Germany - Admiral Hipper class Heavy Cruiser - Page 20

DG_Alpha

Post subject: Re: Germany - Admiral Hipper class Heavy Cruiser

Posted: March 21st, 2014, 7:39 pm

Posts: 762
Joined: January 1st, 2012, 7:01 pm
Location: Germany

Continuing the story of Admiral Hipper:

After arriving in Trondheim, the next months were rather uneventful for the cruiser and her crew. The ship did not participate in any operation until plans were made for an attack on convoy PQ17, the largest convoy ever assembled at that point in the war, which would head for northern Russia. The codename for this operation was Rösselsprung (lit. Jump of the Horse, but also an older German term describing the movement of the knight figure in chess).
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On July 2nd, 1942, the battleship Tirpitz, under the command of Admiral Schniewind, left Trondheim together with Admiral Hipper, Z6 Theodor Riedel, Z20 Karl Galster, T15 and T17. Joining them further north would be the fleet of Vice-Admiral Kummetz, consisting of Admiral Scheer, Lützow and destroyers Z4 Richard Beitzen, Z24, Z27, Z28, Z29, Z30. Joining both fleets were destroyers Z16 Friedrch Eckolt and Z15 Erich Steinbrinck. However, along the way Lützow and the destroyers Z10 Hans Lody and Z6 Theodor Riedel ran aground and had to be left behind.

The convoy PQ17, which had left Hvalfjord on June 27th, consisted of 35 mostly British, American and Russian freighters and was escorted by a joint British-American fleet. Close escort consisted of 6 destroyers and 13 smaller escorts. The distant covering role was taken over by cruisers HMS London, HMS Norfolk, USS Wichita and USS Tuscaloosa and 4 destroyers. Long range cover was provided by battleships HMS Duke of York and USS Washington, carrier HMS Victorious and 9 destroyers. Along the way, a light cruiser and a destroyer stationed at Spitsbergen joined the fleet. Along the way, two freighters, SS Exford and SS Richard Bland were damaged by ice and had to return.

The Germans detected the convoy already on July 1st by a U-Boat and air attacks immediately began on July 2nd by the I./Kapfgeschwader 26, consisting of around 200 bombers of different types and the U-Boats U-251 and U-376. Despite continuous attacks over the next three days (day and night because of the Arctic Summer), the attacks were repelled by the convoys strong escort screen. One freighter was sunk and four more damaged, two of which had to be given up. On July 4th, Allied recon planes noticed the German capital ships missing from Trondheim. The German fleet had moved to Altafjord and began their Operation on July 5th. On their way to combat, they were unsuccessfully attacked by the Soviet submarine K21 and spotted by the British submarine HMS Unshaken. The recon report was intercepted by the intelligence group still stationed on Admiral Hipper and Captain Meisel reported his concerns about the mission to the leadership. This was reinforced when Admiral Hipper intercepted messages from a seaplane and the submarine P54, both describing the German fleet in detail. At 21:30, the Operation Rösselsprung was aborted and the fleet returned to Langenfjord without ever even seeing convoy PQ17.

However, that was not the end of this episode of the war. On July 4th, convinced that an attack of the German surface fleet was imminent, Fleet Admiral Dudley Pound, First Sea Lord, ordered the convoy to scatter and the heavy escorts to return to Scapa Flow. What followed was a massacre: Between the planes of Luftflotte 5 and 4 U-Boats, 20 more freighters were sunk over the next five days, eight by aircraft, the rest by U-Boats and only five German planes were lost. Of original 35 freighters of PQ17, 11 reached Russian ports.
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Last edited by DG_Alpha on March 23rd, 2014, 4:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Germany - Admiral Hipper class Heavy Cruiser

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