GERMAN BATTLESHIP BISMARCK

The German battleship '''Bismarck''' is one of the most famous warships of the Second World War. The lead ship of her class, she was named after the 19th-century German chancellor Otto von Bismarck. ''Bismarck's'' fame came from the Battle of the Denmark Strait in May 1941 (in which the battlecruiser HMS ''Hood'', flagship and pride of the British Royal Navy, was sunk), from Churchill's subsequent order to ''"Sink the Bismarck"'' [1], and from the relentless pursuit by the Royal Navy that ended with her loss only three days later.

History

Design of the ship started in the early 1930s, following on from Germany's development of the pocket battleship ''Deutschland'' class cruisers and the ''Gneisenau'' class "battlecruisers". Construction of the second French ''Dunkerque'' class battleship made redesign necessary, and ''Bismarck's'' displacement was increased to 41,700 tons. Officially, however, her tonnage was 35,000 tons to suggest parity with ships built within the limits of the Anglo-German Naval Agreement (1935) that allowed Germany to build up to five 35,000-ton battleships, the maximum displacement agreed by the major powers in the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922. Fully laden, ''Bismarck'' and her sister-ship ''Tirpitz'' would each displace more than 50,000 tons. The prototype of the proposed battleships envisaged under Plan Z, ''Bismarck's'' keel was laid down at the Blohm + Voss shipyard in Hamburg on 1 July 1936. She was launched on 14 February 1939 and commissioned on 24 August 1940 with ''Kapitän zur See'' Ernst Lindemann in command.
This formidable ship was intended primarily as a commerce raider, having a broad beam for stability in the rough seas of the North Atlantic and fuel stores as large as those of battleships intended for operations in the Pacific Ocean. Still, with eight 15 inch main guns in four turrets, substantial welded-armour protection and designed for a top speed of not less than 29 knots (she actually achieved 30.1 knots in trials in the calmer waters of the Baltic, an impressive speed when set against any comparable British battleship), ''Bismarck'' was capable of engaging any enemy battleship on reasonably equal terms. Her range of weaponry could easily decimate any convoy she encountered. The plan was for ''Bismarck'' to break through into the spacious waters of the North Atlantic, where she could refuel from German tankers and (the Germans hoped) remain undetected by British and American aircraft, submarines and ships, while attacking the convoys.

Combat history

Breakout into the Atlantic

''Bismarck'' sailed on her first and only mission, codenamed ''Rheinübung'' (Rhine Exercise) on 18 May 1941, accompanied by the heavy cruiser ''Prinz Eugen''. Other capital ships, including the battlecruisers ''Gneisenau'' and ''Scharnhorst,'' that were to have participated in the sortie were unavailable because of mechanical problems and war damage; and plans to use ''Bismarck's sister ship, ''Tirpitz'', were shelved because she had not yet finished sea trials. Despite these setbacks, the mission went ahead under the command of Admiral Günther Lütjens. The Germans had various objectives: destroy as much Allied shipping as possible and force the British to suspend convoys, even temporarily; compensate for their weak submarine presence in the Atlantic; divert British naval forces from the Mediterranean to reduce the risks of the planned invasion of Crete and to allow Rommel and his forces to cross to Libya.
The British Admiralty had already suspected that a breakout was likely and ''Bismarck's'' departure was confirmed for them from a combination of ''Ultra'' intelligence (deciphered Enigma code messages), a report from the Swedish cruiser Gotland that had sighted the battleship and the Norwegian resistance. Three days later, she was photographed by a Spitfire reconnaissance aircraft while resting in a Norwegian fjord (Grimstadfjorden, near Bergen). A subsequent bombing raid by the RAF proved fruitless as the Germans had already left. Royal Navy cruisers and other warships were deployed to watch the various routes she could take into the Atlantic.
Heading north, then north-west, the German fleet made good and largely uneventful progress across the Norwegian Sea towards Greenland and the Denmark Strait between Iceland and Greenland, the gateway into the Atlantic. While in waters to the north of the Arctic Circle, it remained undetected by British air reconnaissance, which was too far south. With a mind on convoy-raiding, Lütjens was hopeful of an easy breakout into the Atlantic, aided by foggy weather, but his plans were to be frustrated. On the evening of 23 May, his force was detected by the radar-equipped heavy cruisers HMS ''Suffolk'' and ''Norfolk'', that had been patrolling the Denmark Strait in the expectation of a German breakout. The rival ships exchanged fire but the heavily outgunned British cruisers sensibly retired to a safe range and shadowed the enemy while their own heavy units drew closer. However, Bismarck's forward radar had malfunctioned as the result of her heavy guns firing. This obliged Lütjens to order ''Prinz Eugen'' to move ahead of ''Bismarck'' in order to provide the squadron with forward radar coverage. This decision was later to confuse the converging British forces as to the identity of each German ship, their silhouettes being similar.

