Bismarck's fight with Hood. Battle of the Denmark Strait
| Gunter Lutyens Ernst Lindemann Helmut Brinkmann |
Lancelot Holland † John Leach Ralph Kerr † Frederick Wake-Walker |
Battle of Denmark Strait- a naval battle of the Second World War between ships of the Royal Navy of Great Britain and the Kriegsmarine (naval forces of the Third Reich). The British battleship Prince of Wales and the battle cruiser Hood tried to prevent the German battleship Bismarck and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen from breaking through the Denmark Strait into the North Atlantic.
Progress of the battle
At 05:35 on May 24, lookouts from the Prince of Wales spotted a German squadron 17 miles (28 km) away. The Germans knew about the enemy's presence from hydrophone readings and soon also noticed the masts of British ships on the horizon. Holland had a choice: either continue to escort the Bismarck, awaiting the arrival of the battleships of Admiral Tovey's squadron, or attack on his own. Holland decided to attack and at 05:37 gave the order to approach the enemy. at 05:52, the Hood opened fire from a range of approximately 13 miles (24 km). The Hood continued to approach the enemy at full speed, trying to reduce the time it took to come under overhead fire. Meanwhile, the German ships took aim at the cruiser: the first 203-mm shell from the Prinz Eugen hit the middle part of the Hood, next to the aft 102-mm installation and caused a strong fire in the stock of shells and missiles. At 05:55, Holland ordered a 20-degree turn to port to allow the rear turrets to fire on the Bismarck.
At approximately 06:00, before completing the turn, the cruiser was hit by a salvo from the Bismarck from a distance of 8 to 9.5 miles (15 - 18 km). Almost immediately, a gigantic fountain of fire appeared in the area of the mainmast, after which a powerful explosion occurred, tearing the cruiser in half. The stern of the Huda quickly sank. The bow section rose and swayed in the air for some time, after which it sank (at the last moment, the doomed crew of the bow tower fired another salvo). The Prince of Wales, half a mile away, was buried under the wreckage of the Hood.
The cruiser sank in three minutes, taking with it 1,415 people, including Vice Admiral Holland. Only three sailors were saved, who were picked up by the destroyer HMS Electra, which arrived two hours later. After the death of the Hood, the Prince of Wales found itself under fire from two ships, and retreated after receiving several hits and the failure of its still unconfigured main battery turrets. At the same time, he managed to hit the Bismarck, which determined the further course of the battle - one of the shells opened extensive oil storage facilities on the Bismarck, and the thick oil trail did not allow the Bismarck to break away from the British ships pursuing it.
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An excerpt characterizing the Battle of the Denmark Strait
Shinshin had not yet had time to tell the joke he had prepared for the count’s patriotism, when Natasha jumped up from her seat and ran up to her father.- What a charm, this dad! - she said, kissing him, and she again looked at Pierre with that unconscious coquetry that returned to her along with her animation.
- So patriotic! - said Shinshin.
“Not a patriot at all, but just...” Natasha answered offendedly. - Everything is funny to you, but this is not a joke at all...
- What jokes! - repeated the count. - Just say the word, we’ll all go... We’re not some kind of Germans...
“Did you notice,” said Pierre, “that it said: “for a meeting.”
- Well, whatever it is for...
At this time, Petya, to whom no one was paying attention, approached his father and, all red, in a breaking, sometimes rough, sometimes thin voice, said:
“Well, now, daddy, I will decisively say - and mummy too, whatever you want - I will decisively say that you will let me into military service, because I can’t ... that’s all ...
The Countess raised her eyes to the sky in horror, clasped her hands and angrily turned to her husband.
- So I agreed! - she said.
But the count immediately recovered from his excitement.
“Well, well,” he said. - Here’s another warrior! Stop the nonsense: you need to study.
- This is not nonsense, daddy. Fedya Obolensky is younger than me and is also coming, and most importantly, I still can’t learn anything now that ... - Petya stopped, blushed until he sweated and said: - when the fatherland is in danger.
- Complete, complete, nonsense...
- But you yourself said that we would sacrifice everything.
