Hunt the Bismarck

by Angus Konstam

  By then, Vian was content with maintaining contact with the enemy battleship and sending up starshells to mark her position. This was actually done on the orders of Admiral Tovey.21 Now that the admiral knew Bismarck wasn’t getting away, he reduced the speed of his two battleships to 19 knots, to conserve fuel. He’d taken a gamble by not pressing on to attack Bismarck at the first opportunity. However, he knew that Rodney lacked the modern fire control radar that would allow her to fight effectively in the dark. So, he was content to wait until dawn. Of course, there was the risk that Bismarck might repair whatever damage she’d suffered and speed off towards France, but as the night wore on, this became increasingly unlikely.

  Vian stopped firing starshells at around 15.30, as all it seemed to do was to draw German fire on to his ships.22 His destroyers lost contact with Bismarck at 16.00, but she was boxed in by them, and unlikely to escape under cover of the filthy night. At 05.50, contact was regained as Maori sighted her, steering erratically towards the north-west – and straight towards Tovey’s battleships. Cdr Armstrong signalled the other destroyers, and once again they took station all around the enemy battleship. Rain squalls were still lashing the ocean and the night’s storm showed no real sign of wearing itself out. Just before 07.00, Maori fired off her last two torpedoes, at a range of 9,000 yards (4.4 miles), but they didn’t hit their target. At 05.00, Vian ordered Piorun to return to Plymouth since she was running desperately low on fuel. The Poles were hugely disappointed not to be in at the finish, but they’d played their part. Now it was up to the capital ships to play theirs.

  The darkest hours

  It was 23.40 when Admiral Lütjens was told that the rudder damage couldn’t be repaired. Until then, he’d harboured the lingering hope that Bismarck could still escape. Now that last optimistic flame was snuffed out. It meant that, come the morning, Bismarck would have to fight. While her guns and fire control systems were still in full working order, the ship’s inability to steer a proper course made it much harder for the gunnery teams to calculate their fall of shot. Instead, it would be the enemy who’d have the advantage, not just in terms of numbers of ships and guns, but also in their ability to hit their target. Thanks to radio signals intercepted by the B-Dienst unit on board, and through intelligence reports sent from France, both Lütjens and Lindemann knew King George V and Rodney were steaming to meet them, as were several smaller British ships.23 The wolves were gathering out there in the dark.

  On Bismarck’s bridge the mood became dark and sombre. At 23.52, Lütjens sent a signal to both Paris and Berlin, which read: ‘Ship incapable of manoeuvres. We will fight to the last shell. Long live the Führer.’24 News of that gloomy signal slowly spread through the ship. The sense of finality was added to when Lindemann announced over the ship’s tannoy that the crew could take what they liked from the ship’s stores. So, the men dined on tinned ham, cheese, beer and sausages. At least nobody would go into battle hungry. Lütjens then addressed the crew, saying: ‘The German people are with you, and we will fight until our barrels glow red-hot and the last shell has left the barrels. For us seamen, the question now is victory or death.’25 It was a reprise of his address of a day-and-a-half before. This time it didn’t just lower morale – it had a devastating effect on it, as the crew now realised they were unlikely to survive the coming battle.

  Just before midnight, the fleet admiral sent another signal to Berlin. It said that Bismarck and her crew would fight to the last, adding that they remained steadfast, ‘in our belief in you my Führer, and in the firm faith in Germany’s victory’. Less pessimistically, Lindemann added his own signal: ‘Armament and engines still intact. Ship, however, cannot be steered with engine.’26 So now the German Naval High Command knew what the real problem was. It was almost as if Lindemann was still clutching at a straw – the slim hope that U-boats and the Luftwaffe could throw a screen around them at dawn and allow them to reach port. In fact, Dönitz had already ordered all available U-boats to head towards the stricken battleship. According to Müllenheim-Rechberg, a rumour was circulating, claiming that a large force of German bombers would attack the British the following morning. This, however, was little more than fantasy. The bombers were out of range.

