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CAPITAL SHIP ACTIONS OF WWII

This page is about the real WWII, and has nothing to do with the France Stays in the War scenario other than that it is being hosted on the France Fights On! site because it may be of interest to the same readers. // GaryJ

This is my list of capital-ship (i.e. large-caliber gun) actions in WWII. As far as I know, this list covers every time gunfire of 11" or greater was fired at warships by warships in WWII. Action numbers 11 (Ramillies), 12 (Malaya) and 34 (Haguro) are exceptions in that no shots were fired at all in the first two, and in the last the BB did not actually come into range. They are included because the presence of BBs was vital in the first two, and the last would have been the last time a BB fired on another major warship. I don't know if heavy guns were actually fired in number 22 (Sirte(1) but there were BBs involved.

Names for Actions

Sometimes it is useful to have a list of names for actions, to refer to in text or conversation. Here is a list of suggested single and hyphenated words that can be used in that way. Obviously words like Cape or Sea could be added to several of them.

Single Key Words, in order: Rawalpindi, Plate, Lofotens, Narvik(2), Glorious, Oran, Calabria, Dakar, Spartivento, JervisBay, Ramillies-Twins, Malaya-Twins, Matapan(day), Matapan(night), Denmark, Bismark-Pursuit, Vians, Bismark, Sirte(1), Cerberus, Edsall, Sirte(2), JeanBart, Casablanca, Guadalcanal(1), Guadalcanal(2), Barents, NorthCape, Scharnhorst, Truk, Normandy, Suriago, Samar, Haguro.

Total = 34 1939 - 2; 1940 - 8; 1941 - 9; 1942 - 8; 1943 - 2; 1944 - 4; 1945 - 1

Scharhorst (Gneisnau standing by) vs. Rawalpindi; Denmark Strait; November 1939.
Graf Spee vs. Ajax, Achilles, Exeter; Battle of the River Plate; December 1939
Scharnhorst and Gneisenau vs. Renown (with destroyers) off Lofoten Islands, April 1940.
Warspite (and destroyers) vs. German destroyers; 2nd Battle of Narvik; April 1940.
Scharnhorst and Gneisnau vs. Glorious and destroyers; evacuation from Norway; June 1940.
Hood, Valiant and Resolution (with fleet and a carrier) vs. Dunkerque, Strasbourg, Provence, and Bretagne (plus destroyers); at Mers-El-Kibir (Oran); July 1940.
Warspite (with Malaya and Royal Sovereign in support but not engaged) vs. Conte di Cavour and Giulio Cesare; Battle off Calabria; July 1940.
Barham and Resolution (with supporting squadron) vs. incomplete Richelieu (with suporting ships and batteries); Dakar; September, 1940.
Renown (briefly Ramillies) and cruisers vs. Italian cruisers and briefly Vittorio Veneto, Battle of Spartivento, November 27th
Admiral Scheer vs. HMS Jervis Bay; convoy in North Atlantic; November 1940.
Ramillies, covering a convoy, faced down Scharnhorst and Gneisnau, whose orders were to avoid actions with a high probability of damage, and they retired with no shots fired by either side; North Atlantic; February 1941.
Malaya, covering a convoy, faced down Scharnhorst and Gneisnau, whose orders were to avoid actions with a high probability of damage, and they retired with no shots fired by either side; North Atlantic; March 1941.
Vittorio Veneto (with cruisers and destroyers) vs. RN cruiser sqdn.; Battle of Cape Matapan; March 1941.
Warspite, Valiant, Barham (with destroyers) vs. Zara and Fiume (and destroyers); Battle of Cape Matapan; March 1941.
Bismarck (with Prinz Eugen) vs. Prince of Wales and Hood; Battle of Denmark Strait; May 24, 1941.
Bismark fired a few salvos at cruiser Suffolk. Prince of Wales replied in support of Suffolk, in the early hours of May 25, 1941.
Bismark vs. RN Tribal DDs of Vian's flotilla (plus Polish Piorun).
Bismarck vs. Rodney and King George V (with Norfolk, Dorsetshire); 500 miles WNW of Brest; May 1941.
Littorio, Guilio Cesare and Andrea Doria as distant cover for a convoy (with Duilio as close escort) have long-range meeting with RN force of light criosers and destroyers. 1st Battle of Sirte; December 17, 1941.
Gneisnau (with Prinz Eugen and destroyers, Scharnhorst out of formation with mine damage) vs. RN destroyers off Netherlands; February 1942.
Hiei and Kirishima shell USS Edsall (DD) escaping from Java, 1 March 1942.
Littorio (with cruisers and destroyers) vs. convoy and light cruiser/destroyer escort; 2nd Battle of Sirte; March 1942.
Massachusetts vs. incomplete Jean Bart, at Casablanca, November 1942.
Massachusetts (with cruisers and destroyers) vs. Vichy destroyers and destroyer-leaders; off Casablanca; November 1942.
Hiei and Kirishima (with DD sqdn) vs. USN cruiser/destroyer task force; 1st Night Battle of Guadalcanal; November 1942.
Washington (with South Dakota withdrawing due to loss of power after engagement with cruisers and destroyers) vs. Kirishima (and cruiser/destroyer support); 2nd Night Battle of Guadalcanal; November 1942.
Lutzow (plus Hipper and destroyers) vs. convoy and Sheffield and Jamaica; Battle of the Barents Sea; December 1942.
Scharnhorst vs. Norfolk, Belfast, Sheffield off North Cape, December 1943.
Scharnhorst vs. Duke of York (with cruiser/destroyer support) off North Cape, December 1943.
New Jersey and Iowa (with cruiser/destroyer support) vs. CL (training) Katori and destroyers at Truk Lagoon; February 1944.
Warspite, off Normandy, fires on small DDs (torpedo boats) approaching beachead from the east 6 June 1944.
West Virginia, Tennessee, California, Maryland (due to poor fire control radar, Pennsylvania did not fire and Mississippi fired only 2 salvos) (with substantial cruiser and destroyer support) vs. Yamashiro (Fuso sunk by DD torpedos without engaging BBs) (with some supporting vessels) in Battle of Surigao Strait (part of Battle of Leyte Gulf); October 1944.
Yamato, Nagato, Kongo, Haruna (with strong cruiser and destroyer forces) vs. escort carriers with destroyers and destroyer-escorts; Battle off Samar (part of Battle of Leyte Gulf); October 1944.
Richelieu (standing by but not engaged) as RN destroyers vs. Haguro; Malacca Strait; May 1945.

Single key words: Rawalpindi, Plate, Lofotens, Narvik(2), Glorious, Oran, Calabria, Dakar, Spartivento, JervisBay, Ramillies-Twins, Malaya-Twins, Matapan(day), Matapan(night), Denmark, Bismark-Pursuit, Vians, Bismark, Sirte(1), Cerberus, Edsall, Sirte(2), JeanBart, Casablanca, Guadalcanal(1), Guadalcanal(2), Barents, NorthCape, Scharnhorst, Truk, Normandy, Suriago, Samar, Haguro.