“Petya, I’m telling you, shut up,” the count shouted, looking back at his wife, who, turning pale, looked with fixed eyes at her youngest son.
- And I’m telling you. So Pyotr Kirillovich will say...
“I’m telling you, it’s nonsense, the milk hasn’t dried yet, but he wants to go into military service!” Well, well, I’m telling you,” and the count, taking the papers with him, probably to read them again in the office before resting, left the room.
- Pyotr Kirillovich, well, let’s go have a smoke...
Pierre was confused and indecisive. Natasha's unusually bright and animated eyes, constantly looking at him more than affectionately, brought him into this state.
- No, I think I’ll go home...
- It’s like going home, but you wanted to spend the evening with us... And then you rarely came. And this one of mine...” the count said good-naturedly, pointing at Natasha, “she’s only cheerful when she’s with you...”
“Yes, I forgot... I definitely need to go home... Things to do...” Pierre said hastily.
“Well, goodbye,” said the count, completely leaving the room.
- Why are you leaving? Why are you upset? Why?..” Natasha asked Pierre, looking defiantly into his eyes.
“Because I love you! - he wanted to say, but he didn’t say it, he blushed until he cried and lowered his eyes.
- Because it’s better for me to visit you less often... Because... no, I just have business.
- From what? no, tell me,” Natasha began decisively and suddenly fell silent. They both looked at each other in fear and confusion. He tried to grin, but could not: his smile expressed suffering, and he silently kissed her hand and left.
Pierre decided not to visit the Rostovs with himself anymore.
Petya, after receiving a decisive refusal, went to his room and there, locking himself away from everyone, wept bitterly. They did everything as if they had not noticed anything, when he came to tea, silent and gloomy, with tear-stained eyes.
The next day the sovereign arrived. Several of the Rostov courtyards asked to go and see the Tsar. That morning Petya took a long time to get dressed, comb his hair and arrange his collars like the big ones. He frowned in front of the mirror, made gestures, shrugged his shoulders and, finally, without telling anyone, put on his cap and left the house from the back porch, trying not to be noticed. Petya decided to go straight to the place where the sovereign was and directly explain to some chamberlain (it seemed to Petya that the sovereign was always surrounded by chamberlains) that he, Count Rostov, despite his youth, wanted to serve the fatherland, that youth could not be an obstacle for devotion and that he is ready... Petya, while he was getting ready, prepared many wonderful words that he would say to the chamberlain.
Operation Rhineland Exercises included the entry of the battleship Bismarck and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen into the Atlantic Ocean through the Denmark Strait. The main goal of the operation was to reach the sea communications of the British merchant fleet. It was assumed that the Bismarck would engage the escort of convoys in battle, while the Prinz Eugen would sink merchant ships. Admiral Gunter Lütjens was appointed commander of the operation, who asked the command to postpone the start of the campaign so that the Tirpitz, which was undergoing testing, or the “pocket battleship” Scharnhorst, which was being repaired in the port of Brest, could join him. However, the Commander-in-Chief of the Kriegsmarine, Admiral Erich Raeder, did not support Lütjens, and on May 18, 1941, Prinz Eugen and Bismarck went to sea.
On May 20, German ships were spotted from the neutral Swedish cruiser Gotland, and on the same day representatives of the Norwegian resistance reported a squadron of two large warships. On May 21, Great Britain received a message from its military attache at the Swedish Embassy about the discovery of two large German ships in the Kattegat Strait. From May 21 to 22, the ships were moored in the fjords near Bergen, Norway, where they were repainted and the Prinz Eugen was refueled. "Bismarck" for unknown reasons did not refuel. While the ships were parked, an English Air Force reconnaissance plane managed to photograph them. Now the British admirals have accurately identified Bismarck.
