The large-scale scrapping of the heavy ships of the German fleet threatened by Hitler ultimately never took place. Nevertheless, three modern cruisers and two old battleships were decommissioned, and work planned to repair the modern battle cruiser Gneisenau was put on hold indefinitely. On its own terms the Battle of the Barents Sea had been a notable victory for the Royal Navy, ensuring the arrival in Murmansk, without loss, of convoy JW51B. Add to this the crisis caused in the Kriegsmarine, and it takes on a much greater significance, dramatically underlined by the subsequent performance of the heavy ships. Admiral Doenitz had promised to find a target for Scharnhorst within three months, but in fact it was not until Christmas Day 1943, almost a full year after the Barents Sea action, that the battlecruiser sailed to attack convoy JW55B. Units of the Home Fleet, including Sheffield, Jamaica, and the battleship Duke of York, subsequently caught and sank her off the North Cape. The big ships of the German navy did not participate in any further offensive naval operations for the remaining years of the war.
Of the two major warships employed by the German navy in the Battle of the Barents Sea, the flagship, Admiral Hipper, left Altenfjord in January 1943 to return to Wilhelmshaven ostensibly for repairs. In April 1943 she passed through the Kiel Canal and transferred to Pillau where she remained, decommissioned, until 1944. Her next and final operation took place in the closing months of the war. In conjunction with a number of other ships brought out of mothballs, she assisted with the evacuation of two million German refugees from the path of the rapidly advancing Red Army, transporting soldiers and civilians from East Prussia and the Courland Peninsula across the Baltic to western Germany. On 3 April she was bombed in Kiel, and on 3 May 1945 she was scuttled.
Lützow remained in Norwegian waters until September 1943, subsequently transferring to Gdynia, where she lay more or less idle until early 1945. The pocket battleship finally became part of the 2nd Battle Group, formed to offer naval support for army operations against the Soviet advance along the Baltic coast, and in this capacity engaged in coastal bombardments, also assisting with the transportation of army personnel, matériel and refugees across the Baltic. On 16 April 1945 she was hit during an air attack and left two-thirds submerged. As salvage was impractical, she was blown up to prevent her capture by the Russians.
Vice-Admiral Kummetz had been a sea-going officer since the 1930s, and following the Barents Sea action became C-in-C North Norway Naval Squadron, flying his flag in Tirpitz. By the end of the war he was Supreme Commander-in-Chief, Supreme Naval Command, Baltic, being extensively involved in the organisation of the evacuation of German troops and civilians from the path of the Russian armies.
Prior to his appointment to the command of Lützow Kapitän zur See Stange had been a section leader with the Supreme Naval Command, and afterwards returned there as Chief of Staff, Naval Group Command South.
The convoys continued to Russia, although they were cancelled during the summer of 1943.[157] The principal reason for this was a lack of escorts, as the Battle of the Atlantic at that time approached its climax, and had to take precedence. The Russians were not overjoyed at the prospect of no convoys for several months, but in truth the crisis had by that time passed on the Russian front. Soviet industry had settled in the eastern provinces (see Appendix I), and set about producing simple but sturdy weapons of war in massive quantities. Stalingrad had been the catalyst. Following the surrender of General von Paulus’s Sixth Army, the Russians went over to an offensive which would ultimately take them to the heart of Berlin; the war of attrition on the eastern front bleeding the German army of much of its manpower, ultimately making D-Day and final victory possible. The Russia convoys, and the battles fought in defence of them, played an indispensable part in that victory.
APPENDIX I
OUTLINE DETAILS OF GERMAN WARSHIPS WITH NOTES ON DEVELOPMENT AND WARTIME CAREERS
| Built: | Blohm & Voss Shipyard, Hamburg |
| Laid down 1935 | |
| Completed 29 April, 1939 | |
| Dimensions: | 639 ft 9 in (195 m) × 69 ft 9 in (21.26 m) × 15 ft 6 in (4.72 m) draught |
| Displacement: | Nominally 10,000 tons (10,160 tonnes), standard. Actual displacement closer to 14,900 tonnes |
| Main Armament: | 8 × 8 in (203 mm) in four twin turrets |
| Anti-aircraft Armament: | 12 × 4.1 in (104 mm) |
| 12 × 1.46 in (37 mm) | |
| Also a number of 2 cm light a/a guns | |
| Torpedo Tubes: | 12 × 21 in (533 mm) in four triple units situated on main deck, 2 abaft bridge, 2 abaft mainmast |
| Aircraft: | 4. Hangar placed between funnel and mainmast |
| 1 catapult | |
| Machinery: | 3 sets geared turbines (plus diesels for cruising), to 3 propeller shafts. High-pressure La Mont boilers |
| Maximum 80,000 SHP, giving 32 knots | |
| Mines: | Mine-laying capability, for which track was kept onboard |
| Complement: | 830 |
| Built: | Deutsche Werke |
| Laid down 5 February 1929 | |
| Completed 12 November 1934 | |
| Dimensions: | 609 ft 3 in (185.7 m) × 67 ft 6 in (20.57 m) × 21 ft 8 in (6.63 m) draught |
| Displacement: | Nominally 10,000 tons (10,160 tonnes), but probably over 12,000 tons (12,192 tonnes) |
| Main Armament: | 6 × 11 in (279 mm) in two triple turrets |
| New Krupp model firing a 670 lb (304 kg) shell | |
| Maximum range 30,000 yards (27,432 m) | |
| Maximum elevation 45° | |
| Secondary Armament: | 8 × 5.9 in (146 mm), in single turrets |
| Anti-aircraft Armament: | 6 × 4.1 in (104 mm) |
| 8 × 37 mm | |
| 10 machine-guns | |
| Torpedo Tubes: | 8 × 21 in (533 mm) in two quadruple units aft |
| Aircraft: | 2 (1 catapult) |
| Machinery: | 8 × 2 stroke double-acting diesels (compressorless), geared to 2 propeller shafts |
| Maximum total 54,000 BHP | |
| Maximum speed 26 knots | |
| Maximum cruising range at 15 knots 20,000 nautical miles, or 10,000 nautical miles even at high speed | |
| Complement: | 926 |
| Note: | Electrically welded hull used for the first time in a ship of this size |
157
g Convoys were also suspended from May to July 1944 as all available escorts were required for D-Day.
158
1 (1998)
159
2 (1998)