Convoy JW 55B

During the voyage JW 55B was approached by a German force centred on the battleship Scharnhorst; no contact was made with the convoy, but Scharnhorst was sunk, in the Battle of the North Cape, by the battleship HMS Duke of York, a handful of Royal Navy light surface combatants, and Norwegian destroyer HNoMS Stord.

A cruiser cover force comprising Belfast (Vice Admiral R Burnett commanding), Norfolk, and Sheffield also followed the convoy, to guard against attack by surface units.

On 25 December the convoy was sighted by U-601, an Eisenbart boat, and later that day Admiral Bey, in Scharnhorst, received permission to sortie with his force.

[2] Scharnhorst was unable to make contact with JW 55B, but on 26 December was intercepted, first by Burnett's cruisers, then by Fraser's heavy units, and sunk in the Battle of the North Cape, after scoring only two minor hits on both Duke of York and destroyer Saumarez.

Thereafter, until Tirpitz was returned to active service, the Allied Arctic convoys were under no serious threat from the German Navy's surface forces.