The hunt for the Bismarck

During ww2 Germany unleashed its largest battleship into the waters in order to attack the supply lines that are keeping Britain alive. Without these Britain the last bastion of freedom in Europe would fall. Can the British defeat this enormous war machine before its to late.

Source: The Bismarck battleship. Milner, M. (2021, 1 april). Sinking the Bismarck. Legion Magazine. https://legionmagazine.com/sinking-the-bismarck/

The year is 1941. Germany has conquered most of Europe in a matter of months. Even France, one of the great powers at the time with a worldwide empire, was defeated in mere weeks. Britain stood alone. The outlook for Britain was bleak. Its biggest ally, France, was defeated; London was bombed daily; and North Africa was being invaded by German and Italian forces. The only things keeping Britain alive were its powerful navy and the supply ships from America bringing aid and goods. The Germans knew this and launched an aggressive campaign to attack supply ships in the Atlantic to cripple aid to Britain. Until now, it was mostly German U-boats causing trouble, slipping through the British naval blockade into the Atlantic. But what would happen if a proper warship could slip through the blockade into the Atlantic? That would be disastrous.

Source: Europe 1940 Holocaust Encyclopedia. (z.d.). https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/

Germany had recently finished its biggest warship to date, the Bismarck a large, imposing battleship with almost unbreakable armor and powerful guns that could destroy any British ship in one shot. If this behemoth got out, it would be disastrous for Britain. So when intelligence reported that the Bismarck was leaving the Baltic Sea, there was a huge panic. Britain had to stop the Bismarck from reaching the Atlantic Ocean, no matter the cost.

Source: HMS Bismarck Wikipedia-bijdragers. (2024b, juni 4). Bismarck (slagschip). Wikipedia. https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bismarck_(slagschip)

The hunt for the Bismarck is one of the most interesting and dramatic events of WWII. Despite being a huge warship, the Bismarck was very hard to find, and time was ticking. Every second they did not find the Bismarck was a second it got closer to the Atlantic Ocean.

At 13:15 on May 21, a British plane spotted a large ship with a heavy cruiser in one of the Norwegian fjords. The pilot took pictures and sent them to Britain to be examined. Despite the pictures being blurry, there was no doubt—it was the Bismarck. The Bismarck had probably been hiding in the fjords until the right time to escape. That day was the right time, as heavy mist clouded the fjords and nearby area, meaning the Bismarck could escape without being seen. Alarmed, the British navy sent fleets of warships to every possible escape point that the Bismarck could take, along with patrol ships now patrolling the North Sea to report any signs of the Bismarck.

At 02:00 on May 22 in Norway, the British air force bombed the last known location of the Bismarck into oblivion, hoping to hit it. But due to the heavy fog, they couldn't see anything, so it was purely guesswork. Sadly, there was no sign of the Bismarck. This could mean it made its first move to escape. Later that day, at 20:00, a brave scouting plane managed to fly below the fog and confirmed that the Bismarck was no longer there. This meant it was certain—the Bismarck was on its way to the Atlantic.

At 19:22 on May 23 in the Denmark Strait near Greenland, two British cruisers patrolling the strait spotted two ships in the fog. At first, they thought they were allied, but after closer inspection, their faces went pale—it was the Bismarck along with another German warship. Alarmed, the two cruisers hoped to hide from the Bismarck, as their guns could not even scratch it. Luckily, they managed to hide in the fog. This allowed them to use a new technology just recently invented: radar. With this, they could track where the Bismarck was going and alert the British navy.

Source: Strait of Denmark Wikipedia contributors. (2024a, mei 27). Denmark strait. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denmark_Strait

One of the British cruisers tried to follow the Bismarck but was spotted. The Bismarck opened fire and almost hit the cruiser, but it managed to get away and hide in the fog with minimal damage. The two cruisers decided to follow the Bismarck again, but with a lot more caution, staying a bit further away but still in range to use tracking radar. The British navy sent a fleet of heavy cruisers to the Bismarck's location to intercept it.

At 21:00 on May 23 in the Denmark Strait, the British fleet arrived, ready to fight the Bismarck. To fight the German behemoth, the British decided to send a behemoth of their own—the mighty battlecruiser HMS Hood. The Hood was the pride of the British navy, appearing in many propaganda films and symbolizing the largest and most powerful navy at the time. If any ship could sink the Bismarck, it had to be the Hood. The Hood was assisted by a brand new state-of-the-art battlecruiser, the Prince of Wales. Together, they should be able to defeat the Bismarck and its accompanying cruiser. The British cruisers were also assisted by a squadron of destroyers, but due to the heavy weather, they had to back down as it became too dangerous for them. The battle would be a 2v2: Britain's best ships against Germany's best ships.

