Sink the Bismarck!
By March 1935 Adolf Hitler felt confident enough to test the restrictive limitations set by The Treaty of Versailles and embark on a sweeping expansion of the German armed forces, increasing naval recruitment and renaming the post-Weimar navy the Kriegsmarine. Bismarck was launched on 17 February 1939 with ostentatious ceremony, the christening of the ship performed by Dorothee von Lowenfeld, the granddaughter of the ship’s namesake, with Adolf Hitler in attendance. Upon completion an intense program of training commenced. On 15 September 1940, Bismarck sailed from Hamburg to conduct sea trials in the Baltic from her temporary base at Gotenhafn, returning to Hamburg on 5 December.
On 13 May Bismarck sailed to exercise in company with the heavy cruiser
Prinz Eugen then refuelling to capacity and taking on stores to last a period of three months. On the following day, Bismarck departed her anchorage in the bay of Gotenhafen and proceeded in company with Prinz Eugen and three destroyers Westwards on her maiden and final voyage. Heading north along the
Norwegian coast the small battle group arrived in Korsfjord near Bergen, finally anchoring in Grimstadfjord on 21 May from where the destroyer force detached. The Bismarck battle group’s mission, headed by Admiral Gunther Lutjens and codenamed Operation Rheinubung (Exercise Rhine), was calculated to capitalise on the recent successes in the Atlantic of Scharnhorst and Gniesenau. It would be Bismarck’s task to engage the escort vessels leaving her battlegroup free to savage the merchant shipping unhindered.
British Admiralty intelligence indicated that the Kriegsmarine was likely to commence a major surface operation in the Atlantic imminently. Aware that a combined battlegroup of all four
German ships would constitute an incalculable threat, plans were made to attack both Scharnhorst and Gneisenau while alongside their current berth in Brest. On 6 April a RAF Bristol Beaufort torpedoed Gneisenau striking her below the waterline and on the 10 April a further RAF bombing raid resulted in further damage and 72 crew killed, necessitating a six month period in dry dock for repairs. With Scharnhorst also out of commission until July due to extensive replacement of her boilers, the battlegroup now consisted solely of Bismarck and Prinz Eugen.
These new events were reassessed by Oberkommando der Marine in Berlin and while there were misgivings, Operation Rheinubung was given the green light.
The success of Rheinubung hinged on the German battlegroup breaking into the North Atlantic undetected. Their
United Kingdom, Poland
COMMANDERS
Rear Admiral John Tovey
Admiral Sir Frederick Dalrymple-Hamilton FORCES
1 aircraft carrier • 2 battleships • 2 heavy cruisers 1 light cruiser • 7 destroyers
825 Squadron Fairey Swordfish
RAF Coastal Command
CASUALTIES
1,421 killed and wounded
1 light cruiser damaged • 1 battle cruiser sunk
Admiral Tovey, unaware of the German vessel’s situation and fearful of losing Bismarck, made the decision to launch an airstrike and detached the carrier Victorious and four light cruisers to close with Bismarck in preparation for an attack. Just after 10pm, at a range of 193km, Victorious launched nine Fairey Swordfish, affectionately referred to in the Royal Navy as the stringbag, which came under fire from the German ship at a range of 10km. At approximately midnight, eight of the Swordfish proceeded to attack Bismarck in the face of a withering concentration of flak. By skilful use of the steering gear the first six torpedoes were evaded, however a 45cm Mk XII torpedo struck amidships in the main armour belt causing little damage but fatally flinging one of her crew across the deck, the first German casualty of the ongoing battle. Despite the heavy antiaircraft fire, all Swordfish safely regained the Victorious in the darkness, although two Fulmars were lost after running out of fuel. Throughout the early hours of 25 May, Bismarck and her pursuers exchanged gunfire which was ineffective due to lack of visibility and just after 3am she turned to starboard effecting a loop which brought her round to a course of 130 degrees heading for the French coast. The British task force, unaware, continued south thereby losing contact. It appears that Lutjens was oblivious to the fact that he had shaken off the hunters and at approximately 9am he signalled a long report detailing his current situation to Group West, thereafter maintaining radio silence.
Bismarck discovered
Bismarck’s transmissions had allowed the British forces to gauge her approximate position and on the morning of the 26th a Catalina of 209 Squadron Coastal Command sighted the German ship which immediately brought accurate fire to bear on the flying boat. A flight of 10 Fairey Swordfish were launched from Ark Royal to shadow Bismarck at a safe distance.
In the 31 hours since contact had been broken, Bismarck had put significant distance between herself and Tovey’s task force. Unless the German vessel's speed could be substantially reduced,
Tovey reasoned, she would escape.
