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High Tide of the Kriegsmarine Operation Rheinubung - May 1941. By David Atwell Prelude It was madness, or so Captain Kurt
Hoffmann of the Scharnhorst thought.
Here he was, thanks to the craziest orders that he had ever seen, steaming at
flank speed through the English Channel during the darkness of night. The ships
of the Royal Navy were bound to be lurking out there somewhere, patrolling the
waters, & thus he, & his companion ship, would be surely caught. The Gneisenau
& Scharnhorst were indeed on the wildest of missions. Having been sent to Brest, after a
successful sortie into the Atlantic Ocean in late 1940, the two German
battleships had all but been interned thanks to the blockade imposed upon them
by the Royal Navy. Now, in early April 1941, they were involved in “Operation
Cerberus”, or the “mad dash”
as this latest mission had been called by the more positive members of the
ship’s crews, which would take the two German ships to safer waters of the
North Sea, off the German coast, with Wilhelmshaven as their new home. That is
if they got there, of course, as other crew members had compared this latest
mission as the naval equivalent of the Charge of the Light Brigade. No one on board either Gneisenau or Scharnhorst,
however, understood why this suicide mission had been ordered. Nothing had been
explained in the orders. Merely they were ordered to get out of Brest & make
best speed past Dover & the Royal Navy. Fortunately for the Germans, the
Royal Navy had been caught napping. Not only was the Royal Navy taken by
surprise, but almost no one in Britain believed, in their wildest dreams, that
the Germans would attempt such a mad undertaking in the English Channel. Thus, when the Germans were finally caught out by chance north of Dover, only one squadron of RAF torpedo armed aircraft were available at such a short notice. At dawn they took off with much haste & immediately chased after the two German battle cruisers. Although the Royal Navy also got into action, finally, only the eight RAF aircraft would be involved in any serious combat with the German ships. Yet, even though the British pilots showed much courage & skill in their attack, none of their torpedos hit the mark. By the time the RAF squadron returned to refuel & rearm, Gneisenau & Scharnhorst had left behind anything which the British could attack with. The first step, albeit a small one, of “Operation Rheinubung” had been completed long before the actual operation had even begun. Introduction For political reasons, Admiral Donitz
was ironically overjoyed when he heard that the surface vessels of the Kriegsmarine
were about to commit suicide, or so he believed, after he had just been informed
about Hitler’s latest naval adventure - which in comparison made the “mad
dash” appear sensible. This new mission would, for once & for all time,
prove to Hitler that Germany’s surface navy was nothing more than “expensive
tin cans floating around”. Hitler, Donitz assured himself, would then have to
fund his U-Boats &, in doing so, inevitably win the war for Germany. Admiral
Raeder, on the other hand, believed that, although this sortie into the Atlantic
Ocean was dangerous he, nonetheless, had good faith in Hitler’s somewhat
uncanny ability to gain victories from seemingly reckless schemes. “Had not
the ‘mad dash’ been successful?” Raeder asked his staff. The war to date
had been more or less won by similar ideas & now he, Raeder, had been given
the opportunity to win control of the Atlantic Ocean. By doing so, Britain would
be thoroughly isolated. The result for Britain would be either starvation or
surrender. The war, Raeder came to believe, could be over by Christmas 1941.
Then the Soviets would hence be the next, on the long list of nations, to suffer
defeat at the hands of Germany. It
was in such a mind set, thus, that
Germany’s Navy, the Kriegsmarine, had been ordered to conduct “Operation Rheinubung”.
To put it simply, Hitler wanted the German Navy to conduct a large scale
operation using the full potential of its capital ships. As to what purpose the
mission was created for exactly, no one really knows, however, as there appears
to have been Hitler’s original intention & that of Raeder’s actual
conduct. Nonetheless, regardless whether “Operation Rheinubung” was a large convoy raid, or that it was an effort to ensure that control of the Atlantic Ocean came under the dominance of Germany, what they got, all the same, was a battle with the might of the Royal Navy. Needles to say, such an event was probably inevitable - regardless of the intention of the original mission. In other words, a great clash between two grand navies, worthy of Jutland, was achieved. The after effects, however, only made the final result of the Battle of the Atlantic further unpredictable. Plans The two combatants, in May 1941, had two
completely different plans for coping with the events which were about to be
unleashed. The British had no idea that the Germans were about to sortie in
strength, although the British well knew that the capital ships of the German
surface fleet had more or less come together in great strength. Up until now,
though, the Germans had mostly kept to the European coasts with their major
ships, whilst commerce raiders made a dash to the Atlantic in order to make a
nuisance of themselves. Only the pocket battleship Graf Spree operated at some distance from European waters & was
sunk early in the war for her efforts. As a result of the German tactics, the
British blockaded the European coast. These blockade forces were thus spread out
& not concentrated. This worked well for reconnaissance duties, especially
against the commerce raiders, but if the Germans wanted to make a real effort,
one even greater than the recently conducted “mad dash”, to break the
blockade screen, then the Royal Navy would find it hard to repulse any such
attempt. With this in mind, Admiral Tovey thus kept his large capital ships back
from the blockade line. In his plans, Tovey had HMS Hood
& HMS Prince of Wales stationed north-west of the Shetland Islands.
