Dogfights: Hunt for the Bismark: John "Jock" Moffat

From History Channel's great show Dogfights, Hunt for the Bismark episode.
Once upon a time, the German ship the Bismark was the biggest baddest ship to sail the seven seas until it met its fate at the hands of Her Magesty's Royal Navy. This clip shows Swordfish pilot John "Jock" Moffat who delivered the torpedo hit that crippled the Bismark's rudder which helped ensure it's destruction.
Truly one of the great episodes of WW2. Read up on it.


Be sure to watch the History Channel & don't forget you can buy the complete episode on DVD @ history.com.

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• WW2
• dogfights
• Bismark
• swordfish
• torpedo

[Pitcairn2]

John was 90 last week, I met him at his Birthday party, on Tuesday to photograph him for a magazine.. Nice old chap.

[duncr]

Canvas wrapped bi planes against the might of the German Navy. Take that Fritz!

[oldhatrs25]

GUTS

[jonnybottle]

@ellebal1111 But surely, Warspite was the best gunnery ship in any Navy. Check out its exploits at Matapan and D-Day plus something.

[jonnybottle]

@ellebal1111 What a coincidence - my Dad served on the destroyer HMS Racehorse in a flotilla led by the Richelieu in the India Ocean. It alternated as the flotilla leader with the Dutch Battleship Tromp. He told me that on the Racehorse they much preffered being led by the Tromp because the French Captain was always stirring up trouble bombarding Japanese airbases If they didn't do a thorough job they were set upon next day by the surviving aircraft..

[ellebal1111]

@jonnybottle A little know fact about battleships superiority is that the French Richelieu class battleship were superior to the Bismark and British ships in most regards, including fire power, armament, armor, main guns technology of firing solutions and radar uses for long range finding...check this site combinedfleet baddest keepers on google

[azimuth361]

This is why I don't read fiction. This REALLY happened! The true stories of heroes, real men, real stories, are better than what happens in the mind of any fiction writer. 'Pursuit', 'Ghost Soldiers', 'Neptune's Inferno', 'The Last Stand of the Tin Can Soldiers', '30 Seconds Over Tokyo' are better stories, TRUE stories than any piece of fiction I've ever found.

[jonnybottle]

What a great old Lad!!

[Seriphyn]

I heard this story from Jock Moffat himself, he was delivering a speech at Trafalgar Night in Aberdeen.

What this video didn't mention is what Jock saw after, which was the ship on its side, and sailors "just like us" drowning with no hope. It was a very powerful and moving speech for all of us.

[kohyuzhi]

@darkmossie633 

[darkmossie633]

i thought one freak torpedo hit had disabled rudder, jamming it, so Bismark could only go round in circles? -it was not other hits by Swordfish, but the rudder hit fatal?