At the beginning of the 20th century, prosperous powers competed in the construction of the largest and most advanced ships. The legend of civil shipbuilding was the Titanic cruise ship, and the Bismarck battleship was especially honored among military vessels. It embodied the industrial and engineering power of Germany. In combination with the high moral and volitional qualities of the crew and its equally high training, the ship became a serious problem for the enemy. Today we will get acquainted with the history of the Bismarck battleship and its technical characteristics.
a brief description of
The Bismarck class (in total two ships were launched: the Bismarck itself and the later Tirpitz) was originally positioned as the heir to the pocket battleships and was intended primarily for intercepting merchant ships. Its fuel reserve was rather typical for the battleships of the Pacific Fleet, and the speed of 30.1 knots was almost the best indicator in the class. When the French battleship Dunkirk was launched, the design of the battleship of the Bismarck type was finalized. The main change was an even larger increase in size. The ship became the first German battleship launched after the First World War. The armament of the Bismarck battleship made it possible to provide worthy resistance to any battleship of those years. During the short service life of the ship, it was the largest battleship in the world. The Bismarck class to this day remains the third largest after the Yamato and Iowa.
Construction
The keel of the ship was laid on July 1, 1936 at the German shipyard Blohm & Voss. February 14, 1939 the battleship descended from the slipway. When the ship was launched, the granddaughter of Prince Bismarck was present (the ship got its name in honor of it), which, according to tradition, “christened” the ship with a bottle of champagne, as well as the acting Adolf Hitler. On August 24 of the following year, Ernest Lindemann was appointed to the position of captain of the Bismarck battleship. Tests of the ship and its equipment continued until the beginning of 1941.
Specifications
The ship’s dimensions are impressive: length - 251 m, width - 36 m, height from keel to the first deck in the midship - 15 m. The standard displacement of the Bismarck battleship was 41.7, and the total displacement was 50.9 thousand tons. No less impressive was the reservation of the vessel: 70% of its length was covered by the main armored belt with a thickness of 170 to 320 mm. The wheelhouse and the gun turrets of the main caliber of the Bismarck battleship received even thicker armor - 220-350 and 360 mm, respectively.
The armament of the ship was no less serious. It consisted of eight 380-mm main-caliber guns, 12 auxiliary guns with a caliber of 150 mm and a large number of anti-aircraft artillery. Each of the towers of the main caliber had its own name: the bow was called Anton and Brun, and the aft were Caesar and Dora. Despite the fact that the English and American battleships of those times had a slightly larger main caliber, the Bismarck gun posed a serious threat to them. The perfect aiming and fire control system, as well as the high quality of gunpowder allowed the Bismarck to penetrate 350-mm armor from 20 kilometers.
The ship’s power plant was represented by twelve steam boilers of the Wagner system and four turbo-gear units. Its total power was more than 150 thousand horsepower, which allowed the vessel to accelerate to 30 knots. The ship could travel more than 8.5 thousand nautical miles in economical running. Such characteristics of the Bismarck battleship were an outstanding achievement of German engineers. The crew of the ship was 2,200 sailors and officers.
Access to the Atlantic
According to the plan of Operation Rhine Exercises, the Bismarck, together with the cruiser Prince Eugen, was to enter the Atlantic Ocean, passing through the Danish Strait. The purpose of the campaign was to intercept merchant ships plying the British sea lanes. It was assumed that the battleship would divert the attention of the convoy so that the “Prince Eugen” could approach the merchant ships. The commander of the operation, Admiral Gunter Lutiens, asked the higher leadership to postpone the start of the operation and wait for another battleship to join it. Grand Admiral Erich Raeder - Commander-in-Chief of the German Navy - refused Lutens. May 18, 1941 the battleship Bismarck and the cruiser Prince Eugen left Gotenhafen (now the Polish port of Gdynia)
On May 20, the world's largest battleship was spotted by the crew of the Swedish cruiser Gotland. On the same day, the German squadron was identified by members of the Norwegian Resistance. On May 21, information about the location of two large ships in the Kattegat Strait hit the British Admiralty. The next day, the ships docked in the fjords near the city of Bergen (Norway), where they were repainted. There, "Prince Eugen" was refueled. During the stop, ships were spotted by a British reconnaissance aircraft. Having received photographs from him, the British leadership accurately identified Bismarck. Soon, bombers set off for the parking lot, but by the time they arrived, the German ships had already sailed. Bismarck and Prince Eugen managed to go unnoticed through the Norwegian Sea and the Arctic Circle.
