World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseOn 18 May, German Grand Admiral Erich Raeder called for more surface units to raid British shipping. The battleship Bismarck and heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen, both newly commissioned and on their first combat mission, were sent from the Baltic Sea toward the Denmark Strait. The action was code named Operation Rheinübung and was commanded by Admiral Günther Lütjens. Originally, additional ships were dispatched from Brest to join Bismarck and Prinz Eugen, but British bombing of the French port prevented German ships from departing Brest. With the operation launched with only two warships, Lütjens opted to sail through the Denmark Strait, a body of water between Iceland and Greenland, to break into the Atlantic Ocean.

ww2dbaseThe German fleet was spotted by a Swedish cruiser and by a Royal Air Force Spitfire aircraft. Admiral Lancelot Holland's group centered around battlecruiser Hood and battleship Prince of Wales was in the region and was immediately notified to intercept. Admiral John Tovey boarded the battleship King George V and set sail for the region alongside of carrier Victorious.

ww2dbaseIn the evening of 23 May, heavy cruisers Norfolk and Suffolk under the command of Rear Admiral Wake-Walker began to shadow the German ships by Suffolk's newly installed radar. The Germans soon detected the presence of the British ships, and Bismarck fired her guns at Norfolk, but missed.

ww2dbaseThe Battle

ww2dbaseAt 0537 on 24 May, Holland's group made contact with the German ships in the Denmark Strait. German sailors identified Prince of Wales as King George V, as they did not believe Prince of Wales had been deployed to sea yet. The mis-identification was understandable. Prince of Wales was rushed to action without proper shakedown and training; in fact, while underway to intercept the two German ships, shipyard workers traveled aboard the battleship to frantically work on mechanical problems with her main armament. At 0552, Hood opened fire first at a distance of approximately 26,500 yards or about 13 nautical miles, then Prince of Wales followed suit. They first fired on the lead ship, which Holland had incorrectly assumed to be Bismarck. The mistake was detected and the order amended, but Hood, for whatever reason, continued to fire on the lead ship Prinz Eugen for some time longer. Both British ships continued to close in on their German counterparts.

ww2dbasePrince of Wales drew blood against Bismarck first. The first hit took out the commander's boat and the seaplane catapult, the second passed through the bow, and the third struck the hull underwater. While the two final hits only caused minor damage and flooding, the second hit severed access to the forward fuel tanks, decreasing her range and forcing her to leave a trail of oil slick from that point on.

ww2dbaseBeginning at 0555, the German ships fired on Hood. A shell started a fire in Hood's ready-use 4-inch ammunition store, but caused relatively little damage. At 0600, while the British ships executed a turn to port, Bismarck hit Hood with at least one shell at a distance of 9 miles. A pillar of flame was reported by men of Prince of Wales to have shot up from Hood's mainmast area, followed by an explosion that destroyed a large portion of the ship from amidships clear to the rear of "Y" turret. She then broke up into two parts. The stern broke away and sank, while the bow floated for a while before following suit after about three minutes. The sinking of Hood killed 1,415 men, including Holland. Only 3 survived to be rescued two hours later by destroyer Electra. Later studies concluded the first explosion was caused by the fire in the ready-use 4-inch ammunition store, while the second explosion was caused by Bismarck's shell penetrating Hood's magazines.

ww2dbaseFinding herself steering towards the wreckage of Hood, Captain John C. Leach of Prince of Wales ordered an emergency maneuver to avoid collision. This maneuver put her at a position where she was most vulnerable to German gunfire, which resulted in four hits by Bismarck and three hits by Prinz Eugen. One of them passed through her superstructure, killing several men in the compass platform and air defense platform. Shrapnel from another shell killed several men in the radar room. Soon after, a 203-mm shell from Prinz Eugen and a 380-mm shell from Bismarck hit her, both penetrating her outer armor, but luckily for Prince of Wales, none of them detonated. The hits, however, placed most of the main guns out of action and killed 13 men. She made smoke and retreated at 0604 while her rear turret fired under local control as deterrent to any German pursuit. Though the rear turret shells fell short of their targets, she successfully disengaged from combat at about 0610.

ww2dbaseBetween 0619 and 0625, Suffolk fired six salvoes at the direction of Bismarck. These shells fell well short of battleship due to Suffolk having miscalculated the range. Bismarck was actually much further away than the guns' effective range. The British ships continued to shadow the German ships, but the German ships eventually escaped detection. Although only suffering slight listing to port and a small reduction to her speed, Bismarck was leaving an oil slick trail behind her. She began turning for Saint-Nazaire, France for repairs while Prinz Eugen headed south to successfully meet an oil tanker for refueling. After experiencing some engine trouble, she headed for Brest to end her patrol.

ww2dbaseEpilogue

ww2dbaseHunting down the Bismarck to avenge for Hood became an obsession for the British. The Admiralty dispatched every available warship to hunt down Bismarck. On the night of 24 May, British carrier planes hit the Bismarck. This strike did not sink her, but further reduced her speed. Bismarck's maneuvers caused the British to lose track of the German battleship once again. Two days later, on 26 May, a Catalina flying boat found her again 700 miles west of Brest. Carrier Ark Royal launched Swordfish torpedo bombers led by Lieutenant Goode to attack her, damaging her steering mechanism with one of the two torpedo hits. Bismarck was now unable to maintain course toward France, and she had not yet entered Luftwaffe operating range. In the morning of 27 May, Tovey's King George V was joined by battleship Rodney and the cruisers Dorsetshire and Norfolk, and the collective force engaged Bismarck from the west at 0900, with Bismarck profiled clearly in front of the rising sun. Bismarck returned fire, but her inability to steer and the list to port affected the effectiveness of her guns, while her slow speed of seven knots made her an easy target for British guns. One salvo destroyed Bismarck's forward control post, killing most of the senior officers. Within the next 30 minutes, she was visibly taking in a lot of water, and her guns went silent one by one. Rodney closed in to within 3-kilometers from Bismarck, firing at near point blank range. When Bismarck was apparently defeated, the ships were sent home while Dorsetshire remained to fire three 21-inch torpedoes to finish Bismarck. Bismarck rolled over at 1039, probably due to German sailors scuttling the ship, though the actual fate of Bismarck remain somewhat controversial. What is known for sure is that only 115 of her crew were saved. British ships Dorsetshire and Maori saved 110, but had to abandon the rest due to German submarine alarm. The next morning, German submarine U-74 and weather ship Sachsenwald picked up 5 more survivors. The total loss of Bismarck's sinking amounted to almost 2,100.

ww2dbaseUnable to communicate with German naval command in her final condition, the Germans had no idea that she had been sunk and continued to issue her orders for hours. The Germans' suspicion that she had gone down was not confirmed until they had picked up Reuters news from Britain. After the battle, Tovey said that "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 colors flying." Later, moves were made to court-martial Leach and Wake-Walker, but after Tovey's protest, the notions were dropped.

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10.  C. Peter Chen says:
2 May 2023 06:44:47 AM

Thank you to Anonymous of 2 May 2023; the mistake has been corrected.