Schlachtschiff F Bismarck - Sink the Bismarck
Bismarck's chief claim to fame came from the Battle of the Denmark Strait on May 24th, 1941 during which the battle cruiser HMS Hood, flagship and pride of the Royal Navy, was sunk within a few minutes. In response, Winston Churchill issued the subsequent order to "Sink the Bismarck," spurring relentless pursuit by the Royal Navy.
At noon on May 19, 1941, the German battleship Bismarck lay in Kiel Bay, about to set out on her first and last war cruise. Admiral Gunther Lutjens, who had been decorated with the Knight Insignia of the Iron Cross for his part in the Norwegian campaign, addressed the ship's company through the loud speaker system: "The day that we have longed for so eagerly has at last arrived--the moment when we can lead our proud ship towards the enemy. Our objective is commerce-raiding in the Atlantic, imperiling England's existence. . . . I give you the hunter's toast, 'good hunting and a good bag.'" Aboard the Bismarck, besides the admiral and his staff of 75, was a crew of about 2,200 officers and men and a special prize crew of about 80 men. The commanding officer was Kapitan z. See Ernst Lindemann.
In an attempt to continue their successes from earlier in the year, the Kriegsmarine sent battleship Bismarck and heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen on a raid into the Atlantic on 20 May 1941. Spotted by observers in the Kattegat (near Sweden) who quickly alerted the British, Royal Navy patrols were increased. The two warships subsequently were sighted by cruisers Suffolk and Norfolk in the Denmark Strait. Through skillful seamanship, the cruisers managed to shadow the German raiders and send in repeated spotting reports, allowing the Royal Navy's Battle Cruiser Squadron to close on the area.
On the morning of 24 May, the German warships were engaged by battleship Prince of Wales and battlecruiser Hood. As the British squadron closed the range, Bismarck and Prinz Eugen concentrated their fire on Hood. After a German salvo straddled the battlecruiser at a range of about 18,000 yards, Hood blew up in a huge explosion that erupted between her after funnel and the mainmast. Only three survivors from her company of 95 officers and 1,324 men were rescued. Outgunned and damaged by German shell hits that followed almost immediately, Prince of Wales broke off the action and retired under a smoke screen.
The German battleship, however, had not escaped unharmed. Two 14-inch shells from Prince of Wales had hit Bismarck, one of which caused a fuel leak and contaminated several oil bunkers with salt water. Unable to contemplate continuing her mission, Bismarck turned southeast and headed for Brest, in German-occupied France. Just after dusk, in order that the German cruiser might attack Allied shipping in the mid-Atlantic, Prinz Eugen broke away to the southwest and escaped. British naval forces continued to converge on the area and, just after midnight on 25 May, a strike by nine Swordfish aircraft launched from aircraft carrier Victorious managed to hit Bismarck with one torpedo. The damage proved minor, however, and the British prepared to launch another attack in the morning. Unfortunately, about an hour later both Suffolk and Norfolk lost contact with the German battleship, and she too slipped away in the darkness.
Many anxious hours passed for the British, particularly as they assumed wrongly that Bismarck was retiring to the northeast. All hopes for finding her again rested on the many warships closing the area or in the long-range patrols by Coastal Command aircraft squadrons flying out of Britain and Iceland. In addition, many American patrol aircraft, including patrol squadron VP-52 out of Argentia, flew long search patrols in the waters of the western Atlantic. All these air patrols were made more difficult and dangerous by high winds, rain squalls, and low cloud cover.
It was not until 1010 on 26 May that British luck changed. A British Catalina aircraft of No. 209 Squadron, piloted by US Navy observer Ensign Leonard B. Smith, USNR (US Naval Reserve), spotted Bismarck at a range of about eight miles. While Ensign Smith flew the aircraft and evaded accurate German antiaircraft fire, his British copilot radioed a report of the enemy warship's location.
Although the German battleship had avoided many British patrols and was only 670 miles northwest of Brest, she was still far from the safety of German Air Force (Luftwaffe) air cover. Still, it would prove difficult for the Royal Navy to catch Bismarck, as the British Battle Squadron was too far north. Fortunately for the British, the aircraft carrier Ark Royal in Force H from Gibraltar found herself southeast of Bismarck's reported location and directly in the path to Brest. Upon acknowledging the contact report, cruiser Sheffield was detached from Force H and ordered to find and shadow the enemy. Later that day, naval observer Lieutenant James E. Johnson in a British Catalina from No. 240 Squadron, relieved Smith's plane and maintained contact with the German battleship until Sheffield took up a shadowing position.
Following an abortive air strike that afternoon in which fourteen Swordfish mistakenly attacked (but missed) Sheffield, a second strike of fifteen Swordfish took off from Ark Royal at 1910 that evening. Over the next hour or so, in conditions of low clouds, strong winds, and fading daylight, the aircraft released thirteen torpedoes in a series of attacks against the German battleship. While the poor weather made these attacks difficult, it also threw off the aim of the German antiaircraft gunners, and no planes were lost. Two torpedoes struck Bismarck, one with little effect, but the other wrecked her steering gear and jammed the rudder. This lucky blow sealed her fate. Slowed to a crawl by the damage, Bismarck could no longer escape her converging pursuers.
After midnight on the 27th, one Polish and four British destroyers closed the range and made multiple torpedo attacks on Bismarck. A few hours after dawn, the British heavy warships steamed into view, and battleships King George V and Rodney engaged Bismarck at a range of 16,000 yards. German gunnery was inaccurate, probably owing to crew exhaustion, and after an hour and a half Bismarck was reduced to a blazing shambles. Torpedoed twice more, and eventually scuttled by her surviving crew, the German battleship sank some 300 nautical miles west of Ushant, France. Only 110 of her crew of 2,222 survived the sinking.
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