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Naval battles and operations of the European theatre of World War II

Last battle of Bismarck

Ch. 1 of 8
— CH. 1 · INTRODUCTION —

Contents

Last battle of Bismarck

8 sections

  • Hooks on Lütjens' 23:40 signal ("Ship unmanoeuvrable..."), the ~300nmi-west-of-Brest position, the uncontrollable circle, the scuttling by four British ships still firing, and the 114-of-2,200 survivor count. Plants three questions (what crippled her, why the hunt converged there, what happened to survivors) without pre-summarizing the chapters.

  • Background chapter: Denmark Strait damage on the 24th of May (fuel tanks, boiler room), captain's Brest plan, HMS Hood's sinking triggering an all-out British hunt, the ships mobilized (Rodney, Force H/Ark Royal/Renown/Sheffield, Prince of Wales/Norfolk/Suffolk), the Prinz Eugen decoy split, Victorious's Swordfish hit, the British losing contact on the 25th of May, Lütjens' fatal radio break, the mutual fuel crisis, and the 26th of May Catalina sighting by Briggs/Smith.

  • First phase: Ark Royal's two Swordfish sorties (15 aircraft), the friendly-fire attack on Sheffield with defective magnetic pistols, the near-miss U-boat encounter with Force H, the 20:47 attack that jammed Bismarck's rudder 12 degrees to port, Bismarck's retaliatory fire on Sheffield (3 killed, 2 wounded), the converging British ships (KGV, Rodney, Norfolk, Edinburgh, Dorsetshire), and the failed rudder repair/propeller-steering attempt in a force 8 gale.

  • Second phase: Piorun's and Maori's contact, the ten destroyer torpedo runs (16 fired, none hit), Cossack's antenna loss and Zulu's casualties, starshell illumination at Tovey's request, the morale-wearing harassment, Lütjens' failed Arado float-plane document evacuation, and the failed U-556 rendezvous attempt.

  • Third phase: Tovey's tactical orders (Renown excluded, Rodney's approach instructions), the gale-force morning of the 27th of May, Norfolk's first sighting, the 08:43-10:40 battleship action, the destruction of Bismarck's fire control and turrets, First Officer Oels' scuttle order and death, Junack's demolition charges, Dorsetshire's finishing torpedoes, and the final shell/torpedo tallies.

  • Survivor chapter: Dorsetshire/Maori rescue numbers, the periscope scare that aborted the rescue, Midshipman Joe Brooks' rescue attempt, the 109 men brought home, Gerhard Lüttich's death and burial at sea, the later U-boat and German weather-ship rescues, and the Spanish cruiser's recovery of two bodies.

  • Fourth phase: the Luftwaffe's weather-grounding on the 26th of May, the failed the 27th of May bombing attempts on Ark Royal and the battleships, and the 28th of May attack that sank the destroyer Mashona (46 dead) and damaged Maori.

  • Reactions: Tovey's tribute quote, the Admiralty's message of thanks, Coastal Command's and the Free French admiral's replies, Group West's unaware signaling until Reuters broke the news, the House of Commons announcement, the morale blow to Germany, Hitler's reaction and eroding confidence in Raeder, and the survivor interrogations revealing Lütjens had prepared his crew to die.

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German battleship Bismarck

Updated

Common questions

When did the last battle of Bismarck take place?

26-the 27th of May 1941, ~300nmi west of Brest, France.

How did the British cripple Bismarck's rudder?

Ark Royal Swordfish torpedo hit jammed the rudder/steering gear 12 degrees to port on the evening of the 26th of May 1941.

How many crew survived the sinking?

114 of over 2,200; 110 rescued by British warships before an apparent U-boat sighting broke off the rescue, plus 5 more by a U-boat and German weather ship.

Which British ships sank Bismarck?

King George V and Rodney, supported by Norfolk and Dorsetshire, on the morning of the 27th of May 1941 after ~100 minutes of fighting.

Why was Bismarck heading for Brest?

Denmark Strait battle damage (the 24th of May) to fuel tanks/machinery forced a run for repairs at the French port.

What happened to survivors left in the water?