The commander of the English Home Fleet, Admiral John Tovey, almost immediately sent the battleship Prince of Wales and the battle cruiser Hood, accompanied by destroyers, to the southwest coast of Iceland. The cruiser "Suffolk" was supposed to link up with the cruiser "Norfolk" located in the Denmark Strait. The light cruisers Birmingham, Manchester and Arethusa were supposed to patrol in the strait between the Faroe Islands and Iceland. On the night of May 22, Admiral Tovey himself, at the head of a flotilla of the battleship King George V and the aircraft carrier Victorious with an escort, left the Scapa Flow fleet base. This flotilla was supposed to wait for German ships to the northwest of Scotland, where it was supposed to meet with the battle cruiser Repulse.
Battleship Bismarck and heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen
On the evening of May 23, in the Denmark Strait, in thick fog, the cruisers Suffolk and Norfolk came into visual contact with German ships. The Bismarck was forced to open fire on the Norfolk, after which the British ships retreated into the fog and conveyed the location of the enemy to their command, continuing to follow the Bismarck on radar at a distance of 10-14 miles.
Battle in the Denmark Strait
The flagship of the English fleet, Hood, and the battleship Prince of Wales established visual contact with the German ships in the early morning of May 24 and began the battle at 5:52 a.m., being more than 20 km away. Vice Admiral Holland, who commanded the formation, ordered to open fire on the first ship, mistaking it for the Bismarck. The Prince of Wales quickly figured out the mistake and transferred the fire to the second ship. Holland himself soon realized this, but apparently his order never reached the fire control center, since the Hood continued to fire at the Prinz Eugen until the very end.
At 5:56, the sixth salvo from the Prince of Wales hit the Bismarck, the shells damaged the fuel tanks and caused fuel to leak and fill with water, the ship began to leave the oil shelf. A minute later, the Hood received hits from the third salvo of the Bismarck and the second salvo of the Prinz Eugen, fires started on the ship. At this time, Bismarck received two more hits from Prince of Wales below the waterline. By 6:00 o'clock the ships had approached to 16 km, at which time the Hood was hit by the fifth salvo from the German battleship, there was a terrible explosion and the pride of the English fleet, breaking in half, sank to the bottom in a matter of minutes. Of the total crew of 1,417 people, only three were saved.
The battleship "Prince of Wales" was forced to continue the battle alone and it developed extremely unsuccessfully for him. The ship was forced to approach German ships up to a distance of 14 km, avoiding a collision with the remnants of the Hood. After receiving seven hits, which disabled one of the main caliber turrets, the battleship left the battle, hiding behind a smoke screen.
The captain of the Bismarck, Lindemann, offered to continue the pursuit and sink the stricken battleship, but Admiral Lütjens ordered the campaign to continue. On the Bismarck, as a result of the battle, one generator failed, sea water began to flow into boiler room No. 2 with two boilers, two fuel tanks were punctured, the ship sailed with a trim on the bow and a list to starboard. Admiral Lutyens decided to break through to the French port of Saint-Nazaire for repairs, after which the battleship could easily reach the Atlantic communications.
"Bismarck" fires on the battleship "Prince of Wales"
The pursuit
The cruisers Suffolk and Norfolk, as well as the damaged battleship Prince of Wales, continued to pursue the Germans, relaying their location. The death of the flagship of the fleet, the battle cruiser Hood, made a very painful impression on the British admirals; later, a special commission was even created to investigate the circumstances of the death of the Hood. Now most of the warships in the North Atlantic joined the hunt for the Bismarck. The escort ships of many military convoys were brought in to pursue the battleship. So, for this operation, the battleship Rodney and three of the four destroyers that accompanied the former passenger liner Britannic, converted into a military transport, were involved. Additionally, 2 more battleships and 2 cruisers were involved in the operation. Fleet Force H, stationed at Gibraltar, was put on alert in case the Bismarck headed in their direction.
At about 6 p.m. on May 24, the Bismarck suddenly turned around in the fog and headed towards its pursuers. After a short battle, the ships did not hit each other, but the British ships were forced to hide, at which time the Prinz Eugen successfully broke contact with them and reached the French port of Brest 10 days later. At half past ten, Leutens reported to the command that the Bismarck, experiencing a lack of fuel, was stopping attempts to shake off its pursuers and was moving directly to Saint-Nazare.
