On December 25th, 1943 Scharnhorst, with her Narvik-class destroyer screen consisting of the Z29, Z30, Z33, Z34, and Z38, sailed from Norway's Alta Fjord to attack the merging two convoys. Unknown to the Germans was the presence of Force I & II. Not factored in the trap was that Duke of York was 4 kph slower than Scharnhorst and when speed matters this was to play a role. With poor weather Admiral Bey had detached his destroyers from Scharnhorst trying to pick up the convoys. Before dawn on December 26th, HMS Belfast's radar picked up the Scharnhorst and her screen at a range of 35,000 yards. She went to action stations and notified the balance of the cruisers in Force I and kept the Duke of York informed.
At 13,000 yards Scharnhorst now alone had not picked up Force I and Belfast and the other cruisers opened fire, the Battle of North Cape began. Scharnhorst surprised opened up with salvos against Belfast and Force I with no hits however Scharnhorst was hit twice with a lucky shot knocking out her radar tower and control. The weather had worsened with a raging snow storm which left Scharnhorst blind with the encroaching Force I led by the Belfast radar. Scharnhorst had to revert to the age old "fire at the muzzle flashes" and guess the range. Norfolk still used the older powder where Belfast and Sheffield were using a flash less cordite leaving Norfolk as the primary target. Scharnhorst felt she had been attacked by a battleship turned and fled towards Norway. The plan was working as Duke of York and her screen closed while Scharnhorst steamed at flank speed south. Sheffield and Norfolk dropped back with operational problems while Belfast pressed on with her radar looking for the battle cruiser. Scharnhorst was still unaware of the Duke of York, Force II forged ahead picking up the German and maneuvered to bring her 10 x 14 inch guns to bear. Belfast arrived and lit up Scharnhorst with a star shell at less than 12,000 yards, Duke of York had Scharnhorst in her sights fired a broadside hitting Scharnhorst with at least two 14 inch shells. Scharnhorst turned north but was engaged by the cruisers Norfolk and Belfast, and so turned east at a high speed of 31 knots. Duke of York turned for the chase but started to drop back due to a small but important 4 kph disadvantage in speed. Duke of York new the German would escape so at extreme range she scored a hit that damaged the number one boiler room forcing the battle cruiser to reduce speed. The British destroyers caught up and pressed torpedo attacks against Scharnhorst. The destroyers scored three torpedo hits but the battle cruiser still maintained a speed of 22 knots. Belfast was firing from the north while Duke of York and the cruiser Jamaica fired from the south raining shells down on Scharnhorst while her speed continued to slow. The British destroyers closed and fired 19 torpedoes with many hits. Scharnhorst finally capsized and sank at 19:45 hours on December 26th, while her propellers still turned. The ship's crew was 1,968 and the Admiralty sent a message to "take a small sample" so only 36 men were pulled from the water and saved by British ships.
HMS Belfast had shown that radar was the way of the future and fought in the last great gun battle in naval history. She continued to serve and took part in the D Day landings on 6/06/44 as a gun platform firing some say the opening salvoes on Gold and Juno beaches. For the next five weeks she fired thousands of rounds at German positions in her 14 mile range. Her last round in WW2 was fired on 7/08/44 in the battle of Caen. She returned to Devonport England for a needed refit, she had worn out her guns. After needed repairs she sailed for Malaya to support expending the Japanese from the island but did not fire a shot due to the Japanese surrender. She returned to Britain for a major refit.
Belfast served in the Korean War while supporting United Nations land forces by naval bombardment. In July 1952 she was hit by a Communist battery, killing one and wounding four. She was stationed on the west coast using her 6 inch guns against the North Korean forces. Belfast was modernized between January 1956 and May 1959 with new AA guns, new NBC Warfare Bridge that resembled the new Tiger cruisers. Between 1959-62 the ship operated in the Far East on exercises and "showed the British flag" and returned to Belfast for the last time on August 24, 1963. She remained in dock and was transferred to become a museum ship on March 1, 1978.
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