This painting forms part of Norman Wilkinson's ‘The War at Sea’ series, depicting the work of the Royal Navy, Merchant Navy and RAF Coastal Command, of which 53 were exhibited under that title at the National Gallery in 1944, and the full set of 54 presented by him to the nation via the War Artists Advisory Committee (this item's WAAC number being LD 4327). For details of the slightly complex history of the acquisition see BHC1590, the start of the set by modern NMM catalogue number.

The subject here is the celebrated 'Channel dash' (the German 'Operation Cerberus') of the two Kriegsmarine pocket battleships, with the heavy cruiser 'Prinz Eugen', from occupied Brest to safety in German ports on 12-13 February 1942. 'Scharnorst' went into Wilhelmshaven and the other two into Brunsbüttel, on the Elbe. The British had 'Ultra' intelligence of the intention and mounted heavy land-based air attack with major losses, as well as using intercepting destroyers which proved inadequate, not least since the Germans also had a fast light escort. Although, in the longer term, withdrawal of the German capital ships from the Atlantic theatre proved a strategic mistake for Hitler, the success of Cerberus as a tactical operation was deeply embarrassing for the British, and an official inquiry was critical of Coastal Command's failures of early reconnaissance. 'The Times' of 14 February 1942 well summed up immediate adverse public opinion: 'Vice Admiral Ciliax [the German commander] has succeeded where the Duke of Medina Sidonia failed [when commander of the Spanish Armada in 1588]. Nothing more mortifying to the pride of our sea-power has happened since the seventeenth century. [...] It spelled the end of the Royal Navy legend that in wartime no enemy battle fleet could pass through what we proudly call the English Channel.' [PvdM 2/18]