In the evening of the same day, Admiral Tovey orders the aircraft carrier Victories to approach the battleship, and already at 22:10 9 Swordfish torpedo bombers took off from it, which, under heavy anti-aircraft artillery fire, attacked the battleship and achieved one hit from the starboard side. However, the ship did not receive serious damage, since the torpedo hit the main armor belt. In this incident, the ship's crew lost one sailor (the first loss since the beginning of the voyage). At night, the Bismarck managed to break away from its pursuers, taking advantage of the fact that they, fearing attacks from submarines, began to perform anti-submarine maneuvers.
Detection
The ship was discovered again only at 10:10 on May 26, when the American-British crew of the Katolina flying boat, flying from the Lough Erne base in Northern Ireland, was able to discover the battleship. By this time, Lutyens still had 690 miles to Brest, and soon he could call in Luftwaffe bomber aircraft to protect the ship.
At this moment, the only British formation that could slow down the Bismarck was Force H, commanded by Admiral Sommerville, which came out to intercept from Gibraltar, including the aircraft carrier Ark Royal. At 14:50, Swordfish torpedo bombers flew from its deck to the place where the battleship was found; by this time, the Sheffield cruiser, which had separated from the main forces, was in the area and was trying to establish contact with the Bismarck. The pilots, who did not know anything about this, mistook him for a German and carried out a torpedo attack; fortunately for them, not one of the 11 torpedoes fired was able to hit the target.
At 17:40, Sheffield discovered the Bismarck and began pursuing it; a repeated raid by 15 torpedo bombers at 20:47 bore fruit, the British pilots achieved two or three hits on the battleship, with one of them becoming decisive, the torpedo hit the stern part of the vessel and damaged the steering mechanisms. "Bismarck" lost the ability to maneuver and began to describe circulation; the team's attempts to restore the ship's controllability were unsuccessful.
The last battle of the battleship
Sinking
May 27 at 8:47 am from a distance of 22 km. The Bismarck was attacked by ships from Admiral Tovey's formation; the battleships King George V and Rodney, and then the cruisers Dorsetshire and Norfolk, began shelling the ship. The battleship snapped back. However, the British quickly scored hits on the Bismarck; within half an hour, the main caliber gun turrets were damaged, many superstructures, including fire control posts, were destroyed and on fire, and the ship suffered a strong list. At 9:31, the last fourth gun turret of the cruiser fell silent, after which, according to the stories of the surviving crew members, the captain of the ship, Ernst Lindemann, gave the order to scuttle the ship. "Bismarck" did not lower the battle flag to the end, which allowed "Rodney" to approach a distance of 2-4 km. and shoot a defenseless ship point-blank. However, the fuel on the British ships was running out, realizing that the Bismarck would no longer reach Brest, Admiral Tovey decides to return to base. The cruiser Dorsetshire fires 3 torpedoes at the German battleship from 10:20 to 10:36, each of which hits the target. At 10:39, the Bismarck fell on board and sank; only a little more than 110 crew members managed to escape; more than 2,100 people shared the fate of the lost ship.
“The clock showed 5.50. The British and German admirals saw each other at the same time. The distance was rapidly closing, and the gunners were frantically aiming their guns. Lutyens shouted:
Because of the shock, the ice clinging to the towers turned into crumbs, which were immediately carried away by the wind. The battlecruiser Hood, flying the admiral's flag, led the way, followed by the battleship Prince of Wales. Orange flashes flashed on the horizon, like distant lightning. Within seconds, British shells slammed into the morning sea, sending up brown fountains of water around the Bismarck. Using strong lenses, Lutyens tried to shorten the 12 miles that separated him from Holland.
The ship on the right has 2 funnels, a mast with bridges on it and 2 stern towers,” he said. “It could be the Hood.” Focus fire on him!
Captain 1st Rank Brinkmann was turning the Prinz Eugen around to bring the guns of the entire side into action when, with a terrifying roar, the Bismarck fired a second salvo. At 5.53 Lutyens radioed to Germany: “I am engaged in a battle with two heavy ships.”
