Arguably there was a good alternative to the slow but steady death march for the KM in WWII but it would have required the assumption of a long war - something Hitler refused to believe in knowing it would mean defeat. Hitler thought little to admire in Admiral Tirpitz and there was little reason to do so. However, Tirpitz, while the Kaiser was building the High Seas Fleet, has advocated Mahan's idea of the "fleet in being." Having an inferior fleet, so went the argument, would tie down more enemy vessels in the dominant fleet during a blockade. Had the KM decided to abandon the foolish commerce raiding policy they could have husbanded a formidible surface fleet even compensating for the losses in Norway. A fleet with Bismarck, Tirpitz, the "pocket battleships", Scharnhorst & Gneisenau in addition to Germany's fine crusiers and DDs would have required a very large British fleet to have maintained a successful blockade. Some serious defenses would have been needed to protect against air attack, and enough duties found in the Baltic to keep the crews sharp. But had this been done, the Germans might have seriously hampered the deployment of RN warships that proved so invaluable in the Med and crucial at Normandy. We'll never know because by Normandy the KM didn't exist as a fleet.
Having failed to destroy British commerce in the Atlantic, Raeder and Hitler decided to fail to destroy British commerce inbound to Murmansk. In December 1943 Scharnhorst was the last man standing. Hitler wanted to dismantle the ship and use its guns on the Atlantic Wall - a very good idea in retrospect. Doenitz, now running the whole KM, convinced Hitler for one last chance at dealing the Brits a nasty blow. By this time Scharnhorst had been moved to Alta Fjord (or Altenfjord) which is the farthest north town on the planet and not far from Murmansk. The elaborate camo given Scharnhorst in summer presupposed a surface action during a 23 hour of sunlight day. The battle came in a 23 hour of darkness day and was meaningless. When Scharnhorst sortied on December 26 1943, the British code breakers were ready and two RN task forces were between Alta and two British convoys. There was a serious gale and blizzard, bad enough that RN cruisers could not make top speed and giving Scharnhorst its lone advantage. The advantage didn't help with Duke of York which was also present. In the first engagement RN cruisers knocked out Scharnhorst's radar. A sane admiral would have headed for home. KM Admiral Bey, however, knew the existence of the German surface fleet was at stake and, after out running the first cruiser task force, turned back to the North, just as Adm Fraser on Duke of York thought would happen. Although it was torpedoes from cruisers that finished the deal, it was fitting that it was gunfire from Duke of York that destroyed two of Scharnhorst's turrets and wrecked a boiler slowing the vessel to 10 knots. The last act took place under British flares during a gale at night - it was actually fortunate that 36 of the Scharnhorst's crew were rescued. Some 1900 men perished. A miserable end for the KM. But it certainly built British morale. Maps and a couple of pics below.
Eric