  At 01.53, a signal from Adolf Hitler arrived.27 It read: ‘All Germany is with you. What can be done, will be done. Your performance of duty will strengthen our people in the struggle of its destiny.’ Several other signals were sent or received throughout the night, including one from Group West, promising the dispatch of 51 bombers. Nevertheless, as dawn approached it was clear to all but the most optimistic that the Bismarck and her crew were on their own. One by one, officers and men slipped away to write letters, gather their warm clothing or personal possessions, and put on their lifejackets. Then they returned to their posts and waited for the dawn. Müllenheim-Rechberg recalled: ‘It didn’t seem to want to pass, this sinister night of waiting, and waiting for nothing but the end. Enforced inactivity and the certainty of approaching defeat made it doubly depressing. The end must and indeed would come, but it was coming in agonising slow motion.’

  Lütjens, though, was already occupying himself with another impossible task. He decided that whatever happened to Bismarck, the Fleet War Diary needed to survive. It contained information that might be useful to the German Naval High Command if they attempted another breakout, and it probably included Lütjens’ own justifications for the various decisions he made during the operation. So, shortly before 05.00, Lindemann was ordered to prepare one of Bismarck’s Arado floatplanes, which would carry the diary to safety.28 For an hour, the crew prepared the aircraft for take-off, and at 06.00 the order came to launch. Nothing happened. It turned out that the compressed air that powered the catapult wasn’t reaching it. So, the launch was cancelled, and the floatplane was pushed over the side, as it was now full of highly combustible aviation fuel. Next, at 07.10, Lütjens demanded that Group West, ‘Send a U-boat to save War Diary’.29 It would be his last-ever signal.

  Strangely enough, just over 50 minutes later, Paris replied, saying that U-556 would retrieve the diary. That was Lt Herbert Wohlfarth’s boat – the man who swore he’d protect Bismarck from her foes. The previous evening, U-556 had had a perfect opportunity to do just that, as Ark Royal and Renown swept in front of her. However, the U-boat was returning from a war patrol in the Atlantic and she’d already used up all of her torpedoes. Later, he sighted one of Vian’s destroyers – too preoccupied with pursuing Bismarck to notice the lurking U-boat. Once again, though, Wohlfarth was unable to do anything to intervene. In his own War Diary, he wrote: ‘What can I do for the Bismarck? I can see starshells being fired, and flashes from the Bismarck’s guns. It is a terrible feeling to be near, and unable to do anything.’30 So, at the end, not even her protector Parsifal could save the doomed battleship, and Lütjens’ Fleet War Diary would stay on board Bismarck until the end.

  Chapter 15

  The Final Battle

  Tovey’s revenge

  Dawn that morning seemed to arrive with reluctance. While the seas had moderated slightly a few hours before, the north-westerly wind still blew at 30 knots. The sun could be seen trying to peek through the grey scudding clouds and visibility was fairly clear, apart from the numerous rain squalls that flitted over the sea, blown on by the strong wind. Conditions could be better, but they were certainly not as grim as they had been during the night. Bismarck, however, was large enough not to really care about the rough seas and 10ft waves. Though she was wounded, the graceful bows of the great steel beast still cut through the water with her customary style. Her guns were still fully operational, and with her broad beam they would fire as accurately as ever. Rather, they would if Kapitän Lindemann could keep his ship on a steady course, with all of her guns trained on the approaching enemy. Wounded and cornered though Bismarck was, she still had powerful teeth.

  As dawn broke, Admiral Tovey was approaching the Bismarck from the west in his flagship King George V, with Ro
dney following astern of her, off her port quarter.1 The crew of the two battleships were at Action Stations, and captains Patterson and Dalrymple-Hamilton were on their compass platforms, where they had an unobstructed view ahead of them. Captain Vian had told Tovey where Bismarck was, so the admiral was able to choose the time and place of his arrival in the arena. Tovey’s plan was simple: the two battleships would fan out into line abreast, six cables (or 1,200 yards/0.6 mile) apart.2 As he later put it: ‘I hoped that the sight of two battleships steering straight for them would shake the nerves of the range-takers and control officers, who already had four anxious days and nights.’ This tactic was helped by the fact that six of Rodney’s nine 16in. guns and six of the flagship’s ten 14in. ones could fire directly ahead.

  After closing to within 14,000 yards (6.9 miles), the battleships would turn and begin firing full broadsides. However, Tovey gave Dalrymple-Hamilton in Rodney complete discretion to manoeuvre on his own, if he saw the need. This gave Rodney’s commander a lot more flexibility than V. Adm. Holland gave Captain Leach of the Prince of Wales. Also, by approaching from the west, Bismarck would be silhouetted against the rising sun. However, the battleship’s lookouts weren’t the first to spot Bismarck when dawn came. The previous evening, the heavy cruiser Norfolk had arrived in the area, having refuelled since her last encounter with Bismarck. So, at 07.53 that morning, R. Adm. Wake-Walker spotted his old adversary, 10 miles away to the north-north-east.3 As he later put it: ‘I felt it unwise to irritate her unnecessarily.’

