Battle of The Barents Sea

[ar]

I recently had a long conversation with a former Marine officer who was stationed in the main director of the Sheffield during the battle, and to quote him; "I had a particularly good view of the whole affair".
He is currently writing up his wartime naval story, which he says that I can have a copy of; there are no plans to publish at this time.
He talked about the German destroyer creeping up unseen on the Sheffield due to the latter being fully involved with the two big German units. The German destroyer thought that the Sheffield was the Hipper and flashed her recognition signal. Sheffield replied by sending back the same signal! This gave enough time to train the guns on the enemy.
The Sheffield began to use 6" tracer shells as a target locating measure, which actually appeared to have worked. Firing then began from the 6", the 4" and the pom poms, all at the same time. He said that within one minute the German ship was finished"
At some point during the barrage, "some idiot", loaded one of the 6" with a full flash shell, which blinded everyone on the bridge and in the director. The culprit was never found.
There is much more of course, but I thought that this small piece would be of interest to a few people, especially as it comes first hand from one of the gunnery officers, probably the last one left alive.
To me, it speaks of a well trained crew able to move focus from one situation to another in seconds. Additionally one of the signalmen must have been able to understand German; a very useful talent.

[Laurence Batchelor]

Interesting will this gentlemen allow others to read his war memoirs?

[MartinJQuinn]

He talked about the German destroyer creeping up unseen on the Sheffield due to the latter being fully involved with the two big German units. The German destroyer thought that the Sheffield was the Hipper and flashed her recognition signal. Sheffield replied by sending back the same signal! This gave enough time to train the guns on the enemy.

Since the Sheffield and the Hipper look NOTHING alike, the destroyer deserved to be sunk. Interesting stuff, would love to hear or read more of this gents account.

[phil gollin]

.........There is much more of course, but I thought that this small piece would be of interest to a few people, especially as it comes first hand from one of the gunnery officers, probably the last one left alive. .......

Apart from my own interest in the first-hand account, have you heard that Norman Friedman is releasing a book on naval fire control this autumn ? Maybe you could get the two parties in contact with each other ?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Naval-Firepower ... 987&sr=1-1

Naval Firepower: Battleship Guns and Gunnery in the Dreadnought Era (Hardcover)

by Norman Friedman (Author), A. D. III Baker (Illustrator)

[ar]

I did mention it two or three weeks ago, but as the book was already being proofed it was probably too late for anything to be included.

.........There is much more of course, but I thought that this small piece would be of interest to a few people, especially as it comes first hand from one of the gunnery officers, probably the last one left alive. .......

Apart from my own interest in the first-hand account, have you heard that Norman Friedman is releasing a book on naval fire control this autumn ? Maybe you could get the two parties in contact with each other ?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Naval-Firepower ... 987&sr=1-1

Naval Firepower: Battleship Guns and Gunnery in the Dreadnought Era (Hardcover)

by Norman Friedman (Author), A. D. III Baker (Illustrator)

[Guest]

He talked about the German destroyer creeping up unseen on the Sheffield due to the latter being fully involved with the two big German units. The German destroyer thought that the Sheffield was the Hipper and flashed her recognition signal. Sheffield replied by sending back the same signal! This gave enough time to train the guns on the enemy.

Since the Sheffield and the Hipper look NOTHING alike, the destroyer deserved to be sunk. Interesting stuff, would love to hear or read more of this gents account.

In the haze one blob look like another.

-Chuck

[Guest]

I read an account that said Sheffield only ever used the Y turret to engage the German destroyer, and sank the German destroyer with just 2 salvos from that 1 turret.

- Chuck

[Laurence Batchelor]

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Naval-Firepower ... 987&sr=1-1

Naval Firepower: Battleship Guns and Gunnery in the Dreadnought Era (Hardcover)

by Norman Friedman (Author), A. D. III Baker (Illustrator)

I have this on my wants list, I just hope it covers each Navies in similar depth and is NOT USN dominated.

[MartinJQuinn]

Since the Sheffield and the Hipper look NOTHING alike, the destroyer deserved to be sunk. Interesting stuff, would love to hear or read more of this gents account.

In the haze one blob look like another.

-Chuck

Trained lookouts should have been able to discern the difference between your own ship and the enemies. Especially if you got close enough to communicate via signal lamp.l

[ar]

As a PS, the Captain of Sheffield had ordered the ramming of the German destroyer upon first contact, but this was withdrawn very shortly after being given.
The gentleman was also at North Cape.
When I receive more information, I will post something.

[bengtsson]

Interesting in the extreme!:big_grin: Lets hope this man's account will be preserved in some manner. Would he submit his personal account to the IWM for inclusion in their records? A good idea as they have alot of other source material of this nature, i.e. first hand accounts of naval service.
Reminds me of a debate on another web site I had a few years back where I quoted a RN officer who was a spotting number in the PoW's aft main director in the Bismarck affair. Of course this other fellow discounted first hand accounts as most likely flawed! So, I asked: "Where does history come from then, if not from witnesses"?


Bob B.