Meanwhile, at Scapa Flow, Tovey usually had with him HMS King George V & HMS Rodney.
The HMS Rodney, though, in May of
1941,was replaced with HMS Repulse, as
the Rodney was making sail for America
to undergo an overhaul. It was, however, an act of Providence that she had only
just sailed, prior to the Germans commencing “Operation
Rheinubung”, & was quickly recalled to join Tovey’s task
force. Other than these capital ships, Tovey also had the aircraft carrier HMS Victorious with him. Thus, on paper, the size of Tovey’s force
seemed impressive. And, obviously, he could call upon these ships should any
German breakthrough take place. Yet, even with such forethought, not even Tovey
had foreseen what was about to take place. Although Raeder was thrilled to finally
get the German surface navy into the war in such a way, he was no fool either.
He knew that the Royal Navy was not just going to let him sail into the Atlantic
Ocean & take it for Germany. At some stage a major confrontation with the
Royal Navy was bound to take place at some point in time. It was just a matter
of when. But even before this battle could take place, the German fleet would
have to achieve a breakthrough. And this meant forcing a way past the British
cruisers who guarded jealously the approaches to the Atlantic. Thus Raeder,
considering the two issues at hand, had little choice but to ensure that the
German sortie was as strong as possible. To that end Raeder gathered basically
every German capital ship which was operational. First on the list came the Bismarck.
Second were the battleships Gneisenau
& Scharnhorst. Although both had some damage at the time, thanks to
the “mad dash”, they were nonetheless ordered to fix their problems as fast
as possible in order to be battle ready. Finally came the Tirpitz. Raeder genuinely thought twice about Tirpitz, believing it to be far from ready, but her captain finally
convinced him otherwise: this was besides the fact that only half of her
secondary armament, & most of her anti-aircraft guns, were not yet
operational. As a stand-by measure, just in case Tirpitz could not put to sea on time, the Admiral Scheer & Deutschland
(or Luztow depending upon the date)
were also added to the fleet list. In the actual event, though, both pocket
battleships would sail along with the Tirpitz. Raeder, believing that a large battle would take place with the Royal Navy, decided to also include a large cruiser & destroyer screen. Hence the Prinz Eugen, Koln, & Nurnberg would also go along with the capital ships as well as four destroyers. Raeder actually wanted more destroyers, but the heavy losses suffered by the destroyer forces in the Norwegian Campaign meant their numbers were limited. To
The Atlantic It was a calm & beautiful night in
the Skagerrak as the German fleet came together on May 20 1941. This was
somewhat annoying for Raeder as he was hoping for at least overcast skies as
such weather would help hide his ships from any reconnaissance. Nonetheless,
U-Boats had began patrolling the area intensively the night before to ensure
that the Royal Navy was no where to be seen. Thankfully for the Germans, the
Royal Navy, after the fall of Norway, had withdrawn such patrols in fear of
losing ships unnecessarily to either aircraft, U-Boats or even surface attacks.
This, thus gave opportunities to the Germans & they were using every one of
them now. Reconnaissance missions at sea need not
only be conducted by naval assets alone: there is, needless to say, aircraft
which can carry out such duties as well as ships. But like their Royal Navy
counterparts, the Royal Air Force considered that the airspace around the
Skagerrak was far too dangerous for its aircraft. The war was still being waged
in full intensity & anywhere along the coast of Europe was far from safe;
especially the area currently in question. Having said all that, the British
still had other means by which to keep an eye on German shipping. Spies. Their services are as about as
old as the profession of soldiering itself & the British put them to good
use. Furthermore, spying no longer meant having agents in enemy territory any
more. Thanks to technology, Britain could listen in on German radio &, far
more importantly, thanks to ULTRA, decode many German orders. Yet, even with all
this ability, it would come down to a Norwegian spy in the employ of the
British, as Raeder considered “Operation
Rheinubung” to be most secret, he forbad any radio messages
about the mission. Everything was either sent via telephone or through couriers.
In this regards the British were kept in the dark. But, as stated, it came down
to a watchful pair of Norwegian eyes who, not long after seeing the Bismarck
& Tirpitz with their escorts sail past his vantage point, radioed the
British on the night of May 21 with his discovery. Alas, for his efforts, the
unknown Norwegian spy was shot & killed by the Germans as his reward. The Admiralty, even though the sighting
of the Bismarck & Tirpitz
were unconfirmed, nevertheless took it as granted that the two great German
battleships were on the move into the Atlantic. What the British were not aware
of, however, was the size of the fleet which accompanied the two German ships.
