Under the command of V Adm Holland in HMS
Renown the squadron (consisting of HM Ships
Renown (Flag),
Courageous, Hunter, Hotspur, Gallant and
Garland) was carrying out patrol duties around [enter Long / Lat].
Courageous had flown off Swordfish of 811 Sqdn FAA for reconnaissance duties and Sea Gladiators of 801 Sqdn FAA for combat air patrol. At 0630 14 June 39 the Swordfish of Lt E Valerie RN reported smoke consistent with a sizeable body of shipping and moved to investigate, with an additional plane sent to cover that assigned area. Contact with Lt Valerie was lost without further reports and an enemy force was assumed to be in the area. All remaining Swordfish onboard were armed for an anti-shipping strike while those in the air vectored in to Lt Valeries last known position. The
Renown and destroyers formed up so as to be able to engage when possible and the squadron tuned to close the distance on he enemy, while signalling the contact report to the Fleet.
At 0700 a Sea Gladiator identified and chased a Ju-87 shadowing the squadron, but was unable to close due to the cloud cover. This identification confirmed that the German aircraft carrier was at sea and further Sea Gladiators were set to enable immediate take off in case of air attack. At 0713 a formation of enemy planes was identified in the air, and all armed planes ordered to take off, Gladiators followed by Swordfish, with the intention of clearing the deck of any potential flammable or explosive materials. Although rushed the Swordfish were to form and fly to the estimated position of the German squadron and attack, while the readied Gladiators dealt with the air raid. All other planes were, as standard procedure, left defueled and with ammunition remove in the hangar deck.
Fifteen Gladiators had flown off or were on patrol, and faced a raid of 10 Ju-87 and 15 Bf-109. The enemy fighters outclassed ours and due to a limited raid warning positioning was poor, and as such 8 Gladiators were shot down or damaged beyond repair, for 1 109 and 2 Stuka, but the raid was somewhat broken up. The remaining Stukas dropped on
Renown, achieving one hit forrard and 2 near misses with no noticeable damage. One Stuka was shot down by the AA fire of
Renown and escorts.
The torpedo strike was guided in by Lt Cdr Samson, who maintained contact with the German fleet through judicious use of cloud cover and highly courageous flying. His directions, given despite significant threat from enemy aircraft to the attack planes allowed the strike to be carried out, and his remaining in place to carry out post strike assessment was highly meritorious. However, all Swordfish, including Lt Cdr Samson, were shot down during this attack and it was unknown at the time whether any hits were achieved, although it later transpired that the KMS
Admiral Scheer was struck at least once. No reports on the enemy squadrons size or composition were received.
During this period the two squadrons had closed to under 20 miles separation and it became clear that HM Ships were significantly outnumbered, the enemy consisting of five heavy ships and escorts. Under the orders of V Adm Holland the squadron reversed course with the intention of leading the enemy into the main Fleet. However, by 1345 the lead elements of the enemy were within very long range and opened fire upon the Flagship, which had taken position in the rear.
Renown returned fire shortly after with her rear guns.
Gunnery results at extreme range were poor from both sides, although
Renown straddled the enemy first. At 1417
Renown suffered a near miss to the rear of the ship and signalled that damage had been received which would reduce top speed.
Courageous and the destroyers
Hunter and
Hotspur were ordered to maintain course and speed, while
Renown,
Gallant and
Garland were to act as a delaying force.
I decided that it would be advantageous to utilise the remaining strike force under my command and outfitted an anti-ship strike with the remaining Swordfish protected by a number of Gladiators. Due to the time taken to arrange his strike, refuel and rearm the remaining planes and launch, form up and deploy the strike
Courageous had proceeded beyond visual range of the battle and the strike first came upon the lone KMS
Admiral Scheer manoeuvring South East at approximately 20kts and down by the bow. The strike launched a ‘hammer and anvil’ attack and following three torpedo hits the ship was seen to roll over and sink. No planes were lost in this operation.
Courageous recovered planes and joined with the Home Fleet. On reaching he last known position of HM Ships
Renown,
Gallant and
Garland at 0500 15 Jun 39 only debris was recovered. No German ships were in evidence.
Evidence to Court Martial Captain WT Maekig-Jones RN of HMS Courageous, 23 Jun 1939
Although
Schnarhorst and
Gneisenau straddled the British battleship from around 1400 there seemed to be little effect until some fifteen minutes later when
Renown was seen to slow and turn out of line to unmask all her guns. All ships of the squadron continued to close on the enemy ships at best speed while maintaining accurate fire.
Unmasking hr guns allowed the enemy to fire upon both
Schnarhorst and
Gneisenau, and by 1430 both had received some hits,
Schnarhorst having he worst of it with Bruno having been put out of action while
Gneisenau had a minor fire on the upper deck. Apart from the reduction in speed no significant effect was observed on the enemy ship. However, at this time
Bismarck and
Tirpitz came into action and once they began to score hits the fight was quickly beaten out of the British ship and her guns silenced. A torpedo attack by the British destroyers was beaten off, although
Emdem was damaged and
Hans Lody sunk by torpedo hits. Both British destroyers were sunk.
With fire from the enemy slackened off the remaining destroyers were ordered to close and sink with torpedoes. The initial attack was ineffective as, unordered by the Admiral, Oberstleutnant Petersen had launched an air strike which distracted the torpedo runs to no good effect. A second set of runs was more effective with the British ship rolling over and sinking. Survivors were picked up by the escorts as the fleet withdrew
End of Report of R Adm Ciliax to OKM 16 Jun 1939
Controversy will continue around what sunk HMS Renown – shell, torpedo, the actions of her own crew or even (as the Luftwaffe claimed at the time) the bombs of the Stuka force. The coda to this battle is that within seven days the KM had no Pocket Battleships left afloat – with
Admiral Scheer sunk by the
Courageous aircrews as part of the Admiral Hollands Action both the
Deutschland and the
Admiral Graf Spee were caught and sunk by the British hunting groups in actions that were trumpeted at the time as an evening of the scores and a reestablishment of British sea power, but even so recognised as victories with benefits more to the propaganda effort than the balance of fleet power.
Deutschland was caught more by chance than skill, bad weather in the North Sea allowing lookouts on HMS
Glowworm to spot the German cruiser and bring HMS Repulse, sailing in concert with HMS
Hermes, to battle. As in the Falkland Islands at the start of the first world war, the RN battlecruiser carried out its role perfectly, hunting and overwhelming a slower, more poorly armed and more poorly protected foe.
The Graf Spee was sunk in a fight notable for its, possibly unique in the annals of war, adherence to the plan of one of the forces.
Graf Spee was found, slowed and shadowed by aircraft from HMS
Argus, allowing the Queen Elizabeth class battleships HMS
Queen Elizabeth and HMS
Warspite to close within range and shatter the German ship with heavy gunfire. Of greater impact was the recognition during this battle onboard HMS
Queen Elizabeth that she had been correcting for
Warspites fall of shot, beginning the process to introduce measures to prevent this in future.
John Keegan Battle At Sea, 1988
You're setting up one HELL of a battle of the Norwegian coast especially as the Germans are actively looking for a punch up.