Bismarck’s Last Sortie (Operation Rheinübung) (1941)

Background

During both World Wars, Britain relied heavily on merchant ships to import food, fuel, and raw materials. Such things were crucial both for civilian survival and the military effort. Protecting this lifeline was a high priority for British forces, as its disruption would significantly weaken the British economy and its military capabilities, and Britain might be forced to negotiate peace, seek an armistice, or reduce its capacity to resist if this supply line could be severed. Such an outcome would shift the balance of power in Europe decisively, potentially giving Nazi Germany control over Western Europe without a nearby base of opposition.

Germany's naval leadership (under Admiral Raeder) at the time firmly believed that defeat by blockade was achievable. However, they also believed that the primary method to achieve this objective was to use traditional commerce raiding tactics, founded upon surface combatants (cruisers, battle-cruisers, fast battleships) that were only supported by submarines. Regardless of the method or manner, Raeder convinced the OKW and Hitler that if this lifeline were severed, Britain would be defeated, regardless of any other factors.

'Operation Rheinübung' was the latest in a series of raids on Allied shipping carried out by surface units of the Kriegsmarine.

Bismarck sails

The heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen sailed at about 21:00 on 18 May 1941 from Gotenhafen (Gdynia, Poland), followed at 2:00 a.m., 19 May, by Bismarck. Both ships proceeded under escort, separately and rendezvoused off Cape Arkona on Rügen Island in the western Baltic, where the destroyers Z23 and Friedrich Eckoldt joined them. They then proceeded through the Danish Islands into the Kattegat. Entering the Kattegat on 20 May, Bismarck and Prinz Eugen sailed north toward the Skagerrak, the strait between Jutland and Southern Norway, where they were sighted by the Swedish aircraft-carrying cruiser Gotland on around 1:00 p.m. Gotland forwarded the sighting in a routine report. Earlier, around noon, a flight of Swedish aircraft also detected the German vessels and likewise reported their sighting.

On 21 May the Admiralty was alerted by sources in the Swedish government that two large German warships had been seen in the Kattegat. The ships entered the North Sea and took a brief refuge in Grimstadfjord near Bergen, Norway on 21 May where Prinz Eugen was topped off with fuel. On 22 May, they made a break for the Atlantic shipping lanes. By this time, Hood and Prince of Wales, with escorting destroyers, were en route to the Denmark Strait, where two cruisers, Norfolk and Suffolk were already patrolling. The cruisers Manchester and Birmingham had been sent to guard the waters south-east of Iceland.

Battle of the Denmark Strait

Hood and Prince of Wales made contact with the German force early on the morning of 24 May, and the action started at 5:52 a.m., with the combatants about 25,000 yards (23,000 m) apart. Gunners onboard Hood initially mistook Prinz Eugen that was now in the lead for Bismarck and opened fire on her; Captain Leach commanding HMS Prince of Wales realised Vice-Admiral Holland's error and engaged Bismarck from the outset. Both German ships were firing at Hood. Hood suffered an early hit from Prinz Eugen which started a rapidly spreading fire amidships.

Then, at about 6 a.m., one or more of Hood's magazines exploded, probably as the result of a direct hit by a 38 cm (15 in) shell from Bismarck. The massive explosion broke the great battlecruiser's back, and she sank within minutes. All but three of her 1,418-man crew died, including Vice Admiral Lancelot Holland, commanding officer of the squadron.

Prince of Wales continued the action, but suffered multiple hits with 38 cm (15 in) and 20.3 cm (8 in) shells, and experienced repeated mechanical failures with her main armament. Her commanding officer, Captain Leach, was wounded when one of Bismarck's shells struck Prince of Wales' bridge. Leach broke off the action, and the British battleship retreated under cover of a smokescreen.

The pursuit

Norfolk and Suffolk and the damaged Prince of Wales continued to shadow the Germans, reporting their position to draw British forces to the scene. In response, it was decided that the undamaged Prinz Eugen would detach to continue raiding, while Bismarck drew off the pursuit. In conjunction with this, Admiral Dönitz committed the U-boat arm to support Bismarck with all available U-boats in the Atlantic. He organised two patrol lines to trap the Home Fleet should Bismarck lead her pursuers to them. One line of 7 boats was arrayed in mid-Atlantic while another, of 8 boats, was stationed west of the Bay of Biscay. At 6:40 p.m. on 24 May, Bismarck turned on her pursuers and briefly opened fire to cover the escape of Prinz Eugen. The German cruiser slipped away undamaged.

