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The Scharnhorst

  • Thread starter Thread starter O.C.
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O.C.

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This Second World War article about The Scharnhorst tells the story of the run for cover by the two German battleshipswhich I stress should be seen with a clear mind as many of us lost family and relatives in WW2 on both sides German and English, it consists  mainly of photographs that to my knowledge have never been seen before or published so all my material will be copyrighted. With just Rod and John allowed to show it on this website and anyone showing an interest in the photographs will have to make a donation to this website
If anyone has had a relative that was taken prisoner on the Scharnhorst or her sister ship the Gneisenau please let me know as I have photographs of the men who were taken prisoner on board who can be identified and I would hate to upset anyone.
I also have photos and will be showing the sinking of the following ships.
Lustrous, Marathon, British Strength, Athelfoam, Mangkai, Demetrion, Silver Fir and the Sardinian Prince
It will be a very interesting article showing what the British Merchant sailors went through in running the gauntlet across the ocean to keep Britain from Starving during WW2
If enough interest is shown I will then follow it with
7 days in Westerplatte September 1939
If anyone can help with deciphering a few words of German it would be great
 
The Scharnhorst

This article is just giving a brief account of the German Battleship Scharnhorst from the year 1939 till 1945 the year she was sunk.
The German way of spelling the name was Scharnhorft
To get a bigger picture the web site https://www.scharnhorst-class.dk/ is excellent
The photos that I am going to show you were all taken by a German Sailor and some official photographs that were issued to the sailors. Every one of the following photographs were in the photograph album starting with the first one in the album showing the Rawalpindi which was sunk just after the photograph was taken.
The Scharnhorst was in someway like a highwayman on the sea, stopping a merchant ship telling the crew to get into the lifeboats then sinking it with her massive guns and picking all the crew up as prisoners of war. At one stage the Scharnhorst had 500 prisoners on board
Please note I am only dealing with the following ships that were sunk and the sailors that were on them
Spliced between life on Board the Battleship
A few photo's will be posted each day as I have over 150 but not all will be posted

Ships Sunk by
Scharnhorst
During Operation “Berlin”
LUSTROUS
Type of Ship Tanker
Nationality British
Date of Sinking 22 February 1941
Position of Sinking  47-12N/40-13W
Dead 0
Prisoner Of War 37
Owner Moss & Co. (Lustrous Steamship Co. Ltd.)
Builder PalmerÂ’s Shipbuilding
Commissioned 1927
Gross Registered Tons 6.156
Deadweight Tons 9.910
Dimensions 420~6* x 54-6 x 26-11
Max. Speed 11 knots

MARATHON
Type of Ship Steam freighter
Nationality  Greek
Date of Sinking 9 March 1941
Position of Sinking 21N/25W
Dead   0
Prisoner Of War 38
Owner A. Lusi Ltd. (C. Bacalas, A Lusi, and S. P. Synodinos)
Builder Harland and Wolff Ltd
Commissioned 1919
Gross Registered Tons 6.352
Deadweight Tons 10.210
Dimensions  465 x 58-5 x 27-6
Max. Speed 12 knots

ATHELFOAM
Type of Ship  Motor tanker
Nationality British
Date of Sinking  15 March 1941
Position of Sinking 42N/43-25W
Dead  2
Prisoner Of War 45
Owner  United Molasses Co. Ltd. (Athel Line)
Builder  Cammel Laird and Co. Ltd
Commissioned 1931
Gross Registered Tons  6.554
Deadweight Tons  10. 148
Dimensions  440 x 55-11 x 26-9
Max. Speed  11 knots

BRITISH STRENGTH
Type of Ship British
Nationality  Motor tanker
Date of Sinking 15 March 1941
Position of Sinking 42N/43W
Dead  2
Prisoner Of War ?
Owner  British Tanker Co. Ltd
Builder  Palmer’s Shipbuilding
Commissioned 1931
Gross Registered Tons 7.139
Deadweight Tons 11.095
Dimensions  456 x 59-9 x 27-1
Max. Speed 10 knots






MANG KAI
Type of Ship Freighter
Nationality Dutch (German ship seized by the Dutch 10 May 1940)
Date of Sinking  16 March 1941
Position of Sinking 43-15N/43-05W
Dead 36
Prisoner Of War  9
Owner German ship seized by the Dutch 10 May 1940
Builder Flensburger Schiffsbau-geselschaft
Commissioned 1915
Gross Registered Tons  8.298
Deadweight Tons 12.377
Dimensions 477~11* x 62-4 x 27-8
Max. Speed 12

SILVERFIR
Type of Ship Motor freighter
Nationality British
Date of Sinking  16 March 1941
Position of Sinking 42N/43W
Dead 1
Prisoner Of War 40
Owner Silver Line Ltd
Builder William Doxford & Sons Ltd
Commissioned 1924
Gross Registered Tons  4.347
Deadweight Tons 8.225
Dimensions  395 x 52-8 x 25-5
Max. Speed 10.5 knots

SARDINIAN PRINCE
Type of Ship Passenger-cargo ship
Nationality British
Date of Sinking 16 March 1941
Position of Sinking 44N/43W 
Dead 0
Prisoner Of War 44
Owner Prince Line Ltd. (Rio Cape Line Ltd.)
Builder Furness Shipbuilding Co. Ltd
Commissioned 1922
Gross Registered Tons 3,491
Deadweight Tons 5.858
Dimensions 363-4* x 52-2 x 22-8
Max. Speed 12 knots