Rescue was abandoned mid-effort on an apparent U-boat sighting; a U-boat and a German weather ship later picked up 5 more survivors from a dinghy and a raft.

All sources

44 references cited across the entry

  1. 1"Who sank the Bismarck - The British or the Germans? We are convinced the answer is "Both!!" Bismarck unquestionably would have sunk due to progressive flooding hours after the battle ended ... There
  2. 2Kennedy, pp. 206, 283.
  3. 3Cameron, pp. 6–10.
  4. 4BBC – WW2 People's War – World War Memories of an Ulster Childhood
  5. 5"We Shadowed the Bismarck" – In Flg Off. Dennis Briggs' Words
  6. 64 November 2009, Bismarck: British/American Cooperation and the Destruction of the German Battleship , Naval History and Heritage Command
  7. 7The American Who Helped Sink the BismarckDwight Jon Zimmerman — Defense Media Network — 23 November 2021
  8. 8Bismarck's· Final· Battle· -· Part· 2
  9. 9Garzke & Dulin, p. 235
  10. 10Garzke & Dulin, pp. 235–236
  11. 11Jackson 2002, p. 91.
  12. 12Garzke & Dulin 1985, pp. 237–238
  13. 13Garzke & Dulin 1980, p. 210
  14. 14Barnett, p. 311
  15. 15Bismarck's Final BattleWilliam H. Garzke, Jr. — 1994
  16. 16Bercuson & Herwig, pp. 288–289
  17. 17Bercuson & Herwig, pp. 290–291
  18. 18Garzke & Dulin 1985, p. 239
  19. 19Bercuson & Herwig, pp. 292–294
  20. 20Gaack & Carr, pp. 80–81
  21. 21Jurens et al.
  22. 22Zetterling & Tamelander, p. 281
  23. 23Garzke & Dulin 1985, p. 246
  24. 24BookBismarck: 24 Hours to DoomIain Ballantyne — Ipso Books — 23 May 2016
  25. 25BookAgainst the Odds: Battles at Sea, 1591–1949Alexander McKee — Naval Institute Press — 1991
  26. 26NewsThe Bismarck's EndTime Inc — 11 August 1941
  27. 27NewsCongratulations to the Fleet29 May 1941
  28. 28War SituationWinston Churchill — 27 May 1941
  29. 29BookThe Destruction of the BismarckDavid J. Bercuson et al. — The Overlook Press — 2001
  30. 30BookCarrier Operations in World War IIJ. D. Brown — Ian Allan — 1968
  31. 31BookDe vernietiging van de BismarckFritz-Otto Busch — omega boek BV — 1980
  32. 32JournalSURVIVING the Bismarck's SinkingWard Carr — August 2006
  33. 33BookConway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946Conway Maritime Press — 1980
  34. 34BookSchlachtschiff Bismarck—Das wahre Gesicht eines Schiffes—Teil 3Malte Gaack et al. — BoD – Books on Demand GmbH — 2011
  35. 35BookBattleships: Axis and Neutral Battleships in World War IIWilliam Garzke et al. — Naval Institute Press — 1990
  36. 36BookBattleship Bismarck: A Design and Operational HistoryWilliam Garzke et al. — Naval Institute Press — 2019
  37. 37BookBattleship Bismarck: A Design and Operational HistoryWilliam Garzke et al. — Naval Institute Press eBook — 2019
  38. 38JournalThe Bismarcks Final BattleWilliam Garzke et al. — 1994
  39. 39BookPursuit: The sinking of the BismarckLudovic Kennedy — William Collins Sons & Co Ltd — 1974
  40. 40BookDe ondergang van de BismarckBurkhard von Müllenheim-Rechberg — De Boer Maritiem — 1980
  41. 41BookChronology of the War at Sea 1939–1945.J. Rohwer — Naval Institute Press. — 2005
  42. 42BookPower at Sea Volume 2Lisle A Rose — University of Missouri Press — 2007
  43. 43BookSea Battles in close-up: World War 2Martin Stephen — Ian Allan ltd — 1988
  44. 44BookBismarck: The Final Days of Germany's Greatest BattleshipNiklas Zetterling et al. — Casemate — 2009

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