Holland's squadron had 8 guns of 381 mm caliber and 10 guns of 356 mm caliber, that is, it had a clear superiority in firepower. However, Holland saw the Germans almost directly ahead, on the right bow, that is, he could not use the stern towers. This cut his firepower in half when the battle began. But the Bismarck and Prinz Eugen going south could fire with their entire side. In the first seconds of the battle, the Hood fired very inaccurately. The Prince of Wales immediately opened fire on the Bismarck, but spent almost 40 shells before achieving coverage. The Hood first fired at the Prinz Eugen, but its shooting was very inaccurate, and the German cruiser was only sprayed with splashes from nearby splashes.
At 0557, Admiral Holland ordered a turn so that Hood's rear turrets could enter the battle. But the second salvo of the Bismarck was already in the air. A few seconds later, heavy armor-piercing shells hit the fenders of the first shots of the Hood's anti-aircraft guns. A strong fire started, which quickly engulfed the entire middle part of the ship. Behind the stern of the flagship, the Prince of Wales tried to stay in the admiral’s wake. The clock showed 6.00, “Hood” had 3 more minutes to live.
Distance 22,000 meters or 12 nautical miles. Schneider ordered a third salvo. It struck the Hood like a giant iron fist, tore through her decks and penetrated deep into the hold, straight into the artillery magazines. A terrible volcanic explosion demolished one of the Hood's towers, sending it tumbling into the gray sky like a matchbox. A pillar of flame rose into the sky. Streams of water rushed through huge holes in the hull of the battle cruiser and instantly put out the fires. The Hood began to sink rapidly, clouds of smoke and steam engulfing the main deck. The stern of the ship was torn apart and turned into a pile of iron. The superstructure was engulfed in flames, and the Hood was now just a pitiful ruin. The Prince of Wales, coming in his wake, barely had time to turn to avoid colliding with the wreckage of the flagship. A minute later, the mighty Hood fell onto the port side and disappeared under the water. He took with him Admiral Holland, 94 officers and 1,324 sailors. Later, the destroyers managed to recover only 1 midshipman and 2 sailors from the oil slick. They were the only surviving witnesses to the most humiliating defeat of the British fleet.
When the Hood exploded, the crew of the Bismarck burst into wild screams."
The first to discover the German formation consisting of the battleship Bismarck and the heavy cruiser Prince Eugen were observers from the English battleship Prince of Wales at a distance of approximately 38 km. This happened at 5.35 on May 24, 1941 - against the backdrop of a brightening horizon, the British noticed the masts of German battleships. The battleships Hood and Prince of Wales themselves remained in the shadow of the fading twilight. But the Germans also knew about the presence of the enemy thanks to hydrophone readings. And the cruisers Suffolk and Norfolk, which discovered the German formation the night before, monitored it using radar, periodically losing and regaining contact. But the main thing is that they reported the course of the German raiders, thanks to which it was possible to find them at the exit from the Denmark Strait. In the Atlantic, this would be much more difficult to do and would have to accompany every convoy from America and back, spending colossal resources that were already scattered across all oceans. There was less than a month left before the treacherous attack on the USSR, and in Europe England alone waged war against Nazi Germany. America helped a lot, with the help of convoys delivering the most necessary things, but Admiral Raeder’s submarines had already begun to form “wolf packs”, having felt the “taste of first blood”. And then there are two new, first-class raiders, capable of doing what a submarine cannot do - catching up and destroying. The convoy security forces were mostly destroyers capable of detecting and attacking a submarine with depth charges, but against a battleship their main caliber was like shot to an elephant! And “Bismarck” against a convoy is not even a bull in a china shop, it’s a natural “beating of babies”...
