Adm. Erich Bey

[Mr. Grumpy]

I am nearly done reading Alf Jacobsen's Scharnhorst book. First time i have read any detail on the loss of the Scharnhorst. He seems to portray Adm. Bey as kind of a bumbling idiot.

Brief mention of him losing a whole flotilla of destroyers at Narvik, though out gunned, and still managed to advance up the ranks. Scharnhorst was at a huge disadvantage at the North Cape, Bey's complete lack of a plan for the operation sentenced the ship to death. A career destroyer man in command of a battleship was probably not the best decision, but still, he didn't train in cooperation with the 4 DDs he had available, he didn't coordinate a search for the convoy, didn't really communicate his actions or wishes or just about anything when he ran into the cruiser covering force. Jacobsen mentions that the captain of the Scharnhorst, Hintze, took over command of his vessel before it was lost. He didn't say it but it seems easy to come to the conclusion that Bey was either 100% over his head with this command or he was just incompetent.

Was he just inept?