|
HISTORY
German battleship Bismarck
Bismarck was the first of two Bismarck-class battleships built for
the German Kriegsmarine shortly before World War II. Named after
Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, the primary force behind the German
unification in 1871, the ship was laid down at the Blohm & Voss
shipyard in Hamburg in July 1936 and launched two and a half years
later in February 1939. Work was completed in August 1940, when she
was commissioned into the German fleet. Along with her sister ship
Tirpitz, Bismarck was the largest battleship ever built by Germany,
and one of the largest built by any European power.
German battleship Bismarck
In the course of the warship's short eight month career under its
only commanding officer, Capt. Ernst Lindemann, Bismarck conducted
only one offensive operation, in May 1941, codenamed Rheinübung. The
ship, along with the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen, was to break into
the Atlantic Ocean and raid Allied shipping from North America to
Great Britain. The two ships were detected several times off
Scandinavia, however, and British naval units were deployed to block
their route. At the Battle of Denmark Strait, Bismarck engaged and
destroyed the battlecruiser HMS Hood, the pride of the Royal Navy,
and forced the battleship HMS Prince of Wales to retreat with heavy
damage, although Bismarck herself was hit three times and suffered
an oil leak from a ruptured tank.
The destruction of Hood spurred a relentless pursuit by the Royal
Navy involving dozens of warships. Two days later, while heading for
the relative safety of occupied France, Bismarck was attacked by
Fairey Swordfish torpedo bombers from the aircraft carrier HMS Ark
Royal; one hit was scored that jammed the battleship's steering
gear, rendering her unsteerable. The following morning, Bismarck was
destroyed by a pair of British battleships. The cause of her sinking
is disputed: some in the Royal Navy claim that torpedoes fired by
the cruiser HMS Dorsetshire administered the fatal blow, while
German survivors argue that they scuttled the ship. In June 1989,
Robert Ballard discovered the wreck. Several other expeditions
surveyed the remains seeking to document the ship's condition and to
determine what sank her.
|
