The Raid on Scapa Flow
Or: What if Germany had Aircraft Carriers in WW II?
Part 1: The Raid on Scapa Flow
It was a beautiful morning on the Orkney Islands in March 1941. Just like the meteorologists said a few days ago the sun was shining on this March day and the skies were blue without any clouds visible. But good meteorologists were not limited to the British. The other side during this war knew their job as well. And they planned for this day. Long planning was done, but now their time had come. REVENGE FOR SCAPA FLOW was painted on ammunitions, many of the aircrafts got. The revenge for the scuttled German fleet in 1919 was given, about 22 years later.
British sailors stand at their places. The day was not crumbled with preparation, like other ones and the six capital ships of the Home Fleet based these days were manned and their supporting ships, too. Everything peaceful and nobody was aware of what will come in the next minutes.
At around 09:30h the air was filled with a roaring engine sound. Louder and louder the sound was coming, directly towards Scapa Flow, the main harbour of the Royal Navy Home Fleet on the British Islands since years even before the Great War. A few minutes after the sound started the air was filled with aircrafts. It looks like many hundreds, but even the arriving 185 aircraft would change the status of a sea power.
Coming from their flattops at around 250 kilometres south-east of Scapa Flow the German aircrafts, coming in two waves barely 30 minutes in between, totally surprised the British sailors at their home fleet base. Launched from two big (CV) and two small (CVL) carriers 55 dive bomber Ju 97, plus 80 horizontal/ torpedo bomber Ar 145 were joined by 30 fighters Me 119T during the attack. All found their marks in the clear morning on March 12, 1941.
Before it happened Germany, especially the OKM (Oberkommando der Marine, German Navy HQ) discussed the main problems of this air raid: The low water mark inside the harbour, the hardened decks of the aircraft carriers and battleships, the course of the air raid and the defence capability of the Royal Navy in the Shetland Island Area were discussed again and again until solutions were given.
First of all the surprising element of leaving the ports, unnoticed by the British Admirality due to the sunk of two submarines near the main harbours of the German carrier fleet, Wilhelmshaven and Cuxhaven was working. This was expected and everybody trained for that, since every month in the last half year a large manoeuvre of the Kriegsmarine ships and aircrafts against the known British submarines was performed. This time both subs were sunk by destroyers.
Than the normal intense of the flights of He 121 reconnaissance aircrafts was not hampered by the RAF, far away in the north. During the ‘Great War’ the notice of ships of the Home Fleet at Scapa Flow was more hampering German Admirals than everything else. The aircraft send their signals towards Berlin and thereafter the carrier captains know that all six major ships were still inside the port. In addition to that German U-Boats were positioned in the vicinity, just to give notice if a major leaving was detected.
The German admirals were a little bit surprised, but sometimes your planning is correct. Now they have been more than 36 hours undetected travelling on the North Sea, first towards Norway, than en route towards the Orkney Island. The take off point was about 250 km south east form Scapa Flow and the time of attack was chosen, so the morning flights of RAF and FAA fighters were done and all of their pilots might think more about breakfast than about an enemy far, far away in the south. The plan ‘B’ was a major sea clash in good weather conditions somewhere in the North Sea. A ‘Jütland with aircraft’ one of the captains said, but not this time.
The first wave of aircraft flow in low, less than a hundred meters in height. It was divided between the attack group for the two airfields, (12 Me 119T and 20 Ar 145 with bombs) and the other part, the ‘attack force number one’ flying directly towards the ships with 6 Me 119T, 25 Ar 145 with special modified torpedoes and 25 Ju 97 dive bombers with their specialized AP bombs. A second wave, named ‘attack force number two’, followed barely 30 minutes after, consisting of 12 Me 119T, 35 Ar 145 and 30 Ju 97.
‘Preparation is everything’, one German Admiral told the OKM. The bombs of the dive bombers and horizontal bombers for the fleet ships were made armour penetrating (AP) style and went thru the targeted decks like iron thru butter. All torpedoes got special wings to minimize their depth penetration in water after release. Now they could be used inside the harbour as well. And they performed very well!
The airfield attack group arrived at first British soil and everybody on board knew that the hiding game was over. One navigator of the Ar 145 planes sends the signal and soon thereafter the fighters began to climb. One of the carrier admirals said to the others: “Only god could stop the attack now!” God wasn’t willing to do on this day.
Same climbing was done by the fighters of the ‘attack force number one’, as it was named and the dive bombers followed them immediately in preparing for their part of the job. Since the signal was expected on ‘attack force number two’ their fighters and dive bombers did nearly the same a few minutes after.
All aircrafts attacking the two airfields and at nearly the same time, the ships in the port were attacked. There only small bomblets were used to damage mostly aircraft on ground, making them unable to start and fight contraire to the big bombs and torpedoes on the ships. No further airfield attacks were done and the RAF could repair most of them thereafter. But FAA Gladiators and Fulmars have limited effect in future air combat against Messerschmitts Me 119T and later Focke-Wulfs FW 195P of the German Marine fighter squadrons. A lone small RAF squadron was not more than a small dogfight worth during the attack above British soil. All ten scrambled Hurricane aircraft were shot down against the one loss of a Me 119T. Nobody of the RAF thought about positioning a modern fighter like the Spitfire far away in the north, when regularly Me 119 were fighting in the south and this thinking was paid with blood.
‘Training is good, but more training is better’ the OKM was told by the Oberkomandanten der Trägergeschwader (‘Head of the Fleet Air Arm’).
All pilots were trained to fly low above the water. Just before hitting the target the dive bombers raise their nose and climbed above 2.000m and then start the attack. This was trained hard during the last months and was paid in blood. More than 15 pilots were killed during the bad weather on several training days, but it was required. ‘More blood during training will cost less blood in combat’ someone said and he was right, too.
