THE BISMARCK

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24632, 13 June 1941, Page 10

THE BISMARCK

ITS LAST MOMENTS INVERCARGILL MAN'S DESCRIPTION An Invercargill naval rating, Ordinary Seaman Dudley F. Davis, son of Mr T. E Davis, was “in at the death ” at the sinking of the German battleship Bismarck. In an interview with the London correspondent of the Sydney Daily Mirror he gave a graphic description of the last moments, and his own experiences in the great chase in the North Sea. “ The last broadside the two warships fired was fantastic in its effect. We could see the shells straddle the forepart of the Bismarck, and bits of the great ship went flying heavenwards,” he said. Seaman Davis was the only New Zealander on board‘the destroyer Mashona during the sea battle in which units of the British Fleet avenged H.M.S. Hood. “ Our guns were very accurate,” he said, “ but the Bismarck’s shells seemed to fly in all directions, far from their targets. Possibly the controls were damaged.” Seaman Davis said that when reports were received that the Bismarck was out the Mashona missed her because of a change of course, but aircraft information corrected the error, and the destroyer hastened to join the King George V, which was closing in to engage the enemy. “All went well until the Wednesday, when Heinkels attacked us and another ship,” he continued. “Fifteen bombers came at us and we were hit, several being killed or wounded. “The Mashona remained afloat for some time, but finally the order was given to abandon ship. The whaler was swamped as we attempted to launch it, so we jumped overboard and swam to floats of timber which had been thrown overboard. Other warships picked us up under difficulties while the bombing continued. “Leading Seaman Roberts, who was a member of the crew of the sloop Veronica, which did good work during the Napier earthquake, was in our control room when a bomb hit us. His right arm was shattered. “ When the whaler was swamped he was thrown into the sea, and his good arm was numbed by the bitter cold, but when a rope was thrown to him he gripped it in his teeth and was hauled in.”