194 1 in may, the situation facing Britain was even more sinister. Admiral Lei Deer, Commander-in-Chief of the German Navy, is determined to send large surface ships into the Atlantic again at this favorable opportunity, which will add another knife to Britain's hard-pressed maritime transportation!
The Germans ordered the battleship Bismarck and the heavy cruiser prinz eugen anchored in the Baltic Sea to sail to Bergen, Norway, and then used the cover of fog to kill from the north of Iceland to the Atlantic Ocean. Fortunately, the strength of these two ships is not weak, especially the battleship Bismarck, as the fourth warship named after the famous bloody German Chancellor Bismarck, is the pride of the German navy. It is equipped with advanced electronic equipment such as the latest German scientific and technological crystallization "sea beat" radar, radar warning instrument and radio direction finder, and inherits the tradition that German warships always attach importance to protection. The broadside waterline is 330 mm thick, the armor of the main deck is 100 mm thick, and the watertight compartment is exquisitely designed, which can be called "unsinkable fortress at sea"!
On May 19, Bismarck and prinz eugen quietly set sail from Gdynia, Poland, left the Baltic Sea via Kategat, went north along the Norwegian coast, and sailed into Coles Fjord southeast of Bergen on May 2 1 9. Just as the German ship was crossing kattegat, the radar of the British cruiser Suffolk found the target, followed closely and reported it to Tovey. Tovey ordered Holland to lead the Hood, the Prince of Wales and four destroyers to intercept quickly, and other ships also moved close at full speed to form an encirclement. On the morning of May 24th, the German ship sailed out of the Danish Strait. At 2: 47, Sappho Quereda confirmed the position of Bismarck, and a fierce battle was imminent!
Around 5 o'clock, the Netherlands ordered to prepare for the battle. At that time, the alarm sounded loudly on the British ship, the shells were loaded and the gunners were in place. Soon, Lukins also saw Britain's most powerful battleships "Hood" and "Prince of Wales" through the telescope! Therefore, at 5: 39, he ordered a turn and prepared to avoid British ships. Almost at the same time, the British ship was turning, and the bow pointed directly at the German ship, 15: 54 dive. Seeing that the battle was inevitable, the German ship turned to a 200-degree course, forming a T-shaped formation that was most beneficial to the British ship. At 5: 55, Bismarck's main gun began its first volley! German ships shoot far more accurately than English ships. Bismarck's second volley hit Hood's anti-aircraft gun ammunition box, and the deck immediately became a sea of fire. Bismarck's third volley accurately hit the key of Hood, and let Hood sink to the bottom of the sea in less than three minutes!
The Prince of Wales witnessed Hood's tragic fate. Before she came to her senses, Bismarck and prinz eugen's firepower all poured down! The Prince of Wales fired seven rounds in a row. Fortunately, only three bullets exploded, and the combat effectiveness of the Prince of Wales was not greatly affected. Captain Leach, who survived, continued to command the battle. In the sixth volley, two 356 mm shells hit the Bismarck, and one of them penetrated the fuel tank at the bow of the ship, which made the Bismarck, whose fuel was already tight, worse, creating conditions for the British ship to track in the future, which was also the reason for the destruction of the German ship.
Just as Bismarck braved the storm and hurried back, the British network was gradually tightening! The "Victory" aircraft carrier rushed to the sea about 220 kilometers away from the "Bismarck" and turned to the carrier-based aircraft that took off against the wind. Under the radio guidance of Norfolk, nine swordfish torpedoes found Bismarck at 23: 27, and the leader, Navy Major Essid, immediately ordered the attack! Bismarck immediately turned around and fled.
Lukins got rid of the following British ship and disappeared without a trace. Just as the British army was at a loss, Lukins thought he could breathe a sigh of relief from the pursuit of the British army. He reported to the German Navy Command the sinking of the Hood, the injury of the Prince of Wales and the damage of his own ship, and reported the plan to cancel the Rhine exercise and prepare to return to France. The whole telegram was sent for half an hour. This is a gift that the British army can't wait. The British radio direction finding stations in Ireland and Gibraltar intercepted the telegram and accurately determined the position of the German ship through triangulation. Tovey immediately judged that the German ship was trying to sail for Brost. As a result, all the British ships involved in the round-up ran in the direction where Bismarck might escape.
