HMS Dorchester, who had come up at the last moment was sent in to sink the enemy with torpedoes, while the battle fleet turned for home and some much needed oil supplies. Altogether these attacks were delivered intermittently for three days and four nights. On May 24, 1941, the British ship HMS Hood attacked the Bismarck. To the rest of the world watching the sea drama unfolding it seemed to prove that Bismarck was invincible. No one knew really where the enemy was, but our own plot and the D/F bearings from other ships we thought he must be pretty close, and were forever expecting him to appear out of the nearest rain squall and blow us out of the water. The first I saw of her was an orange flash in the mist ahead, but the shot fell near Maori and did no damage. Bismark ceased fire and lay stopped by 09.30, but her flag still remained flying, and one gun fired spasmodically in local control. Major developments were happening here however. Shortly after this the enemy was reported to have altered course to 340 degrees, that is directly towards us! This argued some pretty accurate form of RD/F fixing. referenced. Attacks were also made then and later by torpedo bombers from the aircraft carriers Victorious and the Ark Royal. There was one straddle and several salvoes about 30 ft. short but the interesting point is that we could see the enemy's gun flashes, we could not see him. It was expected to make contact with the Bismarck at about 2 a.m., but at the last moment she altered course. Piorun was detached to refuel. The cruisers Suffolk and Norfolk, which had been shadowing the Bismarck since she left Bergen, kept the Hood and Prince of Wales and others informed of her movements and so helped them to find their quarry. The Hood thundered on. The range that ships fired torpedoes from was Zulu 3000 yards, Maori 3500 yards, Cossack 4000 yards, and Sikh 6000 yards. She was straddled twice, once abreast the bridge, and once abreast the foremast, and there was one salvoe abreast B gun about 30 ft. short. This again brought some well directed salvoes of 15 inch and 5.9 inch shell before we could get to a safe distance. Dear Sam, I have just read your father's account about the sinking of the Bismarck. Nothing else happened that day.". The enemy was eventually sighted about 8000 yards away dead ahead, and we altered course to keep at a safe distance to shadow him. I have just read your father's account about the sinking of the Bismarck. By 24.00 we found we could not see the enemy clearly, though we had quite a good idea where she was from the plot. Recently I found my fathers Journal from his time in the Royal Navy. public. Avenging the Hood was a rallying cry for the British nation. She was followed by Cossack, and then by Sikh. This page has been archived and is no longer updated. action again'st the Bismark and we For some minutes our ships sped on towards the Germans to shorten the range. Piorun did not attack during the night. As a junior officer (Midshipman) at the start of the war, he had to keep a journal, that was revieed weekly by his training officer. The views expressed are theirs and unless specifically stated are not The loss of the Bismarck was a shattering blow for the Kriegsmarine. Once we were straddled by two of Sikh's starshells and the minutes that followed before we could get out of the light were extrodinarily tense! We saw no other destroyers except once when Sikh appeared over the horizon and we closed to identify each other. Shortly after this, Zulu came in for her first close fire from the enemy, and from then on he seemed to single her out as his main target, possibly because she was the closest. H.M.S.Dorsetshire old crew still around today who still remember the dash from Capetown to take part in this and can vouch for my words,and the eighty survivors we picked up out of just over a hundred. Most of this time a thick curtain of snow enveloped the scene. She had no way to steer as the British moved in for the kill. The Hood continued to fire and to race forward. The world’s biggest warships were thundering towards one another at a combined speed of probably over sixty miles an hour. Their specks grew rapidly into recognisable shapes, with masts, bridges, funnels - and the guns. C.S.I reported this morning that he had lost touch at 0330. news also came that HMS Rodney had joined in the chase and was closing 22 knots, and keeping up that speed. Neither side could back down. Then the Bismarck turned away, but only to be pursued all that day and night and next day any over the Atlantic at high speed. Again the Bismarck’s shells crashed near the Prince of Wales, but no serious damage had been done. Actually this idea was not quite correct as to our surprise we found ourselves some 5000 yards on the enemy's beam when wwe tried to regain contact. Fountains of water shot up in her wake - the first about a hundred yards astern, the second fifty. At 22.32 Piorun hoisted 'N' and a few minutes later aship was sighted in the mist ahead. The Sinking of the Bismarck. The attack did not go well for the British as all but three of the Hood’s crew were killed. Dense clouds of yellow cordite smoke enveloped her bridge momentarily blotting out the view. All the same Zulu turned across their line of firee and KGV fired a few shots at them before they were identified. One of the rudders was severely damaged and the other rudder was completely blown off of the ship. those of the BBC. It shows how awful the last moments of the ship were. gun turrets, and a large fire broke out with thick black smoke. The next morning, the Bismarck was sent to the bottom of the sea. Maori and Dorchester stayed behind to pick up survivors, but the rest of us joined C in C and proceeded to the Northwards at 20 knots. It was rather a fine sight as salvoes of tracer of all colours shot into the sky. This story has been placed in the following categories. I would be most interested to hear from you and share the informion that I have gathered about Zulu. Message 1 - HMS Zulu Posted on: 26 December 2004 by Howard Bell. "Sunday may 26th: It was quite dark by 23.45. which time the enemy opened fire with his AA armanent. H M S Sheffield made contact at 15.00 and reported that the enemy's course and speed were 120degrees, 25 knots. 69: 7.91: Rodney firing on Bismarck. Twice during the night Prince of Wales pumped out salvoes. She was a fine looking ship, far more than her supposer 35,000 tons, and bigger perhaps than HMS Hood, with a long sweeping sheer on the forecastle, a fine arched bow, two turrets forward and two aft. Another attack was carried out at 20.30 however, and two hits were reported. This engagement between Greenland and Iceland was followed by a running fight lasting three days and four nights, which ended when the pride of the German fleet was sent to the bottom. The Bismarck about to capsize sinking by the stern as seen from the cruiser Dorsetshire between 1036-1038 hours on 27 May. Find out more about the site contributors. Our ships therefore kept firing. If you do a search on HMS Zulu you should find it. The tension of waiting for the battle to begin became acute. But the scans of the shipwreck show that the ship is not crushed. Then for the next few hours a leaden greyness settled down, and it was like a dull winter’s afternoon in Britain. The German warship the Bismarck sank with the loss of 2,100 men in 1941. Another Article From Us: Sold to One of the World’s Largest Private Collectors – Kevin Wheatcroft. moreover it seems probable that this was the Bismark as her speed was 25 knots. As explained by the show’s narrator, Avery Brooks, the Bismarck was the largest ship in the German navy. But experts expected to see that only the parts of the ship that were struck by the British would fill with water and the other parts of the ship would still be filled with air. We did not see what she was firing at but I immagine it was one of Ark Royals aircraft. Nothing appeared at 0400 much to our relief, and shortly afterwards the 4th DF (Destroyer Flotilla) and (illegible name of ship) were detached to join C in C. No one was particularly pleased about this but at 11.00 a report was received from a catalina that the Bismark was some 60 miles to the South. Smoke was pouring out of her superstructure, and guns were cocked at all angles. They were fired with a deflection of 18, ,rather too much but I believe we were given a hit although no onr was paying attention to that at the time!. The end of the Hood was an almost unbelievable nightmare. Iwas on board H.M.S.Dorsetshire in the Rodney who deserved most of the praise © Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. By that time the sea was very rough, and rain squalls drifted across the sea from time to tome so that at one moment one could see 10 miles and the next only 500 yards.