At two o’clock in the dark of the morning, on May 19, 1941, the German battleship Bismarck set out into the Baltic Sea on its maiden voyage. This immense warship was the first full-size battleship that had been built since World War I by the German navy, accompanied by the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen. The mission, under the codename Operation Rheinubung, was to cut the Allied convoys carrying vital supplies from the United States to Great Britain.
The British, when they got to know about Bismarck’s presence in the Atlantic, sent out a fleet to locate and intercept the cruiser. The pursuing armament consisted of the newly commissioned HMS Prince of Wales and the so-celebrated HMS Hood, the jewel of the Royal Navy. On 24th May, in the Denmark Strait, Hood and the Prince of Wales confronted Bismarck. Even though Hood opened fire initially, Bismarck counter-fired with destructive capabilities. A shell from Bismarck penetrated Hood’s deck, exploding its ammunition magazine and creating an awful explosion. The Hood sank quite fast, with only three survivors out of 1,421 crews.
Bismarck was victorious but suffered some damage and began to leak oil. Admiral Gunther Lutjens ordered a retreat to Nazi-occupied France to carry out repairs. British Admiral John Tovey was out to avenge his defeat and ordered every available ship to hunt and find the Bismarck. On May 26, as Bismarck was closing in on the protective air umbrella of the Luftwaffe, Tovey gave the order to attack with aircraft from the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal. Though at first confused and suffering a near-miss case of friendly fire, later British Fairey Swordfish bombers disabled Bismarck’s rudders, leaving her vulnerable.
By the next morning, British warships closed in on the crippled Bismarck. Following a 90-minute barrage, the heavy cruiser HMS Dorsetshire launched torpedoes that sealed Bismarck’s fate. The battleship sank about 10:40 a.m. with some 2,000 German sailors killed and just 110 survivors saved.
A moving moment of commemoration saw Britain’s Princess Anne recently unveil the bell from HMS Hood’s wreck. Salvaged by an expedition funded by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, it is now housed in the National Museum of the Royal Navy in Portsmouth. Allen referred to the historical significance of the bell, in underlining its role in recalling those who served on Hood.
The involvement of other ships in the Bismarck operation, such as HMS Neptune is another subject of controversy among historians. While there are claims that Neptune was indeed involved, more detailed reports cite the efforts used by ships such as HMS London and HMS Edinburgh. The latter received the Battle Honour ‘BISMARCK’, even though the ship never fired a shot at Bismarck during the operation.
The pursuit and final loss of the Bismarck showed relentless determination and courage on the part of the Royal Navy and marked an almost defining moment in the history of naval warfare.