But that did not matter to Tovey. More important to him was finding where the
Germans were &, fundamentally, which route they would take into the
Atlantic. Basically it came down to four: the direct route between the Orkney
& Shetland Islands; to the North of the Shetlands; to the South of Iceland;
or to the North of Iceland. To Tovey it seemed highly unlike that it would be
the first route, so that left the other three. Most worrying for Tovey was that
he did not necessarily have enough capital ships to cover all three routes. So
he would have to take an educated risk based upon the information at hand -
which was not much. As a result of Tovey’s analysis, he
had Hood & Prince of Wales patrol the far northern route past Iceland.
Secondly, Tovey would take King George V
&Repulse with him to patrol the
Shetland Island to Iceland gap, whilst Victorious
would come along in support. Finally, the heavy cruisers HMS Suffolk
& HMS Norfolk, along with a number of destroyers, would advance from their
current station, the Straits of Denmark, & begin searching for the German
ships in the North Sea off the Norwegian coast. The Germans, likewise, had no idea where
the British ships were & were convinced that they had complete surprise.
Furthermore, Raeder wanted to ensure that surprise would remain with the
Germans. He was thus convinced that he would have to take the long route to the
north of Iceland. Any move further south was bound to bump into a British naval
patrol &, in particular, air patrols. In this regards he was correct, as
anything which could fly reconnaissance missions in Scotland, were doing so over
the sea approaches by dawn the next day. Luck still, though, favoured the
Germans. As the British began their air patrols, the weather changed for the
worst. Raeder’s hope that bad weather would cover his break-out attempt now
eventuated. The British were down to a handful ships in the North Sea trying to
conduct the impossible task of finding the German ships. For a full day, the
British thus stumbled around in a fruitless effort to find the Germans, all the
while not knowing the true strength of the German fleet. It was a dangerous
venture. Fortune, however, favours the brave
& this was certainly case for the British - finally. In a desperate bid in
order to find the Germans, Victorious
began launching aircraft whilst the weather backed off for a short time.
Limiting their mission to the most suspected sea routes open to the Germans,
after four long hours one of the German ships was spotted. This, needless to
say, was reported to Victorious, &
Tovey quickly ordered Suffolk & Norfolk to
the area. Not long afterwards, the two cruisers
soon discovered, albeit at long distance, the presence of the German ship &
began to shadow it using radar. When it was decided that the ship was a cruiser,
Norfolk broke away & began looking for other ships. It soon
found, via its radar, another two ships, one of which it was concluded to be a
cruiser whilst the other was either Bismarck
or Tirpitz. Needless to say, these
reports were sent to Tovey with much haste. Tovey had been right. The Germans were indeed heading north &, more probable than not, trying to use the sea route north of Iceland. He was satisfied that he had done all that he could so far in this endeavour & had, through foresight, stationed Hood & Prince of Wales in the perfect position to intercept the German ships. The calculations suggested that, based upon the current speed & direction of the Germans, the two naval task forces should meet sometime shortly after dawn. Although the Germans & the Royal Navy would have an equal number of capital ships, Tovey was certain that Admiral Holland, on the Hood, could do the job required. Furthermore, even if the Germans turned around & ran, they would do so right into the guns of Tovey’s task force. Yes, Tovey thought, tomorrow, May 24, was to be a great day for the Royal Navy. Contact It was around dawn on May 24 when
Admiral Holland, on board Hood, was
finally satisfied that everything was ready. Reports from Norfolk & Suffolk
indicated that at least one battleship & two cruisers were heading his way.
His force of four destroyers & two British battleships were more than enough
in dealing with this German task force, even if one of the German battleships
seemed to have disappeared. Sighting the Germans, however, was
another matter altogether. Visibility this morning, as it had been for the last
few days, was down to four miles. This caused some concerns, but both Hood
& Prince of Wales had reasonably efficient radar which was, needless
to say, utilised to the full. Having said that, it was not radar which spotted
the first German ship but a pair of watchful eyes thanks to a sudden clearing in
the weather. Prince of Wales signalled to Holland that the enemy was in sight. Holland wasted no time & immediately
ordered flank speed towards the direction of the sighted German ship. At speeds
approaching 30 knots, both Royal Navy battleships thundered & crashed their
way through the rough seas of the Atlantic Ocean fearing nothing. Holland did
not want to waste a second in his attempt to intercept the Germans, besides the
fact that if he could surprise this one off vessel, before the Germans could
react, so more the better. Employing such tactics, however, had
several drawbacks. The first was the simple fact that only the forward turrets
on the British ships could fire. The second were the rangefinders. With the
spray gushing high over the bows of the ships, everything, especially the
rangefinders for the guns, were made totally useless. It may have made for a
dramatic sight to anyone watching, but it made the Royal Navy’s battleships
all but impotent at the same time. Nonetheless, as the two British
battleships got closer, it soon became apparent that there was more than one
German ship to their front. Soon a second then a third German ship loomed in the
distance. This did not bother Holland overly much as this confirmed the reports
from Suffolk. But then a fourth German
ship appeared thought to be a battleship. If so, Holland now knew the location
of both the Tirpitz & Bismarck.
