battleship Tirpitz as she lay at anchor in Norway. With Scharnhorst'' destroyed and Germany's other battleships out of service, the Allies were now for the first time in the war free from the threat of German battleships raiding their convoys in the Arctic and Atlantic. This would allow the Allies to reallocate their naval resources that had been previously tied up to counter the threat of the German 'fleet in being'. This would prove to be the final battle of battleships in European waters and was one of few major surface actions in the Second World War without air support. See also Arctic Ocean operations of World War II Footnotes References Further reading External links The Battleship Scharnhorst at KBismarck.com Scharnhorst at Ships of the World: An Historical Encyclopedia North Cape 1943 in Norway North Cape North Cape North Cape North Cape North Cape December 1943 events