Chapter 90 Volume Three, Chapter Seventeen, The Fate of the Bismarck

Dangers in the Atlantic The Bismarck and Prinz Eugen set out to sea on May 21st in the Denmark Strait I am anxiously awaiting news at Checkers Hood is sunk on May 24th Bismarck sails south Prinz Eugen HMS escaped at midnight torpedoed HMS Bismarck lost track of HMS Bismarck on 25th May but found her lack of fuel on 26th HMS Sheffield and Ark Royal HMS Bismarck out of control Destroyer of Captain Vian The USS Rodney was fired on May 27th and I reported to the House of Commons to everyone's credit and I called the President. At a time when Greece had collapsed, the Western Desert was still in doubt, and we were losing the fierce battle in Crete, the Anglo-German navies intervened in a very far-reaching event in the Atlantic.

In addition to the constant struggle with the German submarines, the damage to our ships by the German naval raiders has exceeded 750,000 tons.The enemy's two battlecruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau and the cruiser Hipper remained anchored at Brest under the protection of powerful anti-aircraft guns.Who knows when they will come to invade our trade lanes again.By mid-May there were indications that the newly built battleship Bismarck, possibly accompanied by the cruiser Prinz Eugen with eight-inch guns, was about to go into battle.All these powerful and fast ships combined in the vast expanse of the Atlantic will put our naval power to the greatest test.Armed with eight fifteen-inch guns, the Bismarck was built without treaty restrictions and was the most heavily armored warship on the oceans.It displaces nearly ten thousand tons more than our newest battleships, and is at least equal in speed.

When Hitler inspected the ship in May, he said: You are the pride of the German Navy. To meet this imminent threat, Commander-in-Chief, Admiral Tovey, has deployed our new battleships HMS King George V and HMS Prince of Wales and the battlecruiser HMS Hood at Scapa Flow.In the port of Gibraltar, there are HMS Prestige and Ark Royal commanded by Admiral Somerville.The enemy and the new aircraft carrier Victory are about to escort a troop convoy carrying more than 20,000 people to the Middle East.The Rodney and the Ramie escorted the Atlantic, and either of them, had it encountered the Bismarck alone, would have been sunk.The Revenge is in Halifax Harbor, preparing to sail.At this time, there were eleven transport fleets sailing on the sea or preparing to sail, including an extremely valuable troop fleet that risked the loss of many lives.Cruisers patrolled the mouths of the North Sea, and aerial reconnaissance teams watched the Norwegian coast warily.The situation at sea is unclear and the atmosphere is very tense, so the Admiralty, who is in constant contact with me, is already aware of what is going to happen, and also keenly feels that our merchant ships scattered in various sea areas have become the enemy's target .

In the early hours of May 21st we learned that two very large ships of war, accompanied by powerful covering ships, had sailed out of the Kattegat, and later in the day it was confirmed that both the Bismarck and the Prinz Eugen were at anchor. Bergen Fjord.It was evident that important military action was imminent, and all our command structures in the Atlantic immediately became active.The Admiralty adopted the correct and traditional principle of concentrating on the enemy's raiding fleet and leaving the convoys, and even the troop convoy, at risk.Hood, Prince of Wales, and six destroyers left Scapa Flow shortly after midnight on the 22nd to cover Norfolk and Suffolk, which were in Greenland and Iceland. It patrols the silent, icy stretch of water in between known as the Denmark Strait.The cruisers Manchester and Birmingham were ordered to defend the strait between Iceland and the Faroe Islands.The enemy number and the victory number are dispatched directly by the commander-in-chief.The troop-carrying convoy, escorted only by destroyers, sailed from the Firth of Clyde.

