Ernst Lindemann Otto Ernst Lindemann ( 28 March 1894 – 27 May 1941 ) was a German naval captain . He was the only commander of the battleship during its eight months of service in World War II . Lindemann joined the German Imperial Navy ( ) in 1913 , and after his basic military training , served on a number of warships during World War I as a wireless telegraphy officer . On board , he participated in Operation Albion in 1917 . After World War I , he served in various staff and naval gunnery training positions . One year after the outbreak of World War II , he was appointed commander of the battleship " Bismarck " , at the time the largest warship in commission anywhere in the world and the pride of the German Navy ( " Kriegsmarine " ) . In May 1941 , Lindemann commanded " Bismarck " during " Operation Rheinübung " . " Bismarck " and the heavy cruiser formed a task force under the command of Admiral Günther Lütjens on board Bismarck . Orders were to break out of their base in German occupied Poland and attack British merchant shipping lanes in the Atlantic Ocean . The task force ' s first major engagement was the Battle of the Denmark Strait which resulted in the sinking of . Less than a week later , on 27 May , Lindemann and most of his crew lost their lives during " Bismarck " s last battle . He was posthumously awarded the Knight ' s Cross of the Iron Cross ( ) , an honour that recognised extreme bravery on the battlefield or outstanding military leadership . The medal was presented to his widow , Hildegard , on 6 January 1942 . Early life . Otto Ernst Lindemann was born on 28 March 1894 in Altenkirchen in the Westerwald , Rhine Province . He was the first of three children of Dr . jur . Georg Heinrich Ernst Lindemann and Maria Lindemann , née Lieber . Known as Ernst , Georg Lindemann was a probationary judge ( Gerichtsassessor ) and later president of the Prussian Central Land Credit Company , a Prussian credit bank . Otto Ernst Lindemann was baptised into the Evangelical Church on 26 April 1894 . The family moved to the Charlottenburg quarter of Berlin , where they lived at 6 Carmer Street , in 1895 . His younger brother — Kurt — was born in 1896 , followed by a second brother , Hans - Wolfgang , in 1900 . The family relocated again in 1903 , this time to their own house in the Dahlem quarter of Berlin , near the Grunewald forest . In 1910 , when Lindemann was 16 , his uncle ( Captain ) Friedrich Tiesmeyer was in command of the light cruiser ( October 1909 – January 1910 ) of the Imperial Navy , at that time holding the rank of ( commander ) . At a family reunion in Hamelin , Lindemann talked with his uncle and heard of his seafaring adventures in the Far East . These conversations gave Lindemann the idea of a naval career . Lindemann graduated from the Bismarck - Gymnasium ( secondary school ) in Berlin - Wilmersdorf with his " Abitur " ( diploma ) late in 1912 with an average - to - good overall rating . For the next six months , he attended the Royal Polytechnic Institution in Richmond , London . Personal life . Ernst Lindemann met Charlotte Weil ( née Fritsche ; 1899 – 1979 ) , a Berlin singer , in the spring of 1920 . The couple married on 1 February 1921 , and they had a daughter , Helga Maria , born on 26 February 1924 . Lindemann ' s job as a naval officer demanded that he be away from his family for long periods of time . This proved to be too demanding on the marriage , and they were divorced in 1932 . Lindemann was engaged again on 20 July 1933 to his youngest brother ' s sister - in - law , Hildegard Burchard . Hildegard was 14 years younger than Lindemann . They married on 27 October 1934 in the St . Annen Church in Berlin – Dahlem . The ceremony was performed by Martin Niemöller , a founder of the Confessing Church , later imprisoned as an anti - Nazi . They had a daughter , Heidi Maria , born on 6 July 1939 . Naval career . Imperial Navy . On 26 March 1913 , Lindemann traveled with his parents to Flensburg for his medical examination at the Naval Academy at Mürwik . The strong financial background of his parents