Battle of Denmark Strait

This is my third of five hubs on the battleship Bismarck.

The Royal Navy heavy cruisers HMS Suffolk and HMS Norfolk, under the command of Rear-Admiral Frederick Wakewalker, managed to scare the small German fleet, under the command of Admiral Lütjens, out of the Denmark Strait. With the two cruisers pushing the German fleet south, the British had two warships lying in wait for the Bismarck and Prinz Eugen. These ships were the HMS Hood and the HMS Prince of Wales.

The Prince of Wales was a King George V class battleship, and the top of the line in the Royal Navy. The ship was so new that it was still undergoing sea trials when it took part in the Battle of Denmark Strait. Although inferior to the Bismark, this battleship was, at least in theory, capable of standing up to the Bismark.

The HMS Hood was a different story. The Hood was a relic from World War I. Making things worse, it wasn’t a true battleship, but a battlecruiser. A battlecruiser is a heavy cruiser with the weapons of a battleship. This makes battlecruisers disproportionally offensive, while lacking the heavy armor of true battleships.

The Royal Navy had some strange love of the battlecruiser concept. Battlecruisers were used heavily during World War I, and found their leftovers seeing service during WWII. The Royal Navy, apparently learned nothing from the Battle of Jutland in 1916 when British battlecruisers proved ineffective in a direct confrontation with dreadnaught battleships.

Despite the inferiority of the Hood to even the Prince of Wales, the Hood was considered the pride of the Royal Navy.

The pursing cruisers, Norfolk and Suffolk were too far away to catch up in time to see the beginning of the battle, but planned to arrive in time to participate. If all four British ships were in place, it would mean that the Hood and Prince of Wales would engage the Bismarck, while the Norfolk and Suffolk would take on the Prinz Eugen. This was an ambitious plan.

On May 24, 1941 the Bismarck and Prinz Eugen sailed into the range of the Hoods 15 inch main battery. The Hood fired first, at the wrong ship. The Hood fired on the Prinz Eugen instead of the Bismarck. This was likely due to the fact that the Bismarck and the Prinz Eugen looked very similar from a distance. The Prince of Wales did not make the same mistake, firing on the Bismarck. Soon the Hood switched targets, with both ships firing on the Bismarck.

The British ship’s salvos were not returned. At first, the Germans attempted to shake their attackers, avoiding an unnecessary battle. However, this strategy didn’t work. Eventually the German ships returned fire on the British.

Despite the plans of the Norfolk and Suffolk to join the battle, they failed to do so. Both cruisers simply watched the battle unfold.

A mere six minutes into the battle, the Hood turned to port in an attempt to expose all eight of its main guns to lay heavier firepower down on the Bismarck. This mistake exposed the broad side of the battlecruiser to fire. The Bismarck fired a salvo from its 15 inch main battery, with at least one shell striking the deck of the Hood. The explosive shell stuck the ready power magazine below the turret, triggering an explosion which blasted the ship in half.

As the Hood sank below the ocean waves, its forward 15 inch battery fired one last time. This was possibly the gunnery crew’s last valiant attempt to fight back just before their deaths.

The HMS Prince of Wales was now alone in the battle against both the Bismarck and the Prinz Eugen. The Prince of Wales made one turn to port, passing by the bow of the quickly sinking Hood, and retreated from the battle.

The Prince of Wales was damaged. Primarily, the Prince of Wales had a malfunction with one of its main turrets. Crippled, it fled the scene of the battle.

The German warships gave chase for a short time, but then allowed the crippled battleship to escape. The Bismarck had not won unharmed. The Bismarck had suffered a hit from the Prince of Wales which flooded portions of this battleship. This forced the bow of the ship down into the ocean, slowing the Bismarck’s speed. It also cut off access to a forward fuel tank. Half of the Bismarck’s fuel was now inaccessible.

With the Bismarck damaged to the point where it could not complete its convoy raiding mission, the decision was made to split the German forces up. The Prinz Eugen would proceed into the Atlantic for its intended mission, while the Bismarck would retreat to St. Nazaire, France for repairs.

As the two ships split apart, the Norfolk, Suffolk, and the damaged Prince of Wales attacked. Although the ships exchanged fired, there were no hits recorded. During the confusion, the Prinz Eugen escaped into the Atlantic.

The British ships continued to follow the Bismarck until receiving a U-boat warning. At which point they began a zigzag pattern of movement with the intention of evading submarine activity. While zigzagging, the British were unable to keep up with the Bismarck, which kept a straight course. The Bismarck slipped past the British as it moved into the fog.