Battle of the Denmark Strait

The ''Bismarck'' as seen from ''Prinz Eugen'', firing at HMS Prince of Wales during the Battle of the Denmark Strait, shortly after the sinking of HMS Hood, 24 May 1941.

At approximately 05.30 on Saturday 24 May, as the German squadron was about to leave the Denmark Strait, ''Prinz Eugen's'' hydrophones detected the presence of two additional ships some distance to port. By 05.45 both were in sight, although the German fleet had not yet identified the enemy force. In reality, it was a British battle-group comprising the new battleship ''Prince of Wales'', and the battlecruiser ''Hood'', under the command of Rear Admiral Lancelot Holland. ''Prince of Wales'' had only recently been completed and was still being worked up (indeed, she sailed to meet ''Bismarck'' with about 100 civilian workers still on board completing her fitting-out). ''Hood'' had been built as a battlecruiser and modified to give her protection more like a battleship, but still had relatively weak deck armour. That other British ships had detected them was not unexpected by the Germans but that they would turn out to be capital ships was a nasty surprise.
At 05.49 Holland ordered fire to be concentrated on the leading German ship, ''Prinz Eugen'', believing it to be ''Bismarck''. Fortunately for the British, the captain of ''Prince of Wales'' was soon to realise the error and changed his target. Holland amended his order on the correct ship to be engaged but this did not reach ''Hood's'' gunnery control before the first salvo. ''Hood'' fired first at 05.52, in daylight, followed very soon afterwards by ''Prince of Wales''. The range to the German ships was c. 12.5 miles.
More than two minutes went by without a reply from the Germans, before Captain Lindemann ordered fire to be returned on the lead British ship. This was the ''Hood'', which the Germans had identified only when the British squadron made a turn towards them at 05.55. This manoeuvre was undertaken, it appears, in an attempt to place themselves in the "zone of immunity". Closer in, the ''Hood'' would be less vulnerable to plunging fire and the advantage of superior German gunnery control would be lessened. The disadvantage was that, during the dash, eight of the eighteen British heavy guns could not be brought to bear.
Both ''Bismarck'' and ''Prinz Eugen'' opened fire on the ''Hood'', at a range of 11 miles. The early gunfire from the German ships was very accurate and within two minutes the ''Hood'' had been hit by an 8″ shell from ''Prinz Eugen''. It struck the British ship near the mainmast and caused a large fire which the ''Hood's'' crew tried to bring under control. However, ''Bismarck'' had also been hit by the ''Prince of Wales'', causing a fuel leak from the forward tanks; therefore Lütjens ordered his cruiser to switch its guns towards the ''Prince of Wales'', which his own secondary guns were now targeting. At 06.00 ''Hood'', which was about to turn to port to bring her full weight of armament to bear on ''Bismarck'', was hit amidships by at least one shell from ''Bismarck'' at a distance of under 9 miles. Very shortly afterwards observers on both sides saw a huge jet of flame race skywards, followed by a rumbling explosion that split the huge ship in two. Splinters rained down on ''Prince of Wales'', 400 yards away. The ''Hood's'' stern rose and sank shortly before the bow, all within three minutes. Admiral Holland and 1,415 crewmen went down with the ship. Only three men (Ted Briggs, Bob Tilburn and Bill Dundas) survived this disaster. They were rescued about two hours later by the destroyer ''Electra''. The British Admiralty later concluded that the most likely explanation for the loss of the ''Hood'' was a penetration of her magazines by a single 15″ shell from ''Bismarck,'' causing the subsequent catastrophic explosion. Recent research by submersible craft suggests that the initial explosion could have been in the aft 4″ magazine, followed by the aft 15″ magazine and that it also spread to the forward 15″ magazines via the starboard side ammunition passage.
''Prince of Wales'' had to turn towards the German fleet to avoid hitting the wreckage left by the flagship and was hit a number of times by gunfire from both German ships. Still, her own gunfire had caused damage to the ''Bismarck''. The British battleship turned away, laying smoke, her aft turret firing briefly under local control. She had received 7 hits (3 of them from ''Prinz Eugen'') and mechanical failures had left her with all but one of her main guns out of action. ''Bismarck'' and ''Prinz Eugen'' were forced into emergency manoeuvres when they believed they had detected the sounds of torpedoes and then by the appearance of a ''Sunderland'' flying-boat. Although Captain Lindemann wanted to chase ''Prince of Wales'' and "finish her off", Admiral Lütjens ignored his suggestions since delay risked the possibility of encountering more warships and prejudiced his main task of convoy destruction. Incredibly, in a battle lasting less than 20 minutes ''Bismarck'', with her impressive consort punching far above her weight, had destroyed one capital ship and forced another to turn away, something almost unknown in the Royal Navy and which was to cause the Admiralty to hold a special board of inquiry.
Faulty intelligence had led the Germans to believe that ''Prince of Wales'' was not yet ready for action, therefore reports from ''Bismarck'' referred to her as ''King George V'', the first of that class, which had been active for some months.
Despite the jubilation onboard the ''Bismarck'', the battleship was not safe. The British knew her position; her forward radar was out of action (a consequence of the skirmish with the British cruisers the previous day) and she had received three hits, one of which caused water to leak into and contaminate fuel oil in storage. From then on, she had to reduce speed to a maximum of 20 knots to conserve fuel. Lütjens eventually decided that he would have to head for the French coast (the dry-dock in St Nazaire) for repairs. The British continued to shadow her, the ''Prince of Wales'' having rendezvoused with ''Norfolk'' and ''Suffolk''. At one stage ''Bismarck'' rounded briefly on her pursuers, in order to give ''Prinz Eugen'' the opportunity to detach and escape with the message: "Good hunting".

