Bismarck

shipstamps · Post by **shipstamps** » Sun Sep 21, 2008 1:22 pm

The Sinking of the Bismarck, 19th - 27th May 1941.
The sinking of the Bismarck will go down in naval history as a classic operation in which all the ships involved played out the role for which they were designed. Battleships fought one another with their main armament, cruisers reconnoitered for the battle fleet, carriers launched strikes against enemy surface ships and destroyers attacked major enemy units with torpedoes.
By April 1941 Bismarck, the new German battleship had completed her working up and was ready for action. Consequently on the 19th May she left Germany to sail for Bergen in Norway in company with the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen. The task for these ships was to dodge the British patrols in the North Sea, break out into the North Atlantic and disrupt the entire convoy system by sinking their weak escorts and using their superior speed to hunt down the unprotected merchant ships. If they could do this they would effectively deny to the British people the supplies they so desperately needed to feed themselves and to prosecute the war against Germany.
The two German warships sailed from Bergen on May 21st and tried to sneak past the British cruisers on patrol in the Denmark Strait between Iceland and Green¬land. However they were sighted by H.M.S. Suffolk in the late evening of May 22nd. She continued to shadow the enemy until the British Battle cruiser Hood and the new battleship Prince of Wales which had sailed from Hvalfjord in Iceland could reach a satisfactory inter¬ception point early on May 24th. The British ships were disadvantaged by approaching on a fine bearing enabling only half their main guns to bear and also being
Silhouetted against the light. The new Prince of Wales also still had dockyard workers on board trying to rectify faults in her main armament which caused guns in her forward turret to jam, thus decreasing the volume of her broadsides.
Action commenced at dawn with the capital ships exchanging broadsides at a range of some 14 miles. Hood had only fired three salvoes when Bismarck straddled and hit her with the fifth salvo from her 15 inch guns. A shell penetrated the lightly armoured battle cruiser’s main magazine setting off an explosion which blew the ship to pieces. Of her complement of 1,419 officers and men, only three were rescued. Both German ships then concentrated their fire on Prince of Wales damaging her and forcing her to retire, but not before she herself had registered hits on Bismarck which denied her use of some 1,000 tons of her precious fuel, thus forcing Admiral Lutjens to abort his commerce raiding mission. Prinz Eugen was ordered to proceed independently for Brest, while Bismarck herself headed for her home port, still shadowed by Prince of Wales and the British cruisers. The weather was deteriorating and the decision was made to launch an air strike from the carrier Victorious who launched nine Swordfish and three Fulmars. Flying through a hail of fire from Bismarck's anti-aircraft batteries they managed to score one hit but the torpedo failed to effectively hold up Bismarck's progress.
Visibility grew worse, and finally the greatest fear of the British Admiral was realised, contact was lost.
It was beginning to look like the Bismarck had made good her escape when the British ships frantically searching for her had not re-established contact for over a day with her. However the German Admiral was not aware of this fact and made the cardinal error of transmitting a long signal to his home base which was picked up by direction finding units in England. They were able to give approximate bearings and Bismarck was sighted by a Catalina flying boat of R.A.F Coastal Command mid morning on May 26th.
The carrier Ark Royal which with Force H (battle cruiser Renown and escort) had been ordered north from Gibraltar and now came into the picture. Her aircraft were the last hope before Bismarck came into range of German aircraft who could escort her home to Germany. Two strikes of Swordfish torpedo bombers were launched; however the first in the extremely poor visibility attacked the British cruiser Sheffield in error. Fortunately no damage was done and Sheffield was able to warn Ark Royal of torpedo faults observed before the second strike took off. These were corrected and the second strike was able to score two hits on Bismarck, the second being vital. Severe damage was inflicted on her rudders end screws which made tie ship unmanouvrable and slowed her down. Bismarck turned in giant circles while her damage control crews tried to fix the problem but without success.
The net was now closing with battle cruiser Renown, heading north from Gibraltar, King George Fifth closing from the north-west and the battleship Rodney of the Home Fleet heading south west toward the stricken German giant.
At 8.00 a.m. on the mor¬ning of the 27th May, the British capital ships had found their quarry and opened fire on her.
King George Fifth and Rodney engaged the German ship with their main armament and although the crippled giant fought back bravely her fate was now sealed. The 15 inch guns of Renown were added to the avalanche of 14 inch shells of King George fifth and the 16 inch shells of Rodney and the Bismarck was overwhelmed by sheer weight of broadsides fired at her. Turned into a blazing wreck she still bravely fought on until all her guns were silenced and even then refused to surrender. Finally the cruiser Dorsetshire was sent in to sink her with torpedoes. The British navy had exacted revenge for the sinking of the Hood.
However the German ship had put up a gallant fight and this was acknowledged by Admiral John Tovey of the British Home fleet when he said, "The Bismarck put up a most gallant fight against impossible odds, .... She went down with her colours still flying."
Britain had lost the pride of her fleet, the Hood; but Germany's loss of her only new battleship was a far greater blow. England already had three new battleships almost completed and three new aircraft carriers well on the\way, whereas Germany had only one battleship building to augment her already far inferior fleet of capital ships
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