German battleship Bismarck
| image:tnBismarck.png clicklarger version | |
| Career | |
|---|---|
| Ordered: | 16 November 1935 |
| Laid down: | 1 July 1936 |
| Launched: | 14 February 1939 |
| Commissioned: | 20 August 1940 |
| Fate: | sunk on 27 May 1941 |
| General Characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 50,900 tons full, 41,700 standard |
| Length: | 248 meters |
| Beam: | 36 meters |
| Draft: | 8.7 meters |
| Armament: | eight 38cm gunsfour twin turrets, 12 15cm gunssix twin turrets, 16 10.5cm guns, sixteen 3.7cm gunseight twin mounts, 12 two-cm cannon |
| Aircraft: | six aircraft, two catapults |
Bismarck wasGerman battleshipWorld War II, named after Otto von Bismarck.
Designthis ship started1934. Duringdesign process, Bismarck's displacement grew42,600 tons, well over35,000 tons allowed bynaval agreementGreat Britain. Nonetheless, her keel was laid down atBlohmVoss shipyardHamburg on 1 July 1936, she was launched on 14 February 1939,commissionedAugust 1940Kapitän zur See Ernst Lindemanncommand. Her sister ship, Tirpitz, was commissionedFebruary 1941.
Because ofBritish numerical superioritybattleships, Hitler orderedKriegsmarinetarget allied merchant shipping. Bismarck set off on this mission on her maiden voyage, leaving port on 18 May 1941. Three days later, she was spotted by Allied reconnaissance while refueling inNorwegian fjordwas soon acquired bypatroling British cruisers NorfolkSuffolk.
On 24 May 1941, accompanied byheavy cruiser Prinz Eugen, she was engagedbattle byBritish battlecruiser HMS Hood andnewly commissioned battleship HMS PrinceWales, which was still being worked up. Itbelieved that oneBismarck's shells penetratedrelatively thin deck armorHoodstruckpowder magazine, though alternate scenariosavailable as tocause ofcordite fire. Hood burned catastrophically, reminiscent ofbattlecruiser losses duringBattleJutland,rapidly sank, taking all but three of1,418 crewmembersher. PrinceWales, half its guns outaction, escaped undersmokescreen, but not before strikingBismarck three times, one hit causing waterbe introduced into fuel storage. Bismarck headedFrancerepairs, but continuedbe shadowed by NorfolkSuffolkPrinceWales, but eventually broke awayPrinz Eugen detached. The result ofbattleHood showed, most seriously,effectdeployingbattlecruiser againstbattleship,rolewhichwas never designed.
Determinedavengesinking ofHoodhunt downBismarck,British continuedshadowan increasing numberships, followingBismarck relentlesslymaintaining contactradar. An attack was made by swordfish biplane torpedo planes from aircraft carrier HMS Victorious duringearly evening24 May. The Bismarck sustained one hit. In subsequent maneuvering,was ablebreak contact, though its crew was not awarethis, ascould detect British radar but did not know thatreturn signals were too weak. Bismarck was relocated, owing partiallyher commander, Ernst Lindemann, foolishly transmittinghalf-hour radio message. On 26 May, at dusk, she was attacked by British Swordfish torpedo planes fromaircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal. One torpedo hit jammed her ruddersteering gear,she was rendered unmanoeuvrable. Throughoutfollowing night she wastargetincessant attacks bydestroyers Cossack, Maori, Piorun (Polish), Sikh, Zulu led by Captain Vian. Onearly morning27 May 1941 she was engagedan eighty-eight minute battleHMS King George V, HMS Rodney, HMS Norfolk, and HMS Dorsetshire. After being struck byexcess300 shellsfive or six torpedo hits she finally sank at 10:40 AM. Only 1152,206 sailors survived.
The wreck ofBismarck was discovered on 8 June 1989 by Dr. Robert Ballard,marine archeologist also responsiblefindingS.S. Titanic. Bismarck rests at depthapproximately 4,700 meters (15,500 ft.) at about 650 kilometers westBrest, France. Analysis ofwreck showed extensive damage by shellingtorpedo hits, but also indicated thatGermans scuttledshiphasten its sinking.
Nearlyhundred shipsall kinds were deployedoperate with, against, or becauseBismarck:
- The German heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen
- The German Zerstörer Hans Lody (Z-10), Friedrich Eckoldt (Z-16),Z-23.
- The German submarines U-43, U-46, U-48, U-66, U-74, U-93, U-94, U-98, U-108, U-552, U-556,U-557.
- The German weather ship Sachsenwald.
- The British battleships HMS King George V, HMS PrinceWales, HMS Ramillies, HMS Revenge, HMS Rodney, HMS RepulseHMS Renown.
- The British battlecruiser HMS Hood
- The British aircraft carriers HMS VictoriousHMS Ark Royal
- The British heavy cruisers HMS Suffolk, HMS Norfolk, HMS Dorsetshire,HMS London.
- The British light cruisers HMS Kenya, HMS Galatea, HMS Aurora, HMS Neptune, HMS Hermione, HMS Edinburgh, HMS Manchester, HMS Arethusa, HMS Birmingham,HMS Sheffield.
- The British destroyers HMS Achates, HMS Antelope, HMS Anthony, HMS Echo, HMS Somali, HMS Eskimo, HMS Nestor, HMS Jupiter, HMS Electra, HMS Icarus, HMS Active, HMS Inglefield, HMS Intrepid, HMS Assiniboine, HMS Saguenay, HMS Lance, HMS Legion, HMS Columbia, HMS Punjabi, HMS Windsor, HMS Mashona, HMS Cossack, HMS Sikh, HMS Zulu, HMS Maori, HMS Tartar, HMS Faulknor, HMS Foresight, HMS Forester,, HMS Foxhound,, HMS Fury,HMS Hesperus.
- The British submarines H-44, P-31, HMS Minerve, HMS Sealion, HMS Seawolf, HMS Tigris, HMS Sturgeon,HMS Pandora.
- The Polish destroyer Piorun
- The Swedish seaplane cruiser Gotland
- The Spanish heavy cruiser Canarias
- The US Coast Guard cutter USCGC Modoc (WPG 46)