Thursday, May 22, was a day of change and uneasiness.The sky over the North Sea is full of dark clouds, and it's raining.Despite the bad weather, a naval plane from Hatterston (in the Orkney Islands) flew into the Bergen Fjord and braved heavy artillery fire to resolutely complete its reconnaissance mission.Those two enemy ships are no longer there!When Admiral Tovey received the news at 8 o'clock that night, he immediately boarded the King George V, led the Victory, four cruisers and seven destroyers, and occupied the next central position in the west of the North Sea, so that , he could support his cruiser patrols on whichever side of Iceland the enemy chose to operate.Quench will join him at sea the next morning.The Admiralty concluded that the enemy ship might pass through the Denmark Strait.That evening, I called the President minutes after receiving the report:

Yesterday (21st) we found the Bismarck, the Prinz Eugen and eight merchant ships anchored in Bergen.The clouds were so low that we couldn't carry out an air strike.Tonight, (we find) they have sailed.We have reason to believe that the enemy intends to carry out a large-scale attack on our ships in the Atlantic Ocean.If we can't track them down, surely your navy can point us to where they are.HMS King George V, HMS Prince of Wales, HMS Hood, HMS Enemy and the aircraft carrier HMS Victory, along with attached ships, will be following their tracks.Please let us know, we can complete the task.

The Bismarck and Prinz Eugen had actually left Bergen twenty-four hours earlier, and were at this time northeast of Iceland, heading for the Denmark Strait.Here the mass of drift ice narrows the strait to only eighty miles wide, and most of the strait is shrouded in thick fog.On the evening of the 23rd, the Suffolk and the Norfolk spotted two warships approaching from the north, scraping the edge of drift ice in the cloudless sea above.The Admiralty first received the observation report from the Norfolk, and immediately broadcast it in code to all parties concerned.The pursuit begins; the object is in sight; so all our fleets sail towards the enemy ship.The Commander-in-Chief's flagship sailed west and picked up speed.Hood and Prince of Wales adjusted course to intercept enemy ships west of Iceland at dawn the next morning.Admiral Somerville was informed by the Admiralty that Force H (Prestige, Ark Royal, and cruiser Sheffield) was heading north at high speed to protect the troop convoy, which by then was more than halfway across the coast of Ireland, or to join the battle .Admiral Somerville's ship was fired and left Gibraltar at 02:00 on the morning of the 24th.It turned out that the departure of these ships sealed the fate of the Bismarck.

I left for Checkers on Friday afternoon (23rd).Al Harriman, General Ismay, and General Bonnard are with me until Monday.It could be an anxious weekend as fighting rages on Crete. Of course, in the suburban mansion, there are all kinds of secretaries, and there are direct telephone connections with the duty officer in the Admiralty and other key departments.The Admiralty expected that Bismarck and Prinz Eugen would pass through the Denmark Strait at dawn, and that Prince of Wales and Hood, with two or three cruisers, would force them to engage.All our ships are moving to the site according to the master plan.We waited anxiously for half the night, and did not go to bed until two or three o'clock.

At about seven o'clock I was awakened to the terrible news.Our largest and fastest capital ship, the Hood, has been bombed and sunk.Although light in hull construction, she carried eight fifteen-inch guns and is one of our most prized warships.The loss of this capital ship is a very sad event.But I know that all our ships present are approaching the Bismarck on all sides, and I am sure we will sink her before long, unless she turns north and returns home.I walked all the way to Harriman's room at the end of the corridor. As soon as the two met, they said in unison: The Hood was sunk, but we can definitely sink the Bismarck.I went to my room, and fell asleep again, being very tired.At about half past eight, Martin, the director of my private secretary, came into my room in his pajamas, with a nervous look on his serious face.Did we hit it?I asked.No, and the Prince of Wales has sailed off the battlefield.This is very disappointing.Has the Bismarck sailed north back home?

This is what worries me the most.We now have a clear picture of what happened then. It turned out that the Norfolk and the Suffolk, in spite of the weather, and in spite of all the enemy's efforts to get rid of them, kept a very tactful eye on the Norfolk and the Suffolk in the rain and snow all that night (the evening of the 23rd and 24th). and their signals kept pointing out the exact location of enemy and friendly ships throughout the night.As dawn turned to day at the North Pole, the Bismarck could be seen heading south twelve miles to the south.In a few moments a thick puff of smoke rose from the port forward of the Norfolk.Both the Hood and the Prince of Wales were within sight.