Admiral John Tovey, commander of the British fleet of the Metropolis, sent the Prince of Wales battleship and the Hood cruiser, as well as the destroyers accompanying them, to the southwestern Spanish coast. The Strait of Denmark was assigned to patrol the Suffolk and Norfolk cruisers, and the strait separating Iceland and the Faroe Islands to the light cruisers Birmingham, Manchester and Arethusa. On the night of May 22-23, Admiral John Tovey, at the head of the flotilla from the battleship King George the Fifth, the carrier Victories and the escort, sailed towards the Orkney Islands. The flotilla was to wait for German ships in the waters northwest of Scotland.
On the evening of May 23, in the Danish Strait, which was about half covered with ice, in a thick fog, the Norfolk and Suffolk ships discovered the enemy flotilla and came into visual contact with it. The battleship of the German navy opened fire on the Norfolk cruiser. Having notified the command of this, the British ships disappeared into the fog, but continued to follow the Germans on radars. Due to the fact that Bismarck's front radar failed after firing, Admiral Lutiens ordered Prince Eugen to become the head of the flotilla.
Battle in the Danish Strait
The Prince of Wales and Hood vessels established visual contact with enemy ships in the morning of May 24th. At about six o’clock they began to attack the German flotilla from a distance of 22 kilometers. Vice Admiral Holland, who led the British group, gave the order to fire on the first ship, because he did not know that the Bismarck had changed places with the Prince Eugen. For some time the German side did not respond, since it was ordered to enter the battle only after the enemy entered the convoy. After several British shelling, Captain Lindemann, declaring that he would not allow his ship to go unpunished, ordered return fire. Having fired upon two German ships, Holland realized that he had made a mistake by ordering to attack the first of them.
The sixth shot of the “Prince of Wales” gave the result: the shell hit the Bismarck fuel tanks, which caused a copious leak of fuel from the tanks and their filling with water. Soon both German ships hit the cruiser Hood, resulting in severe fires on board. A few minutes later two volleys overtook the battleship Bismarck. By that time, the enemy ships were at a distance of about 16-17 km from each other. After another hit on the Hood ship, there was a strong explosion on it, literally tearing the ship into two halves. In a matter of minutes, it was under water. Of the 1417 crew, only three managed to escape. The "Prince of Wales" continued the battle, but unsuccessfully: in order to avoid a collision with a sinking ship, he had to get close to the enemy. After receiving seven hits, the battleship left the battle, using a smoke screen.
Captain Lindemann suggested chasing the Prince of Wales and drowning him, but Admiral Lutiens, due to severe damage to the Bismarck, decided to continue his voyage to the French port of Saint-Nazaire, where it was possible to repair the ship and unhook it into the Atlantic. It was assumed that later the ships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau would join him. "Prince Eugen" was ordered to continue shelling the British convoy on their own.
Chase
The Prince of Wales, along with the Norfolk and Suffolk ships that approached him, continued the pursuit of the German flotilla. The death of the ship "Hood" was perceived by the British Admiralty extremely painfully. Later, a special commission was established to investigate her circumstances. Soon, the majority of the British navy based in the Atlantic, including convoy guard ships, were involved in the hunt for the Bismarck battleship.
On May 24, at the beginning of seven in the thick fog the Bismarck turned on its pursuers. There was no hit during the short volley exchange, but the British had to dodge. As a result, the Prince Eugen vessel successfully broke off contact. Ten days later, it arrived in French Brest. On May 24, at 10 p.m., Admiral Lutiens informed the command that, due to lack of fuel, his battleship could not continue trying to fight off the pursuit of the enemy and had to go straight to Saint-Nazaire. Meanwhile, Admiral Tovey ordered the Victories aircraft carrier to close the distance. At the beginning of the eleventh, a torpedo bomber of the Swordfish model launched from the ship. Despite massive resistance, they nevertheless managed to get into the side of an enemy ship exactly once. In this case, the impressive size of the Bismarck battleship played a trick on him.