The Chase

Determined to avenge the sinking of ''Hood'', the British committed every possible unit to hunting down ''Bismarck''. During the early evening of 24 May an attack was made by a small group of Swordfish biplane torpedo bombers from No. 825 Naval Air Squadron of the aircraft carrier ''Victorious''. One hit was scored resulting in a single fatality (''Bismarck's'' first); however, the blast caused only superficial damage to ''Bismarck’s'' armoured belt.
For some time ''Bismarck'' remained under long-distance observation by the British. At about 03.00 on 25 May, the ship took advantage of her opponents' zig-zagging and performed an almost three-quarter clockwise turn behind her pursuers to escape towards the east and then south-east. Contact was lost for four hours; however, perhaps in awe of British radar capabilities, it appears that the Germans did not realize their good fortune. For reasons still unclear, Lütjens transmitted a half-hour radio message to HQ, which was intercepted thereby giving the British time to work out roughly where he was heading. However, a plotting error made onboard King George V, now in pursuit of the Germans, incorrectly calculated ''Bismarck’s'' position and caused the chase to veer too far north. ''Bismarck'' was therefore able to make good time on 25 May/26 May in her unhindered passage towards France and protective air cover and destroyer escort. By now, though, fuel was becoming a major concern to both sides.
The British had a stroke of luck on 26 May. In mid-morning a Royal Air Force Coastal Command Catalina reconnaissance aircraft from 209 Squadron, which had flown over the Atlantic from its base on Lough Erne in Northern Ireland across Donegal through a small corridor secretly provided by the Éire government [2], spotted ''Bismarck'' (via her oil-slick) and reported her position to the Admiralty. From then on, the German ship's position was known to the British, although the enemy would have to be slowed significantly if heavy units hoped to engage it out of range of German aircraft protection. All British hopes were now pinned on Force H, whose main units were the aircraft-carrier ''Ark Royal'', the old battlecruiser ''Renown'' and the cruiser ''Sheffield''. This battle-group, commanded by Admiral James Somerville, had been diverted north from Gibraltar.
At dusk that evening, and in atrocious weather conditions, Swordfish from ''Ark Royal'' launched an attack. The first wave mistakenly targeted the ''Sheffield'' that was by now shadowing the quarry. Although precious time was lost by this incident, it proved beneficial to the British in that the magnetic detonators on the torpedoes used against ''Sheffield'' were seen to be defective and for the following attack on ''Bismarck'' were replaced by those designed to explode on contact. In a final attack, almost in darkness at around 21.00, a "miracle" hit by a single torpedo (launched by pilot John Moffat's plane) jammed ''Bismarck's'' rudder and steering gear. This rendered her virtually unmanoeuvrable, able only to steam in a large circle in the general direction of ''King George V'' and ''Rodney'', two frontline battleships that had been pursuing ''Bismarck'' from the west. The largest and most powerful warship yet commissioned had now been rendered a sitting-duck by a single aircraft. After extensive efforts to free the jammed rudders, the fleet command finally acknowledged their by-now impossible position in several messages to naval headquarters. Lütjens promised that the ship would fight until its last shell was spent.
Throughout that night, ''Bismarck'' was the target of incessant torpedo attacks by the Tribal-class destroyers ''Cossack'', ''Sikh'', ''Maori'' and ''Zulu'', with the Polish ''Piorun''. Neither side scored a hit but the constant worrying tactics of the British helped wear down the morale of the Germans and deepened the fatigue of an already exhausted crew.