A life-and-death battle is about to begin.After daylight, the Hood could tell that the enemy ship was seventeen miles to the northwest.The British ships immediately went to war. The Hood opened fire at 5:52 AM at a distance of 25,000 yards from the enemy.The Bismarck fired back, and the Hood was immediately hit by a shell.The shell set fire to the ship's four-inch guns.The flames spread with astonishing speed and covered the entire central part of the ship.By this time all our ships were engaged and the Bismarck was hit.Suddenly, disaster struck.At six o'clock, after the Bismarck fired her fifth battery, the Hood exploded violently and split the ship in two.Minutes later, it sank beneath the waves in a cloud of smoke.All but three of its 1,500 gallant officers and men, including Vice Admiral Lancelot Holland and Captain Ralph Kerr, were killed. The Prince of Wales changed course quickly to avoid the floating wreckage of the Hood and continued the already unmatched fight.It wasn't long before Bismarck's gunfire hit it.In a matter of minutes it took four fifteen-inch shells, one of which knocked out the bridge, killing or wounding those on it.At this time, a hole was also penetrated in the underwater part of the stern.Captain Leahy, one of the few survivors on the bridge, decided to suspend the battle and left the battlefield under a smoke screen.However, Prince of Wales had damaged Bismarck, so the ship's speed was reduced.In fact, the underwater hull of the Bismarck was hit by two heavy artillery shells, one of which pierced an oil tank, and a large amount of oil was continuously lost, causing serious consequences.The German commander continued to sail southwest, leaving a significant oil trail behind the ship. Command now fell to Rear Admiral Wick Walker on the bridge of the cruiser Norfolk.He has to decide on questions like: Should the war be resumed immediately, or should the enemy be restrained, waiting for the commander-in-chief to lead the arrival of the HMS King George V and the aircraft carrier HMS Victory.A key factor is the condition of the Prince of Wales.The battleship had only recently been commissioned, and Captain Leahy had reported her operational readiness only a week earlier.She had been badly damaged, and two of her ten fourteen-inch guns were out of service.In this case, it is doubtful whether it is the opponent of the Bismarck.Therefore, Rear Admiral Wick|Walker decided not to resume the battle, but only watched the movement of the enemy.On this point, he is absolutely right. It would have been wise for the Bismarck to have been content with the victorious results it had achieved.She had destroyed one of the finest ships in the Royal Navy in a matter of minutes, and could return to Germany with her accomplishments.Its prestige and potential attack power will be greatly enhanced, because we can neither estimate nor explain these. Plus, as we now know, it had been badly damaged by the Prince of Wales, and it was heavily oiled.So how can it hope to carry out the mission of destroying my merchant ships in the Atlantic Ocean?It has two paths to choose from: to come home victorious, so that it can strike again at any time; or to go on, which is almost certain to be destroyed.Its commander's decision to fight to the death can only be explained by complacency, or by his strict orders.When I met my American friend[1] at about ten o'clock, knowing that the Bismarck was heading south, I was able to speak with new confidence about the outcome of the naval battle. [1] refers to Harriman.translator I have to spend a long time every day to read in a timely manner the continuous stream of military, diplomatic and espionage telegrams sent by special telephones or sent by messengers. This is a great consolation, because as long as a person has something to do, his heart is useful and he has nothing to worry about.But there is one more thing that is on my mind: the huge, forty-five-thousand-ton, almost impervious Bismarck, steaming south toward our troop convoy, and Eugen as its scout ship.I thought again of these convoys.Their escorting battleships had left them in this pursuit.The trooper convoy, full of our precious soldiers, must now be south of Ireland.Admiral Somerville was approaching it at full speed, and was about to come halfway between the troop carrier and the dangerous waters.I asked the Admiralty duty officer for the time and distance.His report reassures me.Although our troop carrier can only travel about twelve knots an hour, and the Bismarck, as far as we know, can sail twenty-five knots, there is still a considerable distance between the two.Moreover, as long as we can keep our eyes on the Bismarck, we can chase it to a dead end.But what if we lose track of it at night?Where will it go?It has options, and we are vulnerable almost everywhere. When the House of Commons meets on Tuesday, it looks like