Bismarck, sinking of

Bismarck, sinking of. The destruction by British naval forces of this powerful 42,000-ton German battleship, armed with eight 38 cm. (15 in.) guns, took place in the Atlantic on 27 May 1941 after she and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen had left Germany to attack Allied Atlantic convoys.

Swedish intelligence had forewarned the British that Bismarck was to sail and on 20 May the British naval attaché in Stockholm was tipped off by a Norwegian who had been told at a cocktail party that two large German warships had been sighted that day heading north through the Kattegat. This information alerted British patrols and both ships were sighted in the Denmark Strait by the cruiser Norfolk. They were initially engaged by the Polish destroyer Piorun, and then by the battle-cruiser Hood and the battleship Prince of Wales. The angle of interception prevented the full armament of the two British warships from being brought to bear; and while the British divided their fire both Germans concentrated all theirs on Hood. She was soon hit and blew up with only three survivors, and Prince of Wales, new and not fully operational, had to disengage after being hit. However, Bismarck, which had been damaged in the encounter and subsequently hit by a torpedo aircraft from the carrier Victorious, was leaking fuel, and decided to head for Brest while Prinz Eugen slipped away westwards.

British naval forces now converged on the area, but until she blundered by breaking wireless silence Bismarck's whereabouts were unknown. Even so, she nearly escaped for the bearings on her position were incorrectly plotted, which led to the Home Fleet, commanded by Admiral Tovey, sailing in the wrong direction. But she was eventually sighted at 1030 on 26 May by a Coastal Command Catalina flying boat flown by a US Navy pilot. Torpedo aircraft from the carrier Ark Royal, part of the Gibraltar-based Force H under Admiral Somerville, then wrecked her steering gear making her an easy target the next morning for the battleships King George V and Rodney. The cruiser Dorsetshire then performed the coup de grâce with torpedoes. Only 115 out of Bismarck's crew of 2,222 were saved. Given the close proximity of German aircraft and submarines operating from France, the margin of victory had been a narrow one. Her remains, found in 1989, lent credence to German claims that she had been scuttled. See alsoGerman surface raiders and sea power.