By 2:30, all planes returned to the aircraft carrier. "Bismarck" practically did not suffer from this raid, since the only accurate hit was directly on the main armored belt. However, the German crew still lost one man. This was the first loss of the Nazis for the entire campaign. To protect against torpedo bombers, the crew of the Bismarck battleship had to use all anti-aircraft weapons and some large-caliber guns. To make it more difficult for torpedo bombers to aim, the ship increased speed and tried to avoid shelling by all possible means. Although the British attack did not affect the condition of the ship, some of the problems left over from the previous shelling were exacerbated due to sharp maneuvers. So, the patch-sails brought into the hole in the bow of the ship moved away, as a result of which the leak intensified, and with it the trim on the nose also intensified.
On the night of May 25, the Bismarck pursuers began to zigzag, apparently cautious of the prospect of becoming victims of German submarines. Taking advantage of this, the battleship accelerated and broke contact. At 4 a.m., the Suffolk vessel officially reported this.
Detection
The German battleship Bismarck apparently continued to receive Suffolk radar signals, and at 7 a.m. on May 25, Admiral Lutens informed the command of the continuation of the pursuit. On the evening of the same day, the command demanded that Bismarck provide information on its location and speed and indicated that the British were likely to lose sight of the German ship. Lutiens did not send a response radiogram, but thanks to the interception of morning messages, the enemy was still able to determine its approximate course. Mistakenly assuming that the battleship was heading towards the strait separating Iceland and the Faroe Islands, Admiral Tovi set off at the head of his unit to the northeast.
By 10 a.m. on May 26, a flying US-British boat Catalina, flying from Loch Erne (Northern Ireland) to search for a German ship, found its exact location. At that time, “Bismarck” had only 700 miles to the French Brest, where he could count on the support of Luftwaffe bombers. Due to this circumstance, only one British unit had a chance of slowing down the battleship - the Gibraltar-based compound "N", commanded by Admiral Sommerville. The main trump card of this flotilla was the ArkRoyal aircraft carrier, from which at 14:50 the same day a squad of torpedo bombers flew. At that time, in the area of ​​their attack was the Sheffield cruiser, which separated about the connection to establish contact with the enemy. Pilots were not notified about this, so they attacked their own ship. Fortunately for the British Navy, none of the 11 launched torpedoes hit the ship. Subsequently, the poorly manifested magnetic torpedo detonators, it was decided to replace the contact.
At 17:40, the Sheffield cruiser made contact with the Bismarck battleship and began to pursue it. At 20:47, 15 torpedo bombers flew off the Ark Royal aircraft carrier for the second attack. They managed to inflict two (according to some sources, three) accurate strikes, one of which became fatal for the German ship. In an attempt to evade the torpedo, the battleship received a powerful blow to the stern, as a result of which the steering wheels jammed. Having lost the ability to maneuver, the ship began to describe the circulation. All attempts to restore controllability were in vain, and the battleship began to move northwest. About an hour after the start of the attack by torpedo bombers, the battleship began shelling the Sheffield and wounded 12 people from its crew. At night, the battle of the battleship Bismarck with five British torpedo bombers took place. Both sides could not deliver an exact blow.
Drowning
On May 27, at about 9 a.m. from a distance of 22 km, the German battleship was attacked by heavy ships from the admiral Tovi’s compound, the battleships King George Fifth and Rodney, as well as two cruisers, Norfolk and Dorsetshire. The Bismarck responded with fire, but the British pressure was too massive. After half an hour, the gun turrets of the ship were badly damaged, and the superstructures were destroyed. He had a strong roll, but kept on the water. At 9:31, the last tower was put out of action, after which, as the surviving crew members testify, Captain Lindeman gave the order to flood the ship. Since the Bismarck, despite the fact that its fate was a foregone conclusion, did not lower the flag, the battleship Rodney approached him several kilometers away and began to fire direct fire. Due to the fact that the British battleships ran out of fuel, Admiral Tovey, realizing that the “Bismarck” did not leave, ordered them to return to the base. At about 10:30 the cruiser Dorsetshire fired three torpedoes on a German ship, each of which hit exactly on target. On May 27, 1941, at 10:39, the Bismarck battleship lay aboard and began to sink.