This, hence, did not overly concern Holland, but when more ships were sighted,
Holland feared that a trap may be in the offering. Immediately he ordered a turn
to port of 20 degrees. Not long afterwards, both Hood
& Prince of Wales opened fire on
the leading German ship. Regardless of the difference in
firepower, the Prinz Eugen was
nevertheless a ship to be respected. Upon discovering, to his horror, that he
was up against two battleships, the captain of the Prinz
Eugen stayed on course. Thankfully, for the Prinz Eugen, Hood & Prince
of Wales soon shifted their targeting, as it was realised that behind the Prinz
Eugen, steamed the Tirpitz & Bismarck.
And not long thereafter, when the two main German battleships became the targets
for the shells of the Royal Navy, they in turn returned fire. Alas for Holland, it soon became
apparent that other German battleships were also present, one to the port &
another to the starboard of Tirpitz
& Bismarck, as other large caliber
guns could be seen coming into play. The Gneisenau
& Scharnhorst, having been missed
by all British attempts at reconnaissance, now opened fire on the two British
battleships. But that was not all. Two other ships, thought to be cruisers due
to their size, & that they were deployed on the flanks of the battleline
acting in a supportive role, also opened fire. It was thus realised, in
Hood’s bridge, that these
so-called cruisers were actually the pocket-battleships Admiral
Scheer & Deutschland. Holland now knew that he was in deep
trouble. As he had feared, only a few minutes before, this was indeed a trap.
Yet before he could signal his intention to withdraw under the cover of smoke, Hood
exploded in a horrific blast of fire & smoke. No warning whatsoever had been
indicated that something was wrong. It would be fair to say that everyone was
stunned, regardless whether they be German or British. Nonetheless, after a
short lull, battle recommenced. And, considering the new circumstances,
Prince of Wales had little
choice but to retreat & began making smoke. In order to cover the withdraw of Prince of Wales, however, the supporting destroyer force
had to make a dash at the Germans. This thankless task, though, would not be
overly successful. The Germans, now at a good speed, & noticing that
Prince of Wales was trying to
withdraw, cared little for the destroyer threat & ploughed on regardless
through the sea, ignoring exploding shells & the threat from potential
torpedoes. Knowing that a great victory was in stall for the Kriegsmarine,
Raeder wanted the remaining British battleship destroyed & no four Royal
Navy destroyers were going to stop this mighty achievement. As a result, all
four destroyers bore the might of the large German guns & were promptly
dealt with. Prince of Wales, even with the sacrifice of the destroyers, was still in serious trouble. Now being chased by all six German capital ships, which could not only match her speed but also outpace her, a running battle at high speeds soon began. It was, however, merely a matter of time. Yet Captain Wake-Walker, of the Prince of Wales, was not going to surrender his ship. The Germans, though, did not care too much for the niceties of surrender as the German gunnery began to find its mark more often than not. By 08:00 hours, some 2 hours after the first shell had been fired, Prince of Wales began to sink. Most of her crew went down with her. Picking
Up The Pieces Suffolk
had witnessed the entire engagement from the sidelines. No one on board the
heavy cruiser could believe what they had just seen. Knowing it would be folly
to launch an attack, even with her sister ship nearby ready to assist, her
captain decided to return to her previous duty & continue to shadow the
German fleet, now armed with the full knowledge of its true size. It had been a
colossal blunder to say the least, but Suffolk,
nonetheless, reported the situation to the Admiralty in full. Tovey was thoroughly briefed not long
afterwards & was said to have been in shock. Nonetheless, from Scapa Flow he
ordered his own task force of King George
V, Repulse & Victorious to sea
& Rodney, which had only left
Scapa Flow a day earlier, was ordered to rejoin Tovey’s task force. But now
knowing the true size of the German fleet, Tovey need more ships. And to this
end he demanded, not requested, reinforcements. The Admiralty, well aware of the full
gravity of the situation, immediately agreed to Tovey’s demand & a rush of
orders went out to numerous combat vessels within range of the Germans. Although
these Royal Navy ships had other pressing wartime duties, these quickly took
second place to the sudden crisis at hand. As a result, Force H, based around HMS Ark
Royal & HMS Renown, was ordered from the Mediterranean Sea into the Atlantic
Ocean to a rendezvous point to the west of Ireland. Elsewhere, the battleships
HMS Revenge & HMS Ramilles,
were ordered from their convoy duties & directed towards H-Force’s
rendezvous position to the west of Ireland. Finally, the old aircraft carrier,
HMS Furious, was also ordered to sea along with the heavy cruiser HMS Dortsetshire
as escort. Cat
& Mouse Raeder & the German fleet did not
wait around for long. Only slight damage was suffered by Bismarck whilst Tirpitz
received no damage at all. That was not to say that Tirpitz did not have its problems, but they were related to the fact
that, despite her captain’s claim, only half of the ship’s secondary