Source: HMS Hood Wikipedia contributors. (2024d, juli 13). HMS Hood. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Hood

The British sailors on the Prince of Wales were nervous. They were about to take on the strongest battleship on earth. But the presence of the Hood made them feel a little more at ease. The Hood was the best ship in their navy, after all. In the distance, they saw two ships. In classical navy tradition, you send the strongest ship at the front, and the front ship looked exactly like the ship in the pictures. That must be the Bismarck. The Hood went forward at full speed to engage the Bismarck. They also did this so that when the Bismarck fired back, it could only hit the front of the Hood, which was a lot better protected than the side of the ship. However, the Prince of Wales made a terrible discovery. The Hood went after the wrong ship. Germany decided to defy tradition by sending their weaker cruiser at the front instead of the stronger Bismarck. But it was too late. The Hood fired at the front cruiser, thinking it was the Bismarck, and the Prince of Wales defied orders and fired at the back ship, which actually was the Bismarck. Fifty seconds later, they saw huge splashes in the water, meaning both ships missed their shots.

A little while later, two flashes of light appeared from the Bismarck and its convoy cruiser. The German cruiser managed to hit the Hood in the ammunition storage, causing a huge explosion. On the ship's bridge, the sailors could hear the agonizing screams of the people who were in that room at that time through a communication pipe. Realizing that they had targeted the wrong ship, the Hood decided to retreat just in time. The Bismarck missed its shot meant for the Hood. Meanwhile, the Prince of Wales took aim at the Bismarck and managed to score a hit. But the guns of the Prince of Wales began to malfunction after each shot, meaning every shot was less powerful.

The Bismarck fired again at the Hood, managing to score a critical hit, hitting the front and the back of the ship. The Bismarck fired again, hitting the middle of the ship. This was the shot that finally crippled the Hood, causing a fountain of fire in the middle of the ship. Right after that, a giant explosion broke the ship in two, causing the Hood to sink. One of the turrets fired a dramatic last shot before sinking. Out of the 1,421 on the Hood, only 3 survived.

Now the Bismarck turned its attention to the Prince of Wales, but before the Bismarck could shoot, the Prince of Wales managed to fire one time, hitting the Bismarck. The Bismarck's armor, however, was very powerful and managed to survive relatively unharmed. The Bismarck returned fire and hit the bridge of the Prince of Wales. It did not explode for some reason, sparing the Prince of Wales from a devastating blow, though it still killed everyone except three in the bridge. The Bismarck fired a few more shots, damaging the Prince of Wales. Knowing it was outmatched, the Prince of Wales retreated from the battle.

Source: Prince of Whales: Wikipedia contributors. (2024f, juli 14). HMS Prince of Wales (53). Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Prince_of_Wales_(53)

With the Hood, the pride of the British navy, sunk, and the Bismarck now almost reaching the Atlantic where it could prey on American convoy ships, the entire British navy in Europe now had one objective: sink the Bismarck. Even Winston Churchill himself said that the Bismarck was now the number one priority.

They had to act fast, as the Bismarck came closer to the Atlantic, and the only ships in the area were no match for it. After the battle that sunk the Hood, the Prince of Wales, along with a squadron of cruisers, chased the Bismarck until, on a foggy day, they found it. The Bismarck fired at the ships but missed. The Prince of Wales returned fire but also missed, and the Bismarck managed to flee. Sadly, they saw that only one ship could be seen on the radar, which meant the cruiser accompanying the Bismarck had already managed to slip away.

The only ship that was fast enough to catch up to the Bismarck was the aircraft carrier Victorious. When she was in range, she sent nine Swordfish torpedo bomber planes to engage the Bismarck. This seemed like a suicide mission. The Swordfish bombers were old, outdated, slow, and could only carry one torpedo bomb. To make matters worse, the pilots were inexperienced. But it was the only option Britain had to stop the Bismarck. The fate of the Atlantic convoys lay in the hands of nine inexperienced pilots flying in outdated scrap metal.

