The Battle of North Cape

This Christmas onboard HMS Belfast, professional actors and a team of living history specialists stage an interactive six-scene play to put into context this hard-fought naval engagement.

Unfolding throughout the day on Thursday 28 December and again on Friday 29 December 2006, the re-enactment will help to bring a part of HMS Belfast’s history to life for visitors.

The Battle is narrated by a sailor who vividly describes the conditions in sub-zero temperatures on that cold Christmas night. Visitors are able to get involved with the action, beginning with the interception of the German Battle Cruiser Scharnhorst on the morning of Boxing Day, 26 December 1943 and ending with the sinking of the Scharnhorst after a ferocious battle fought in the total darkness of the Arctic.

Scharnhorst’s destruction was a significant victory for Britain during the battle to protect the Arctic Convoys and removed one of Germany’s last important surface warship threats.

In addition to the play, the Naval Wargames Society recreates the whole of the Battle of North Cape on a mammoth 1/600 scale, a dramatic visual spectacle which will put HMS Belfast’s involvement in this historic action into full context.