HUNT FOR THE BISTMARCK 1941

By the summer of 1941, the Battle of the atlantic had become a
struggle for the survival of Great Britain. Not only were Nazi U-boats
ravaging convoys and sinking merchant vessels laden with precious
cargoes, but surface raiders of the German Navy also
posed a significant threat.

Devastated by the loss of the hood, the British nevertheless continued their pursuit of the Bismarck. the Germans gave the shadowing cruisers the slip on the night after beating back an attack by Fairey Swordfish torpedo launched planes from the aircraft carrier. then inexplicably began to broadcast a lengthy radio message to Berlin, unaware that he had temporarily shaken the British off his trail. The British picked up the signal, corrected a navigational error which had sent them steaming in the wrong direction and locked on to their quarry once again. on the morning a Consolidated Catalina flying boat spotted the Bismarck from the French coast and nearing the range of a protective air umbrella.  Several of the Royal Navy warships initially engaged in the chase were obliged to turn for home as fuel ran low. The battleship with tovey aboard, ploughed ahead. Detached from convoy duty, the battleship Rodney joined the pursuit, as did Gibraltar-based Force H, under Admiral James. the British had lost critical time and distance, though, the bismarck might still escape.

three torpedo hits from the cruiser  have long been credited with administering the coup. However, survivors of the Bismarck have insisted that they opened the vessel's seacocks and scuttled the ship. Exploration of the wreckage tends to support their claim but remains inconclusive. Only the Bismarck's complement of more than 2000 sailors were pulled from the chilly waters of the Atlantic. More might have been rescued, but a U-boat alarm sounded and the British were forced to abandon many sailors to the sea. The epic Bismarck chase resonates through history as a classic tale of naval warfare. In a practical sense, the loss of the great warship effectively ended the threat of the surface fleet to Allied merchant shipping in the Atlantic. Hitler simply became unwilling to rist his few capital ships in such an endeavour. Far to the north, German warships, including another giant, the battleship menaced Allied convoys to the ports of Murmansk and archangel in the Soviet Union. However, the Atlantic was to be the domain of the U-boats until they too were defeated.


Battle Ship Bismarck

The Battle Ship Bismarck was named in honour of Otto Furst von Bismarck, the architect that unite the whole of Germany. the most famous German Battleship, and was considered the most powerful ship of it's time , it was said to be able to destroy any Royal Navy ship in its wake, it displaced over 50,000 ton and  most of it is due to its impenetrable armor that gave it advantages during battle, but also reducing its speed, she was capable of a speed of 29 knots , It carried a impressive array of eight 15 inch guns , 380mm rifles Bismarck's main battery with the purpose of destroying surface targets at sea, also they could be used for bombardment, 5.9 inch guns, a series of 4.1 and 20mm Anti-aircraft guns and a crew of about 2000 plus.

One of the most outstanding characteristics of Battleship Bismarck was it's capability to absorb intense damage due to its superb armour,

It's Turrets were especially big compared to 38cm twin turrets to other warships, and the main guns at the turret were given space that is to separate the two barrels from each other, therefore reducing interferences between, Each gun could fire and elevated independently of the other, what's more special to these guns was their high muzzle velocity and low shell trajectories with short flight time,
that obtain high accuracy and rapid fire in a deadly array, this was fully demonstrated in the morning of 24 May 1941  during the navak engagement with Royal Navy's cruiser HMS Hood.

The Bismarck was responsible for the destruction of the Royal Navy's pride the HMS hood a heavy cruiser of impressive speed and capable power that was built in the last year of world war 1,
it was given order to bring havoc at the Atlantic and to destroy any Royal Navy ships . Although it was sunk even before proving it's full potential. On May 27 ,1941.