Sinking

Main articles: Last battle of the battleship Bismarck

On the morning of Tuesday 27 May 1941 ''Rodney'' and ''King George V'' drew closer to ''Bismarck'', with their enemy well illuminated by the morning sun in the background. ''Rodney'' steered to the north so that her gunfire would work the length of ''Bismarck'', while ''King George V'' took the side. They opened fire just before 09:00. ''Bismarck'' returned fire, but her inability to steer and her list to port severely affected her shooting capacity. Her low speed of seven knots also made her an easy target and she was soon hit several times, with heavy cruisers ''Norfolk'' and ''Dorsetshire'' adding their firepower. One salvo destroyed the forward control post, killing most of the senior officers. Within half an hour, ''Bismarck's'' guns were all but silent and she was even lower in the water. ''Rodney'' now closed to point blank range (approx 3 km) to strike the superstructure while ''King George V'' fired from further out.
''Bismarck'' continued to fly its ensign. With no sign of surrender, despite the unequal struggle, the British were loath to leave the ''Bismarck''. Their fuel and shell supplies were low - a demonstration of how difficult it was for a battleship to sink a similar unit in even an unbalanced engagement. However, when it became obvious that their enemy could not reach port, ''Rodney'', ''King George V'' and the destroyers were sent home. ''Norfolk'' had used its last torpedoes, therefore ''Dorsetshire'' launched 3 × 21 in (533 mm) torpedoes which may have hit the ''Bismarck'' at comparatively short range. Although the battleship's upper works were almost completely destroyed, her engines were still functioning and the hull appeared to be relatively sound; therefore rather than risk her being captured, survivors have said the order to scuttle and then abandon ship was given. Many of the crew went into the water, but few sailors from the lower engine spaces got out alive. As Captain Lindemann was presumed killed with all officers after the bridge was hit by a 16 inch shell, it is unclear whether he could have given the order to scuttle. Some of the survivors, though, strongly believe they saw him going down alive with his ship.

The Final Battle , 27 May 1941. Surrounded by shell splashes Bismarck burns on the horizon

''Bismarck'' went under the waves at 10:39 that morning. Unaware of the fate of the ship, Group West, the German command base, continued to issue signals to ''Bismarck'' for some hours, until Reuters reported news from Britain that the ship had been sunk. In Britain, the House of Commons was informed of the sinking early that afternoon.
''Dorsetshire'' and ''Maori'' stopped to rescue survivors but a U-boat alarm caused them to leave the scene after rescuing only 110 ''Bismarck'' sailors, abandoning the surviving crew in the water. The next morning U-74, dispatched to try to rescue ''Bismarck's'' log-book (and which had heard sinking noises from a distance), and the German weather ship ''Sachsenwald'', picked up 5 survivors. In all, almost 2,100 German sailors had lost their lives.
After the sinking John Tovey said: "The ''Bismarck'' had put up a most gallant fight against impossible odds worthy of the old days of the Imperial German Navy, and she went down with her colours flying."

Aftermath

Over the years, the ship achieved near mythological status, and was popularized in 1960 by the film ''Sink the Bismarck!'' and Johnny Horton's hit song of the same title. The wreck of ''Bismarck'' was discovered on 8 June 1989 by Dr. Robert Ballard, the oceanographer also responsible for finding the ''Titanic''. ''Bismarck'' rests upright at a depth of approximately 4,700 m (15,500 ft) about 650 kilometres west of Brest. Analysis of the wreck showed extensive damage to the superstructure by shelling and some minor damage to the hull by torpedo hits, but also suggested that the Germans scuttled the ship to hasten its sinking. This has never been proven by marine investigators but is confirmed by survivors. Ballard has kept the exact location of the wreck a secret to prevent other divers from taking artifacts from the ship, a practice he considers a form of grave robbing.
A later dive on the wreck also identified the location, and brought back further images, as part of a documentary sponsored by the British Channel 4 on ''Bismarck'' and ''Hood''.
The documentary film '' (2002), directed by James Cameron and filmed using MIR submersibles, reconstructs the events leading to the sinking of ''Bismarck''. His findings were that there was not enough damage below the waterline of the ship to confirm that she was actually sunk by shells and torpedoes. In fact, upon close inspection of the wreckage, it was confirmed that none of the torpedoes or shells penetrated the second layer of the inner hull. Hence this supports the Germans' story of having scuttled their own ship.