the mood among MPs could not be better.On May 10, the House of Commons was bombed, and now everyone is huddled in the church house not far from the House of Commons.It was indeed a haven of refuge in a storm, but with no convenient equipment. Offices, smoking room, dining room, and all common equipment are bare bones.Air raid sirens are frequent, and members of parliament gradually feel that they are lacking in their daily necessities.Will they be able to hear those words when they meet on Tuesday?Hood's revenge has not been avenged, several of our transport convoys have been attacked by enemy ships and have even been annihilated, the Bismarck has returned to Germany or arrived at a port in the French occupation zone, Crete has fallen, and the retreat is inevitable There were heavy casualties, and so on.If they can be convinced that we have done nothing wrong, I am sure they will be loyal and brave.But can they be persuaded?My American guests think I'm at ease, but it doesn't cost much to force a smile. Throughout the 24th several British cruisers and the Prince of Wales continued to follow the Bismarck and her companions.Admiral Tovey on HMS King George V was still far away, but had signaled that he wished to join the fight at nine o'clock on the morning of the 25th.The Admiralty summoned all the ships.The Rodney, five hundred miles to the southeast, was ordered to make a close approach.The Lamey was ordered to leave the returning convoy and sail to the west of the enemy ship.The Revenge, which sailed from Halifax, was also ordered to rush to the scene.The cruiser took up position to prevent the enemy ships from escaping north and east.At this time, Admiral Somerville's fleet was marching northward from Gibraltar.Although everything at sea is fickle, the net is getting tighter and tighter. At around 6:40 that night, the Bismarck suddenly turned around and engaged the ships pursuing it, so there was a brief encounter.We now know that this operation was intended to cover the escape of the Prinz Eugen.The ship then headed south at high speed, refueled at sea, and arrived at the port of Brest ten days later without any hindrance.Admiral Tovey sent the Victory a short distance ahead in order to conduct an air strike to slow down the enemy ships.The Victory has only recently entered active service, and some of the pilots on board have little combat experience.At ten o'clock in the evening, under the cover of four cruisers, the ship launched its nine sailfish torpedo planes. The planes had to fly a hundred and twenty miles in rain and low clouds against a strong headwind.The plane was led by Lieutenant Commander Esmond, and under the guidance of Norfolk's radio, two hours later【1】discovered the Bismarck, and immediately braved fierce artillery fire to attack it heroically.One of their torpedoes hit the underside of the enemy ship's bridge.On the Victory ship, everyone was worrying about how to get the plane back to the ship.At this time, the sea was dark, the wind was violent, and the showers blinded people's eyes, and the pilots were not skilled in landing on the deck during the day.In addition, the only landing light that can guide them back to the flight safely has also failed.Therefore, regardless of whether there were German submarines around, they turned on all the searchlights and signal lights to help these pilots fly close.I'm happy to say that they were paid for their extraordinary efforts.The entire flight crew landed safely on the deck in the dark, and everyone felt joy and relief. [1] The British ships were using double British Summer Time (two hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time), and they were already far west of the Greenwich Meridian at this time, so the time on their clock faces was about 2 hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time. The sun is four hours earlier.Thus, the attack was about 8:00 pm solar time. Once again our ships were ready for the decisive battle next morning, and the hopes of the Admiralty were again dashed.Shortly after 3:00 am on the 25th, the Suffolk suddenly and unexpectedly lost track of the Bismarck.The ship once skillfully used radar to follow the left rear of the enemy ship.All the ships now zigzagged as they sailed south into the waters infested with U-boats, and this was the cause of the misfortune.The Suffolk lost sight of the Bismarck on her radar set, but was able to re-observe it as she sailed inward.It may have been overconfident after a long and successful trail.But now when it turned to the west again, the enemy ship was no longer on the expected course.Is it heading west, or is it hastily turning north and east?This causes great anxiety and defeats all efforts to concentrate.The HMS King George V searched west at dawn, believing that the Bismarck was heading for the North Sea, so she sailed eastward, and at this time all the British