May 27, 2016
It Took Three Days
...but on May 27th, 1941 the Bismarck was found by the Battleships King George the 5th and Rodney, two cruisers and six destroyers.
The ship was hit by around 400 shells and several torpedoes before sinking.
Of her 2200 man crew, there were only 110 survivors.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at
10:13 AM
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1
The main reason they were able to sink Bismarck that day was that its steering gear was jammed by an attack by torpedo planes.
And the reason those planes found Bismarck was that it had been spotted by a PBY. It was one of the first PBY's given to the UK, and it actually had an American crew because the RAF didn't have anyone trained yet to fly it.
Posted by: Steven Den Beste at Sat May 28 01:57:13 2016 (+rSRq)
2
You know....I had a snarky post half typed when it occurred to me that I should probably take my own advice and scroll down a bit.
Yeah...
OK, so I couldn't get that "pending" thing to work right and let it sit in draft.
Hitting "publish" almost always improves a post dramatically.
"Almost", because that snarky response I was typing would not have been an improvement at all.
Good catch on the American PBY Steven.
Yeah...
OK, so I couldn't get that "pending" thing to work right and let it sit in draft.
Hitting "publish" almost always improves a post dramatically.
"Almost", because that snarky response I was typing would not have been an improvement at all.
Good catch on the American PBY Steven.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Sat May 28 16:01:03 2016 (/4jFR)
3
I have in my library an English copy of "Battleship Bismarck: A Survivor's Story" signed to me by author Baron Burkard von Müllenheim-Rechberg, the senior surviving officer of the ship. (4th in command, he was chief gunnery officer.) We corresponded with cards and letter till the mid-90s.
He said that in the action against the Hood, (and later the Prince of Wales) he had the after rangefinder of Bismarck ranging the P. Eugen, and Eugen ranging the target with its forward rangefinder and its after ranger finder cranked around to range back at Bismarck. Bizzy and Eugen were exchanging range data by signal lamps to triangulate range and windage to HMS Hood. This was why opening salvos against Hood were so damned accurate.
Brickmuppet - Go ahead and access my e-mail privately if you want, and I'll send you privately more information that he passed on to me.
I believe he passed away in 2003. I have saved his Christmas cards and letters from the 90s.
- G
He said that in the action against the Hood, (and later the Prince of Wales) he had the after rangefinder of Bismarck ranging the P. Eugen, and Eugen ranging the target with its forward rangefinder and its after ranger finder cranked around to range back at Bismarck. Bizzy and Eugen were exchanging range data by signal lamps to triangulate range and windage to HMS Hood. This was why opening salvos against Hood were so damned accurate.
Brickmuppet - Go ahead and access my e-mail privately if you want, and I'll send you privately more information that he passed on to me.
I believe he passed away in 2003. I have saved his Christmas cards and letters from the 90s.
- G
Posted by: Plains of Abraham at Tue May 31 22:16:49 2016 (fe66x)
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