  Surprisingly, Bismarck didn’t open fire, and the cruiser turned away and broke contact. A few minutes later she sighted Tovey’s battleships. At 08.08 Wake-Walker signalled the flagship, reporting that: ‘Enemy bears 130°, 16 miles’.4 He then couldn’t resist adding: ‘On tin hats!’ So, that meant that battle was imminent. He then took control of Vian’s four remaining destroyers, Piorun having already turned for home. On the two battleships, the lookouts strained to be the first to spot her, while Tovey ordered Dalrymple-Hamilton to move forwards on his port side and deploy into line abreast. Then, everybody waited for their first glimpse of the Hood’s nemesis. The crew in the two British ships were tense and keyed up, but morale was high and they were determined to finish the job.

  At the time, Vian’s four destroyers were stationed on the four quadrants of Bismarck, 7 or 8 miles from her. She wasn’t shooting at them any more – it was almost as if she was conserving her strength for the coming fight. The German battleship was heading towards the north-west, making 10 knots. As well as Tovey’s battleships, Wake-Walker’s cruiser and Vian’s destroyers, a second heavy cruiser was also approaching the battle arena from the south. The heavy cruiser Dorsetshire had been escorting a convoy heading north from Freetown in West Africa, but two days before she had been detached and sent to join the hunt.5 Now, Captain Benjamin Martin’s cruiser was about 10 miles to the east of Bismarck and steaming towards the north-west at 20 knots. Finally, Force H was 15 miles to the south of Bismarck, but after a dawn air strike from Ark Royal was cancelled due to rough seas, Somerville’s force would take no further part in the unfolding drama.

  At 08.43, through a gap in the rain squalls, lookouts on board the King George V finally spotted Bismarck, and as Lt Cdr Hugh Guernsey on the flagship’s bridge remembered, she was ‘a thick, squad ghost of a ship, very broad in the beam, coming straight towards us’. 6 Bismarck was 12.5 miles to the south-east and steering almost directly towards Tovey’s two battleships. On Tovey’s signal, Rodney altered slightly to port in order to widen the gap between the two British battleships. That way, they might split Bismarck’s fire and make things slightly harder for the German gunners. At 08.47, Rodney opened fire with her two forward turrets.7 The range was now 21,870 yards (10.8 miles). A minute later, King George V opened up too. At that range it took just 35 seconds for the shells to reach their target. These first salvos missed, but at 08.48 a near miss from Rodney threw up huge columns of water in front of Bismarck. The British were finding the range.

  At 08.49, two minutes after Rodney’s first salvo, Bismarck fired back using her two forward turrets. The after turrets couldn’t bear. When he first saw the enemy, Kapitän Lindemann used his engines to try to turn Bismarck slightly to port, so all his four turrets could fire.8 However, this proved extremely difficult and the battleship’s course continued to be erratic; she maintained a roughly northern course throughout the battle, but she kept weaving first to port and then to starboard as Lindemann tried to stop her turning too far. It proved almost impossible to have all the guns bear all of the time. Müllenheim-Rechberg, in the after gun director, said: ‘The swinging back and forth of the Bismarck allowed me only intermittent glimpses of the enemy.’9 Still, given these circumstances, Bismarck’s gunnery was impressive. She was aiming at Rodney, the more powerful of the two British ships, and while her first salvo fell short and the second overshot, the third straddled the target.

  This was another four-shell salvo. The shells fell around Rodney, but none of them actually hit her. However, one landed just 66ft from her forward superstructure, and shell splinters peppered the ship. Some struck the bridge and others pierced the battleship’s anti-aircraft director.10 Huge columns of water also drenched many of the men on Rodney’s upper deck. While nobody was seriously injured, Dalrymple-Hamilton sensibly ordered the anti-aircraft gun crews to take shelter below decks. Their small-calibre guns wouldn’t be needed in this fight. Meanwhile, the captain kept giving the crew a running commentary of the fight through the bridge tannoy, adding dryly that Bismarck had done Rodney the honour of choosing her as its first target. This was useful, as otherwise most of the men in the engine or boiler rooms or magazines would have had no idea what was going on ‘topside’. All they could sense was the sound, noise and shaking as their own guns were fired.

