there was such trouble decoding that important messages were reaching the bridge hours late. As a result of this, German Admiralty did not know Prinz Eugen was in action.