“Wasn’t there a big naval battle in this campaign?” asked Kelly.
“Two of them,” said Paul. “Bismarck had completed trials and was ready to attempt a breakout into the North Atlantic. She teamed up with a smaller ship, the cruiser Prince Eugen, and they made a run through the Denmark Strait between Iceland and the U.K. The British were stretched pretty thin, but they managed to post some screening forces on all possible routes the Bismarck might take. In this case they had a pair of cruisers with radar in the Denmark Strait, Norfolk and Suffolk. These two ships spotted the Germans and began shadowing them at a respectful distance, for even taken together they would be no match for the larger German battleship. The fact that Prince Eugen was along made the German task force an even more potent threat.”
“So where are these Pushpoints you mentioned? asked Robert.
“All over the place. It was as if this was a seismic fracture zone in the Meridian held together by these smaller events. The first was a decision by the German Admiral Lütjens concerning his fuel situation. Bismarck was already some 200 tons light due to a faulty fuel hose. Prince Eugen also needed to refuel, so they stopped at Bergen, though Lütjens elected not to refuel Bismarck, and further, not to rendezvous with an oiler as planned to take on auxiliary fuel later. That choice was to have an important bearing on the outcome of the mission. The refueling stop itself also put the British on to them when they were spotted there at Bergen, so it was a bad move on two counts.
“Next up we get an odd failure with Bismarck’s main radar. There were a few instances where the Germans tried to shake off the shadowing British cruisers, so they would turn and engage them. During one of these instances, concussion from Bismarck’s main fifteen inch guns damaged her radar, and because of this the two ships reversed their sailing order, with Prince Eugen in the lead.”
“Bismarck had been leading earlier?” asked Kelly.
“Yes,” Paul confirmed. “She was the principle unit involved and headquarters for Admiral Lütjens. So this little Pushpoint on the radar failure saw the ships changing position. That doesn’t sound like much but a few hours later it was to have a major effect on the campaign. The British had dispatched two battleships to try and intercept Bismarck. One was HMS Hood, the pride of the fleet and the terror of all the German war games when they simulated maneuvers prior to this battle. Admiral Holland commanded her as his flagship. She had eight fifteen inch guns, same as Bismarck, and she was accompanied by the latest addition to the British fleet, HMS Prince of Wales. That ship had ten fourteen inch guns, though being new she had teething troubles. Even put out to sea with dockyard workers aboard to screw down the loose bolts.”
“So the odds were building up in favor of the British,” said Robert. “They had two cruisers behind the Germans, and now two battleships vectoring in on them as well.”
“Exactly,” said Paul. “Well, the engagement that soon followed was the now famous Battle of the Denmark Strait. The two German ships engaged the two British battleships. The cruisers Norfolk and Suffolk were still shadowing but not yet in firing range. Now here’s what I meant about that radar fluke…. Spotting the Germans in the grey dawn, the British assumed that Bismarck was in the lead, just as the command ship Hood was leading the way in the British task force.”
“But couldn’t they tell the difference between a battleship and a cruiser?” asked Kelly.
“One might think so, given the experience of the men involved. But the two ship silhouettes looked very much alike, and with Prince Eugen leading she was much closer, so her silhouette appeared to be about the same size as Bismarck’s. Admiral Holland gave the order to fire on the lead ship, assuming it was Bismarck. See how this house of cards is stacking up? That radar glitch meant that Holland had selected the wrong target, as Bismarck was naturally the greater threat. But he was opening fire on Prince Eugen instead.”
“I see what you mean,” said Maeve.
“It goes on and on,” said Paul. “Thankfully, Prince of Wales realized the error and her captain decided to disobey Admiral Holland’s order and fired on Bismarck. But Hood was still targeting the smaller German cruiser throughout the battle. They never redirected fire.”
“So now we get one spotting error balanced out by one man’s choice to disobey his orders here,” said the professor.
“Yes,” said Paul. “The captain of Prince Eugen also should have fallen off to the leeward side and let Bismarck take the lead in the battle. This was standard procedure for a cruiser in this sort of engagement, but for some reason, he elected to keep station in the lead. So his ship ended up dividing the available British firepower between both German targets. Then Admiral Holland divided it further by turning at a steeper angle to try and close the distance between the two sides faster. Hood was an older ship, built in 1918, and she did not have much in the way of deck armor. This made her vulnerable to the plunging fire she would receive from Bismarck at longer ranges. Holland figured that if he closed range the angle of the arc on incoming enemy shells would be shallower, striking her side armor if Hood was hit. In the end his tactic was a textbook Royal Navy maneuver, but the result of the battle underscored the weakness of his deck armor. That said, this more direct approach weakened his firepower further, as his aft turrets could not engage effectively.”
“So the British advantage in big guns was rapidly diminishing,” said Robert. “Oh, I remember this now! The Hood blows up!”
“She does indeed,” Paul confirmed. “She was struck amidships by one of Bismarck’s big shells, and it went right through that wooden deck and ignited her main magazine. The resulting explosion broke her in two and she sunk within minutes, taking all but three survivors to a proverbial watery grave.”
“So Admiral Holland had the right idea, but couldn’t close the range before Hood suffered this fatal hit.” said Maeve.
“Now the odds shift dramatically to the Germans,” said Kelly.
“Right,” Paul went on. “After a moment of proverbial shock and awe, the Prince of Wales was also hit and decided discretion was the better part of valor here. She began to make smoke and turned away, but she did manage to score a hit on Bismarck as she disengaged. Amazingly, the shell penetrated one of the battleship’s fuel bunkers, contaminating it with seawater. It wasn’t a serious hit, but it cost Lütjens 200 more tons of fuel, and now his earlier decisions not to refuel at Bergen, or rendezvous with that oiler, become serious matters. He realized that he did not now have the fuel to make a successful sortie into the North Atlantic convoy zones, so after transiting the Denmark Strait, he decided to turn east and head for the safety of a French port.”