Source: HMS Victorious Wikipedia contributors. (2024c, juni 8). HMS Victorious (R38). Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Victorious_(R38)

They saw a warship in the dark of night and went into position. They flew low in a straight line next to each other. However, something was weird—the warship was not opening fire at the bomber planes. Just before the planes were launching their torpedo bombs, fire came from behind from a ship in the distance. That ship was the Bismarck. The pilots had mistaken a US Coast Guard ship and almost sank it instead of the Bismarck. They managed to turn around just in time, saving US-UK relations but losing the element of surprise.

Source: Sowrdfish bomber naval encyclopedia. (z.d.). naval encyclopedia. Naval Encyclopedia. https://naval-encyclopedia.com/

The Bismarck opened fire at the planes, hitting them multiple times but not destroying them. What made the Swordfish bombers obsolete was a blessing in disguise. The targeting system of the Bismarck was designed to target fast planes, not the slow Swordfish. The armor of the Swordfish bombers was so fragile that the explosive anti-aircraft rounds tore through them without exploding, meaning that the Swordfish bombers could take many hits without going down. They managed to hit the Bismarck once. After they were out of torpedo bombs, the Swordfish bombers headed back, and the Bismarck was lost for the next few days.

The British Navy searched for the Bismarck nonstop. The search seemed to go nowhere as they could not pick up any radio signal from the Bismarck. But they knew three places where it could be. If it was lightly damaged, it could just go into the Atlantic and find an oil tanker to refuel. If it was heavily damaged, it could go to either Norway or France for repairs. No matter how hard they searched, they could not find the ship anywhere. Churchill was especially frustrated that the Bismarck still wasn't found. However, British intelligence managed to pick up one interesting message from a compromised Luftwaffe telegram that said the Bismarck was heading to Brest, France. The entire British Navy and Air Force headed in that direction in hopes of capturing the Bismarck. A patrol plane managed to find the Bismarck and alerted the British Navy. However, they had to be fast; the Bismarck was close enough to reach France within a day. They had to sink it before that.

The only ship in the area that was fast enough was the aircraft carrier Ark Royal. She launched 15 Swordfish bomber planes to deal with the Bismarck. They only had enough torpedoes for two attack runs. Unfortunately, they mistook one of their own ships for the Bismarck and almost sank it, wasting one of their two opportunities. They managed to find the real Bismarck and started their attack run. The 15 Swordfish bombers flew towards the Bismarck while being bombarded with anti-aircraft fire. Even though they were hit numerous times, they didn't go down due to the fragile armor of the planes. One plane managed to survive more than 175 hits from the Bismarck's anti-aircraft guns. One of the Swordfish bombers fired one of its torpedoes and—bullseye. It managed to hit the Bismarck, destroying its stern, meaning that the Bismarck couldn’t steer properly.

Source: HMS Ark Royal Wikipedia contributors. (2024d, juni 16). HMS Ark Royal (91). Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Ark_Royal_(91)

They finally had it after all this time. The British Navy ordered the destroyers in the area to fire at the Bismarck to ensure it couldn't move anymore. The Bismarck was now a sitting duck. The British decided to wait and refuel before attacking as attacking the Bismarck at night had proven to be dangerous. The next day, the four biggest ships in the Royal Navy engaged the Bismarck. The Bismarck and the British ships opened fire at each other. Even though the Bismarck managed to almost destroy one of the ships, it got hit with a devastating blow that destroyed the bridge. The guns of the Bismarck fell silent, and the British ships continued to bombard it. One shot managed to destroy the ammo storage, causing a big explosion. The Bismarck was on fire. The British ships continued to fire at the Bismarck. The Bismarck was so strong that it took more than 50 minutes and 2,800 shells to sink it. The British ships needed to fire so many shells that even their own ships got damaged from all the heat and recoil that firing their guns caused.

Source: wreckage of the Bismarck Frank Allen and Paul Bevand, MBE plus various contributors on behalf of the H.M.S. Hood Association. (z.d.). H.M.S. Hood Association-Battle Cruiser Hood. https://www.hmshood.org.uk/

The British ships went on to pick up German survivors who had survived the sinking of the Bismarck but had to retreat when they saw U-boats approaching. This meant that many German sailors could not be saved. Out of the 2,200 sailors who served on the Bismarck, only 114 survived.

After agonizing days and the loss of their most precious ship, the British finally sank the Bismarck, thereby saving American convoy ships and getting a morale-boosting victory that the British needed in this dark time.

If you want to relive the glory of the Bismarck and dominate the seven seas, you can actually play as the Bismarck in the game World of Warships. Yes, the Bismarck is almost as formidable in the game as it was in real life.