Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
British and German naval movements off Norway between 7 and 9 April 1940. Whitworth's force consisted of the battlecruiser Renown and the nine remaining destroyers.HMS Hotspur, Hardy, Havock, and Hunter were H-class destroyers, HMS Esk was an E-class destroyer and HMS Ivanhoe, Icarus and Impulsive were of the I class.
HMS Renown was the lead ship of her class of battlecruisers of the Royal Navy built during the First World War. She was originally laid down as an improved version of the Revenge -class battleships. Her construction was suspended on the outbreak of war on the grounds she would not be ready in time.
Scharnhorst and Gneisenau participated in Operation Weserübung, the German invasion of Norway, from April to June 1940. During operations off Norway, the two ships engaged the battlecruiser HMS Renown and sank the aircraft carrier HMS Glorious as well as her escort destroyers Acasta and Ardent.
Scharnhorst and several destroyers sortied from Norway to attack a convoy; the Germans were instead intercepted by British naval patrols. During the battle of North Cape, a force led by the Royal Navy battleship HMS Duke of York sank Scharnhorst. In the meantime, repair work on Gneisenau had begun, and the ship was in the process of being rearmed.
Heavy seas had caused Whitworth to sail further north than normal, and he was separated from his destroyers when he encountered Scharnhorst and Gneisenau. Renown engaged the two battlecruisers off the Lofoten Archipelago, and during the short battle Renown scored several hits on the German vessels, forcing them to flee north.
The battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau were in dry dock with storm and battle damage after their encounter with HMS Renown at the Action off Lofoten on 9 April. Of the two Deutschland-class heavy cruisers, Lützow had been torpedoed and would be out of action for months and Admiral Scheer was still being refitted.
Gneisenau scored two hits on Renown; the first failed to explode and the second exploded on her upper deck and damaged the radio equipment. Gneisenau and Scharnhorst then turned to disengage. [23] Almost simultaneously, two of Renown ' s 15 in (38 cm) shells struck Gneisenau. One shell hit the director tower and passed through it without ...
During operations off Norway, the two ships engaged the battlecruiser HMS Renown [79] and sank the aircraft carrier HMS Glorious— in the engagement with Glorious, Scharnhorst achieved one of the longest-range naval gunfire hits in history. [80] In early 1942, the two ships made a daylight dash up the English Channel from occupied France to ...