On the night of February 11th, 1942, 3 heavy units of the Nazi Kriegsmarine and their escorts, creep out of the port of Brest on the French west coast bound for Norway. Secrecy was such a priority that many of the crews involved had been told nothing of their upcoming mission until the last possible moment. They’re brazen route will take them right under the nose of British Coastal Command in what will later be described as the biggest blow to British prestige in over 300 years. Germany’s strategy of convoy raiding that they implemented during both world wars has been well documented in the years after WW2. This naval doctrine was famously carried out by Germanys vast fleet of submarines, better known as U-boats. However, the German Kriegsmarine also placed emphasis on surface raiders and by 1941 they had a healthy number of such ships, but none were quite as worrying to the British Admiralty as the sisters, Scharnhorst, and Gneisenau. Scharnhorst; lead ship of her class pictured ...