“Ship unmaneuverable. We shall fight to the last shell. Long live the Führer.“
Vice-Admiral Günther Lütjens, onboard battleship Bismarck
Operation Rheinübung (“Exercise Rhine”) was the last sortie into the Atlantic by the new German battleship Bismarck and heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen on May 18th–27th, 1941, during World War II. This operation aimed to block Allied shipping to the United Kingdom as the previously successful Operation Berlin had done. After Bismarck sunk HMS Hood during battle of the Denmark Strait (May 24th), it culminated with the sinking of Bismarck (May 27th), while Prinz Eugen escaped to occupied France port. From that point on Germans would rely only on U-boats to wage the Battle of the Atlantic.
The heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen sailed at about 21:00 on 18 May 1941 from Gotenhafen (Gdynia, Poland), followed at 2:00 a.m., May 19th, by Bismarck. Both ships proceeded under escort, separately and rendezvoused off Cape Arkona on Rügen Island in the western Baltic, where the destroyers Z23 and Z16 Friedrich Eckoldt joined them. They then proceeded through the Danish Islands into the Kattegat. Entering the Kattegat on May 20th Bismarck and Prinz Eugen sailed north toward the Skagerrak, the strait between Jutland and Southern Norway, where they were sighted by the Swedish aircraft-carrying cruiser Gotland on around 1:00 p.m. Gotland forwarded the sighting in a routine report. Earlier, around noon, a flight of Swedish aircraft also detected the German vessels and likewise reported their sighting.
On May 21st, the Admiralty was alerted by sources in the Swedish government that two large German warships had been seen in the Kattegat. The ships entered the North Sea and took a brief refuge in a Grimstadfjord near Bergen, Norway on May 21st where Prinz Eugen was topped off with fuel, making a break for the Atlantic shipping lanes on May 22nd. By this time, Hood and Prince of Wales, with escorting destroyers, were en route to the Denmark Strait, where two cruisers, Norfolk and Suffolk were already patrolling. The cruisers Manchester and Birmingham had been sent to guard the waters south-east of Iceland.
Once the departure of the German ships was discovered, Admiral Sir John Tovey, the Commander-in-Chief of the British Home Fleet, sailed with King George V, Victorious and their escorts to support those already at sea. Repulse joined soon afterwards.
On the evening of May 23rd, Suffolk sighted Bismarck and Prinz Eugen in the Denmark Strait, close to the Greenland coast. Suffolk immediately sought cover in a fog bank and alerted The Admiralty. Bismarck opened fire on Norfolk at a range of six miles but Norfolk escaped into fog. Norfolk and Suffolk, outgunned, shadowed the German ships using radar. No hits were scored but the concussion of the main guns firing at Norfolk had knocked out Bismarck’s radar causing Lütjens to re-position Prinz Eugen ahead of Bismarck. After the German ships were sighted, British naval groups were redirected to either intercept Lütjens’ force or to cover a troop convoy.
Hood and Prince of Wales made contact with the German force early on the morning of May 24th, and the action started at 5:52 a.m., with the combatants about 25,000 yards (23,000 m) apart. Gunners onboard Hood initially mistook Prinz Eugen that was now in the lead for Bismarck and opened fire on her, Capt Leach commanding HMS Prince of wales realizing V/Adm Holland’s error engaged Bismarck from the outset. Both German ships were firing at Hood. Hood suffered an early hit from Prinz Eugen which started a rapidly spreading fire amidships.
Then, at about 6 a.m., one or more of Hood’s magazines exploded, probably as the result of a direct hit by a 38 cm (15 in) shell from Bismarck. The massive explosion broke the great battlecruiser’s back, and she sank within minutes. All but three of her 1,418-man crew died, including Vice Admiral Lancelot Holland, commanding officer of the squadron.
Prince of Wales continued the action, but suffered multiple hits with 38 cm (15 in) and 20.3 cm (8 in) shells, and experienced repeated mechanical failures with her main armament. Her commanding officer, Captain Leach, was wounded when one of Bismarck’s shells struck Prince of Wales’ bridge. Leach broke off the action, and the British battleship retreated under cover of a smokescreen.
Bismarck had been hit three times but Admiral Lütjens overruled Bismarck‘s Captain Ernst Lindemann who wanted to pursue the damaged Prince of Wales and finish her off. All of the hits on Bismarck had been inflicted by Prince of Wales‘ 14-inch (356 mm) guns. One of the hits had penetrated the German battleship’s hull near the bow, rupturing some of her fuel tanks, causing her to leak oil continuously and at a serious rate. This was to be a critical factor as the pursuit continued, forcing Bismarck to make for Brest instead of escaping into the great expanse of the Atlantic. The resulting oil slick also helped the British cruisers to shadow her.