  The old battleship was almost tearing herself apart with the blast of her own guns. Steam and water pipes burst with the shock, rivets popped out, leaks started and the boiler furnaces flared up with the pressure caused by the blasts. The stokers had to dive out of the way to avoid being burned. Elsewhere, crockery smashed and sinks and toilets were ripped out of the bulkheads. Still, it was worth it. By now, Dalrymple-Hamilton had turned Rodney slightly to port, so her third triple 16in. turret could bear. Now Rodney was able to fire full salvos. Tovey had King George V turn slightly to starboard too, to allow ‘X’ turret to fire. So, both British battleships were now firing with everything they had. This heavy fire was starting to pay off. At 08.50, watchers on Norfolk saw Rodney’s shells straddle the German battleship, but none of the nine 16in. shells struck her. Instead, Bismarck was cloaked in huge fountains of water. It meant, though, that Rodney now had the range.

  However, a problem with Rodney’s gun director led to her next salvos falling short. It took several minutes to get back on target, but at 08.59 Rodney achieved another straddle with her 18th salvo. This time she hit Bismarck twice – once on her focsle, and the other high in her forward superstructure.11 On the King George V, all of the battleship’s guns could now bear, and at 08.53 her shells straddled Bismarck, scoring a hit on the forward part of the ship. Tovey’s flagship was using her fire control radar to register the fall of shot, and this proved highly effective. Her salvos began smashing into the enemy ship, one after the other. By this stage, Norfolk had joined in with her 8in. guns, firing at a range of 10 miles. Bismarck was now under fire from three enemy ships – with Rodney and King George V ahead of her, and Norfolk off her starboard beam – and she was being pounded relentlessly, with fires breaking out on her forward superstructure.

  At 08.58, Rodney’s starboard battery of 6in. guns joined in, as they were finally within range. While unable to penetrate the battleship’s armour, their shells might do some damage to Bismarck’s exposed upper decks. The German battleship was now half-hidden by shell splashes but the relentless pounding continued. A few minutes later, at 09.04, Dorsetshire appeared from the west, and at a range of 9 miles she began add
ing the weight of her own 8in. shells to the conflagration.12 After leaving her convoy, she had steamed 600 miles and arrived just in time to join in the fight. Rodney and King George V were sailing away from each other, at divergent angles, the flagship heading towards the south-east and then the south, and the older battleship steering north-east. Both kept all their guns bearing on the Bismarck. The range was dropping rapidly – to just 8 miles – which of course made it easier to score hits.

  On the Rodney, Dalrymple-Hamilton was coolly weaving around Bismarck’s shell splashes, none of which came close to hitting his battleship. Meanwhile, Rodney was straddling Bismarck with virtually every salvo. Her 16in. guns fired 1-ton shells, and at that range they had a velocity of 1,700ft per second. Their armour-piercing noses burrowed into Bismarck’s steel-clad superstructure or hull before exploding. At that range, they could inflict serious damage. At 09.02, a salvo from Rodney struck Bismarck, and at least one shell struck her forward superstructure.13 This had a dramatic impact on Bismarck’s ability to fight. A sheet of fire was seen to shoot up around her bridge and conning tower. Almost certainly, it killed or seriously wounded everyone on Bismarck’s bridge, including Admiral Lütjens and Kapitän Lindemann. It also silenced her main gun director, where Korvettenkapitän Adalbert Schneider was controlling the battleship’s gunfire.

  That single salvo effectively prevented Bismarck from trying to steer and meant that no senior officer was able to control the battleship. So, her speed dropped and her rudder continued to force her in circles. Most of the fleet admiral’s staff were probably killed at that moment, while Lindemann’s second-in-command, Fregattenkapitän Hans Oels, was running the ship’s damage control centre. So, at a stroke, the Bismarck was rendered leaderless. The loss of the main gunnery director also meant that the effectiveness of the battleship’s fire was markedly reduced. Certainly, Lt Burkhard von Müllenheim-Rechberg had the ability to switch control over to the after gunnery director, but that took time. That was something Bismarck didn’t have. Over the next few minutes the battleship would be stripped of most of her offensive muscle, and turned into little more than a floating charnel house.