Battleship Bismarck by William H. Garzke

Author:William H. Garzke
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: HISTORY / Military / naval
Publisher: Pen & Sword Books
Published: 2019-06-29T00:00:00+00:00

SUCCESS

Captain Brinkmann, still wanting to continue the two-ship operation and ignorant of Admiral Lütjens’s intentions, planned to send a semaphore message to Admiral Lütjens around 1800 on a proposed operation involving both ships.

•His fuel at 1800 was 1,350 cubic meters.

•Bismarck and Prinz Eugen could draw the pursuing British ships across a U-boat screen. Should contact be broken, they would head for Belchen, 1,050 miles away. If the enemy ships still maintained contact, they should continue on a southerly course and have Esso Hamburg and Spichern moved northward. Join battle if forced to by the pursuers. Otherwise, refuel with oil within one thousand miles.

•Ships could proceed in company directly to Belchen or Lothringen in spite of enemy contact. If enemy decides to engage, join battle.

Admiral Lütjens never received Captain Brinkmann’s proposed plan, as he decided at 1814 to make a second try to detach Prinz Eugen and sent the code word “Hood” to begin the separation maneuver. The weather had deteriorated into a mist; Captain Brinkmann had been instructed to keep his ship on a southerly course. The gun crews on the battleship were notified to prepare for action. At 1840 Bismarck altered her heading by 180 degrees from her course of 240 degrees, made a wide turn to starboard, and then disappeared into a rain squall.

Before Bismarck’s maneuver, Suffolk’s radar had the German battleship at a distance of 25,000 meters off her port bow. Suddenly the range started to close. The radar image showed that the German battleship was at a distance of only 16,700 meters and now close on the starboard side of the British cruiser. When Bismarck emerged from a rain squall, she was a little aft of the starboard beam of Suffolk. Starting around 1842, after a brief hesitation, Bismarck fired nine salvoes in the direction of Suffolk. Captain Ellis ordered full speed and a turn of 45 degrees to port at once under a smokescreen with the flash of Bismarck’s 380-mm guns. While still under fire, the captain of Suffolk also decided to quickly alter his course to starboard and port to thwart Bismarck’s gunnery. The British cruiser began this series of violent maneuvers with salvoes from her 203-mm guns. The first salvo from Bismarck fell some distance to starboard, but the second came closer. The third salvo fell about 280 meters astern in her wake, but the explosion of their shells and the second salvo loosened some rivets in her stern structure, resulting in some minor flooding. When Suffolk returned fire with her 203-mm guns, the gun blast from turret B, firing at extreme aft train, smashed all the bridge windows, which opened the enclosed, heated bridge to cold winds and windblown spray. Gun blast also tore away the canvas covering that sheltered the bridge watch from arctic conditions. Now discomfort would be added to fatigue for those personnel on the bridge. The remainder of the salvoes from Bismarck fell harmlessly around Suffolk, as the smokescreen she was putting up foiled Bismarck’s gunnery accuracy.

Prince of Wales closed Suffolk at 1846 and began firing her 356-mm guns at Bismarck.

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