19, Royal Ark takes off again 15 swordfish. Under the guidance of the Sheffield, it accurately discovered that Bismarck was sailing in the storm and immediately began to attack with the fierce air fire of German ships. German ships attacked from both sides under the cover of clouds and dropped 13 torpedoes one after another. "Bismarck" swerved from time to time to avoid torpedoes dropped by British planes, but there were still two lightning strikes, one of which was a fatal blow, hitting the weakest stern impartially, and the blown-up propeller fragments stuck the steering gear again, and the steering gear room was flooded. Bismarck can only stop the warship from spinning in place by increasing the speed of one side of the turbine and reducing the speed of the other side. Because the bulkhead of the steering engine room is very thin, the sail before the wind breach will aggravate the water inflow, so the German ship can only twist against the wind and sail north, and can't take the nearest route back to France! Somerville succeeded in delaying the German ship and made great contributions to the final annihilation of Bismarck!
At 7 o'clock on May 27th, the sunrise opened. Bismarck is 740 kilometers northwest of Brost, and is sailing slowly northward at the speed of 10 knots. As we get farther and farther away from Brost, it is impossible to go back to France. Lukins knew that the British fleet was approaching step by step, and the Bismarck was in jeopardy!
At 8: 20, Wei Tuo's main fleet finally arrived! The two ships, King George V and Rodney, are enough to fight Bismarck! When the British ship approached the Bismarck, it opened fire with its main gun. British heavy cruisers Norfolk, Suffolk and Dorset detour to the right side of the German ship, forming an oblique angle with the battleship. British battleships and cruisers fired from several directions, constantly adjusting their positions in order to get the best position. The Bismarck, clumsy because of serious injuries, could not cope at all. It was constantly hit by large-caliber shells, and turrets were destroyed one after another. In just 30 minutes, all four main gun turrets were silenced, and only a few near-fire projectiles from the German ship caused slight damage to the British ship. At 9: 40, the Rodney was walking back and forth only 3,600 meters away from Bismarck, and nine main guns were ejected one after another. It's raining, and the superstructure of Bismarck is rolling in flames, and there is smoke everywhere, which is beyond recognition. The steam pipe in the cabin was blown off, the fog filled the cabin, and the sea water flooded into the cabin, and the hull began to tilt sharply to the left. Once upon a time, the mighty Bismarck is now a river of blood, with its deck exploding and burning, and bodies everywhere. The main guns have all been destroyed, and only a few auxiliary guns are still fighting.
At about 10, Bismarck began to sink, while King George V and Rodney relented and heavy artillery continued to pour. Hundreds of sailors on the deck of Bismarck jumped into the sea to escape without waiting for the captain's order.
In the panic war against Bismarck, electronic warfare has begun to emerge. The long telegram sent by Lukins on May 25th was undoubtedly the biggest mistake. If the British didn't rely on this telegram to locate and measure the basic position of the German ship, it would be absolutely difficult to find a needle in a haystack just by searching for warships and planes without knowing the target range! The torpedo attack of Swordfish, which caused a fatal blow to Bismarck, was successful only under the guidance of warship radio. Bismarck skillfully got rid of the tracking of British cruisers and was even more ingenious in electronic warfare! It can be seen that electronic control has played an important role in the war 60 years ago, not to mention the modern war today.
The role of aircraft in this campaign fully shows the great influence of air superiority on maritime superiority. On the 22nd, the British first discovered that German ships left Bergen by plane. On the 26 th, the search was fruitless, and the plane found the trace of the German ship; It was this plane that caused fatal damage to the German ship and eventually sank it! It can be said that the plane always plays a decisive role at every critical moment in the whole sea panic-stricken war. On the other hand, because the Germans have no air and sea power, the majestic Bismarck has become the fish of the British army without air cover.