Adalbert Schneider Adalbert Schneider ( 10 March 1904 – 27 May 1941 ) was the First Gunnery Officer on board the battleship " Bismarck " , and was awarded the Knight ' s Cross of the Iron Cross ( ) for the sinking of HMS " Hood " on 24 May 1941 in the Battle of the Denmark Strait . The Knight ' s Cross was awarded to recognise extreme battlefield bravery or outstanding military leadership . Less than a week later , on 27 May 1941 , Schneider and the majority of " Bismarck " s crew were killed in action during " Bismarck " s last battle . Naval career . Adalbert Schneider was born on 10 March 1904 in Halle ( Saale ) in the Province of Saxony , at the time a province of the Kingdom of Prussia . He joined the German military on 30 March 1922 . He received his first infantry training in the 3rd Company of Coastal Defence Department 3 ( ) . On 4 October 1922 Schneider went on board SMS " Hannover " , the first of his ship based trainings . Following " Hannover " , he went on board SKS " Niobe " on 4 April 1923 and SMS " Berlin " on 2 July 1923 . He was promoted to Leading Seaman ( ) on 1 April 1923 . Schneider then attended an officer candidate ( ) course at the Naval Academy Mürwik in Flensburg on 30 March 1924 , and was shortly after promoted to midshipman ( ) on 1 April 1924 . After the officers candidate training , Schneider attended a torpedo course for midshipmen at the Torpedo and Communication School ( ) at Flensburg - Mürwik on 1 April 1925 , followed by a pathfinder course for midshipmen ( ) at the experimental pathfinder and demonstration command ( ) at Kiel - Wik on 3 June 1925 . Operation " Rheinübung " . The goal of the Operation " Rheinübung " ( Rhine Exercise ) was for " Bismarck " , under the command of " Kapitän zur See " Ernst Lindemann , and the heavy cruiser " Prinz Eugen " , under the command of " Kapitän zur See " Helmuth Brinkmann , to break into the Atlantic and attack Allied shipping . " Großadmiral " Erich Raeder ' s orders to the Chief - of - Fleet " Admiral " Günther Lütjens were that " the objective of the " Bismarck " is not to defeat enemies of equal strength , but to tie them down in a delaying action , while preserving the combat capacity as much as possible , so as to allow " Prinz Eugen " to get at the merchant ships in the convoy " and " The primary target in this operation is the enemy ' s merchant shipping ; enemy warships will be engaged only when that objective makes it necessary and it can be done without excessive risk . " At 02 : 00 on 19 May 1941 , " Bismarck " and " Prinz Eugen " left Gotenhafen ( now Gdynia ) and proceeded through the Baltic Sea and out towards the Atlantic . Unbeknownst to Lütjens , the British had intercepted enough communications to infer that a German naval operation might be about to occur in the area . " Bismarck " and " Prinz Eugen " passed the Great Belt on 20 May , and around noon the next day the task force dropped anchor in the Grimstad fjord ( ) at Bergen , Norway . There " Prinz Eugen " took on fuel from the tanker " Wollin " . Schneider ' s brother , " Oberfeldarzt " ( Field Doctor ) Dr . Otto Schneider , who was stationed in Norway , briefly visited his brother on board " Bismarck " . Dr . Schneider was one of the last men to leave Bismarck on the evening of 21 May at around 22 : 00 . Dr . Schneider later claimed that his brother was convinced that " Bismarck " and " Prinz Eugen " were being sent on a suicide mission . On the evening of 23 May at 19 : 22 , the German force was detected by the heavy cruisers and " Norfolk " that had been patrolling the Denmark Strait in the expectation of a German breakout . The alarm was sounded and " Bismarck " fired five salvo s without scoring a direct hit . The heavily outgunned British cruisers withdrew to a safe distance and shadowed the enemy until their own heavy units could draw closer . However , " Bismarck " s forward radar had malfunctioned as a result of the vibration from the heavy guns firing during this skirmish , and Lütjens was obliged to order " Prinz Eugen " to move ahead of " Bismarck " in order to provide the squadron with forward radar coverage . Battle of the Denmark