THE BISMARCK PAGE
On the 21st May 1940 the Bismarck accompanied by the Prinz Eugen left Bergen on a course which would take her above Iceland and through the Denmark Straits. It was here she was engaged by the battleships Hood and the Prince of Wales.
In the action, which followed, Bismarck received three hits from 14 inch shells. The Prinz Eugen was unscathed. The Prince of Wales took four hits from 38 centimetre shells from the Bismarck, and three 20.3 centimetre shell hits from the Prinz Eugen. The Hood sank following a catastrophic explosion after a deep penetrating hit from Bismarck. Of a crew of 1,421, only three survived.
Bismarck and Prinz Eugen were shadowed by the Cruisers Norfolk and Suffolk. Victorious was close enough to launch an air strike, but did not inflict any more damage to the two ships. Contact with the Bismarck and the Prinz Eugen was lost and the two ships escaped. The Bismarck sailed on a course to the south-west while the Prinz Eugen escaped to the south.
The Bismarck was again sighted by a Catalina flying boat, and aircraft, scrambled from Ark Royal, scored two hits with torpedoes, one hitting amidships, the other hitting aft, causing irrepairable damage to her rudders. This resulted in Bismarck taking in water, slowing her down and being unable to steer a course to safety.
At this time Dorsetshire was escorting a convoy from Cape Town to the British Isles. She was ordered to leave the convoy and head for the Bismarck. At 0745 on The 27th May the Battleships Rodney and King George V, with the cruisers Norfolk and Dorsetshire close by, sighted the Bismarck. Rodney opened fire, followed by King George V; Bismarck, already damaged, was an easy target, even though she was still very dangerous. Dorsetshire and Norfolk heavily out-gunned, joined the attack. After much damage to the Bismarck, Dorsetshire fired torpedoes at her.
When Bismarck finally sank, the ships involved in the battle now turned to picking up survivors. Dorsetshire steered for the thickest concentration of survivors and stopped shortly before reaching them. She managed to recover 85 men from the water.
It was with great trepidation that Dorsetshire, believing it sighted a U-boat left the scene in order not to endanger the ship. With the admiral's staff, prize crews, and war correspondents, the Bismarck's complement numbered more than 2,200. Only 115 were saved.
Stopping, dead in the water, to pick up survivors, made any warship extremely vulnerable, the risk was just too great. The remaining men in the water were left to their fate and their God.
A more in-depth account of the Bismarck can be found at: -
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