How did WW2 German battle ship BISMARK sank, any ieda about the story??

Answer 1

Battles
Denmark Strait
'Worked up' and ready for action, on 19 May 1941, the Nazi ships Bismarck and Prinz Eugen set sail from Gotenhafen on the Baltic coast on a mission to cut the British supply route across the Atlantic Ocean from America.

Once out of the Baltic, they headed north. They were spotted during an RAF reconnaissance flight, lying in a Norwegian fjord, but by the time the RAF could strike, Germany's warships had left.

The Home Fleet brought a large number of ships into action to cover all the routes into the Atlantic. But it wasn't until 23 May that the cruiser Norfolk reported that Bismarck had been sighted in the Denmark Strait, where the battle cruiser Hood, the new battleship Prince of Wales, and six destroyers were waiting.


Action
Early the following morning Prince of Wales sighted Bismarck 17 miles away and both ships moved towards the German vessel. At that range, Hood was vulnerable to plunging shell fire. The British ship tried to close up on Bismarck so that any fire would hit her well-protected sides rather than her thinly-protected decks.



Bismarck fires at Hood. (Taken from Prince Eugen)

Hood opened fire first, but her speed and the water spray made accuracy difficult. The Germans, though, shot well using their stereoscopic rangefinders. A shell fromPrinz Eugen hit Hood on the boat deck, causing a fierce fire.

As the two British ships turned round, a salvo from Bismarck hit Hood. There was an enormous explosion and the ship broke in half and then sank within minutes. Only three of the crew of 1,419 survived.

Prince of Wales was damaged but managed to escape. Bismarck also sustained damage that was serious enough for her to be ordered to St Nazaire in Brittany for repair.




Revenge
The loss of The Hood sent shockwaves around the Empire and dealt a cruel blow to Britain's confidence in winning the war. Churchill responded by issuing his now famous command, "sink the Bismarck". Her demise was sought, not purely for a military reason, but to secure the revenge and morale of the British people.

For a time the battleship disappeared from view but on the afternoon of 26 May, a patrol aircraft found Bismarck and 14 tiny, fragile Swordfish torpedo bombers from the aircraft carrier Ark Royal hit her three times. One of those hits jammed her twin rudders. The ship could no longer be steered.



Swordfish returns after the strike on 26th May 1941

The Nazi navy knew there was no hope for Bismarck and the U-boats they sent arrived too late to help her. The Home Fleet's Norfolk was the first to make contact with her again, then King George V and Rodney started an attack that lasted two hours.

Despite this pummelling, she still didn't sink until torpedoes from Dorsetshire finally sent Hitler's most fearsome ship to the bottom of the sea - though some people think she was scuttled by her own crew. Her swastika ensign was still flying and her captain standing on the deck, saluting, as she went down.

Only 115 of the men on board were rescued.

Why did she sink so fast? There have been many theories about what really happened. But no one really knows.

Answer 2

It all depended on the situation. Sometimes no one in a ship would die because the cause of the wreckage was not very severe or their location at the time was favorable. An example of a world war two shipwreck was the sinking of the U.S.S Indianapolis. It sank in the Pacific Ocean waters about 500 miles east of Midway Island and all on-board jumped over-board. 1218 men jumped into the water and only 108 came out. The rest had been eaten by sharks. The rescuers of the 108 remaining soldiers arrived 6 days after the wreckage. But their have also been other sinkings where the rescue team arrived within hours and all or most of the occupants of the vesel were saved. I hope this helped

Answer 3

Plenty of good books out there and the movie Sink the Bismark is not too bad either. Overall the Battle of the Atlantic was the most important battle fought by the Allies as without secure sea lanes there would have been no build up of Allied armies in the UK or supplies to Russia.

Answer 4

Most of the surviving witnesses of the sinking maintain that Bismarck was sunk by British torpedoes fired by HMS Dorsetshire after sustaining crippling damage from gunfire by HMS Rodney, HMS King George V and HMS Norfolk. Those witnesses are predominantly British.

On the other hand stories have circulated for years from the German side that crewmembers set off scuttling charges which actually caused her to capsize. More recently, Hollywood producer James Cameron of Titantic fame led an expedition to the wreck of the ship and excitedly concluded towards the end of the examination that the ship was scuttled.

So take your pick....each side of the story has their own motives behind their respective claims...national pride in 2 cases and selling DVDs of a documentary.

Answer 5

The Bismarck was crippled on May 27th, 1941 in a fight with a number of Royal Navy vessels including the battleships Rodney & King George V. Rather than risk the capture of the mostly intact ship, the ship was scuttled and abandoned with the loss of over 2,100 German sailors.

Answer 6

A lucky torpedo fired from a spitfire hit the rudder disabling the ship, it became a sitting duck. The ship was then scuttled after a fight with allied (I think British) ships which had destroyed all of its guns.

Answer 7

the shipmates messed up and sank their own ship

Answer 8

She was scuttled by her own sailors, there was a documentary on PBS about it, mini-sub pictures and all.

Answer 9

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_battleship_Bismarck