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Topic: History, and Naval Warfare Blog Brand: The Buzz Region: Europe Tags: Barents Sea, Kriegsmarine, Nazi Germany, Royal Navy, War History, and World War II New Year’s Eve 1942 Was the Day of Hitler’s Biggest Arctic Fiasco December 31, 2025 By: Brandon J. Weichert
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The Battle of the Barents Sea should have been a triumph for Nazi Germany. Instead, it ended in the destruction of its surface fleet—and Admiral Erich Raeder’s career.
New Year’s Eve 1942 was a memorable day for the British Royal Navy. That was the day that a much smaller British fleet effectively “scuttled Hitler’s surface fleet,” according to the United States Naval Institute Press. Another account described the now-iconic Battle of the Barents Sea as an “embarrassing thrashing” visited upon the German Kriegsmarine.
In December 1942, Germany Spotted a Convoy Worth Killing For
Interestingly, it was the Kriegsmarine, with their larger force, that was on the attack—meaning that many of the advantages should have gone to them. British warships were charged with defending Arctic Convoy JW 51B, which was carrying vehicles, tanks, and fuels to the Soviet Union to use in their war with Nazi Germany.
Considering that the Eastern Front was rapidly becoming the most important front facing Hitler’s Nazi regime in World War II, the Kriegsmarine were throwing all resources into stymying any resources from getting to the Soviet Red Army.
Operation Regenbogen was the name given to the Kriegsmarine mission to stop the Allied convoys from reaching the USSR. Seeing as the battle occurred in the Arctic, during the dark, frigid days of winter, snow and poor visibility complicated the Kriegsmarine efforts to sink Arctic Convoy JW 51B.
The German flotilla consisted of heavy cruisers, like the Admiral Hipper and Lützow, as well as destroyers—all dispatched from Nazi bases in Norway.
The idea was to have the numerically superior German flotilla simply overwhelm the smaller British Royal Navy defenders of the convoy. Even though the British Empire was in its terminal decline phase at this point in the war, the British Royal Navy was the best naval force in the world.
The Royal Navy Was Outnumbered, Outgunned, and Unafraid
Regardless of whether they had superior numbers or not in a battle, especially against less skilled navies, like the German Kriegsmarine, the British were more than capable of snatching victory from the fangs of defeat while engaged in sea warfare.
German cruisers initiated the attack on the unsuspecting convoy on New Year’s Eve. They started by targeting some of the Royal Navy ships that were behind the convoy and scored direct hits on the minesweeper, HMS Bramble and the British destroyer, HMS Achates.
Undaunted by the arrival of the larger German force, British Captain Robert Sherbrooke, deployed smokescreens. He then ordered his destroyers to launch what amounted to insane direct attacks against the larger German force. The brazenness of the British destroyers, far too few for anyone’s comfort in the convoy, led the German fleet commanders to assume that their initial intelligence on the convoy was wrong.
Rather than being defended by a minimal detachment of Royal Navy warships, the Germans reassessed that there must have been a much larger force hiding, waiting for them.
The Germans were not prepared for the level of resistance they immediately encountered. Vice-Admiral Oskar Kummet’s flotilla became disorganized in the confusion. Kummet’s heavy cruisers had their connections with the Kriegsmarine destroyers severed in the confusion.
Things got so bad for the Kriegsmarine that there were instances of friendly fire that seriously debilitated the martial prowess of the larger German force.
To compound matters for the attacking German force, British cruisers, such as the HMS Jamaica and Sheffield joined the defense of the convoy.
Thus, the German force began a chaotic retreat from the attack they started without sinking the main convoy—all of which successfully docked in the Kola Inlet and resupplied the Red Army.
Hitler Exploded After Learning of the German Defeat
Once word of the debacle at sea reached Hitler’s ears, the Nazi dictator’s legendary incandescent rage that was usually reserved for his Army officers exploded at his naval commanders. He stopped all large surface fleet actions. Legendary German naval leader Admiral Erich Raeder resigned his commission—and was replaced by the man who led the Kriegsmarine to the end of the war (even briefly becoming the new Führer following Hitler’s suicide), Karl Dönitz. Admiral Dönitz preferred focusing on undersea warfare to stymie the Allied convoys across the Atlantic and the Arctic rather than the large surface engagements.
After this humiliating battle and the replacement of Raeder with Dönitz, the Kriegsmarine would spend the duration of the war waging unrestricted submarine warfare rather than risk the embarrassment of large surface fleet battles going badly for Berlin.
The Battle of the Barents Sea is widely viewed as being a crucial moment in the Battle of the Atlantic, as it forced the Germans to keep the bulk of their surface fleet in a defensive crouch in German territorial waters for the remainder of the war.
The Last Great Royal Navy Triumph
For his part, Captain Robert Sherbrooke, the man who led the successful defense of Arctic Convoy JW 51B for the Royal Navy, was awarded the Victoria Cross for his bravery under fire.
New Year’s 1942 will always be fondly remembered by the Royal Navy.
It marked one of the last times this once mighty force would truly dominate a near-peer rival, like the German Kriegsmarine—and do so in such a humiliating way that it would send the enemy surface fleet back to port, where most of those warships would remain in hiding rather than dare confront the imperial might of the Royal Navy.
Today, those are just distant memories. The Royal Navy is a shadow of its former greatness. Lacking a reliable fleet size, struggling to find recruits, and struggling to maintain what few ships and submarines they have, the Battle of the Barents Sea in 1942 was truly one of the last hoorahs of the Royal Navy.
About the Author: Brandon J. Weichert
Brandon J. Weichert is a senior national security editor at The National Interest. Recently, Weichert became the host of The National Security Hour on America Outloud News and iHeartRadio, where he discusses national security policy every Wednesday at 8pm Eastern. Weichert hosts a companion book talk series on Rumble entitled “National Security Talk.” He is also a contributor at Popular Mechanics and has consulted regularly with various government institutions and private organizations on geopolitical issues. Weichert’s writings have appeared in multiple publications, including The Washington Times, National Review, The American Spectator, MSN, and the Asia Times. His books include Winning Space: How America Remains a Superpower, Biohacked: China’s Race to Control Life, and The Shadow War: Iran’s Quest for Supremacy. His newest book, A Disaster of Our Own Making: How the West Lost Ukraine is available for purchase wherever books are sold. He can be followed via Twitter @WeTheBrandon.
Image: Shutterstock / Melnikov Dmitriy.
The post New Year’s Eve 1942 Was the Day of Hitler’s Biggest Arctic Fiasco appeared first on The National Interest.
Источник: nationalinterest.org