THE BISMARCK

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24627, 7 June 1941, Page 9

THE BISMARCK

STORY OF SINKING SHADOWED NIGHT AND DAY FINISHED OF.F BY TORPEDOES RUGBY, June 5. An account of the action against the German battleship Bismarck is given by an officer who was present on the King George V. Starting his account at the time when it was discovered by naval aircraft that the Bismarck had left the Norwegian port where she was previously located, he said that additional dispositions were taken to cover a possible break-out into the Atlantic. It was no surprise when the Norfolk sighted two German warships in Denmark Strait, west of Iceland, making at all speed southwards towards blue water. ■ A fast squadron, consisting of the Hood and the Prince of Wales, was near at hand, and made contact shortly after daylight on the following morning. " You know how the Hood went," he said, "firing every one of her great guns as she split in two and sr .ik." The Prince of Wales fought on alone. All that day and night, into the early hours of B'ay 25, she, the Suffolk, and Norfolk chased and shadowed the quarry through icefloes, patchy fog, flurries of snow, and intermittent rain squalls.. There were two. separate long cannonades, and at one point fire was visible in the after part of the Bismarck. Meantime the King George V was pounding along—with the spray flying right up over her bridge, and. taking care that there was no wisp of smoke to give her away too early to the enemy. The Victorious (aircraft carrier) was in the chase; too, and as soon as she was within air range she flew off torpedo-carrying aircraft These at noon on May 25 reported one hit. Treacherous Conditions Within an hour of this news, however, the Bismarck and her companion, the Prince Eugen, had slipped away from the pursuers in the treacherous half dark and northern mist.. The Bismarck was lost for 31| hours, and was then picked up by a Coastal Command flying boat. Soon afterwards Ark Royal aircraft were on her track, and escort ships from convoys,, and ships from little ports in all corners of the North Atlantic were closing in to help in-the chase. As daylight on May 26 closed .in, the Ark Royal flew off a striking force of torpedo-carrying aircraft. This force, however, was unable to locate the target, and a second striking force took off. At last, learning that torpedo hits had been obtained by the second force, the King George V turned at once to close with the enemy more rapidly. As the last of the light died, the cruiser Sheffield and the destroyer Cossack and her flotilla slid quietly into nightshadowing positions. Cruiser Too Easily Seen The Sheffield quickly received a blast of 15in gunfire, which straddled her. She was too big and too visible, and had to sheer off, for at that short range a single accurate salvo would easily have sunk .her. The destroyers, though often engaged, were less visible and less vulnerable. As the night wore on, they put two or three torpedoes into the Bismarck. When at last daylight appeared there were patchy rainsqualls and a tearing wind from the north-west, with a rising, sea. After a little manoeuvring, the Suffolk appeared to the east, signalling "enemy in sight, 12 miles south of me." The Rodney opened out to port a'little more, saying, "Enemy in sight." ' • * There was a sudden shift of wind and a squall of rain. Admiral Tovey saw it first, and gave orders to alter course. .','■' The Big Guns Roar . With a cracking roar, the Rodney opened fire with her 16in guns, and an instant later the King George V let fly with her 14in guns. The Bismarck fired all four guns from her two forward turrets. "The Germans have a reputation for hitting with their early salvoes. Now I know what suspended animation means. It seemed to take about two hours for those shots to fall. Splashes shot up opposite, but beyond, the Rodney's forecastle. I'm sorry to say that we all thought ' Thank heavens, she's shooting at the Rodney.' But the .Rodney's first two salvoes produced great white columns of water 120 feet high that would break the back of a destroyer and sink her like a stone if she steamed through one of them. The second splash missed, all except one shot which seemed to belong to the King George V and was a little ahead of the Bismarck. "Then I watched the Rodney to see if she was being hit, but she just stood like a great slab of rock blocking the northern horizon, and suddenly belched a full salvo. Hits on the Bismarck

"I actually saw the projectiles flying through the air some seconds after they left the guns, like little diminishing footballs curving up into the sky* Now I am sure that four or five hit. There was only one great splash, and a sort of flurry Of spray, and a splash which might have been a waterline hit. The Bismarck turned north, steaming at about 12 to 14 knots, and we kept turning in and out to confuse the enemy rangetakers, all the while closing the range rapidly. "The Admiral kept on saying,'Close range, get closer, get closer. I can't see enough hits.' "Somewhere about 8 o'clock there was a fire on the Bismarck's forecastle which seemed to envelop the upper turret, and one observer says he saw a huge plate torn away from the tail of it. The Bismarck was turning away and then back, writhing, it seemed, under the most merciless hail of highexplosive, armour-piercing shells that any ship ever faced; but there was no escape for the Bismarck. Smoke shot up, but it quickly flew away, and a quite extraordinary sight met my eyes. "A Terrible Sight" An officer aboard the Dorsetshire added the following about the Bismarck. She was a terrible sight. Perhaps you saw those photographs of the Graf Spee after she had been blown up. The Bismarck was even worse than that. Her top was blown clean away, flames were roaring out at several places, and her plates were glowing red with the heat. Great clouds of black smoke were billowing from her and rising for 100 feet or so It was the end and we asked permission to finish her off with torpedoes. We fired, hitting her abreast the bridge. The Bismarck settled down by the stern and then heeled over to port. She had not blown up, but just went straight down on her side with her battle ensign still flying. It was a most impressive sight, and we watched in silence as she finally went down."