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The Battle of the Barents Sea was a naval engagement on 31 December 1942 between warships of Nazi Germany's ''Kriegsmarine'' and British ships escorting convoy JW 51B to Kola Inlet in the USSR. The action took place in the Barents Sea north of North Cape, Norway. The German raiders' failure to inflict any significant losses on the convoy infuriated Hitler, who ordered that German naval strategy would focus on the U-boat fleet rather than surface ships. ==Approach== Convoy JW 51B comprised fourteen merchant ships carrying war materials to the USSR — some 202 tanks, 2,046 other vehicles, 87 fighters, 33 bombers, of fuel, of aviation fuel and just over of other supplies. They were protected by the destroyers , , , , and ; Flower-class corvettes and ; the minesweeper ; and trawlers ''Vizalma'' and ''Northern Gem''. The escort commander was Captain R. St.V. Sherbrooke RN (flag in ''Onslow''). The convoy sailed in the dead of winter to preclude attacks by German aircraft like those that devastated an earlier Arctic convoy, PQ-17. In addition to the convoy escort, cruisers and and two destroyers were independently stationed in the Barents Sea to provide distant cover. These four ships, known as "Force R", were under the command of Rear-Admiral Robert L. Burnett, in ''Sheffield''. The German forces included the heavy cruiser ; heavy cruiser (often termed a pocket battleship) ''Lützow''; and destroyers ''Friedrich Eckholdt'', ''Richard Beitzen'', ''Theodor Riedel'', ''Z 29'', ''Z 30'' and ''Z 31''. These ships were based at Altafjord in northern Norway, and were under the overall command of Vice-Admiral Oskar Kummetz, in ''Hipper''. Convoy JW 51B sailed from Loch Ewe on 22 December 1942 and met its escort off Iceland on 25 December. From there the ships sailed northeast, meeting heavy gales on 28–29 December that caused the ships of the convoy to lose station. When the weather moderated, five merchantmen and the escorts ''Oribi'' and ''Vizalma'' were missing. ''Bramble'' was detached to search for them. Three of the straggling merchantmen rejoined the following day; the other ships proceeded independently towards Kola Inlet. Meanwhile, on 30 December, the convoy was sighted by ''U-354'' (''Kptlt.'' Karl-Heinz Herbschleb).〔(''U-354'' at U-boat.net )〕 When the report was received by the German Naval Staff, Kummetz was ordered to sail immediately to intercept the convoy. Kummetz split his force into two divisions, led by ''Hipper'' and ''Lützow'', respectively. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Battle of the Barents Sea」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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