"Does a carpenter care what color is his hammer?" - Stefan Alzis
"Give a child a hammer and everything becomes a nail." - Unknown

Sinking the Bismark

Michael Layne
Subject: More on the Bismarck
Date: Fri, 18 Dec 1998 02:35:28 EST

On Wed, 16 Dec 1998 22:51:34 -0500 (EST) The Man in Black
> 24 MAY 1941 - Bismarck blows up the Hood, and is sunk herself by
> Biplanes from the Arc Royal three nerve-wracking days later.
Bismarck and her consort, the "Hipper" class cruiser Prinz Eugen, were initially detected at 0725, 23 May 1941, by the "County" class cruiser HMS Suffolk, patrolling (together with her sister ship HMS Norfolk) in the Denmark Strait. The battlecruiser HMS Hood, the "King George V" class battleship "Prince of Wales", and six destroyers (Electra, Echo, Icarus, Antelope, Anthony, and Achates), had already been dispatched from their base at Scapa Flow, under VADM Lancelot E. Holland, for a possible intercept.

Suffolk ducked into a fog bank, and sent off a contact report, but it did not get through to the Admiralty.

About an hour later, the CO of the Norfolk miscalculated, and the cruiser exited a fog bank at about 6 miles (virtually point-blank range) from the Bismarck, and the first shots of battle were fired, from Bismarck's 15-inch guns.A salvo of shells straddled the Norfolk, but did not quite hit her, as she ducked back into the fog, but, as Theodore Taylor puts it in "HMS Hood vs. Bismarck", "It is an enlightening few seconds."

CPT Philips of the Norfolk made his own (slightly jittery) sighting report, and this was the one which finally reached the Admiralty at about 2100 hours -- the earlier report, by CPT Ellis of the Suffolk, had not gotten through. The two cruisers continued to follow Bismarck and Prinz Eugen at a range of thirteen miles, still within effective range of Bismarck's guns.

HMS Hood was over 20 years old by this time, and was something of a symbol of British naval supremacy. For years, at 46,300 T full load displacement, she was the largest and mightiest warship in the world. She was also overdue for a refit -- her armor protection was by then outdated, vulnerable to plunging fire, and the scheduled refit had been continually postponed after the start of the War to keep her in service. She was serving as VADM Holland's flagship, and was commanded by CPT Ralph Kerr.

Her companion, HMS Prince of Wales, commanded by CPT James Catteral Leach, was the RN's newest battleship -- so new, in fact, that shipyard workers were still aboard her, adjusting her 14-inch guns.

When Holland's force made contact with the two German ships, he chose to approach them almost bow-on, presenting minimum targets, but also blocking the firing arcs of his ships' aft turrets. He ordered fire concentrated on the lead ship, which he assumed was the "Bismarck". Aboard the Prince of Wales, CPT Leach and his gunnery officer realized that Holland had mistakedly selected the wrong ship as target (the "Bismarck" class battleship and the "Hipper" class cruiser did look a bit alike at a distance), and Leach ordered his gunners to concentrate on the second ship, the Bismarck.

They opened fire at 0553 on the 24th, CPT Lindemann of the Bismarck ordering fire concentrated on the Hood. The Germans scored two hits on the Hood, and one of the Prince of Wales' 14-inchers hit the Bismarck, to little visible effect. VADM Holland signaled a turn 20 degrees to port, to open out his two ships' aft firing arcs, and bring all turrets to bear.

As the British ships began the course change, a salvo splashed around the Hood, and then one plunged through that weak main deck, setting off 112 tons of powder in a magazine. A huge fireball erupted from the Hood, just aft of her second funnel, and bow and stern went up out of the water as the explosion blew the ship in half. Debris, some of it as large as gun turrets, was catapulted into the air, and munitions shot into the air to burst overhead like fireworks. Hood's main guns had fired just as the ship exploded, and her last salvo was still in the air as she sank. Prince of Wales had to make a quick course change so as not to run over the Hood's sinking wreckage. There were only three survivors from HMS Hood -- 1,418 officers and sailors, including VADM Holland and CPT Kerr, lost their lives in the explosion.

The Germans shifted targets to the Prince of Wales, which took seven hits in a matter of minutes. One of these shells struck the bridge, killing everyone there except CPT Leach and his chief signalman. The battleship's 14-inch guns were malfunctioning, and CPT Leach quite justifiably broke off the action and retired behind a smoke screen to make necessary repairs.

The Royal Navy found the report that "Hood has blown up" to be unbelievable (the Admiralty initially figured someone had sent the wrong code group, and the "real" news was "Hood damaged" or "Hood speed reduced"), and it took a second message to confirm the news. Another message shortly afterward reported the Prince of Wales had joined up with the Norfolk and Suffolk, trailing the Germans, and was making repairs. Also, one of the Bismarck's oil tanks had apparently been hit during the battle, and she was leaving a trail of oil on the ocean.

There were eleven convoys at sea -- one of them carrying 20,000 troops -- and the Admiralty considered it imperative the Bismarck be prevented from wreaking havoc upon them. Every suitable British warship even remotely within possible range was sent toward her reported position, at full speed.