Norfolk and Suffolk and the damaged Prince of Wales continued to shadow the Germans, reporting their position to draw British forces to the scene. In response, it was decided that the undamaged Prinz Eugen would detach to continue raiding, while Bismarck drew off the pursuit. In conjunction with this, Admiral Dönitz committed the U-boat arm to support Bismarck with all available U-boats in the Atlantic. He organised two patrol lines to trap the Home Fleet should Bismarck lead her pursuers to them. One line of 7 boats was arrayed in mid-Atlantic while another, of 8 boats, was stationed west of the Bay of Biscay. At 6:40 p.m. on 24 May, Bismarck turned on her pursuers and briefly opened fire to cover the escape of Prinz Eugen. The German cruiser slipped away undamaged.
At 10 p.m., Victorious was 120 miles (190 km) away and launched an air attack with nine Fairey Swordfish torpedo bombers, which were guided in by Norfolk. In poor weather, and against heavy fire, they attacked and made a single torpedo hit under the bridge. However, up against strong belt armor and anti-torpedo bulges, it failed to cause substantial damage. The attacking aircraft were all safely recovered by Victorious, despite poor weather, darkness, aircrew inexperience and the failure of the carrier’s homing beacon.[7]
At 3 a.m. on May 25th, the British shadowers lost contact with Bismarck. At first, it was thought that she would return to the North Sea, and ships were directed accordingly. Then Lütjens, believing that he was still being shadowed by the British, broke radio silence by sending a long radio message to headquarters in Germany. This allowed the British to triangulate Bismarck’s approximate position and send aircraft to hunt for the German battleship. By the time that it was realized that Lütjens was heading for Brest, Bismarck had broken the naval cordon and gained a lead. By 11 p.m., Lütjens was well to the east of Tovey’s force and had managed to evade Rodney. Bismarck was short of fuel due to the damaging hit inflicted by Prince of Wales which had caused Lütjens to reduce speed to conserve fuel but Bismarck still had enough speed to outrun the heavy units of the Home Fleet and reach the safety of France. From the south, however, Somerville’s Force H with the carrier Ark Royal, the battlecruiser Renown, and the light cruiser HMS Sheffield were approaching to intercept.
The British ships were also beginning to run low on fuel, and the escape of Bismarck seemed more and more certain. However, at 10:30 a.m. on 26 May, a PBY Catalina flying-boat, based at Lough Erne, Northern Ireland, found Bismarck. She was 700 miles (1,100 km) from Brest and not within range of Luftwaffe air cover.
This contact was taken over by two Swordfish from Ark Royal. This carrier now launched an airstrike, but her aircrew were unaware of Sheffield’s proximity to Bismarck, mistook the British cruiser for the German battleship and therefore immediately attacked her. Their torpedoes had been fitted with influence detonators, and several of them exploded prematurely. Others missed their target, and the attacking aircraft then received a warning from Ark Royal that Sheffield was in the vicinity, whereupon the Swordfish finally recognized the cruiser and broke off the attack.
Ark Royal now launched, in almost impossibly bad weather conditions for air operations, and from a distance of less than 40 miles upwind of Bismarck, a second strike consisting of 15 Swordfish. These were carrying torpedoes equipped with the standard and reliable contact detonators. The attack resulted in two or three hits on the German ship, one of which inflicted critical damage on her steering. A jammed rudder now meant she could now only sail away from her intended destination of Brest. At midnight, Lütjens signalled his headquarters: “Ship unmaneuverable. We shall fight to the last shell. Long live the Führer.”
The battleships Rodney and King George V waited for daylight on May 27th before attacking. At 8:47 a.m., they opened fire, quickly hitting Bismarck. Her gunners achieved near misses on Rodney, but the British ships had silenced Bismarck’s main guns within half an hour. Despite close-range shelling by Rodney, a list to port, and widespread fires, Bismarck did not sink.
According to David Mearns and James Cameron’s underwater surveys in recent years the British main guns achieved only four hits on Bismarck‘s main armored belt, two through the upper armor belt on the starboard side from King George V and two on the port side from Rodney. These four hits occurred at about 10:00 a.m., at close range, causing heavy casualties among the sheltering crew.
Nearly out of fuel – and mindful of possible U-boat attacks – the British battleships left for home. The heavy cruiser Dorsetshire attacked with torpedoes and made three hits. Scuttling charges were soon set off by German sailors, and at 10:40 a.m., Bismarck capsized and sank. Dorsetshire and the destroyer Maori rescued 110 survivors. After an hour, rescue work was abruptly ended when there were reports of a U-boat presence. Another three survivors were picked up by U-74 and two by the German weather ship Sachsenwald. Over 2,000 died, including Captain Lindemann and Admiral Lütjens.
To commemorate the actions of the battleship, DKM Bismarck, Waltersons is both relaunching its full hull version of the warship, while simultaneously releasing a waterline version. Both versions are expected to grace our shelves in late August.