Controversy

The second ''Bismarck'' expedition in 2001 was Anglo-American and funded by a UK TV channel. It followed-on from the same team's prior discovery of the long-lost wreckage of ''Hood'' which was located and filmed for the first time.
The Anglo-American team (David Mearns and Bill Jurens from the USA and Professor Eric Grove from the UK) conducted its own sonar survey from scratch to find the ''Bismarck'' wreck site, based solely on available information that it was resting at the foot of the only undersea volcano in that area. Then they used ROVs to film the hull externally and concluded that the ship sank due to combat damage, having received numerous artillery and torpedo hits from the British.
Ballard criticised this documentary, citing what he considered nationalistic, biased research of limited historic value due to lack of thoroughness. A new American expedition visited the site using smaller and more agile ROVs. These provided some interior shots of ''Bismarck'' for the first time, which were aired as part of a one-hour documentary film on the National Geographic Channel (NGC).
The third survey found no underwater penetrations of the ship's fully-armoured citadel and only four direct hit holes on it above the waterline, all of them on one side, as delivered by the ''Rodney's 16 inch (406 mm) guns. Each of those hits killed an estimated 150 to 200 sailors. Huge dents showed that the 14 inch (356 mm) shells fired by the ''King George V'' bounced off the ''Wotan'' type German belt armour[3]. Interior ROV footage showed that the "terrible destruction" the Anglo-American expedition reported was in fact the torpedo bulges, which were designed to absorb the energy of torpedoes and plunging shells. Underneath the torn bulge sheeting, the ship's 320 mm (12.6 inch) thick main belt armour appeared to be intact.
The American expedition's final conclusions were strikingly different from the findings of the Anglo-American team. They estimated that ''Bismarck'' could still float for at least a day when the British vessels ceased fire and could have been captured by the Royal Navy. They concluded the direct cause of sinking was due to self-scuttling, the sabotage of engine room valves by her crew, as claimed by German survivors. A detailed look at a modern computer analysis of the hull's eventual impact on the sea bottom explains some damage as a result of hydrodynamic impact shock inside the ship, which was still apparently girded by an uninterrupted curtain of armour.
In all 2,876 shells of various calibres were fired by the British ships. Approximately 300-400 hit. Only two hits fully penetrating the main armour were located. These holes were on the starboard side, suggesting that they were 16" shells from ''Rodney''. Two other penetrations were found on the port side, albeit above the main armor belt, and appeared to be 14" shells. In all 714 14 inch and 16 inch shells were fired by the two battleships, of which about 80 hit the Bismarck. Only four penetrated the belt. In successive hits main gun shells destroyed A turret, B turret, each director and the bridge.
It should be noted that when senior ''Bismarck'' survivor, the late Baron Von Mullenheim-Rechburg, was asked for his opinion on the controversy in a British television interview he simply replied politely: "Both sides sank the ''Bismarck''."

References

★ Burkhard Baron von Mullenheim-Rechberg, ''Battleship Bismarck, A Survivor's Story'' (United States Naval Institute, Annapolis, 1980).

★ Robert D. Ballard ''The Discovery of the Bismarck'' (Madison Publishing, Toronto, 1990). Describes the search effort for the wreck of the ''Bismarck'', and includes pictures of the wreck.

★ Jack Brower ''The Battleship Bismarck'' (Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, (Maryland), 2005) ISBN 1591140501 One of the "Anatomy of the Ship" series.

★ John Roberts ''The Battlecruiser Hood'' (Conway Maritime Press), 2001) ISBN 0-85177-900-x One of the "Anatomy of the Ship" series.

★ José M. Rico, ''The Battleship Bismarck. The Complete History of a Legendary Ship'' (KBismarck.com, 2004). PDF eBook describing the complete operational history of the Bismarck from inception to final demise with photos and drawings.

★ Admiralty report CB 04039(2) Immune zone analysis of Tirpitz, KGV, Nelson, and QE

★ Most recently (in 2006), the Bismarck was featured on an episode of the History Channel's "Dogfights" entitled "Hunt for the Bismarck".

External links

★ KBismarck.com - The Battleship Bismarck

★ Battleship Bismarck & Tirpitz - English

★ Bismarck Legend Lives

★ Maritimequest Bismarck photo gallery

★ Underwater footage of the Bismarck wreck

★ A detailed article about the armour protection of the Bismarck

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GERMAN BATTLESHIP BISMARCK

History

Combat history

Breakout into the Atlantic

Battle of the Denmark Strait

The Chase

Sinking

Aftermath

Controversy

See also

References

Further reading

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