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SINKING OF THE BISMARCK 67

From January to March 1941, the German navy had deployed

two battleships—Scharnhorst and Gneisenau—in the Atlantic under

the command of Admiral Günther Lütjens. Maintained by supplies

from support vessels and tankers, they destroyed or captured 22

Allied merchant ships. After the pair had to return to port for

repairs, two new warships—Prinz Eugen and the formidable

battleship Bismarck—were sent into the Atlantic under the

same command with orders to continue the task.

On May 20, Allied intelligence sources in Scandinavia spotted

the German ships as they made their way from the Baltic port

of Gdynia. Four days later they were intercepted in the Denmark

Strait, between Iceland and Greenland, by the British battle cruiser

HMS Hood and the battleship HMS Prince of Wales. The ensuing

battle was followed by an epic, three-day chase on the high seas,

during which dozens of Allied warships converged on the Bismarck.

Eventually, the Bismarck was sunk with the loss of around 2,100 men,

including Günther Lütjens. In the aftermath, between June 3 and

June 15 the Royal Navy sank or seized seven of the nine tankers

and supply ships that had made raiding ventures into the Atlantic

possible. Germany’s hopes of conducting any similar operations

in future had been gravely damaged.

SINKING OF

THE BISMARCK

On May 18, 1941, the German navy began Operation

Rheinübung, part of the effort to isolate Britain by

targeting merchant ships in the Atlantic. The vessels

used in this operation were the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen

and the largest warship in the German fleet, Bismarck.

AIRCRAFT CARRIERS IN WORLD WAR II

By the 1930s air power was eclipsing the battleship as the dominant

weapon of naval warfare. At the time war broke out, aircraft carriers

were a vital maritime offensive weapon, as combat aircraft could attack

enemy ships at greater range than gun batteries and with a higher level

of accuracy. However, once within range of the enemy, carriers were

vulnerable to attacks themselves. Here a squadron of torpedo-armed

Fairey Swordfish—also used in the attack on the Bismarck—prepares

to launch from the British carrier HMS Ark Royal during the war.

PURSUIT IN THE ATLANTIC

Once the two powerful German surface raiders had been sighted they were

attacked by the British Home Fleet, including the Royal Navy’s largest warships

HMS Hood, Repulse, King George V, and Prince of Wales.

15 MAY 1941 20 MAY 25 MAY 30 MAY

2 3 4 5 6 7

1

TIMELINE

Bismarck

Prinz Eugen

HMS Hood

HMS Prince of Wales

HMS Victorious

HMS King George V

HMS Repulse

HMS Rodney

KEY

HMS Norfolk

HMS Suffolk

HMS Dorsetshire

Force H

North

Sea Kattegat

Denmark

Strait

ARCTIC

OCEAN

Hvalfjrđur

Ic

e^

E

d

ge

Shetland

Islands

Orkney

Islands

Faroe

Islands

N

O

R

W

A

Y

G

R

E

E

N

L

A

N

D A T L A N T

IC

(^) O
C
E
A
N
S
W
E
D
E
N
ICELAND
IRELAND
PORTUGAL
NETHERLANDS
FRANCE
DENMARK
GREATER
UNITED GERMANY
KINGDOM
VICHY
FRANCE
Timmiarmiut
Reykjavík
Gibraltar
Glasgow
Scapa
Flow
Lerwick
London
Kulusuk
Bergen
Dublin
Belfast
Berlin
Moss
Brest
Kiel
Malmö
Gdynia
May 21
1 THE RAIDERS DEPART
MAY 18–22, 1941
On the evening of May 18, Bismarck and Prinz Eugen,
accompanied by three destroyers, put out from the
Baltic port of Gdynia (in occupied Poland) toward the
Kattegat. By early morning on May 21 the group had
anchored near Bergen. Early the next day Bismarck
and Prinz Eugen headed for the Arctic Ocean while
the destroyers left for Trondheim to the north.
Only Prinz Eugen refueled, despite Bismarck having
sailed short of a full fuel load.
German naval base
THE ROYAL NAVY’S HOME FLEET PUTS
TO SEA MAY 22, 1941
British battleships Hood and Prince of Wales, and six
destroyers, were sent from the Royal Navy base of
Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands. Their destination
was HvalfjÖrđur, Iceland, where the cruisers Norfolk
and Suffolk had been patrolling for German ships trying
to enter the Atlantic through the Denmark Strait.
Commander of the British Home Fleet, Admiral Tovey,
took a second squadron to sea for support: his flagship
King George V, the aircraft carrier Victorious, battle
cruiser Repulse, four light cruisers, and ten destroyers.
2
British naval base
US_066-067_Sinking_of_the_Bismarck.indd 67 24/05/19 1:16 PM