Feb 1939 – May 1941 The Battleship Bismarck
Commissioned in Feb 1939 the battleship Bismarck was considered a marvel of engineering and the crowning achievement of Hitler’s engineers and shipbuilders. May 18th, 1941 the German battleship Bismarck and heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen set sail with orders to break out into the Atlantic to attack Allied convoys carrying much needed supplies and ammunition from the United States to Great Britain. Three days later the British were alerted by sources in Sweden that the two ships and been spotted heading for the North Sea. On May 21st, 1941 taking advantage of foul weather the German ships departed undetected and headed for the Denmark Strait located between Greenland and Iceland. The Commander of the British Home Fleet, Admiral Sir John Tovey was determined to track, catch and sink the Bismarckbefore it had a chance to be unleashed in the open waters of the Atlantic. To support this effort he ordered two cruisers HMS Suffolk and HMS Norfolk to patrol the Denmark Strait and he also dispatched the battle cruiser HMS Hood, the new battleship HMS Prince of Wales and six destroyers to assist in this patrol. Realizing the fire power that Bismarck could bring to bear (reports stated that the ships guns could start to fire shells at distances of 15 miles or more and were very accurate) with additional ships HMS King George V, aircraft carrier HMS Victorious, four cruisers and seven destroyers to blanket the area in search of the Bismarck. The Hood’s group of ships found the Bismarck early on the morning of the 24th of May, 1941 and moved to intercept them. Electing not to wait on the reinforcements being brought by Tovey the Hood under Admiral Holland opened fire on the Bismarckand the Prince of Wales assisted. Within ten minutes of the engagement the Bismarck shells struck the Hood causing a massive explosion that tore the ship in two. Historians believe that this explosion was caused by the shells hitting and penetrating Hood’s deck armor and detonating a ammunition magazine. This map demonstrates the different path of engagements the ships took during the Battle of Denmark Strait.
With the Hood sunk this left the Prince of Wales alone to face the German dreadnought and her escort and even though she sustained four hits from the Bismarck and three from Prinz Eugen,Prince of Wales was able to hit the Bismarck three times damaging the catapult and forward fuel tanks and moderate flooding below decks. This damage would slow the Bismarck down enough for Admiral Tovey and the reinforcement fleet to catch her. Captains of both ships chose to break off the engagement to lick their wounds. Even as the Prince of Wales withdrew from the engagement the British realized with the Bismarck being slowed by the damage caused by the Prince of Wales, Tovey and the remainder of the British fleet would have a chance to catch the Bismarck alone (Prinz Eugen had been dispatched earlier to return to safe harbor as fast as possible) and through a combined effort sunk the Bismarck as it tried to reach safe harbor in Brest, France. The Bismarck was thought to be unsinkable and Germany believed that she would help her win the Battle for the Atlantic however the British seizing on an opportunity and brining the full might of her naval forces to bear on 27 May 1941 ended one of the most serious challenges that the German surface warships would make eventually losing to the British and Americans for supremacy in the Atlantic Ocean.
This short film shows the contruction and history of the Bismarck
The short film is actually from a 1960 movie entitled "Sink the Bismarck" and shows the destruction of HMS Hood
This last film is a song by Johnny Horton that puts this event to music.