pursuit ships were also heading in this direction.The Admiralty became more and more convinced that the Bismarck was heading for Brest, but it was not until six o'clock that this idea was confirmed.The Admiralty then ordered all ships to sail further south.But in the meantime, the confusion and delays caused by the loss of the Bismarck had allowed the ship to slip past the cordon and take the lead in its safety race.By 11:00 p.m. it was in waters east of the British flagship.It was short of fuel because the tank was leaking.The 16-inch gun Rodney was still between the ship and the home country, but Rodney was also heading northeast and missed ahead of the Bismarck in the afternoon.What began as a day full of hope ended in disappointment and frustration.Fortunately, the Prestige, the Ark Royal, and the cruiser Sheffield sailed from the south, and they were approaching on a route that could intercept the enemy ships. By the morning of the 26th of May, after four days of arduous sailing with my scattered ships in the open waters, fuel had become a matter of urgent attention.Several pursuit ships had to reduce their speed.Obviously, in such a vast ocean, all our efforts may be in vain in the blink of an eye.But at ten o'clock in the morning, just as hopes were beginning to die, the Bismarck was spotted again.The Admiralty and Air Force Coast Guard are sending Catalina long-range bombers based at Loch Erne in Ireland to search.One of them spotted the escaped ship heading for Brest, about seven hundred miles from the port.The Bismarck damaged the plane and the line broke again.But within an hour, two sailfish torpedo planes from HMS Ark Royal spotted it again.It was still quite a distance to the west of Reputation, and had not yet entered the powerful air cover of the Luftwaffe from Brest.However, a single warship, the Prestige, could not deal with it.It was necessary to wait for the arrival of HMS King George V and HMS Rodney, which were still far behind the enemy ships.However, Captain Vienne, famous for rescuing British prisoners from the German raider Altmark,[1] was still aboard the Kossack at the head of the advance with four other destroyers that had previously Ordered to guard the troop convoy, then ordered to sail away from them.He received a signal from a Catalina giving him the location of the Bismarck.Without waiting for a new order, he immediately sailed towards the enemy ship. 【1】Refer to Chapter 31 of the first volume of this book, page 506 of the original book.translator In this scrambling situation, new chaos is inevitable.Admiral Somerville, anxious to sail north, had dispatched Sheffield to approach and follow the enemy ship.Ark Royal was unaware of the operation, so when it sent a plane to strike, the plane's radar directed the plane towards HMS Sheffield.They dropped bombs, but missed.The Sheffield knew that it had made a mistake, so it dodged skillfully without firing. 【１】 【1】A plane sent a signal to the Sheffield saying: I salute you a trout, I'm sorry! The pilot flew back to the Ark Royal with apologies.At this time, the Sheffield found the trace of the Bismarck again, and has been nailing it.Just after seven o'clock in the afternoon, another fifteen sailfish torpedo planes took off from the Ark Royal.At this time, we were less than forty miles away from the enemy ship, and this time we did not find the wrong target.These aircraft, directed by the magnanimous HMS Sheffield, carried out a heroic onslaught.By 9:30, they had completed their task.Two of the torpedoes were definitely hits, and possibly a third.A tracking aircraft reported seeing the Bismarck complete two full circles, and it appeared to be out of control.At this time, several destroyers of Captain Wei'an were approaching. They surrounded the wounded warship throughout the night, and attacked it with torpedoes when they had the opportunity. I was in the Admiralty on this Monday evening, and watched the action on the charts in the war room, the reports of which came every few minutes.What are you doing here?I asked Admiral Fraser, Chief of Quartermaster.I'll wait and see what needs to be fixed.He said.Four hours passed quickly, and as I left I could see that Admiral Pound and his eminent specialists were convinced that the fate of the Bismarck was sealed. Admiral Lukins, the German commander, was not taking any chances.Towards midnight he reported that the ship was unmanageable.We will fight to the last shell.Viva Heads!The Bismarck was still four hundred miles from Brest, and she could not travel even that far.At this time, Germany sent a powerful bomber fleet to rescue the ship, and German submarines rushed over. A German submarine that had run out of torpedoes reported that the Ark Royal had sailed past it within a vulnerable distance.At this time, the King George V and the Rodney were approaching.Fuel was the most worrying issue, and