Force H, under VADM James Somerville, was sent from Gibraltar -- the carrier Ark Royal, the old battlecruiser Renown, the cruiser Sheffield, and six destroyers. The ancient battleship Ramilles was diverted from escort duty and sent to assist. The battleship Rodney, headed for a badly needed refit in Boston, was ordered to intercept duty, while in Halifax, Nova Scotia, the battleship Revenge got up steam and headed to sea. The cruiser London broke off from the convoy she was escorting, and joined the hunt, as did HMS Edinburgh, on her station near the Azores. A good distance behind Hood and Prince of Wales, units of the Home Fleet -- including the battleship King George V (ADM Tovey's flagship) and carrier HMS Victorious, had set out from Scapa Flow, and were heading to intercept at full speed.

By 0800 on the 24th, ADM Lutjens, aboard Bismarck, had decided to order the Prinz Eugen to break off and operate independently, while the damaged Bismarck proceeded east to St. Nazaire, location of the nearest drydock (in German hands) capable of docking the battleship. Besides the oil leak, the Bismarck had some flooding forwards, some generators and boilers out of action, some pump-rooms flooded (making 1,000 T of oil in some forward tanks unusable), and the ship's speed was reduced to 28 knots. Lutjens intended to have the damage repaired, then head out again to have another go at convoy raiding in the Atlantic. Prinz Eugen successfully broke away at about 1800, under cover of darkness and a heavy rain squall.

At 2330, a flight of nine Fairey Swordfish biplane torpedo-bombers dispatched from HMS Victorious sighted the Bismarck, with the help of airborne radar, and commenced their attack. They briefly mistook the nearby US Coast Guard cutter Modoc for their target, but luckily didn't fire. Modoc was close enough to Bismarck that she is nearly hit by some of the battleship's AA fire a little later, and the Coast Guardsmen had a "ringside seat", for the first air attack of a battleship at sea. The Swordfish reported at least one hit before heading back to their carrier.

At about 0300 on the 25th, the Bismarck managed to lose the British ships trailing her. Unfortunately for him, Lutjens wasn't sure he had shaken the Royal Navy, and, at 0852, broke radio silence to send an action report to Berlin.

The RDF stations in Britain profusely thanked the Admiral for all his wordiness (about 200 words in the message) and attempted to get a good radio fix on his course. Unfortunately, Tovey's staff then attempted to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, by accidentally pulling out the wrong chart, to plot the bearings -- causing the pursuers to head for a false position!

Repulse and Ramilles have had to drop out of the chase due to low fuel. Within 48 hours, many of the remaining ships would have to do the same.

The chart error was finally discovered at 1800, by which time low fuel had forced Suffolk, Prince of Wales, and Victorious to break off.

At 1030, on the 26th, a RAF Catalina flying boat sighted the Bismarck. At 1330, Somerville ordered HMS Sheffield, a cruiser from his task force, to leave Force H and advance to shadow the Bismarck during the evening. News of this was somehow delayed from reaching the Ark Royal, until after some 14 Swordfish were on their way.

They were briefed there was no other ship out there, so when they sighted a large warship, they assumed it must be the Bismarck, and commenced their attack. CPT C.A. Larcomb of the Sheffield wasn't worried... ("Don't worry, those are our chaps! We'll just wave them on to the ruddy Bismarck and -- Oh, I say! They're aiming directly for _us_!")

Most of the torpedoes exploded almost immediately upon splashing down, and the Sheffield was luckily able to evade those which didn't self-destruct. Now, some of the British pilots recognized the ship they had just attacked, and, as they formed up to head home, an urgent radio message was received from the Ark Royal to its Swordfish: "WATCH OUT FOR SHEFFIELD"! :)

The only good thing about this little episode was that it demonstrated that the magnetic exploders installed in the torpedoes were unreliable. The next air strike would use torpedoes with the old-style contact detonators.

By 2000 hours, the Swordfish were back over the Sheffield again, and CPT Larcom signaled "The enemy is 12 miles directly ahead". About 2030, they were back over the Sheffield again, asking for better directions.

At 2055, they commenced their attack on the Bismarck, thirteen Swordfish dropping their torpedoes successfully. Two hits were scored -- one relatively harmless strike on the thickest part of the armor belt, and one hit aft at the rudders and screws.

Both rudders were jammed left 12 degrees, and nothing the German damage control parties tried could free them. Steering the ship with the engines proved less than completely successful, and the Bismarck began to circle back toward her pursuers. At 2140, Lutjens sent a message to Berlin: "SHIP UNABLE TO MANEUVER. WE WILL FIGHT TO THE LAST ROUND. LONG LIVE THE FUHRER."

By 0840 on the 27th, the Norfolk, King George V, Rodney, and Dorsetshire had closed to gun range, and opened fire on the Bismarck. By 1000, Bismarck's guns were knocked out, and she was on fire. HMS Rodney was firing 16-inch salvoes into her from 3,000 yards range, virtually point-blank. The cruiser Dorsetshire put three torpedoes into the Bismarck, and, at 1039, the German battleship at last rolled over on her side and sank, 400 miles off Brest, France. About 3,000 shells and 23 torpedoes had been fired at the Bismarck during the action, and some naval historians consider it possible that she sank from a combination of British gunfire and her crew scuttling her, rather than just gunfire. Some 2,000 German officers and men were lost with her, including ADM Lutjens and CPT Lindemann.

Michael
theherald@juno.com


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