A question about Barents Sea

[aurora]

Another Source which says that Lutzow never used her main armament

The Lützow continued her move from the south. Her captain, Stange, was also seriously hampered by Hitler's order to avoid risks. The Lützow spotted ships between three and seven miles away; her formidable 11 inch guns had a range of 15 miles. Yet her log states that "no identification (was) possible" of the targets that were seen and she did not attack. One log entry is very telling:

"(At 10.50) Impossible at first to ascertain whether dealing with friend or foe because of the poor light and the smoke and mist on the horizon. To avoid observation from the Lützow being obscured by the snow squalls and smoke drifting south, I (Stange) decided to proceed at slow speed in the vicinity of the convoy, clear of the snow squalls, in order to take advantage of opportunities for attack as visibility improved."

In fact, the Lützow could have attacked the convoy at will as there were no British naval ships in the area as they were concentrating on the Hipper. The huge fire power that the Lützow carried was never used in the battle. Stange eventually abandoned any engagement with Convoy JW-51B due to poor visibility and poor light.

NB. Roskill states that Lutzow opened fire on the convoy at 11.45 but no hits ascertained As you say the chronology is way way out!! Indeed where does one get the facts of this battle-surely in the public domain by now I have now seen six different accounts- all differ in some respect or other-even the official history of Lutzow! I do hope 73 North has got it right

[Dave Saxton]

(At 10.50) Impossible at first to ascertain whether dealing with friend or foe because of the poor light and the smoke and mist on the horizon. To avoid observation from the Lützow being obscured by the snow squalls and smoke drifting south, I (Stange) decided to proceed at slow speed in the vicinity of the convoy, clear of the snow squalls, in order to take advantage of opportunities for attack as visibility improved."

In fact, the Lützow could have attacked the convoy at will as there were no British naval ships in the area as they were concentrating on the Hipper. The huge fire power that the Lützow carried was never used in the battle

This is correct for the period of time from about 1030 hours to about 1100 hours. It is not correct for the period from 1115 hours to 1205 hours.

Luetzow had radar IFF switched on and working. Stange ingored it. It also had the enemy targeted on radar. Stange did not open fire without visual identification of targets. This was the reason the Germans lost the battle. At 1116 it exchanged visual IFF signals with Hipper and received orders from Kummetz to engage the convoy. At 1126 Stange reversed course. At 1125 it had established radar contact with what we now know was Sheffield and Jamaica at 29,000 meters but because of the range Stange did not engage them.

Luetzow opened fire on the convoy at 1139 hours straddling targets and damaging one steamer from 16,000 meters. It fired six salvoes under full radar direction. (after the first salvo the Convoy became completely shrouded by a heavy snow storm). It also opened fire on Obdurate at 1148 hours damaging it from 15,400 meters. Shortly after Stange received an order from Kummetz to join him in an westernly course. At 1238 it straddled the shadowing Sheffield from 13,000 meters chasing it off.

[Dave Saxton]

]Indeed where does one get the facts of this battle-surely in the public domain by now[/b] I have now seen six different accounts- all differ in some respect or other-even the official history of Lutzow! I do hope 73 North has got it right

73 North does not have it right. It was written before German archive materials were available to historians but not too bad for the time it was written. Mike Whitley has it mostly right. I have access to a 1983 West German Navy War College analysis of the battle with reconstructed battle map based on primary sources. It is the best I know of.

[aurora]

Good morning Dave-I can now see that the Forum takes a thoroughly serious attitude toward ships and naval battles-everything is meticulously researched- using the best sources that money can buy.I looked up Whitley's book-very expensive over here.I do have a lot of books but they are dated.I was surprised that the German sources were not accurate-quite unTeutonic!!