Interesting getaway for the Bismark

[Gerd_Schopfel]

Greetings,

I had an enjoyable dream last night. In it, the submarine that retrieved the Bismark's war diary, blew off the mangled rudder with the deck gun to allow the Bismark to sail in a straight path to FRANCE!...And the ship made it! Why didn't they think of that? I guess there are many answers to that....
http://ubbxforums.ubi.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_confused.gif

[Gerd_Schopfel]

Greetings,

I had an enjoyable dream last night. In it, the submarine that retrieved the Bismark's war diary, blew off the mangled rudder with the deck gun to allow the Bismark to sail in a straight path to FRANCE!...And the ship made it! Why didn't they think of that? I guess there are many answers to that....
http://ubbxforums.ubi.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_confused.gif

[E.Thang]

If I remember correctly the answer to your question is that there was no U-Boat that carried off the war diaries. The war diaries were to be flown off of the Bismark, but a hydraulic line to the catapult was damaged during the battle with Hood and Prince of Wales. The plane could not be launched, so it was jettisoned over the side. The U-Boats that Hitler had promised Lutjens never materialized. Besides, Bismark only lasted 5 days, I can't imagine there was too much interesting info in the diary, how big could it have been after 5 days?....7 pages? Ballards book on finding the Bismark is ok, but there is an excellent book out titled 'Battleship Bismark - A Survivor's Story' by Burkard Baron von Mullenheim-Rechberg, published by the Naval Institute Press. Mullenheim-Rechberg is the highest ranking officer to survive the sinking (Oberleutnant zur See). He was a gunnery officer in the aft fire control station and an adjutant to Lutjens. It's an incredible book for anyone interested in naval history.

[This message was edited by E.Thang on Thu September 16 2004 at 05:46 PM.]

[Delfin1941]

That's a nice dream, I hoped they made it too to france. At least if the Catapult worked, they could have launched those Arado planes and maybe save some officers, but doesen't the captain sink with his ship? I feel sorry for the Bismark, the most beutyfull and technologically advances ship of it's time, but also the Scharnhorst, Tirpitz, Graf Spee and so on, great ships.
How many men were lost on the Bismark when it sunk? 2200 was it' crew?, there were only a few survivors, a little more then a hundread.
I think british historian Iving, mentions something about the Bismark in his book, that it had something like 10,000 kilometers of Electrical wiring, and was equipeed with the latest Radar and so on ... http://ubbxforums.ubi.com/images/smiley/sonar.gif

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[Delfin1941]

By the way, the Bismark was named an "unsinkable ship" because it was build so it could not be sunk by Gunfire.
40% of the Ship's total weight was STEEL ARMOR!

There is debate to what sunk the bismark, but all German survivors say, that they opened valves and flooded the ship so as not to let it be captured, or give the British the prestige of having it sunk.
So the Bismark, altough heavily damaged by torpeados and shells --- was scuttled! http://ubbxforums.ubi.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_rolleyes.gif

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[SailorSteve]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Delfin1941:
By the way, the Bismark was named an "unsinkable ship" because it was build so it could not be sunk by Gunfire.
40% of the Ship's total weight was STEEL ARMOR!<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
And the North Carolina's armor was 48% of the total weight. Bismarck's armor was similar to other battleships of the era, the most unusual feature being the sloping 'turtle' deck, which was designed to deflect shells coming in at low angles, i.e. from close-in fire. Bismarck's deck protection against long-range fire was average for a battleship.

Bismarck was named an "unsinkable battleship" by Goebels' propaganda machine.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>There is debate to what sunk the bismark, but all German survivors say, that they opened valves and flooded the ship so as not to let it be captured, or give the British the prestige of having it sunk.
So the Bismark, altough heavily damaged by torpeados and shells --- was scuttled! http://ubbxforums.ubi.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_rolleyes.gif

??<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Yes, there is debate, precisely because "all" German survivors were not in a position to know for sure, and actually only two or three survivors actually made that claim. No ship is impervious to attack by torpedo, and even if shells couldn't penetrate the main belt (and actually they could), the pounding Bismarck took that day left her totally wrecked, on fire and in no condition to sail away, much less fight anymore. Even if the ship had not been torpedoed and scuttled, she would have sunk within a day or two just from the results of the gun battle.

Myth is a wonderful thing, and Bismarck was no more 'unsinkable' than was, well, Titanic.

______________________________

The poster said "Join The Navy, See The World". So I did, and I'm here to tell you, the world is flat and blue.

[E.Thang]

I think Bismark was hit with 7 torpedoes from Dorsitcher (don't think I spelt that right), but when Ballard went down to photograph, Bismarks hull had remarkably little damage. Most of the damage was to the superstructer and superficial in nature. It's really a matter of pride. The British claim they sunk her, the Germans claim they scuttled her. Either way it is a sad ending for one of the most beautiful battleships ever built. However armour is typically 35 to 45% of total weight for a battleship. The South Dakotas and Iowa's had similar armour/weight ratio's.

[SailorSteve]

And in the wonderful British documentary Sink The Bismarck! (not to be confused with the movie of the same name) Baron von Mullenheim-Rechberg, the ranking survivor of Bismarck, said "to both sides I say 'yes, you sank us'".

______________________________

The poster said "Join The Navy, See The World". So I did, and I'm here to tell you, the world is flat and blue.