Last battle of the battleship Bismarck
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The last battle of the German battleship ''Bismarck'' took place in the
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approximately west of
Brest, France Brest (; ) is a port city in the Finistère department, Brittany. Located in a sheltered bay not far from the western tip of the peninsula, and the western extremity of metropolitan France, Brest is an important harbour and the second French mi ...
, on 26–27 May 1941 between the and naval and air elements of the British
Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
. Although it was a decisive action between
capital ship The capital ships of a navy are its most important warships; they are generally the larger ships when compared to other warships in their respective fleet. A capital ship is generally a leading or a primary ship in a naval fleet. Strategic im ...
s, it has no generally accepted name. On 24 May, before the final action, ''Bismarck''s fuel tanks were damaged and several machinery compartments, including a boiler room, were flooded in the
Battle of the Denmark Strait The Battle of the Denmark Strait was a naval engagement in the Second World War, which took place on 24 May 1941 between ships of the Royal Navy and the ''Kriegsmarine''. The British battleship and the battlecruiser fought the German battlesh ...
. Her captain's intention was to reach the port of Brest for repair. Late in the day ''Bismarck'' briefly turned on her pursuers ( and the
heavy cruiser The heavy cruiser was a type of cruiser, a naval warship designed for long range and high speed, armed generally with naval guns of roughly 203 mm (8 inches) in caliber, whose design parameters were dictated by the Washington Naval Tr ...
s and ) to cover the escape of her companion, the heavy cruiser to continue further into the Atlantic. Early on 25 May the British forces lost contact with ''Bismarck'', which headed ESE towards France while the British searched northeast, presuming she was returning to Norway. Later on 25 May the commander of the German force, Admiral
Günther Lütjens Johann Günther Lütjens (25 May 1889 – 27 May 1941) was a German admiral whose military service spanned more than thirty years and two world wars. Lütjens is best known for his actions during World War II and his command of the battleship d ...
, apparently unaware that he had lost his pursuers, broke radio silence to send a coded message to Germany. This allowed the British to
triangulate In trigonometry and geometry, triangulation is the process of determining the location of a point by forming triangles to the point from known points. Applications In surveying Specifically in surveying, triangulation involves only angle me ...
the approximate position of ''Bismarck'' and aircraft were dispatched to hunt for the German battleship. The battleship was rediscovered in the late morning of 26 May by a
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flying boat from
No. 209 Squadron RAF Number 209 Squadron of the British Royal Air Force was originally formed from a nucleus of "Naval Eight" on 1 February 1917 at Saint-Pol-sur-Mer, France, as No. 9 Squadron Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS)Rawlings 1978, p. 324. and saw active servic ...
and subsequently shadowed by aircraft from
Force H Force H was a British naval formation during the Second World War. It was formed in 1940, to replace French naval power in the western Mediterranean removed by the French armistice with Nazi Germany. The force occupied an odd place within the ...
steaming north from
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. The final action consisted of four main phases. The first phase late on the 26th consisted of air strikes by
torpedo bomber A torpedo bomber is a military aircraft designed primarily to attack ships with aerial torpedoes. Torpedo bombers came into existence just before the First World War almost as soon as aircraft were built that were capable of carrying the weight ...
s from the British
aircraft carrier An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and facilities for carrying, arming, deploying, and recovering aircraft. Typically, it is the capital ship of a fleet, as it allows a ...
, which disabled ''Bismarck''s steering gear, jammed her rudders in a turning position and prevented her escape. The second phase was the shadowing and harassment of ''Bismarck'' during the night of 26/27 May by British and Polish
destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed in ...
s, with no serious damage to any ship. The third phase on the morning of 27 May was an attack by the British battleships and supported by cruisers. After about 100 minutes of fighting, ''Bismarck'' was sunk by the combined effects of shellfire, torpedo hits and deliberate scuttling. On the British side, ''Rodney'' was lightly damaged by near-misses and by the blast effects of her own guns. British warships rescued 111 survivors from ''Bismarck'' before being obliged to withdraw because of an apparent
U-boat U-boats were naval submarines operated by Germany, particularly in the First and Second World Wars. Although at times they were efficient fleet weapons against enemy naval warships, they were most effectively used in an economic warfare role ...
sighting, leaving several hundred men to their fate. The following morning, a U-boat and a German weathership rescued five more survivors. In the final phase, the withdrawing British ships were attacked the next day on 28 May by aircraft of the ''
Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...
'', resulting in the loss of the destroyer .