The only British force capable of intercepting Bismarck at this stage was Somerville’s Force H, led by Ark Royal and accompanied by the battle cruiser Renown and light cruiser Sheffield, which had departed Gibraltar arriving in a blocking position east of Bismarck on the afternoon of 25 May. Both Tovey and Somerville concluded that the only practical course of action was to attempt a further air strike against Bismarck.
At 2.50pm, a flight of 15 Swordfish led by Lieutenant Commander Steward-Moore launched from Ark Royal but mistook Sheffield for Bismarck and the strike was hastily aborted. With dusk approaching, the British were only too aware that they had one final opportunity to stop the Bismarck. A further flight commanded by Lieutenant Coode was launched and, taking a range and bearing from Sheffield, dived to attack Bismarck, the Germans responding with heavy anti-aircraft fire. During the attack
at least one torpedo struck Bismarck port side amidships, while another exploded astern to starboard. The first torpedo caused negligible damage, but the hit to Bismarck’s stern jammed both rudders at 12 degrees to port, forcing the vessel to describe a circle before uncontrollably steering north-west into the wind. The fatal design flaw of adopting three rather than four drive shafts prevented Bismarck from making use of propeller steerage alone and possibly escaping.
The impact in the stern area flooded the steering compartment, necessitating repairs to be carried out under water. Divers entered the compartment but were unable to free the rudders due to the swell of the water inside. Although the damage to Bismarck was serious indeed, she was still fully functioning mechanically with all weapons systems intact but Lutjens was under no illusions as to the danger and likely end result. After engaging the Polish destroyer Piorun, without result, a series of signals transmitted to Group West concluded just before midnight with the message, ‘To the Führer of the German Reich, Adolf Hitler: We shall fight to the last man with confidence in you, my Führer, and with rock-solid trust in Germany’s victory!’
At 7.10am Bismarck sent her final message to Group West requesting a U-boat for the safe transfer of the ship’s war diary. She was steaming at seven knots, having taken on a list to port due to the flooded compartments aft. The British battleships, Rodney and King George V altered course, bringing them within visual range of Bismarck by 8.43am. Four minutes later they opened fire, Bismarck responding from forward turrets Anton and Bruno. Unable to train her aft turrets on the British battleships, Bismarck was fighting an uneven duel, her four guns against the 15 of the British ships, further augmented later by the guns of Norfolk.
The sheer weight of fire devastated the upper deck of Bismarck, severely damaging the forecastle, foremast and foretop rangefinder. By this time the
County class heavy cruiser Dorsetshire had also commenced firing and at 9.08am the forward rangefinder and turrets
Anton and Bruno were reported out of action. Fire control was reassigned to the after command post but this was swiftly damaged preventing further use and turrets Dora and Caesar engaged Rodney using local fire control, the British ship retaliating with a spread of six torpedoes all of which missed. A misfire effectively destroyed turret Dora and at 9.31am Caesar also fired for the last time, while turret Bruno was seen to explode and burn fiercely. The Bismarck, like a wounded tiger at bay, continued to fire with secondary armament which was also rapidly silenced and, at this point, Captain Lindemann gave the order to scuttle the ship.
Rodney now closed for the kill, firing all guns and two further torpedoes at short range into Bismarck which, remarkably, was still afloat. However, the devastation was now complete, her guns, all inoperable pointed haphazardly to the sky, her funnel and superstructure, peppered with holes, burned from end to end, while areas of the upper deck were described as resembling a ‘slaughterhouse’. At 10.16am Rodney ceased fire and Tovey embarked in King George V was forced to withdraw for lack of fuel. At 9.20am Ark Royal had launched a Swordfish strike force which, prudently, refrained from engaging Bismarck due to the heavy concentration of British fire. An hour later, Dorsetshire moved in to apply the coup de grace with two Mark
VII torpedoes both of which hit Bismarck to starboard but without any appreciative effect. Turning once more, Dorsetshire fired a final torpedo into the German vessels port side which was listing 20 degrees to port with water washing over the upper deck and at 10.39am, Bismarck rolled over and sank. Admiral John Tovey later paid tribute with the words, “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.”
Some 800 of Bismarck’s crew abandoned ship but most did not survive. Approximately 116 were recovered by Maori and Dorsetshire but the British rescue attempt was called off after reports of a U-Boat sighting. Of the 2,200 crew, over 2,000 were lost, including both Lutjens and Lindemann.
Just after 11am, Sir Winston Churchill rose to his feet in the House of Commons, having been handed a note by a member of the parliamentary staff. “Gentlemen,” he stated to roars of approval, “I have just received news that the Bismarck is sunk.”