On the 28^th December 1943, a naval engagement took place between two cruisers of the Royal Navy and eleven warships of the Third Reich.

Ploughing through heavy seas at 25 knots, HMS Glasgow and HMS Enterprise had been ordered to intercept and destroy the German blockade-runner, Alsterufer, which had been sighted 500 miles north west of cape Finisterre. The German force consisted of five Narvik class destroyers and six torpedo boats of the 4^th TB Flotilla, with orders to escort Alsterufer to the Gironde River. However, the heavy seas prevailing at the time forced the German escort to reduce speed and return to port.

The situation was far from pleasant to many of us inexperienced sailors undergoing this baptism of fire as our ship, the Enterprise, increased speed to 28 knots and then to 30 knots in order to engage the enemy.

At the time I thought every rivet in the vessel was rattling and shaking so much, due to the vibrations of the four steam turbines being driven almost to their limit (80,000shp) through these ferocious waves, that the ship would break up and founder!

Initially, we had received a signal that three German destroyers had been dispatched in order to provide escort for the Alsterufer as she neared her home destination with her valuable cargo. A further signal was received increasing the number to twenty-one (Narvik and TB destroyers) which naturally gave us much cause for concern. Fortunately, yet another signal was received reducing the number to eleven.

During the ensuing action, fought in atrocious conditions, the British cruisers sank three of the German vessels and damaged others. Whilst the Glasgow received a couple of direct hits, the Enterprise, commanded by Captain Harold Grant RCN, a most able skipper and much respected by the ship’s company – escaped any major damage through enemy action. The T25, T26, and T27 were sunk by gunfire. A destroyer and three torpedo boats managed to reach Brest, whilst two destroyers made the Gironde River and a torpedo boat took shelter at St-Jean-de-Luz.

Sixty-four survivors were rescued by the cruisers and several more by an Irish steamer, a Spanish destroyer and U-boats.

Glasgow and Enterprise returned to Plymouth safely despite attacks by enemy aircraft, which included the use of glider bombs. Furthermore, Enterprise became the target for an American Liberator aircraft which mistook us for an enemy warship. No damage was sustained – we were lucky!

The Alsterufer, had prior to this action, been sunk by two liberators of RAF Coastal Command – it was an excellent victory for RN Ships and the RAF. At the time, the engagement didn’t receive publicity as this action was somewhat upstaged by the sinking of the battleship Scharnhorst by ships of the Home Fleet a few days earlier.