Answering the question about who sank the Bismarck battleship, many recall the three decisive hits of the Dorsetshire cruiser. In fact, the fate of the ship was predetermined by the hit of a torpedo bomber, which deprived him of the ability to maneuver.
Ships "Dorsetshire" and "Maori" picked up 110 people from the crew of the sunken ship. When the alarm sounded about the approach of German submarines, they hastened to leave the place of drowning. In the evening, after the ships left for a safe distance, the U-74 submarine saved three more people. The next day, the Sachsenwald hydrometeorological vessel picked up two more sailors. The remaining 2100 people died. The forces of the English fleet, which at the last stage of the battle had clear superiority, when the Bismarck battleship died, did not consciously begin to save its crew. Thus, they avenged those who died during the sinking of the ship "Hood."
Submarine Actions
The German submarines, which as part of the "wolf packs" in the Atlantic hunted for enemy convoys, were notified of the departure of the "Bismarck" and "Prince Eugen" on a campaign.
On May 24, the submarine received a message from the radiogram about the victory of the battleship over the Hood, as well as the installation in the future to be guided by orders taking into account the situation of Bismarck.
On May 25, a U-557 submarine, several hundred miles from the battleship, discovered and attacked a large convoy. The next day, she was ordered to share her coordinates with other submarines for a joint strike.
Early in the morning of May 27, all submarines, which had a stock of torpedoes, were ordered at maximum speed to go to the Bismarck. Submarines received an order late at 8 o’clock: it was signed at 22 o’clock the previous day. At the time of signing, most of the boats took part in the convoy attack, hid from escorts and for technical reasons could not receive an order. In addition, at that moment, the submarines chasing the convoy stretched north from Bismarck. May 27 at 11:25 headquarters reported to the submarines that the battleship was the victim of a massive attack by the enemy. All nearby submarines were ordered to rescue the crew of the ship.
Arriving at the place of death, the submarines found on the surface a huge amount of debris and a thick layer of oil. After a day of exploration, they returned to the patrol areas.
Result
The last Bismarck fight was an illustration of how difficult it is to hit a battleship even with a numerical superiority and the presence of equipment that is similar in characteristics. On the other hand, one torpedo from a small plane dealt a decisive blow to a huge vessel. Therefore, the main conclusion that the military drew from the demise of the Bismarck battleship was that the battleships ceded their dominant position in the fleet to aircraft carriers.
Soon, the German naval command abandoned raiding operations of the surface fleet in favor of unlimited submarine warfare. The second battleship of the Bismarck type, the battleship Tirpitz, during all the years of the war did not launch a single salvo attack on enemy ships. However, the British had to link the impressive forces of the navy and air fleet in case the Norwegian-based battleship did go to sea.
Memory
Bismarck and Tirpitz warships are often compared to Titanic and Olympic civilian liners. In both cases, the ship that died in its first voyage gained world fame, and the ship, which served for much longer, remained in the shadows. In 1960, the director Lewis Hilbert shot the film "Drown Bismarck".
The place where the history of the Bismarck battleship ended was discovered only on June 8, 1989, thanks to the efforts of Robert Ballard, who had previously been found by the Titanic. According to international laws, this place is considered a military burial place. Since the drowning, to this day, six expeditions have been organized there. In the same 1989, Patrick Prentis shot another documentary about the secrets of the Bismarck battleship. In 2002, James Cameron, director of the movie Titanic, also contributed to the memory of the ship. Using Russian underwater vehicles "Mir", he carried out underwater shooting for the film "Expedition" Bismarck "."