weaponry & anti-aircraft guns were operational. After allowing the German
destroyers to conduct some rescue missions for the horrified British survivors,
the Germans turned south-west in order to head for the convoy lines in the
Atlantic Ocean. By now, however, Raeder was well aware
that he was being shadowed by at least one if not two Royal Navy ships. Indeed
this was actually the case as both Suffolk
& Norfolk, once again, commenced
their dangerous mission of following, albeit now at a respectable distance, the
German fleet. Before Raeder could take up station in the middle of the Atlantic,
though, he wanted to loose his unwanted lingerers. But he would have to wait
until dark before he would employ a cunning plan. Because of the situation, both the Suffolk
& her sister ship shadowed the German fleet from the east. This way they
could keep an eye on the flank of the German fleet & be, hopefully, out of
harms way should the Germans turn on their unwanted stragglers. Raeder decided
to use this positioning to his advantage as, apart from the Deutschland
& Nurnberg, the rest of the German
ships were both unsighted & beyond radar range. Then, as part of his
deception ploy, Raeder started a zig-zag pattern as if to allude British
submarines. This all appeared suspicious to the British cruisers, but they stuck
to their task nevertheless. Nothing, however, seemed to be overly
wrong until Deutschland & Nurnberg,
instead of conducting a turn towards the south-west at midnight as expected,
continued in a north-westerly direction. Although it seemed strange, their
British shadows continued after them. For two hours the German ships, including
the four escorting destroyers, continued this course & then turned towards
the north-east. Then, at 02:00, Deutschland,
Nurnberg & the accompanying destroyers, turned north & thus
further away from the main German fleet, which had, incidentally, already turned
towards the south-west 2 hours earlier. Again the British cruisers continued to
follow Deutschland & Nurnberg,
even though some concerns was being raised as to the German tactics. But before
an answer could be found, just as dawn approached, Deutschland
suddenly turned & began to fire at the leading British ship Norfolk.
Needless to say, Norfolk,
even with Suffolk in support, had no
intention of taking on a battleship, even a small pocket-battleship, not knowing
if the other ships of the German fleet were also heading in her direction. As a
result, the British ships quickly turned away with much haste. Both cruisers,
alas, soon lost contact with the German cruiser & pocket-battleship. Then,
as part of Raeder’s plan, the six German ships made a successful dash for the
safer waters off the Norwegian coast. The British were now in a quandary. The
last report from Suffolk indicated
that the Germans were possibly heading home. But that did not make much sense.
Furthermore, contact had been lost & there was no way of knowing what the
Germans were actually up to. Nonetheless, Tovey, aware that a large force of
Royal Navy ships were gathering west of Ireland, & thus covering the convoy
routes, decided to see if the Germans were indeed heading for home. Henceforth
he decided to head for the North Sea, even though he had no proof that the
Germans were actually heading that way. Although the British cruisers had not
regained contact with the Germans, did not mean that other means were
unavailable to the British for reconnaissance. Sutherland flying boats,
operating out of Iceland & elsewhere, now began a desperate bid to discover
the location of the Germans. Hours went by without any sighting. Unfortunately,
however, for the Germans, the weather finally began to clear. That, though,
did not mean that they were immediately discovered. Instead, it took
until 18:10 on May 25 before the main German fleet was sighted whilst heading
south-south-west from Iceland. They were, unfortunately for Tovey, at some great
distance from his task force. Tovey, nevertheless, immediately realised his error & reversed course. Furthermore, Victorious was, along with an escort of four light cruisers, dispatched at best speed in an effort to catch up with the Germans & launch an air strike. Thankfully for the British, being at some distance behind Tovey’s battleships meant that Victorious was not all that far from the Germans as aircraft range goes. Having said that, the newest aircraft carrier of the Royal Navy would have to wait until the next morning before any air strike could commence. Those Venerable Stringbags Raeder, meanwhile, was confident that
his location was unknown to the British. As a result, it came as a rude shock
when, at 10:30 on May 26, several obsolete looking aircraft, that being twenty
British Swordfish aircraft armed with torpedos, began an audacious attack upon
his battleships. Immediately the Germans commenced anti-aircraft procedures
against the Swordfish of Victorious.
But, regardless of the courage on display by the British pilots, only one
torpedo found its mark on Bismarck
causing minor damage. The Germans, on the other hand, were no better with their
anti-aircraft fire & only caused limited damage to four Swordfish. The British, needless to say, were far
from happy with the results of the morning air raid. Victorious was ordered to launch another air strike which,
incidentally, the captain of the British aircraft carrier had already authorised.