Admiral Holland, holding his pennant on the Hood, had a choice: fight or accompany the German squadron until the main line of His Majesty's fleet approached. Two by two - everything is fair and you can’t hesitate. The English formation “turned up” and the “Prince of Wales” took its position in the wake, 4 cables behind the flagship. The Hood was the first to open fire at 5:52 a.m. from a distance of 22 km on the leading German ship, mistaking it for the Bismarck. The Germans responded with a delay according to Hood, but extremely accurately - a 203-mm shell from the Prince Eugene hit the ammunition rack of the stern anti-aircraft gun, causing a noticeable fire. To confidently defeat the enemy from the main caliber guns, it was necessary to fire several sighting shots (three or more - this depended on the skill and training of the crew), taking the enemy into the “fork”. The Germans covered the Hood with a second salvo... The sixth salvo of the Prince of Wales hit the Bismarck's bow cheekbone and led to a fuel oil leak and the tank filling with sea water. The Bismarck was listed to starboard and trimmed to the bow, and a plume of leaking fuel followed it. The British tried to shorten the battle distance in order to avoid the overhead fire that the Hood was so afraid of due to its poorly armored deck. And as it turned out - not in vain...
At 6.00, from a distance of 15 km, the Hood was covered by the fifth salvo of the Bismarck and seconds later a huge column of fire appeared above the masts, followed by an explosion that broke the ship in half. The stern sank instantly, and the bow rose vertically and a salvo thundered from the bow turret. The ship disappeared under water in a matter of minutes, and only three were saved...
What were the battleships that took part in one of the last artillery battles of heavy ships in world history? The aircraft came to sea, becoming the main caliber of the fleet, surpassing all guns in range, accuracy and firepower.
The battlecruiser Hood was laid down after the Battle of Jutland by the main linear forces of the English and German fleets and took into account the lessons and mistakes of British shipbuilders, which cost the Crown dearly in that battle. Launched on August 22, 1918, immediately becoming the largest and most powerful ship in the world. Completed, equipped and prepared for testing on January 9, 1920. On March 29, she was transferred to the fleet, and on May 17, 1920, she became the flagship of the battlecruiser brigade.
Weapons:
- Main caliber: 8 guns – 381 mm in four two-gun turrets
- 12 – 140 mm rapid-fire guns
- 4 – 102 mm anti-aircraft guns
Maximum length – 262 meters
- Normal displacement is 42600 tons.
- Total displacement 45,200 tons.
- Speed – 31 knots
Before the war, a number of small upgrades were carried out that did not affect the main and most time-consuming problems - the deterioration of the power plant and weak deck armor. When installing lighter boilers of the new generation, the freed weight could be used for additional armor.
The battleship Bismarck was launched on February 14, 1939, almost 20 years after Hood. On August 24, 1940, the first and only commander of the ship was appointed - captain first rank Lindemann, who was remembered for the words: “I will not allow people to shoot at my ship with impunity.”
Weapons:
- Main caliber: 8 guns – 380 mm in four two-gun turrets
- 12 150 mm guns
- 16 - 105 mm
- 16 - 37 mm
- 18 - 20 mm
Maximum length – 251 meters
- Total displacement 50,900 tons.
- speed – 30 knots
As part of Operation Rhineland Exercises, on May 18, 1941, it left the Polish port of Gdynia together with the heavy cruiser Prince Eugene and headed for English sea communications in the Atlantic, was met by a neutral - the Swedish cruiser Gotland, after which the squadron’s departure became known British intelligence. The British sent several formations to intercept, one of which discovered the German squadron...
The Bismarck did not survive its victim for long - the sinking of the Hood was a crushing blow to Britain's pride as a maritime power, and revenge was a matter of honor for all fleet personnel, from the cabin boy to the gray-haired retired admiral. Two days later, the Bismarck was found by the American flying boat Catalina (America was neutral at that time), a Swordfish torpedo from the aircraft carrier Ark Royal disrupted the control and the ship was not controlled and described circulation, and the next day it was finished off by the squadron battleships and cruisers point-blank without lowering the flag and opening the kingstons.
All the available forces of the British fleet from the Baltic to Gibraltar and the Mediterranean Sea (if he managed to get there) took part in the operation to bait the Bismarck. Several formations of warships left their convoys to participate in the operation to destroy the Bismarck, and its sister battleship Tirpitz, before its sinking in a Norwegian fiord, caused panic in the English fleet. However, Hitler was also terrified of losing his only trump card at sea.
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