Background

''Bismarck''s second sea battle was made unavoidable by the decisions of the Fleet Commander (
Günther Lütjens Johann Günther Lütjens (25 May 1889 – 27 May 1941) was a German admiral whose military service spanned more than thirty years and two world wars. Lütjens is best known for his actions during World War II and his command of the battleship d ...
), taken well before the encounter with ''Hood'' and ''Prince of Wales''. Even before the breakout into the North Atlantic, Lütjens had decided against conducting an underway refuelling in the
Greenland Sea The Greenland Sea is a body of water that borders Greenland to the west, the Svalbard archipelago to the east, Fram Strait and the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Norwegian Sea and Iceland to the south. The Greenland Sea is often defined as p ...
with ''Weissenburg'', one of the pre-positioned German tankers, before his ships entered the
Denmark Strait The Denmark Strait () or Greenland Strait ( , 'Greenland Sound') is an oceanic strait between Greenland to its northwest and Iceland to its southeast. The Norwegian island of Jan Mayen lies northeast of the strait. Geography The strait connect ...
. And when, as a result of the battle with ''Hood'' and ''Prince of Wales'', ''Bismarck'' lost access to several thousand tons of fuel in her
forecastle The forecastle ( ; contracted as fo'c'sle or fo'c's'le) is the upper deck of a sailing ship forward of the foremast, or, historically, the forward part of a ship with the sailors' living quarters. Related to the latter meaning is the phrase " be ...
due to a shell hit from ''Prince of Wales'' (aft of the forecastle, in her anchor locker), Lütjens had to order his ships to slow down to conserve fuel. The decrease in speed made
Force H Force H was a British naval formation during the Second World War. It was formed in 1940, to replace French naval power in the western Mediterranean removed by the French armistice with Nazi Germany. The force occupied an odd place within the ...
's airborne torpedo attacks inevitable, and those attacks led directly to the final encounter with the Home Fleet. Determined to avenge the sinking of the "Pride of the Navy" in the
Battle of the Denmark Strait The Battle of the Denmark Strait was a naval engagement in the Second World War, which took place on 24 May 1941 between ships of the Royal Navy and the ''Kriegsmarine''. The British battleship and the battlecruiser fought the German battlesh ...
, the British committed every possible unit to hunting down ''Bismarck''. The old was detached from convoy duty southeast of Greenland and ordered to set a course to intercept ''Bismarck'' if she should attempt to raid the sea lanes off North America. ''Prince of Wales'' and the cruisers ''Norfolk'' and ''Suffolk'' were still at sea in the area and tailing the German ships. A British force, the battleship ''King George V'', the carrier ''Victorious'' and their escorts, had set sail from
Scapa Flow Scapa Flow viewed from its eastern end in June 2009 Scapa Flow (; ) is a body of water in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, sheltered by the islands of Mainland, Graemsay, Burray,S. C. George, ''Jutland to Junkyard'', 1973. South Ronaldsay and ...
before the loss of the ''Hood''. The battleship ''Rodney'' was detached from escort duties on 24 May. During the early evening of 24 May, an attack was made by a small group of
Swordfish Swordfish (''Xiphias gladius''), also known as broadbills in some countries, are large, highly migratory predatory fish characterized by a long, flat, pointed bill. They are a popular sport fish of the billfish category, though elusive. Swordfis ...
biplane A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While ...
torpedo bomber A torpedo bomber is a military aircraft designed primarily to attack ships with aerial torpedoes. Torpedo bombers came into existence just before the First World War almost as soon as aircraft were built that were capable of carrying the weight ...
s of
825 Naval Air Squadron 825 Naval Air Squadron is a Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm Naval Air Squadron which was re-commissioned on 10 October 2014 and currently flies the AgustaWestland Wildcat HMA2. It was a carrier-based squadron that was formed on 8 October 1934 from the ...
under the command of
Eugene Esmonde Lieutenant Commander Eugene Esmonde, (1 March 1909 – 12 February 1942) was a distinguished Irish pilot in the Fleet Air Arm who was a posthumous recipient of the Victoria Cross (VC), the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy awa ...
from the
aircraft carrier An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and facilities for carrying, arming, deploying, and recovering aircraft. Typically, it is the capital ship of a fleet, as it allows a ...
. One hit was scored, but caused only superficial damage to ''Bismarck''s
