Gentlemen,
On page 155 and 156 of the book "The Sinking of the Scharnhorst: A Factual Account From The German Viewpoint" by Fritz-Otto Busch,there was mention about the use of torpedoes in action during the sea battle against British naval forces on Boxing Day Dec. 26,1943. Kapitan z. See Fritz Hintze,who was a expert on torpedoes,gave the order to Oblt. z. See Bosse to fire torpedoes first to port,then to starboard at the targets indicated by him. The torpedoes were fired and after the appropriate interval the stern look-out reported to the control position that he had observed a brilliant blaze astern. Perhaps a destruction of the enemy sea target.
The book is pretty interesting to read from the German account of the battleship "Scharnhorst" and the sea battle which she would fight to the end. I'm surprised that Fritz Hintze wasn't awarded the Knight's Cross after his death.
Sincerely,
Edward L. Hsiao
Scharnhorst Had Used Torpedoes In Action
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Edward L. Hsiao
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Re: Scharnhorst Had Used Torpedoes In Action
The enemy had superiority in numbers, his tanks were more heavily armoured, they had larger calibre guns with nearly twice the effective range of ours, and their telescopes were superior. 5 RTR 19/11/41
The CRUSADER Project - The Winter Battle 1941/42
The CRUSADER Project - The Winter Battle 1941/42
Re: Scharnhorst Had Used Torpedoes In Action
Well, for starter, it's sure that no British ship took any torpedo in the action.
I've never even seen mention of torpedoes passing close by the ships engaged, therefore, if torpedoes were fired at all, they would have been quite wide misses.
(and the "brilliant blaze astern") could be anything - most probably the glare of another salvo by Duke of York - or nothing.
Now, to make such a statement
"Kapitan z. See Fritz Hintze,who was a expert on torpedoes,gave the order to Oblt. z. See Bosse to fire torpedoes first to port,then to starboard at the targets indicated by him"
(I'm assuming you're quoting the book)
and since Scharnhorst's KTB is at the bottom of the ocean, the author needs eyewitness account. But there were only 36 survivors.
This websites gives the list and stations of all survivors.
At most three of them could potentially have been close to the skipper ... and most probably would have been somewhat busy.
I thus think that it's not that "factual" an account - all the more after seeing Urmel's post.
This does not mean that no torpedoes were fired by Scharnhorst - but that if she did, there's a strong probability that we'll never have a factual confirmation.
I've never even seen mention of torpedoes passing close by the ships engaged, therefore, if torpedoes were fired at all, they would have been quite wide misses.
(and the "brilliant blaze astern") could be anything - most probably the glare of another salvo by Duke of York - or nothing.
Now, to make such a statement
"Kapitan z. See Fritz Hintze,who was a expert on torpedoes,gave the order to Oblt. z. See Bosse to fire torpedoes first to port,then to starboard at the targets indicated by him"
(I'm assuming you're quoting the book)
and since Scharnhorst's KTB is at the bottom of the ocean, the author needs eyewitness account. But there were only 36 survivors.
This websites gives the list and stations of all survivors.
At most three of them could potentially have been close to the skipper ... and most probably would have been somewhat busy.
I thus think that it's not that "factual" an account - all the more after seeing Urmel's post.
This does not mean that no torpedoes were fired by Scharnhorst - but that if she did, there's a strong probability that we'll never have a factual confirmation.
Olivier