Strait . At the Battle of the Denmark Strait on 24 May 1941 , HMS " Hood " was sunk , probably by " Bismarck " . The hydrophone s on " Prinz Eugen " detected the sounds of an unknown ship to port at 05 : 00 . The Germans sighted the smoke stacks of two ships at 05 : 45 , which triggered the alarm on " Bismarck " . Schneider initially reported them as two heavy cruisers . The first British salvo revealed them as battleships , but not until the British task force turned to port were their precise identities revealed . The British ships started firing at the German force at 05 : 53 . Vice Admiral Lancelot Holland planned on targeting " Bismarck " first , but due to the reversed battle order , " Prince of Wales " and " Hood " opened fire on the " Prinz Eugen " instead . The commander of the " Prince of Wales " , Captain John Leach , detected this error and directed his guns to fire on " Bismarck " . The German task force was still waiting for the order to commence firing . The commander of the German task force , Admiral Lütjens , did not give this order immediately . Two minutes into the battle and after multiple inquiries by Schneider , " " ? ( Question . Open fire ? ) an impatient Lindemann responded : " " ! . ( I ' m not letting my ship get shot out from under my arse . Open fire ! ) . This Lindemann quotation is cited by Burkard Freiherr von Müllenheim - Rechberg who at the time was in the after gun director keeping a watch out for " Suffolk " and " Norfolk " and listening to Schneider ' s commands over the gunnery intercom . This conversation most likely was passed down by a surviving crew member who overheard the conversation between Schneider and Lindemann . Von Müllenheim - Rechberg , Lindemann ' s personnel adjutant , would become the highest - ranking officer to survive the " Bismarck " s last battle on 27 May 1941 . A lot of what we know today about the final days of " Bismarck " is attributed to his account as a witness . " Bismarck " fired its first salvo at 05 : 55 , first firing " Anton " and " Bruno " turrets and after a while " Cesar " and " Dora " turrets , referred to as a " demi salvo " . These shells were reported to have fallen short of the target , so Schneider corrected the range and lateral displacement and ordered a bracket , observing the long salvo to be " over " and judging the short salvo to be on target . Schneider then ordered a full salvo ( broadside ) , followed by two more broadsides in rapid fire . This fifth salvo of shells fired at 06 : 01 at a range of about , was seen to hit " Hood " near her mainmast , and one shell probably struck somewhere between Hood ' s mainmast and " X " turret , aft of the mast . There was no immediately visible explosion , and Schneider was heard to remark : " " ( Was that a dud ? It definitely chewed its way in . ) Then a huge jet of flame burst out of " Hood " from near the mainmast , followed by a devastating magazine explosion that destroyed the after part of the ship . This explosion broke the back of " Hood " , and the last sight of the ship , which sank in only three minutes , was her bow , nearly vertical in the water . Following the explosion HMS " Prince of Wales " was targeted by both German ships . She disengaged from combat at about 06 : 09 , after seven direct hits ; four by " Bismarck " and three by " Prinz Eugen " . However during this brief engagement " Prince of Wales " had also hit " Bismarck " three times . One shot struck the commander ' s boat and put the seaplane catapult amidships out of action . The second shell passed right through the bow from one side to the other . The third struck the hull plates underwater and burst inside the ship , flooding a generator room and damaging the bulkhead to an adjoining boiler room , partially flooding it also . These last two hits allowed of water into the ship . The pursuit . The " Bismarck " was sunk less than a week later after a concentrated effort by Britain ' s Royal Navy . At 23 : 30 ( local time 19 : 30 ) on 24 May an attack was made by a group of nine Swordfish biplane torpedo bomber s of 825 Naval Air Squadron led by Lieutenant Commander Eugene Esmonde from the