armoured belt Belt armor is a layer of heavy metal armor plated onto or within the outer hulls of warships, typically on battleships, battlecruisers and cruisers, and aircraft carriers. The belt armor is designed to prevent projectiles from penetrating to t ...
. For some time, ''Bismarck'' remained under long-distance observation by the British. At about 03:00 on 25 May, she took advantage of her opponents' zig-zagging to double back on her own wake; ''Bismarck'' made a nearly 270° turn to starboard, and as a result her pursuers lost sight of the battleship, thus enabling her to head for German naval bases in France unnoticed. Contact was lost for four hours, but the Germans did not know this. For reasons that are still unclear, Admiral Günther Lütjens transmitted a 30-minute radio message to HQ, which was intercepted, thereby giving the British time to work out roughly where he was heading. However, a plotting error made onboard ''King George V'', now in pursuit of the Germans, incorrectly calculated ''Bismarck''s position and caused the chase to veer too far to the north. ''Bismarck'' was therefore able to make good time on 25/26 May in her unhindered passage towards France and protective air cover and destroyer escort. By now, however, fuel was becoming a major concern to both sides. The British had a stroke of luck on 26 May. In mid-morning a
Coastal Command RAF Coastal Command was a formation within the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was founded in 1936, when the RAF was restructured into Fighter, Bomber and Coastal Commands and played an important role during the Second World War. Maritime Aviation ...
Catalina reconnaissance aircraft from 209 Squadron RAF had flown over the Atlantic from its base on
Lough Erne Lough Erne ( , ) is the name of two connected lakes in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. It is the second-biggest lake system in Northern Ireland and Ulster, and the fourth biggest in Ireland. The lakes are widened sections of the River Erne, ...
in
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across the
Donegal Corridor The Donegal Corridor () was a narrow strip of Irish airspace linking Lough Erne to the international waters of the Atlantic Ocean through which the Irish Government permitted flights by British military aircraft during World War II. This was ...
. It was piloted by British Flying Officer Dennis Briggs and co-piloted by US Navy observer Ensign
Leonard B. Smith Leonard B. "Tuck" Smith (October 29, 1915 in Mayview, Missouri – May 16, 2006 in Friday Harbor, Washington) was an American pilot who spotted the German battleship '' Bismarck'' prior to its being sunk by British naval and air forces.
, USNR. Smith was at the controls when he spotted ''Bismarck'' (via a trailing
oil slick An oil spill is the release of a liquid petroleum hydrocarbon into the environment, especially the marine ecosystem, due to human activity, and is a form of pollution. The term is usually given to marine oil spills, where oil is released into th ...
from the ship's damaged fuel tank) and reported her position to the
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. From then on, the German ship's position was known to the British, although the enemy would have to be slowed significantly if heavy units hoped to engage outside the range of German land-based aircraft. All British hopes were now pinned on Force H, whose main units were the aircraft carrier HMS ''Ark Royal'', the
battlecruiser The battlecruiser (also written as battle cruiser or battle-cruiser) was a type of capital ship of the first half of the 20th century. These were similar in displacement, armament and cost to battleships, but differed in form and balance of attr ...
and the light
cruiser A cruiser is a type of warship. Modern cruisers are generally the largest ships in a fleet after aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships, and can usually perform several roles. The term "cruiser", which has been in use for several hu ...
. This battle group, commanded by
Admiral Admiral is one of the highest ranks in some navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force, and is above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet, ...
James Somerville Admiral of the Fleet Sir James Fownes Somerville, (17 July 1882 – 19 March 1949) was a Royal Navy officer. He served in the First World War as fleet wireless officer for the Mediterranean Fleet where he was involved in providing naval supp ...
, had been diverted north from
Gibraltar ) , anthem = " God Save the King" , song = " Gibraltar Anthem" , image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg , map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe , map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green , mapsize = , image_map2 = Gib ...
.


