Bismarck sunk in which battle

The Bismarck turned her guns on Prince of Wales and badly damaged her before the British ship threw up a smoke screen and retired from what became known as the Battle of the Denmark Strait. Any elation on board the German ships was tempered by the knowledge that the entire Home Fleet was now pursuing them. There, he reckoned, the damage sustained during Bismarck 's engagement with the Hood — including some ruptured fuel tanks — could be repaired. It would also be easier to return to the Atlantic battleground from France than from Norway.

Bismarck changed course and increased speed to close on the enemy, which withdrew under a smoke-screen cover. This maneuver allowed Prinz Eugen to slip away to embark on her commerce war. Alone now, Bismarck , low on fuel, set a course for the French coast. The British, meanwhile, had lost contact. Had Bismarck maintained radio silence, it's unlikely the British would have found her again. It was intercepted by the British, who were able to plot an approximate position.

Another 24 agonizing hours would pass before Bismarck was spotted again, this time by a patrolling Catalina aircraft from Coastal Command.

Force H, which included the aircraft carrier Ark Royal , was the closest British unit to the battleship, but time was running out. Obsolete Fairey Swordfish torpedo planes were launched from Ark Royal to inflict what proved to be the crippling blow. Bismarck 's fire-control system, ironically, was too sophisticated to draw an accurate bead on these cumbersome, slow-moving biplanes, allowing them to release their torpedoes at almost point-blank range.

Although it was a decisive action between capital ships , it has no generally accepted name. The battle was a sequel to the Battle of the Denmark Strait , fought on 24 May , in which Bismarck and her escort the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen had sunk the prestigious British battlecruiser HMS Hood and damaged the battleship Prince of Wales , forcing her to withdraw.

Following that battle Bismarck was pursued for more than two days by ships and aircraft of the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force. Eventually, on the evening of 26 May, her steering gear was crippled by a torpedo bomber attack, and on the following morning she was brought to battle and sunk. In the Battle of the Denmark Strait , Bismarck ' s fuel tanks had been damaged, and her intention was to reach the port of Brest for repair.

Her companion, the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen , had left to continue further into the Atlantic. The action began after Bismarck , which had eluded the British forces Prince of Wales and the heavy cruisers Norfolk and Suffolk pursuing her, was sighted by a patrolling British aircraft on the afternoon of 26 May. It consisted of four main phases. The first phase consisted of air strikes by torpedo bombers from the British aircraft carrier Ark Royal , which disabled Bismarck ' s steering gear and thus jammed her rudders.

The second phase was the shadowing and harassment of Bismarck during the night by British destroyers, with no serious damage to any ship.

The third phase was an attack by the British battleships King George V and Rodney , supported by cruisers, on the morning of the 27th. After about minutes of fighting Bismarck was sunk by the combined effects of shellfire, torpedo hits and deliberate scuttling [ citation needed ]. On the British side, Rodney was lightly damaged by near-misses and by the blast effects of her own guns.

In the final phase the withdrawing British ships were attacked by aircraft of the Luftwaffe , resulting in the loss of the destroyer HMS Mashona , and German ships and U-boats arrived later at the scene of the sinking and saved five more survivors. The old Revenge -class battleship HMS Ramillies was detached from convoy duty southeast of Greenland and ordered to set a course to intercept Bismarck if she should attempt to raid the sea lanes off North America.

The Prince of Wales and the cruisers Norfolk and Suffolk were still at sea in the area and tailing the German ships. The battleship Rodney was detached from escort duties on the 24th. During the early evening of 24 May, an attack was made by a small group of Swordfish biplane torpedo bombers of Naval Air Squadron under the command of Eugene Esmonde from the aircraft carrier HMS Victorious. For some time, Bismarck remained under long-distance observation by the British.

Contact was lost for four hours; however, perhaps in awe of British radar capabilities, it appears that the Germans did not realize their good fortune. However, a plotting error made onboard HMS King George V , now in pursuit of the Germans, incorrectly calculated Bismarck ' s position and caused the chase to veer too far to the north.

By now, though, fuel was becoming a major concern to both sides. The British had a stroke of luck on 26 May. Smith, USNR , [5] spotted Bismarck via a trailing oil slick from the ship's damaged fuel tank and reported her position to the Admiralty. From then on, the German ship's position was known to the British, although the enemy would have to be slowed significantly if heavy units hoped to engage it out of range of German aircraft protection.

This battle group, commanded by Admiral James Somerville , had been diverted north from Gibraltar. At dusk that evening, and in atrocious weather conditions, Swordfish from Ark Royal launched an attack.

The first wave mistakenly targeted Sheffield which had been detached from Force H under orders to close and shadow Bismarck. Although precious time was lost by this incident, it proved beneficial to the British in that the magnetic detonators on the torpedoes used against Sheffield were seen to be defective and for the following attack on Bismarck were replaced by those designed to explode on contact. Despite the lateness of the day, it was decided to try again.

Which way would she go? She had a wide choice, and we were vulnerable almost everywhere. And if Bismarck did manage to escape, the damage to British prestige would be incalculable, particularly in the still-neutral United States. Desperate to slow Bismarck , Admiral Tovey, moving south from Scapa Flow but still about miles away, pushed his aircraft carrier HMS Victorious ahead at high speed to launch an air strike.

Victorious flew off her aircraft just after 10pm, when she was miles from Bismarck. Bismarck dodged eight torpedoes, but the ninth struck the centre of the vessel. All the Swordfish returned safely.

British celebrations were short-lived, however. At 3am, Wake-Walker, concerned about U-boat attacks, ordered his shadowing warships to zigzag. By dawn on 26 May, the situation was bleak. The frantically searching warships were running out of fuel when, at Somerville pushed his only cruiser, HMS Sheffield , up ahead to shadow the wounded German behemoth and launched an air strike.

In the confusion, the Swordfish pilots accidentally attacked Sheffield , fortunately missing her, but the mistake cost time, as the aircraft had to return to Ark Royal and rearm. With every minute lost, Bismarck drew nearer to Luftwaffe air cover. The second strike launched at 7. Catastrophically, one ripped a hole in her stern and flooded the steering gear compartment, jamming her rudder in a degree turn to port and leaving her unmanoeuvrable.

All night, German sailors tried to repair the damage while fending o torpedo attacks by pursuing British destroyers, but at dawn she was still steaming in a circle. Unable to manoeuvre, Bismarck could barely land a blow in return, and by 10am the German battleship was a wreck.