The Hunt Begins

This is my forth out of five hubs on the Bismarck.

The loss of the HMS Hood to the Bismarck was a disaster for the British people. The Hood was the pride of the Royal Navy. Even worse, the sinking of the ship resulted in the deaths of over 1,400 crew members. Out of all the crew, only three men were rescued from the wreckage.

The British wanted revenge. They wanted the Bismarck.

The Bismarck had decided to retreat following the Battle of Denmark Strait. Having taken damage to its bow, it had taken on water, blocking access to its leaking forward fuel tank; it had no choice but to retreat to St. Nazaire, France.

However, the Bismarck had a great enough lead over its British pursuers that they couldn’t catch up. Damaged as it was, the Bismarck could still reach a speed of 27 knots. With the growing British fleet caught up in an anti-submarine zigzag pattern, they didn’t have a chance to catch Bismarck.

A bit of unconventional warfare was needed. The HMS Victorious, an aircraft carrier, had to be used. Although considered standard warfare today, the use of aircraft, particularly naval aircraft was unusual in 1941. The use of the Victorious was clearly an act of desperation.

Despite being the only hope at the time, the Victorious was ill-equipped and in a poor position to attack the Bismarck. For starters, it was over 100 miles away from the Bismarck when it launched its planes. Beyond that, the torpedo bombers of the Victorious were outdated designs. The Fairey Swordfish torpedo bombers were slow bombers with limited maneuverability and range. With a top speed of about 100 knots, their chasing down the 27 knot Bismarck would be a troublesome task.

On May 24, the nine Swordfish bombers eventually tracked down the Bismarck, unloading their munitions on the battleship. The battleship fired all weapons on the tiny planes, including the main battery. The Swordfish scored several torpedo hits, but inflicted no significant damage to the warship.

On May 25^th, the Bismarck looped starboard about 270 degrees. This unexpected and unnoticed turn allowed the Bismarck finally evade the pursing Prince of Wales, Norfolk, and Suffolk. The Bismarck slipped away to the southeast as the British fleet fumbled around in a vain attempt to relocate the battleship.

Taking off from Lough Erne, Northern Ireland, a Catalina Flying Boat reacquired the Bismarck's position. The Bismarck damaged the Catalina, but the flying boat managed to escape. Relocating the Bismarck was obviously good news for the Royal Navy, but the battleship was now a full 150 miles away from its pursers. Making things worse, the pursuing fleet was running low on fuel. HMS Prince of Wales, Victorius, Repulse, and Suffolk had to break off their pursuit.

Only a few ships remained on the hunt. The Norfolk could still keep up the chase. The HMS Ramillies, a Revenge Class leftover battleship from the first world war, was also on the chase. Further to the east, the HMS Rodney, a Nelson class battleship, stood between Bismarck and France. Despite this position, no battleship was in a good position to reach the Bismarck. Only two ships were in range. The HMS Renown, a Renown class battlecruiser and the HMS Sheffield, a light cruiser. Unfortunately, these two ships would not stand a chance against the German super-battleship. The order was not given to attack.

Although the traditional warships were out of range, one more ship was capable of attacking. The HMS Ark Royal, an aircraft carrier traveling with the Renown and Sheffield, was within range to attack the Bismarck.

The Ark Royal had the same limited Fairey Swordfish torpedo bombers as the HMS Victorious. With this being everything the British could safely throw at the Bismarck, the Swordfish flew off into battle.

Due to an almost inconceivable turn of events, the Swordfish bombers stumbled across the HMS Sheffield, which had moved ahead to track the Bismarck. The bombers attacked the Sheffield, which refrained from firing back. Fortunately, a combination of faulty torpedoes and evasive maneuvers from the Sheffield prevented damage to the cruiser.

The Swordfish returned to the Ark Royal, restocked their torpedoes and resumed their pursuit of the Bismarck. On May 26^th, the Swordfish reached the German warship. The British pilots flew through the flak of the warship and launched their torpedoes. The Bismarck managed to evade a majority of the attacks, but a single vital strike from the port side managed to damage the Bismarck.

The torpedo managed to strike the rear of the ship, jamming the rudder 12 degrees to port. Although the majority of the Swordfish failed to inflict damage, the one torpedo crippled the Bismarck. Not only would the Bismarck not make it to France, but was completely unable to maneuver. It was a sitting duck.

The Bismarck was stuck and the Royal Navy was closing in.