Admiral Tovey had decided that unless he could slow the Bismarck considerably, he would have to give up the pursuit by midnight.According to my suggestion, the First Sea Lord sent a signal to let him continue the pursuit, even if he needs to use a tugboat to tow his ship back to the country, he must continue.By this time, however, it had been learned that the Bismarck was actually heading in the wrong direction.Her main guns were still intact, so Admiral Tovey decided to force her into engagement the next morning. At dawn on the 27th, the northwest wind was blowing.The Rodney fired at 8:47 am, and the King George V a minute later.The British warship's gunfire began to hit quickly, and after a while, the Bismarck also fired.Although the crew of the German warship was exhausted after four days of fierce fighting and fell asleep at work, her gunfire was accurate for a short time.When she fired her third platoon, shells fell fore and aft of the Rodney, but then the attack from the British warships prevailed, and after half an hour her guns were mostly silent.It was ablaze amidships and the ship listed sharply to port.At this moment the Rodney sailed past her bow, and fired a barrage of shells at her at a distance of not more than four thousand yards.By 10:15, the guns on the Bismarck were silent and the mast had been knocked out.It was rolling in the rough waves, it was ablaze, it was full of smoke, but even then it was not sunk. At eleven o'clock, in the church house, I had to report to the House of Commons the drama of the Battle of Crete and the Bismarck.I said: This morning, shortly after daybreak, the Bismarck, practically immobilized and without assistance, was attacked by a British pursuit of battleships.I don't know what the outcome of the shelling was.However, it appears that the Bismarck has not been sunk by gunfire and will now be torpedoed to finish her off quickly.I think this move is underway, and it won't take long.Although the loss of the Hood is our great loss, the Bismarck should be regarded as the latest and most powerful battleship in the world.No sooner had I sat down than a note was handed to me, forcing me to stand up again to speak.After obtaining the consent of the House of Commons, I said: I have just received the news that the Bismarck has sunk.It seems like they're all happy with that. It was the cruiser Dorsetshire that delivered the final blow with torpedoes.The mighty battleship sank upside down at 10:40.About 2,000 Germans and their fleet commander, Admiral Lukins, died with the battleship.We rescued one hundred and ten survivors, exhausted but sullen.The rescue operation was interrupted by the presence of a German submarine, and the British ships had to leave.Five more Germans were rescued by a U-boat and a weather observation ship, but the Spanish cruiser Canarias, which arrived later, found only a few floating bodies. This episode sheds light on many important points of naval warfare, showing the great structural strength of the German ship, and the great difficulty and danger to which her sortie encountered many of our ships.If it escapes this time, the moral effect of its continued existence, and the material damage it may do to our ship, would be disastrous.People will have doubts about our ability to control the oceans, and these doubts will be spread around the world, causing us great damage and anxiety.All parties concerned have worked hard to achieve this successful outcome.It was the cruiser who began the pursuit, which led to the first unfortunate encounter.Then, when the enemy ship was lost, it was the aircraft that spotted it and directed the cruiser back on the track.Then it was a cruiser that guided the carrier-based aircraft to strike decisively, and finally several destroyers entangled the enemy ship in the long night, so that our battleship could rush to the battlefield where it was finally eliminated.Although everyone has contributed, we must not forget that the turning point of this protracted battle was the heavy damage to the Bismarck by the cannons of the Prince of Wales.So battleships and artillery play a major role at the beginning and at the end. Traffic across the Atlantic continued to be uneventful. I called the President on the twenty-eighth: I will tell you later about the secret circumstances of the battle with the Bismarck.She was a mighty ship, a masterpiece in the history of warship construction.The sinking of this enemy ship relieves the tension in our ships of the line, otherwise we would have to tether the King George V, the Prince of Wales and the two Nelsons to Scapa Flow in case Bismarck and Tirpitz, since they could choose their timing, and we had to free up a battleship to re-equip.Now, the situation is different.This will have a certain impact on the Japanese, and this impact is very beneficial to our side.I expect they are reassessing the situation.