aircraft carrier . One hit was scored , causing only superficial damage to the " Bismarck " s armoured belt , but killing " Oberbootsmann " Kurt Kirchberg . In mid - morning at 10 : 30 on 26 May a Coastal Command Catalina reconnaissance aircraft from 209 Squadron RAF spotted " Bismarck " roughly west of St . Nazaire . The British battle group Force H , under the command of Admiral James Somerville , whose main units were the aircraft carrier HMS " Ark Royal " , the First World War era battlecruiser and the cruiser was ordered to stop " Bismarck " . At 19 : 15 that evening , 15 Swordfish from " Ark Royal " took off to launch an attack . The air raid alarm was sounded on " Bismarck " at 20 : 30 . Roughly 15 minutes into the attack " Bismarck " was potentially hit by a torpedo , and at around 21 : 00 a single torpedo jammed " Bismarck " s rudder . At 02 : 17 on the morning of 27 May 1941 , " Group West " received a transmission from " Bismarck " recommending Schneider for the Knight ' s Cross of the Iron Cross . At 03 : 51 a reply confirmed that the medal had been awarded by Hitler . " Matrosengefreiter " Adolf Eich later witnessed " Admiral " Günther Lütjens and " Kapitän zur See " Ernst Lindemann shaking his hand after the award was made . The news that Adalbert Schneider had received the award was announced in the German press on 5 June 1941 . " Bismarck " s alarm sounded for the last time at 08 : 00 on the morning of 27 May 1941 . " Norfolk " sighted the " Bismarck " at 08 : 15 and the British battleship HMS " Rodney " opened fire on " Bismarck " at 08 : 47 . " Bismarck " returned fire at 08 : 49 . Further involved in the final battle were the battleship HMS " King George V " and the cruisers " Norfolk " and " Dorsetshire " . Torpedo bombers did not participate in the final battle . " Bismarck " s forward command position was hit at 08 : 53 and both forward gun turrets were put out of action at 09 : 02 . The after command position was destroyed at 09 : 18 and turret " Dora " was disabled at 09 : 24 . " Bismarck " received further heavy hits at 09 : 40 , resulting in a fire amidships . Turret " Caesar " was put out of action at 09 : 50 . All weapons went silent at 10 : 00 . " Rodney " and " King George V " had to disengage prior to " Bismarck " s sinking due to lack of fuel . The Germans started preparing for the self destruction of " Bismarck " when three torpedoes fired by " Dorsetshire " hit " Bismarck " s side armour . " Bismarck " sank at 10 : 36 at position , roughly west of Ouessant ( Ushant ) . The cruiser " Dorsetshire " saved 85 men , the British destroyer " Maori " 25 German sailors . A further five sailors were saved by the German submarine " U - 74 " under the command of " Kapitänleutnant " Eitel - Friedrich Kentrat and the weather observation ship " Sachsenwald " . Death . Burkard Freiherr von Müllenheim - Rechberg was monitoring the gunnery intercom , and reports on the last minutes of Schneider ' s life . Schneider reported the heavy and middle guns ready for combat , and gave the order to open fire . The first salvo was fired by " Rodney " at 08 : 47 followed by " King George V " at 08 : 48 . Schneider fired a partial salvo at " Rodney " since the " Bismarck " rear turrets could not fire at the appropriate angle . Schneider ' s aim was good , and he reported the first three salvos as short , on target and over . Schneider continued firing at " Rodney " . " King George V " and a little later " Rodney " turned to pass " Bismarck " s port side , a maneuver which " Bismarck " couldn ' t counter due to the damaged rudders . " Bismarck " started oscillating around her center axis which threw Schneider ' s aim off and necessitated continuous lateral displacement corrections of the guns . " Bismarck " started receiving heavy hits . The main gun director was destroyed , then turrets " Anton " and " Bruno " malfunctioned . Schneider was killed at 09 : 02 when an 8 - inch shell from " Norfolk " hit his combat position in the main gun director . Schneider was posthumously promoted to Senior Commander ( ) with an effective date of 1 May 1941 . However this promotion is not on his personal file .