The battle


Night of 26/27 May

At dusk that evening, and in atrocious weather conditions, Swordfish from ''Ark Royal'' launched an attack. The first wave mistakenly targeted ''Sheffield'' which had been detached from Force H under orders to close and shadow ''Bismarck''. Although precious time was lost by this incident, it proved beneficial to the British in that the magnetic detonators on the torpedoes used against ''Sheffield'' were seen to be defective and for the following attack on ''Bismarck'' were replaced by those designed to explode on contact. Despite the lateness of the day, it was decided to try again. The attack commenced in near darkness at around 21:00 but once again the Swordfish torpedo bombers found ''Bismarck'' with their ASV II radars. A hit by a single torpedo from a Swordfish, hitting her port side, jammed ''Bismarck''s rudder and steering gear 12° to port. This resulted in her being, initially, able to steam only in a large circle. Repair efforts by the crew to free the rudder failed. ''Bismarck'' attempted to steer by alternating the power of her three propeller shafts, which, in the prevailing force 8 wind and
sea state In oceanography, sea state is the general condition of the free surface on a large body of water—with respect to wind waves and swell—at a certain location and moment. A sea state is characterized by statistics, including the wave height, p ...
, resulted in the ship being forced to sail towards ''King George V'' and ''Rodney'', two British battleships that had been pursuing ''Bismarck'' from the west. At 23:40 on 26 May, Admiral Lütjens delivered to Group West, the German command base, the signal "Ship unmanoeuvrable. We will fight to the last shell. Long live the
Führer ( ; , spelled or ''Fuhrer'' when the Umlaut (diacritic), umlaut is not available) is a German word meaning "leader" or "guide". As a political title, it is strongly associated with the Nazi Germany, Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler. Nazi Germany ...
." Throughout that night, ''Bismarck'' was the target of intermittent torpedo attacks by the destroyers , , and , and the Polish destroyer . One of ''Bismarck''s shells sheared off ''Cossack''s antenna and three other shells straddled ''Zulu'' wounding three men. The British destroyers didn't score any hits, but the constant worrying tactics of the British helped wear down the morale of the Germans and deepened the fatigue of an already exhausted crew.


The final action

As the British units converged on ''Bismarck''s location, Tovey instructed the commander of ''Rodney'' to close to within as quickly as possible, and that while he should in general conform to ''King George V''s movements, he was free to manoeuvre independently. The morning of Tuesday 27 May 1941 brought a heavy grey sky, a rising sea and a tearing wind from the northwest. Because of this northwesterly gale, Tovey concluded an attack on ''Bismarck'' from windward was undesirable. He decided to approach on a northwesterly bearing before deploying. For her part, ''Bismarck'' was still unmanoeuvrable; her crew made what preparations they could for the inevitable engagement, including pushing her Arado floatplane overboard to reduce the risk of fire. At 08:43, lookouts on ''King George V'' spotted ''Bismarck'', some away; ''Rodney'' opened fire first at 08:47, followed quickly by ''King George V''. ''Bismarck'' was unable to steer due to the torpedo damage, and this was further complicated by the gale-force storm. The consequent unpredictable motions made the ship an unstable gun platform and created a difficult gunnery problem. However ''Bismarck'' returned fire at 08:50 with her forward guns, and with her second salvo, she straddled ''Rodney''. This was the closest she came to scoring a hit on any British warship in the engagement, because at 09:02, a salvo from ''Rodney'' struck the forward
superstructure A superstructure is an upward extension of an existing structure above a baseline. This term is applied to various kinds of physical structures such as buildings, bridges, or ships. Aboard ships and large boats On water craft, the superstruct ...
, damaging the
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and main fire control director and killing most of the senior officers. The salvo also damaged the forward main battery turrets. The aft fire control station took over direction of the aft turrets, but after three salvos was also knocked out. With both fire control positions out of action, ''Bismarck''s shooting became increasingly erratic, allowing the British to close the range. ''Norfolk'' and ''Dorsetshire'' closed and began firing with their guns. At around 09:31, the last of ''Bismarck''s four main battery turrets was put out of action. First Officer Hans Oels, the senior surviving officer, then issued the order to scuttle the Bismarck - for all the watertight doors to be opened, for the engine-room personnel to prepare scuttling charges, and for the crew to abandon ship. Oels moved through the ship, repeating these orders to all he met, until he was killed. Gerhard Junack, the senior surviving engineering officer, ordered his men to set the demolition charges with a 9-minute fuse. The intercom system broke down so he sent a messenger to confirm the order to scuttle the ship, but when the messenger never returned Junack primed the charges and ordered the engineering crew to abandon ship.Gaack & Carr, pp. 80–81 Once all four of ''Bismarck''s main battery turrets were out of action by around 09:31, ''Rodney'' closed to around with impunity to fire her guns at what was
point-blank range Point-blank range is any distance over which a certain firearm can hit a target without the need to compensate for bullet drop, and can be adjusted over a wide range of distances by sighting in the firearm. If the bullet leaves the barrel paral ...
into ''Bismarck''s superstructure. ''King George V'' remained at a greater distance to increase the possibility that her shells would strike ''Bismarck''s decks. During this period, ''Rodney'' launched a pair of torpedoes at ''Bismarck'', claiming one hit. By 10:00 the two battleships had reduced Bismarck's superstructure and decks to a shambles, aflame from stem to stern, though the Germans refused to surrender. The Bismarck was settling by the stern due to uncontrolled flooding and had taken on a 20 degree
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to
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. The British battleships were running low on fuel, so at 10:20 Tovey ordered ''Dorsetshire'' to close and torpedo the crippled ''Bismarck'' while ''King George V'' and ''Rodney'' turned for port. ''Dorsetshire'' fired a pair of torpedoes into ''Bismarck''s starboard side, one of which hit. ''Dorsetshire'' then moved around to her port side and fired another torpedo, which also hit. By the time these torpedo attacks took place, the ship was already listing so badly that the deck was partly awash. Based on subsequent examination of the wreck, the last torpedo appears to have detonated against ''Bismarck''s port side superstructure, which was by then already underwater. The ship began
capsizing Capsizing or keeling over occurs when a boat or ship is rolled on its side or further by wave action, instability or wind force beyond the angle of positive static stability or it is upside down in the water. The act of recovering a vessel fro ...
at about 10:35, and by 10:40 had slipped beneath the waves, stern first. The two British battleships fired some 700 large-caliber shells at ''Bismarck'', and all told, ''King George V'', ''Rodney'', ''Dorsetshire'' and ''Norfolk'' collectively fired some 2,800 shells, scoring around 400 hits.