Meanwhile, Ark Royal had likewise
launched an air strike, but its Swordfish had mistaken the cruiser HMS Sheffield
to be one of the German ships. How this was possible, no one seems to know, but
the Sheffield had the unenviable
experience of being attacked by twelve aircraft from its own side. Fortunately
for the Sheffield, Ark Royal had been
recently issued with new magnetic triggers for their torpedos which proved to be
extremely faulty. Most exploded upon impacting the water. A few, though, headed
towards their target, but Sheffield
managed to evade these torpedos. Thankfully, the Swordfish finally identified
the true nature of the ship, called off the attack, & returned to base. Unlike the experience of the Ark
Royal’s Swordfish, those from Victorious
were back in the air & heading towards their target by 16:00. Raeder,
however, anticipating further air attacks had placed Admiral
Scheer, Gneisenau & Scharnhorst
to the east in order to offer some protection for Bismarck &, especially, Tirpitz.
Although this would see both his main battleships through the next attack
unscathed, it was not to be the case with his other ships. The airmen from the Victorious decided to attack the first target spotted. This, as it
happened, turned out to be the Admiral
Scheer. Being thus swamped by eighteen angry Swordfish, regardless of the
efforts of the ship’s crew, the Admiral
Scheer was in serious trouble. By the time the attack had finished, three
torpedos had found their mark midships & the German pocket-battleship was
seriously damaged below the waterline. After listing to port, ten minutes after
the attack, the ship was abandoned by her crew. Admiral Scheer would shortly thereafter roll over & sink half an
hour later. Raeder now became deeply concerned. The
loss of the Admiral Scheer was
significant, even though his four other battleships were still fully
operational. But, if the British aircraft continued to concentrate their attacks
on a single ship, rather than as before being spread over several ships, then
clearly he could lose another ship or two. At this point Raeder now believed
that it would be better to head for the French coast near Brest in order to, not
only gain air cover from the Luftwaffe, but get support from U-Boats operating
out of the French port. Thus the order was given. Unbeknownst to Raeder, though,
he was heading straight for the Royal Navy rendezvous point to the west of
Ireland. If Raeder thought that he, by a change
in direction, could evade another air attack, he was unfortunately
mistaken. At 20:00 hours, both Ark
Royal to the south-east & Furious
to the east, launched the final air-attack for the day. Tovey had made it clear
to the aircraft carriers that the Germans had to be slowed down somehow &
they were the only ones who could do it. Although the Royal Navy’s Force H
(Plus) was rather powerful, having the 15 inch guns of Renown,
Revenge & Ramilles to use, Tovey well & truly now believed that it was
probably not enough. Thus, in order to ensure that the Germans would indeed be
defeated, the three battleships with his task force would have to be added to
those of Force H (Plus). As luck would have it, he would get his dire wish
fulfilled. At 21:00, as light was beginning to
fade, twenty Swordfish from Ark Royal
(now rearmed with the older contact trigger torpedos) came upon the German fleet
more so through accident than design. They immediately radioed their discovery,
along with the new direction of the German fleet, then attacked. Ten of the
Swordfish went after the Gneisenau,
whilst the others took on Scharnhorst.
This time around, however, the anti-aircraft fire was far better than that from Admiral
Scheer & six British aircraft were shot down. Nevertheless, each ship
was hit once, causing some, albeit limited damage. Both, though, were still
fully operational. The same, however, could not be said for
Bismarck. Not long after the attack of
Ark Royal’s Swordfish, fifteen
Swordfish from Furious arrived thanks
to the new coordinates given by their fellow naval airmen. But instead of going
after either Gneisenau or Scharnhorst,
they went after bigger fish. Bismarck
was next in the line of ships & it was too much of a tempting target to
ignore. Yet, as was the case with the air-defence of the two smaller German
battleships, the anti-aircraft fire from Bismarck
was even more horrendous. Of the fifteen Swordfish attacking the great German
battleship, seven were shot down, but not before two torpedos found their mark.
The first torpedo hit midships & caused little damage. The second, however,
hit Bismarck’s aft destroying her
steering gear. As a result, Bismarck,
although still fully operational weapon wise, had her speed reduced to a mere 5
knots. Raeder was now in a bind. He could leave Bismarck behind, to whatever fate awaited her, & continue at best speed towards the French coast; or stay behind & escort the wounded battleship to Brest. If he were to chose the former, the German fleet would survive, although Bismarck would surely be sacrificed. This would mean, however, his head once he arrived in Brest. If he kept the fleet together, though, it would probably mean another major naval engagement. Yet, considering what happened to Hood & Prince of Wales, there was every likelihood that the Kriegsmarine would, once more, enjoy another glorious victory. Thus, after weighing up the pros & cons, Raeder decided to stay with Bismarck & fight it out. The
Battle of Great Sole Bank The German Admiral’s decision to stay
with the wounded Bismarck suited Tovey
just fine. Because of the German fleet’s limited speed of 5 knots, Tovey, with
a speed of 22 knots, would quickly catch up with his prey. During the night,
moreover, the rest of the Royal Navy were not necessarily waiting for Tovey to
enter the current battle. An audacious torpedo attack, to further impede the
Germans, was attempted by several destroyers of the Royal Navy. Alas, for the
destroyer force, it was repulsed without any German loss, whilst two of these
small daring British ships were sunk. Tovey, like his fellow Royal Navy
sailors, was far from idle. A flurry of messages were going to & fro between
Tovey & Force H (Plus). Much of the radio traffic was about Tovey’s plan
for the forthcoming morning battle. Although somewhat complicated, it was
nevertheless a rather straight forward plan. The battleships of Force H (Plus), Renown,
Revenge & Ramilles, would form
a battleline to the south-east of the Germans. Tovey, meanwhile, would form
another battleline towards the north-east of the enemy using Rodney,
King George V & Repulse.