Another problem was known to them. British RADAR was working near the Shetlands and a low attack profile will hamper detection. This was solved by the low attack profile, too.
‘Fighters must be there, too.’ This came from the Stuka- and Torpedobomber Geschwader (German Dive bomber and Torpedo bomber squadrons), since their fear being alone above British soil fighting against the RAF fighter and their FAA counterparts. They were correct in this detail, so the distance of the carriers towards the island was reduced, until the marine carrier fighters could join the party. Normally their range with internal fuel was limited, but this time the new invented drop tanks were used. Now they could fly 250km before dogfight combat and came back safe.
The attack itself was done on altitudes less than 2.000 meters. The fighters sometimes climb more, but even not more than 3.000 meters in total and all dogfights were done in this height. On their way back lower altitudes were taken again. None of the fighters were needed during the attack on Scapa Flow, since the Royal Air Force was shocked and reacted slowly. But above the two airfields in the vicinity some dogfights were done, with limited results. No bomber was shooting down by RAF or FAA fighters.
‘You have to know your enemy’. Even Admiral Canaris, Head of the German Secret Service was heard during preparation. The OKM sends its reconnaissance aircraft nearly every day across the North Sea noted the time, duration of harbour time of capital ships and their position inside. That came into action during training as well. The German Navy pilots were less surprise when they found the ships at their positions, like during many times in the training sessions.
The result was a disaster due to the fact that the pilots found their marks. Three British aircraft carriers were at their spotted position the day before and were hit. Hit even before the battleships! That was the last requirement by the German carrier squadrons. ‘If the Trägerdivisions could attack a point from nowhere, why not the FAA?’ the officers said. So the British carriers were target number one, followed by the battleships. No further ships were attacked inside the harbour, due to the limited time duration of the fighter across the area. Not more than 60 minutes were given. But this was enough and all capital ships were hit.
The ‘large’ carrier CV Illustrious, the newest one of the RN with all 50 aircraft on board was hit by four torpedoes and five bombs. The largest one, CV Ark Royal with 72 aircraft, was hit by three torpedoes and six bombs. At last the CV Victorious (50 aircraft) was hit by four torpedoes and six bombs, too. Every carrier sunk within the next hour and none of them would sail again for the Royal Navy.
The three battleships located in the harbour during the raid were hit, too. The mighty BC Hood scored six torpedoes and three bombs. She sank within 20 minutes. BB Prince of Wales, the new battleship of the Home Fleet scored four torpedoes on the same side, plus one bomb hit in turret B and capsize minutes thereafter in the harbour. At last the BB Duke of York was hit by five bombs and three torpedoes. She exploded due to the ammunition bunk hit and sank like the BC Hood in less than half an hour.
Totally it was over in less than one hour. German carrier based aircraft, which came in like ghosts, vanished in the air with course south east as they arrive. The second wave came in a few minutes the first was finished and many men on the ships did not recognize that two waves of aircraft were attacking. They did their job as well, without disturbing by British fighters and they lost only small numbers of planes like the first wave. Flying low back and getting out of the spotting area as soon as possible, with nobody on their six, the Germans went back to their carriers, unharmed. Only 19 aircraft did not make it. Five of them ditch in the cold North Sea during flight home but 14 were shooting down by the triple A on the ships or at the airfields. In total 34 aircraft, counting the training losses inclusive, were exchanged to six capital ship of the Royal Navy, not counting the brave sailors on board. More than 5.000 British seamen were death after the attack against the 75 airmen of the Germany Navy.
What a result.
On the airbase in the vicinity the Hurricanes scrambled immediately after alert and found themselves in a dogfight with the dammed Messerschmitt Me 119T aircraft. They scored five aircraft later, named by the surviving pilots, but all of the 10 Hurricanes were shooting down by the better enemy aircrafts of the Germans. In reality only one Me 119T get down in the North Sea.
After the raid, the remnants of the Home Fleet left the harbour as soon as possible. Four CA, three CL and up to twenty DD left Scapa Flow within two hours after the attack in search of the enemy. Everybody wanted blood for revenge and they would get it, but not as they liked.
Sometimes more thinking before reacting would be more effective. This was taken into account by the German Admirals, too. Yes, everybody in the Reichsmarine had been taking into account before the attack started. Even the famous BdU was asked and gave his hints to the story.
As soon as the British ships left the harbour another surprise came up. Five Reichsmarine U-boats were waiting in the vicinity of Scapa Flow for exactly this reaction of the Home Fleet after the attack (and to send signals, if the Home Fleet was leaving before). They found their marks very easily, due to the fast movement of the angry British Captains.
The Submarines joined the party near the Orkneys. The cruisers CA Southampton and CA Northampton were suddenly hit by three torpedoes each and sunk about 20 kilometres out of the harbour. The light cruiser CL Belfast was hit by one torpedo only and returned back, but the CL Coventry was not so lucky. She takes two hits and sunk within minutes. Two other CA’s were hit with one and two torpedoes respectively and returned back too. One DD scored a hit thereafter, but in reality all five U-boats get home, or towards their main target areas in the Atlantic Ocean. All U-boats returned to their home bases safely. Another 1.000 British seamen died for nothing.
The disaster was complete. With three aircraft carriers and three battleships lost, two additional heavy cruisers and one light sunk in the North Sea short time after the Home Fleet was out of action for the next couple of weeks. Not until several other capital ships from areas around the world come back the Royal Nave could show the flag in the North Sea.
And everybody on the British Islands asks himself: ‘How could that happen?’
Two days later the First Sealord throws the towel. The government was nearly doing the same, but fixed themselves due to the fact that no invasion was started. They would through the towels a month later, but that is another story.