Blood in the Water

This is the last of my hubs on the battleship Bismarck.

The Bismarck was crippled. A Swordfish torpedo exploded on its rudder, locking it at 12 degrees to port. The crew of the Bismarck struggled to unjam the rudder, but it was a futile effort. If the Bismarck was to be salvaged, it would have to be towed into port, but with the Royal Navy was closing in. There was no way the British would let the Bismarck escape.

The Germans knew that they weren’t going to survive the battle. With the ship unable to maneuver, it wouldn’t be able to evade any attack that came its way and it was about to be attacked from multiple directions. The Bismarck crew attempted to launch its seaplane to safeguard its war diary and personal letters, but the catapult that launched the plane was damaged. The plane was never launched.

The British warships that closed on the Bismarck were the HMS King George V, Rodney, Norfolk, and Dorsetshire, a County class heavy cruiser.

On May 27, the Royal Navy engaged the Bismarck. The HMS Rodney attacked first, followed by King George V. Both battleships attacked from the port bow, preventing Bismarck from fighting with all of its guns. The Bismarck struggled to align its guns with the British ships but its performance was severely hampered. The Norfolk swings around to attack and the Dorsetshire arrived later.

The Bismarck attempted to defend itself, but its main battery was damaged and its weapons fire became intermittent.

Believing the destruction of the Bismarck to be a matter of national pride, the Rodney and King George V move in very close to the Bismarck. They move so close that their firing arc with their main battery had almost a direct line of fire. This had the effect of making the shots rip the superstructure to pieces, but keeping the hull mainly intact, since the shells would be unlikely to hit the ship at such a low point.

At some point during the battle, a shot from the Norfolk’s eight inch main battery pierced the armored bridge, killing Admiral Lütjens.

Eventually the Swordfish from the Ark Royal returned to the battle, but did not participate.

By the time the firing had stopped, the Bismarck was a floating wreck. It listed heavily to port and its stern was sinking. Not wanting to give the Germans an off chance of salvaging the ship, Admiral Tovey ordered any ship with torpedoes to fire them on the Bismarck. The Dorsetshire moved into position on the port side and fired off a torpedo. It then moved to the starboard side and fired another torpedo. The Bismarck sunk within minutes of the second impact.

Following the destruction of the Bismarck, the Dorsetshire stayed behind in order to collect survivors, but withdrew before completing its task because of a U-boat warning. Out of a crew of over 2000, the Dorsetshire was only able to rescue 110 crew members from the Atlantic Ocean.

Although the Bismarck had been destroyed in such a violent manner, many of the other ships involved fared no better by the end of the war. The Prince of Wales was suck by a Japanese air attack in December 1941, less than a year after being commissioned.

The HMS Ark Royal was sunk by a German U-boat in November of 1941, six months after fighting the Bismarck.

The HMS Dorsetshire was sunk in April of 1942 by Japanese bombers.

The Prinz Eugen survived the war only to be surrendered to the United States of America as part of Germany’s surrender. Commissioned as the USS Prinz Eugen, it was stationed at Bikini Atoll in July of 1946 where became a target ship for the testing of nuclear weapons. It survived both tests Abel and Baker where its irradiated hull sprung a leak and slowly sank by December of the same year.

The Bismarck had a short but intense life. After destroying the pride of the Royal Navy, the Bismarck became the subject of what was likely the largest manhunt in naval history for a single ship. The hunt for the Bismarck will likely never be forgotten.