The sinking of BattleShip Bismarck may 1941

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saturdayson
October 17, 2009

The morning of Tuesday 27 May 1941 brought a heavy grey sky, a rising sea and a tearing wind from the north-west. Because of this north-westerly gale, Tovey concluded an attack on Bismarck from windward was undesirable. He decided to approach on a north-westerly bearing. Provided the enemy continued steering northwards, he would deploy to the south on an opposite course at a range of approximately 15,000 yards. Bismarck was sighted bearing 118 degrees, 25,000 yards distant.

Rodney and King George V drew closer to Bismarck in line abreast, 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 accuracy. Her low speed of seven knots also made her an easy target and she was soon hit several times, with the heavy cruisers HMS 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 fire into the superstructure while King George V fired from further out; her fire would strike the Bismarck from a more vertical angle and be more likely to penetrate the decks.

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 a balanced 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 four 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, Captain Lindemann gave the order to scuttle and then abandon ship[citation needed]. Most of the crew went into the water, but few sailors from the lower engine spaces got out alive.

Bismarck went under the waves at 10:39 hours 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 majority of Bismarcks 2,200 man crew to the mercy of the water. The next morning U-74, dispatched to try and rescue Bismarcks logbook (and which heard sinking noises from a distance), and the German weather ship Sachsenwald picked up five survivors.

After the sinking, Admiral 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."

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