Members of the Scharnhorst Association are to hold their final reunion at Wilhelmshaven in Germany on October 9-12 to mark the 60th anniversary of her destruction at the Battle of North Cape on Boxing Day, 1943.

The Bordkameradschaft Scharnhorst has issued an invitation to all British veterans of the Battle to attend – the point of contact is John Wass on 0115 966 3314.

Britain’s last battleship action was to a large degree one of the first of the electronic era, with radar playing a vital role in the location of the enemy in the gloom of the Arctic in poor weather.

Only 36 men survived out of the Scharnhorst’s complement of almost 2,000, and it was a vital action for the Allies, as the ship was regarded as the German Navy’s happiest and most effective surface warship, representing a significant threat to the Allies’ convoy route to Russia.

Among the Allied ships which ranged against her in her final action, in which only six British sailors were killed – was the cruiser HMS Belfast, which is now preserved in London close to Tower Bridge in the Pool of London.