Hence the Germans would be attacked simultaneously by both battleship squadrons
from two directions. The aircraft carriers would hold back & not participate
in the battle, as the experience with the Sheffield
convinced Tovey that the same event may be repeated to one of his battleships,
& that was the last thing he wanted during the forthcoming battle. Dawn broke over the German ships without
the enemy in sight. Although this relieved Raeder to some extent, he could not
ignore the fact that the British, thanks to aircraft, knew is general location.
He had already given the alert to expect renewed British air strikes in the
morning if not a surface attack. By 08:00, when no air attack came, Raeder
became more convinced that a surface engagement was not far from taking place.
At 08:43 his expectation was met when Koln
reported that the enemy was in sight towards the south-east. Two minutes
later Gneisenau reported enemy ships
towards the north-east. Raeder, at first, did not know what to make of these
reports, but as further information arrived he soon realised Tovey’s tactics. Nonetheless, even though Raeder
understood the intentions of the British, due to Bismarck’s
slow speed, there was little he could do other than form his line of battle.
This, unfortunately for the Germans, ensured that the two Royal Navy battleship
squadrons had little trouble getting within range of the enemy. As a result,
Tovey’s three ships were to take on Tirpitz
& Gneisenau, whilst the Force H
(Plus) ships were to take on Bismarck
& Scharnhorst. The first shots of the Battle of Great
Sole Bank took place just before 09:00 as the Rodney,
with its 16 inch guns, announced that combat had begun. Soon, the other British
capital ships joined the Rodney in
what would be the biggest surface naval engagement of World War II. But if the
British thought that this business would be over quickly, they were in for one
rude shock. Not long after the Rodney
had opened fire, Bismarck & Tirpitz
replied in kind. Thirty minutes would go by before there
was any hint as to who may have gained an advantage. Even though the Germans
were outnumbered at every level, their superior gun skill made up the
difference. Repulse was the first to
show signs of serious damage & soon several explosions rocked the ship. Her
"A“ turret had exploded as a 15 inch shell penetrated its armour. As a
result, the ship disappeared in smoke. The worst fears of Tovey were soon set at
ease, however, when Repulse’s rear
turret was seen to continue firing even though it was impeded visually. Alas for the Germans, although it
appeared that the balance of the battle may have actually begun to swing their
way, Tovey ordered both Rodney & King
George V to concentrate their firepower on Gneisenau.
This was an attempt to give Repulse
some cover whilst she dealt with her damage. Five minutes later & it was
soon apparent that the Germans were now in trouble as the Gneisenau
had suffered several hits & was, like Repulse,
surrounded in smoke. If the battle, towards the north-east,
seemed to be finally going the Royal Navy’s way, the same could not be said
for the capital ships of Force-H (Plus). Within fifteen minutes, Revenge
was already in serious trouble. Both her “A” & “B” turrets had been
put out of action, although she had no intention of leaving the battleline just
yet. The Germans, on the other hand, were doing better, although Scharnhorst
had suffered some damage whilst Tirpitz
only had her main armament operational. Little damage had been suffered by Ramilles. Renown, on the other hand, had fires raging midships yet was still
firing as normal. The battle, however, would not be
decided by the engagement taking place towards the south-east, but by Tovey’s
efforts. Now that Gneisenau was
seriously damaged, Tovey ordered a change in the concentration of firepower
towards the wounded Bismarck. Unlike Gneisenau,
which was able manoeuvre to much degree before her demise, Bismarck
had no such advantage. Soon the
mighty German battleship suffered an horrendous hammering, which by 09:50, could
no longer return fire. Simultaneously, Repulse & Gneisenau
had engaged in a death struggle in an effort to see which ship could send the
other to the bottom before the other joined her. Sure enough, by the time King
George V shifted her guns back towards Gneisenau,
the German ship suffered a terrific explosion which ripped her in two thus
sinking the German battleship in the process. Repulse
would win this deadly contest, only to sink herself some ten minutes later. As Rodney
continued to pound Bismarck, King
George V left this engagement & headed towards Tirpitz.