At 10 p.m., Victorious was 120 miles (190 km) away and launched an air attack with nine Fairey Swordfish torpedo bombers, which were guided in by Norfolk. In poor weather, and against heavy fire, they attacked and made a single torpedo hit under the bridge. However, up against strong belt armour and anti-torpedo bulges, it failed to cause substantial damage. The attacking aircraft were all safely recovered by Victorious, despite poor weather, darkness, aircrew inexperience and the failure of the carrier's homing beacon.

At 3 a.m. on 25 May, the British shadowers lost contact with Bismarck.

Bismarck's end

The battleships Rodney and King George V waited for daylight on 27 May before attacking. At 8:47 a.m., they opened fire, quickly hitting Bismarck. Her gunners achieved near misses on Rodney, but the British ships had silenced Bismarck's main guns within half an hour. Despite close-range shelling by Rodney, a list to port, and widespread fires, Bismarck did not sink.

According to David Mearns and James Cameron's underwater surveys in recent years the British main guns achieved only four hits on Bismarck's main armoured belt, two through the upper armour belt on the starboard side from King George V and two on the port side from Rodney. These four hits occurred at about 10:00 a.m., at close range, causing heavy casualties among the sheltering crew.

Nearly out of fuel – and mindful of possible U-boat attacks – the British battleships left for home. The heavy cruiser Dorsetshire attacked with torpedoes and made three hits. Scuttling charges were soon set off by German sailors, and at 10:40 a.m., Bismarck capsized and sank. Dorsetshire and the destroyer Maori rescued 110 survivors. After an hour, rescue work was abruptly ended when there were reports of a U-boat presence. Another three survivors were picked up by U-74 and two by the German weather ship Sachsenwald. Over 2,000 died, including Captain Lindemann and Admiral Lütjens.

Aftermath

After separating from Bismarck, Prinz Eugen went further south into the Atlantic, intending to continue the commerce raiding mission. On 26 May, with just 160 tons of fuel left, she rendezvoused with the tanker Spichern and refuelled. On 27 May, she developed engine trouble, which worsened over the next few days. On 28 May, she received a further refueling from Esso Hamburg. With her speed reduced to 28 knots (52 km/h; 32 mph), it was no longer considered practicable to continue. She abandoned her commerce raiding mission without sinking any merchant ships, and made her way to Brest, arriving on 1 June. She remained under repair until the end of 1941. She later escaped from France with two other German battleships during the Channel Dash.

In the action, just two U-boats had sighted the British forces, and neither was able to attack. In the aftermath, the British ships were able to evade the patrol lines as they returned to base; there were no further U-boat contacts. The Luftwaffe also organized sorties against the Home Fleet, but none were successful until 28 May, when planes from Kampfgeschwader 77 attacked and sank the destroyer Mashona.

After Rheinübung, a recent breakthrough into the Kriegsmarine's enigma network enabled the Royal Navy to mount a concerted effort to round up the network of supply ships deployed to refuel and rearm the Rheinübung ships.

Conclusion

Operation Rheinübung was a failure, and although the Germans scored a success by sinking "The Mighty Hood", this was offset with the loss of the modern battleship Bismarck, which represented one-quarter of the Kriegsmarine's capital ships. No merchant ships were sunk or even sighted by the German heavy surface units during the 2-week raid. Allied convoys were not seriously disrupted; most convoys sailed according to schedule, and there was no diminution of supplies to Britain. On the other hand, the Atlantic U-boat campaign was disrupted; boats in the Atlantic sank just 2 ships in the last weeks of May, compared to 29 at the beginning of the month. As a result of Bismarck's sinking, Hitler forbade any further Atlantic sorties, and her sister ship Tirpitz was sent to Norway. The Kriegsmarine was never again able to mount a major surface operation against Allied supply routes in the North Atlantic; henceforth its only weapon was the U-boat campaign.