Hitler, Raeder, and the surface fleet after Barents Sea

Hitler treated the convoy's escape as a failure despite having ordered the ships to avoid serious damage. He subjected Raeder to a ninety-minute tirade and threatened to scrap the surface fleet in favour of submarine warfare. Raeder chose to resign; the interpretation offered here is that he hoped Dönitz's standing with Hitler would protect the navy. Dönitz succeeded him and saved part of the surface force, but work on Graf Zeppelin ended, cruisers were laid up, and major work on Gneisenau stopped. Admiral Hipper's battle damage is described as never repaired. The next major Arctic sortie ended with Scharnhorst's loss at North Cape.