Survivors

''Dorsetshire'' and ''Maori'' rescued 111 Bismarck survivors, but a U-boat alarm caused them to leave the scene, leaving the majority of ''Bismarck''s survivors from the 2,200-man crew (around 800) to the rough Atlantic waters. That evening, , dispatched to try to rescue ''Bismarck''’s logbook (and which heard sinking noises from a distance), picked up three survivors in a raft (Herzog, Höntzsch, and Manthey) and the following day the German weather ship picked up two survivors in another raft (Lorenzen and Maus) before finding another raft that was empty.


Aftermath

After the sinking, Admiral John Tovey said, "The ''Bismarck'' had put up a most gallant fight against impossible odds worthy of the old days of the
Imperial German Navy The Imperial German Navy or the Imperial Navy () was the navy of the German Empire, which existed between 1871 and 1919. It grew out of the small Prussian Navy (from 1867 the North German Federal Navy), which was mainly for coast defence. Wilhel ...
, and she went down with her colours flying." The Board of the Admiralty issued a message of thanks to those involved: Unaware of the fate of the ship, Group West, the German command base, continued to issue signals to ''Bismarck'' for some hours, until
Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was estab ...
reported news from Britain that the ship had been sunk. In Britain, the
House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...
was informed of the sinking early that afternoon. After the battle, the British warships returned to the United Kingdom with 110 ''Bismarck'' survivors, as one survivor (Gerhard Lüttich) had died of his wounds the day after his rescue and was buried at sea on 28 May 1941 with full military honours by the crew of HMS ''Dorsetshire''. After a period of interrogation and processing, the survivors spent the rest of the war as
prisoners A prisoner (also known as an inmate or detainee) is a person who is deprived of liberty against their will. This can be by confinement, captivity, or forcible restraint. The term applies particularly to serving a prison sentence in a prison. ...
. No British ship was sunk during this action, but the destroyer was sunk by the ''
Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...
'' during the withdrawal the following day. While the British cruiser ''Dorsetshire'' was attempting to rescue survivors from the water, Midshipman Joe Brooks jumped over the side to help wounded Germans scramble up his ship's side. One German sailor had lost both arms and was hanging onto a rope with his teeth; Brooks tried to save him but failed. Brooks was nearly left behind when a U-boat was spotted in the area and the ''Dorsetshire'' began to pull away while he was still in the water, but he was thrown a line by his shipmates and was pulled aboard.


