On This Day in History: May 27

Sinking the Bismarck

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The Bismarck was a big fucker, one of two giant battleships built by the Germans leading up to World War II. She didn’t see much action though, because the Brits took one glance at her and said yeah we think she’d look much better at the bottom of the ocean. 

--On This Day in History, Shit Went Down: May 27, 1941--

Bismarck entered service a few months after Germany conquered France and the Battle of Britain was in full swing. If you look at a map of Europe, you’ll see something northwest of Germany called the North Sea, and it’s not exactly wide open. There is a bottleneck before access to the Atlantic Ocean. The purpose of Bismarck was to break out of that bottleneck and start sinking Allied ships sending war material from North America to Britain. 

Bismarck and the German heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen tried to gain access to the Atlantic, but the Brits said I don’t fucking think so and on May 24, 1941, there was the Battle of Denmark Strait between the two German ships and the battlecruiser HMS Hood and the battleship HMS Prince of Wales, plus two other British heavy cruisers. It ended with sinking of the Hood and the Prince of Wales damaged and needing to withdraw. But Bismarck was also damaged bad enough that she couldn’t continue with the raiding mission and had to make for the coast of Germany-occupied France for repairs. 

With the sinking of the Hood and over 1,400 dead, the British were ever so pissed and even more determined to send the sailors on board the Bismarck to a watery Nazi hell. And so, the chase was on. HMS Ark Royal, an aircraft carrier, launched 16 biplane torpedo bombers at the Bismarck on the evening of May 26. The ship avoided eight torpedoes, but a ninth struck her amidships, doing minor damage. Then another torpedo took her near the rudder, and all on board Bismarck were doomed with a capital Go Fuck Yourself. 

Admiral Günther Lütjens, commanding the Bismarck, sent this message to German headquarters that evening: “Ship unmanoeuvrable. We will fight to the last shell. Long live the Führer.” Long live the head Nazi? Yeah, fuck him. 

The next morning, on May 27, 1941, began the final phase of the ship’s demise. Two British battleships, King George Vand the Rodney, supported by cruisers engaged in a battle with Bismarck lasting under two hours. The German battleship was repeatedly hit by artillery fire and torpedoes. By the end of the battle the Bismarck’s first officer was the most senior officer left alive and he gave the order to abandon ship and scuttle her. 

British warships rescued 111 of the Bismarck’s crew before having to withdraw because of a U-boat sighting. Over 2,000 other German sailors attempted to learn to breathe water. They were unsuccessful. 

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