This, the Tirpitz did not need, even
though she had witnessed the sinking of Revenge
&, along with Scharnhorst, was
keeping the two remaining British battleships at bay. The situation, however,
was about to change as King George V
re-engaged the enemy at 10:08. Not long afterwards, Tirpitz was taking a hammering from an enemy she had no chance of
replying to. Soon, the damage began to mount up, but like Bismarck, Tirpitz had no
intention of sinking easily. Nonetheless, both Ramilles & Renown now
concentrated their firepower on Tirpitz
which ensured that the German battleship soon went silent at 10:22. Meanwhile, seeing all was lost, Captain
Hoffmann of Scharnhorst, ordered a
retreat. After completing a 180 degree turn, Scharnhorst went to flank speed in an effort to escape the carnage
taking place around her. Koln, having
escaped much of the fighting so far, witnessed the attempt by Scharnhorst
to flee & copied the actions of the remaining operational German battleship.
In a similar fashion, Prinz Eugen
decided that it was also time to leave. Unlike her two compatriots, however, she
turned west instead of north. If Captain Hoffmann thought that Scharnhorst
would escape, then he was sadly wrong. Heading north, he ran straight into the
guns of King George V which was not in
any mood to let the last German battleship to leave. But before Scharnhorst began a running battle with the British battleship, the
surviving crew of the Bismarck
abandoned ship & tried scuttled her. Yet, even then, the mighty German ship
would not sink. That would take place later thanks to three British torpedos.
Not long afterwards, the Tirpitz would
meet the same fate. Yet, as Bismarck
was meeting her fate, Scharnhorst
continued to steam north at flank speed whilst now exchanging gunfire with King
George V. In the middle of this new battle, Koln
now joined, but after several salvos from King
George V’s rear turret, the Koln
soon found herself with serious damage. Then came several shots from Rodney, which had now left Bismarck
behind for the cruiser Dortsetshire to
deal with & was making every attempt to catch Scharnhorst. This, however, was impossible due to the speed
advantage of the German battleship, but the fate of the somewhat crippled Koln
was a different story. The German light cruiser did not last much longer. The destiny of Scharnhorst would, however, mirror that of her fellow battleships. Although she was holding her own against King George V, due to her direction, she unknowingly ran straight into Suffolk & Norfolk. After losing contact with the German fleet some days ago, both British cruisers had steamed at flank speed in order to catch up with the enemy. Although they were to miss the main part of the battle, the two British heavy cruisers would now take on Scharnhorst whilst she was preoccupied with King George V. After a twenty minute engagement, between the three British ships & the lone German battleship, Scharnhorst began to sink. Her captain, like his comrades on this dreadful day, would go down defiantly. Aftermath
The British were able to claim a great
victory at the Battle of Great Sole Bank, but it was gained at great cost. Not
only had they lost Repulse & Revenge
during the battle, but an extremely damaged Renown
would sink on the way home. At least the crew of the Renown
were rescued prior to the demise of the battle cruiser, unlike the crews from
her fellow sunken ships - both British & German. The list of causalities at
Great Sole Bank were not the only Royal Navy casualties of this business, as Hood
& Prince of Wales should also be included having been sunk a few days
earlier off the western coast of Iceland. Ironically, even though the British had
won, the German’s loss in shipping was, in fact, less than their enemy. Both
combatants had five battleships sunk, although the Germans lost a cruiser. This
German loss, however, was more than off set by the sacrifice of several British
destroyers. Essentially, & most importantly, the British still had the
numbers in combat ships to ensure that the Atlantic Ocean would be completely
safe from any future German surface raids, as the only German survivor of the
great naval battle was Prinz Eugen.
Henceforth, in one week, the German surface navy was drastically reduced to one
pocket-battleship, the Deutschland,
& a handful of cruisers including Prinz
Eugen & Nurnberg. Everything, though, was far from lost
for Germany. Donitz would get his wish. Hitler, now that his love affair with
the surface ships of the Kriegsmarine
was well & truly over, took heed in what Donitz was stressing about his
U-Boats. Thus, not long after Prinz Eugen made it, albeit bruised & battered, to the safety of
Brest, all construction on future German surface combat ships ceased. In their
place, however, the soon to be feared U-Boats would be produced as fast as they
could be built. Unfortunately for the British, even
though the Battle of Great Sole Bank may have been over, with the Royal Navy
victorious, the real Battle for the Atlantic was about to begin… Bibliography Text Gunston, B., Allied Fighters of WW2, Sydney, 1981 Ireland, B. The Rise And Fall of The Aircraft Carrier, London, 1979. London, C, Jutland 1916, Oxford, 2000 DVD Sink The Bismarck, directed by Gilbert, L. 1960, (http://www.foxmovies.com.au) Internet Arsenal of Dictatorship (http://www.geocities.com/pentagon/2833/) Fleet Air Arm Archive (http://www.fleetairarmarchive.net/) German Naval History (http://www.german-navy.de/) KBismarck.com (http://www.kbismarck.com) Military History Online, (http://www.militaryhistoryonline.com/) Naval Historical Center (http://www.history.navy.mil/index.html) Third Reich Factbook (http://www.skalman.nu/third-reich/) Warships1 (http://www.warships1.com/) World War II Plus 55 (http://www.usswashington.com/dl_index.htm) And finally - Chris Nuttall - for originally raising this topic.
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