Order of battle


Axis

* German battleship


Allied

* The British battleships and . * The British aircraft carrier * The British
heavy cruiser The heavy cruiser was a type of cruiser, a naval warship designed for long range and high speed, armed generally with naval guns of roughly 203 mm (8 inches) in caliber, whose design parameters were dictated by the Washington Naval Tr ...
s and . * The British
light cruiser A light cruiser is a type of small or medium-sized warship. The term is a shortening of the phrase "light armored cruiser", describing a small ship that carried armor in the same way as an armored cruiser: a protective belt and deck. Prior to thi ...
. * The British
destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed in ...
s , , , , , * The Polish destroyer


Neutral

* Spanish heavy cruiser (attempted to rescue some survivors from ''Bismarck'')


See also

*
Operation Rheinübung Operation Rheinübung ("Exercise Rhine") was the sortie into the Atlantic by the new German battleship and heavy cruiser on 18–27 May 1941, during World War II. This operation to block Allies of World War II, Allied shipping to the United ...
, the intended mission of ''Bismarck'' and ''Prinz Eugen'' * ''
Sink the Bismarck! ''Sink the Bismarck!'' is a 1960 black-and-white CinemaScope British war film based on the 1959 book ''The Last Nine Days of the Bismarck'' by C. S. Forester. It stars Kenneth More and Dana Wynter and was directed by Lewis Gilbert.Weiler, A.H ...
'', a 1960 film based on
C. S. Forester Cecil Louis Troughton Smith (27 August 1899 – 2 April 1966), known by his pen name Cecil Scott "C. S." Forester, was an English novelist known for writing tales of naval warfare, such as the 12-book Horatio Hornblower series depicting a Roya ...
's book ''
The Last Nine Days of the Bismarck ''The Last Nine Days of the Bismarck'' (Little Brown, 1959), also published as ''Hunting the Bismark'' (Michael Joseph, 1959), was written by C. S. Forester, C.S. Forester (1899–1966), the author of the popular Horatio Hornblower series of nav ...
'' * " Sink the Bismarck", a 1960 song by
Johnny Horton John LaGale Horton (April 30, 1925 – November 5, 1960) was an American singer-songwriter and musician. Initially performing traditional country, Horton later performed rockabilly songs. He is best known for a series of history-inspired narrat ...
inspired by the film of the same name. * ''
Computer Bismarck ''Computer Bismarck'' is a computer wargame developed and published by Strategic Simulations, Inc. (SSI) in 1980. The game is based on the last battle of the battleship Bismarck, in which British Armed Forces pursue the German ''Bismarck'' in ...
'', a 1980 computer game that simulates the battle. * Unsinkable Sam, a ship's cat on board ''Bismarck'' who allegedly survived the sinking and was adopted by the Royal Navy; probably a tall tale.


Notes


References

* Bercuson, David J. and Holger H. Herwig. ''The Destruction of the Bismarck''. Woodstock and New York: The Overlook Press, 2001. . * * Cameron J., Dulin R., Garzke W., Jurens W., Smith K
The Wreck of DKM Bismarck A Marine Forensics Analysis
* * Chesnau, Roger (Ed.) ''Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1922–1946''. Conway Maritime Press, 1980. * Dewar, A.D. Admiralty report BR 1736: ''The Chase and Sinking of the “Bismarck”''. Naval Staff History (Second World War) Battle Summary No. 5, March 1950. Reproduced in facsimile in Grove, Eric (ed.), ''German Capital Ships and Raiders in World War II. Volume I: From “Graf Spee” to “Bismarck”, 1939–1941''. Frank Cass Publishers 2002. * * * * * * Jackson, Robert (2002). ''The Bismarck''. London: Weapons of War. . * Kennedy, Ludovic. ''Pursuit: The sinking of the Bismarck''. William Collins Sons & Co Ltd 1974. * Jerzy Pertek, ''Wielkie dni małej floty'' (Great Days of a Small Fleet), Zysk i S-ka, 2011, * Michael A. Peszke, ''Poland's Navy 1918-1945'', Hippocrene Books, 1999, * Müllenheim-Rechberg, Burkard von. ''Battleship Bismarck: A Survivor's Story''. Triad/Granada, 1982. . * Schofield, B.B. ''Loss of the Bismarck''. Ian Allan, 1972. * Tovey, Sir John C
SINKING OF THE GERMAN BATTLESHIP BISMARCK ON 27™ MAY, 1941.
*


External links


Newsreel footage of Bismarck's last battle
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bismarck Naval battles and operations of the European theatre of World War II Last battle Operation Rheinübung Naval battles of World War II involving Germany Naval battles of World War II involving Poland Naval battles of World War II involving the United Kingdom