DEMETERTON
Type of Ship Freighter
Nationality British
Date of Sinking 16 March 1941
Position of Sinking 46-30N/43-40W
Dead 0 
Prisoner Of War?
Owner R. Chapman & Son (Canton Steamship Co. Ltd.)
Builder Short Bros. Ltd.
Commissioned 1926
Gross Registered Tons 5.251
Deadweight Tons 8.820
Dimensions 410-10x 54 x 25-7
Max. Speed 3.491 10 knots
 
The other raider the Gneisenau seen through the gun barrel of the Scharnhorst

On deck in the winter

Lustrous sunk on the 23rd Feb.1941
I have cropped the photo

British Strength is not shown on the seas only as it is going down so a friend got me a photo from his archives as the sailors were picked up by the Scharnhorst, which I will show


The Lifeboats bobbing on the water away from the ship which was sunk

Lifeboats of the British Strength

Note some of the men with steel helmets

The Mangkia is stopped the men are told to leave the ship and the lifeboats are seen being lowered into the water
 
Great stuff mate,
keep it coming, well worth reading
surprising how these photograph's turn up
after all these years O0
 
The story how I got the album would make a film in itself, here it is in a nutshell
My friends father was a pilot in the German Airforce who flew stukka's he was shot down by the British and had his legs smashed up,so could not fly again ( The sailor on the Scharnhorst was his son who was killed and the album was sent to him )
It the closing days of the war the SS came knocking on his door and told him he had to fly again to save his country. he said he could not as his legs were bad so they told him they could winch him in the plane.
and if he did not do it they would kill all his family.
SO HE DID
He was shot down and the Russians got hold of him and he was put into a POW camp and only survived because he was a Cobbler by trade and made boots for the Russian officers
Now its hard to believe the next bit he escaped in 1953 with the help of other Russians.
But meanwhile what happened to his family was horrific which I cannot go it to.
His family fled to England and his wife remarried and was sent the album with a few other things.
The pilot got back to England to trace his wife and when he found out she was married walked away and was never seen again
Now the Grandson of the lady got in touch with me because he wanted me to research his Grandfather which I did and we became buddies who I did some sculptures for.
He was a teacher in a London school who could not bring himself to tell the pupils he was from German Stock and no one knows, but I have tried to help him as he has me.
I have a photograph of the Pilot and his name but at this moment in time cannot release it without his permission.Fact is stranger than fiction.
Forgive the spelling mistakes as wrote in a hurry
But I will answer any question on the subject if I know about it
 
The Shelling starts

The Mangkai sinks to the bottom of the ocean

The crew of the Mangkai are picked up by the Scharnhorst

The Sailors who have become prisoners of war, on the deck of the Scharnhorst
 
Captain Morris of the Demeterton who you will see being sunk a bit later said in his report to the Admirilty in 1943, Scharnhorst had 400 - 500 Allied Merchant Seamen on board when he was picked up by the Scharnhorst

I wonder how many time those men lost their ship, some up to 5-6 times

Another Merchant ship is spotted and the guns got ready

The ships guns roar

Another ship gone

The Merchant Ships were hunted down day and night
 
And the guns are kept active

Gneisenau Sistership of the Scharnhorst

Marathon tries to outrun the Scharnhorst
 
I too am looking forward to seeing more pictures. Fantastic stuff Cromwell. Keep it coming. BazzM.
 
:angel: Great stuff Crommie M8, you've got my Colin hooked on this one. Couldn't get him off the puter' till he'd read it all.

Chris :angel:
 
Enthralling article Cromwell, it certainly was the cruel sea for our navy and the merchant navy. I read an article somewhere that when the merchant seamen were shipwrecked their pay was docked, do you know if this was true? The merchant seamen who did a magnificent job were truly underpaid and under rated. This is not to detract from the men of our Royal Navy in anyway, just a tribute to the Merchant Service.
 
Thats quite an account of the pilot, I think it's deserves mentioning that the war was a terrible thing for all concerned on all sides. To the most part I imagine it's the normal everyday folk who suffered rather than their masters.
 
Thanks for all the intrest as it makes it all worthwhile I have tons more to put up onto this thread so just be a bit patient as it will all be clear in the end and I will try to answer all questions
One I know is that the Merchant Seamen were not paid if they were not on their ships and did not get a medal for their service for the country till only a few years ago,which other folk will tell us about as WW2 is not my subject but am learning fast
So if mistake are made they are mine and I hold my hand up and admit them
The names of the ships and positions they were sunk were on the back of the photo's which I will show you and example a bit later
 
This is what the writing is like on every photo which I had translated last year so if mistakes are made it is not mine, but I will carry the can, The chap who did the translating was a teacher at a grammar school and has since died so, ........ Thats It
 
Re: The Scharnhorst

Marathon being shelled and it was finally sunk with no survivors
 
Re: The Scharnhorst

Demeterton was bombed and damaged in an air raid on Liverpool 21st Dec. 1940 (info and photo came from my friend G.Boxhall collection )
 
Re: The Scharnhorst

Demeterton being shelled or Fired upon by the Scharnhorst
 
Re: The Scharnhorst

Demeterton sinking whilst on a voyage from Birkenhead to the USA
 
Re: The Scharnhorst

You can only guess the height of the waves crashing onto and over the deck
 
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