On May 23, 1941, the German battleship Bismarck was an awesome behemoth of Nazi naval power that undertook Operation Rheinübung aimed at dislocating Allied shipping across the North Atlantic. Accompanied by heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen, the Bismarck was to cut the lifeline between the United States and Great Britain to eventually starve the British into defeat.
Initial successes included the sinking of the HMS Hood Pride of the Royal Navy and the damaging of the HMS Prince of Wales off the Denmark Strait on May 24; a catastrophic explosion on board the Hood resulted in the loss of 1,418 men. The tragic incident clearly showed just how exposed an aged battlecruiser was against a modern German battleship.
Yet even in this apparent victory, the Bismarck did not emerge unscathed: its propulsion was damaged, and it began to leak oil, which later betrayed its position. The Royal Navy was set upon revenge for the Hood and to neutralize the threat the Bismarck represented; thus, they pursued it relentlessly. Eventually, a huge force showed up: six battleships and battlecruisers, two aircraft carriers, thirteen cruisers, and twenty-one destroyers.
The turning point came on May 26 when aircraft from the carrier HMS Ark Royal launched a successful torpedo attack, jamming the Bismarck’s rudder and rendering it unable to steer. The critical hit left the battleship at the mercy of its opponents, who closed in for the kill.
Before dawn, on May 27, battleships HMS Rodney and HMS King George V attacked the crippled Bismarck. It was able to return fire at the attackers, but its inability to maneuver and extreme list made it impossible to target accurately. The British warships fell back and attacked it with heavy cruisers Norfolk and Dorsetshire. By 10:39, following extensive shelling and torpedo attacks, the Bismarck finally slipped beneath the surface. Of 2,200 men, only 116 survived.
The sinking of the Bismarck was an object lesson in the power of combined arms at sea. No part of the Royal Navy-the aged aircraft carriers, the torpedo bombers, and the polyglot fleet of battleships, cruisers, and destroyers-could have soloed the defeat of the Bismarck, but together they made certain that the powerful German battleship would never reach the safety of France.
It constituted the turning point in World War II, where the resolve of the Royal Navy showed the strategic importance of naval aviation. The sinking of the Bismarck was a result of this power of combined effort, real pursuit for a common aim.