made him a suitable applicant for the Imperial Navy , as the costs associated with a naval education in 1909 were 800 – 1 , 000 Marks per year for eight years . By comparison , a metal worker earned 1 , 366 Marks annually and a teacher 3 , 294 Marks . Only 5 percent of the German population at the time earned more than 3 , 000 Marks annually . However , the doctor certified him as fit only for limited duties ( ) , as pneumonia in childhood had left him unfit for service in U - boat s . After a second examination , he was accepted on probation , and Lindemann became one of the 290 young men of " Crew 1913 " ( the incoming class of 1913 ) . He was officially enlisted in the Imperial Navy as a ( midshipman ) on 1 April 1913 . In early May 1913 , the cadets of Crew 1913 were sent to the training ships , , and . Lindemann was assigned to " Hertha " with 71 of his comrades . At that time , " Hertha " was under the command of Captain Heinrich Rohardt , a friend of his uncle Friedrich . Arriving on board on 9 May , they were divided into watches consisting of roughly 18 men each . " Hertha " left Mürwik and stayed in Kiel until the end of the month . On 29 May 1913 , " Hertha " headed for Swinemünde , where she stayed until 15 June . The next stop , via Sassnitz and Visby , was Stockholm , Sweden , arriving on 24 June . The ship remained in Stockholm until 1 July , before leaving for Bergen in Norway . After a few days , the voyage continued to the Lönne Fjord . Here , Lindemann met his commander - in - chief — Kaiser Wilhelm II — for the first time . " Hertha " then returned to Germany , arriving in Wilhelmshaven on 8 August 1913 . One week later , " Hertha " began a seven - month training cruise ( 15 August 1913 – 12 March 1914 ) . The voyage took Lindemann to Dartmouth in England , Vilagarcía de Arousa in Spain , Faial Island in the Azores and as far as Halifax in Nova Scotia . The return trip then went via Vera Cruz in Mexico , Havana in Cuba , Port - au - Prince in Haiti , Kingston in Jamaica , Port of Spain in Trinidad and then to the Canary Islands , Madeira , and the Spanish mainland , arriving back in Germany in the middle of March 1914 , first in Brunsbüttel and two days later in Kiel . Lindemann was promoted to " Fähnrich zur See " ( Ensign ) on 3 April 1914 . World War I . With the German declaration of war in August 1914 , all further training at the naval academy was terminated and the normal compulsory officer examination was skipped . The entire Crew 1913 was assigned to various units in the Imperial Navy . Lindemann was assigned to , a battleship which belonged to the 2nd Battle Squadron of the High Seas Fleet under the command of " Vizeadmiral " ( Vice Admiral ) Reinhard Scheer , taking on the position of 3rd wireless telegraphy officer . " Lothringen " was mostly tasked with patrolling the North Sea , sailing back and forth between Altenbruch ( now part of Cuxhaven ) and Brunsbüttel without engaging in combat . Lindemann left " Lothringen " on 1 June 1915 to attend the wireless telegraphy school at Mürwik . He successfully completed the course and returned from it in July 1915 . He then took over the position of 2nd wireless telegraphy officer and was promoted to " Leutnant zur See " ( Second Lieutenant ) on 18 September 1915 . On 19 March 1916 , Lindemann was transferred to the newly commissioned battleship ( under the command of Captain Max Hahn ) , with the same rank of 2nd wireless telegraphy officer . " Bayern " , with her eight guns , was the most powerful ship of the fleet . Her crew had been largely assigned from " Lothringen " , which continued to serve as a training ship . Aboard " Bayern " , now under the command of Captain Rohardt , Lindemann participated in Operation Albion in September – October 1917 . Operation Albion ' s objective was the invasion and occupation of the Estonian islands of Saaremaa ( Ösel ) , Hiiumaa ( Dagö ) and Muhu ( Moon ) , then part of the Russian Republic . At 05 : 07 on 12 October 1917 , " Bayern " struck a mine while moving into her bombardment position to secure the landing beaches at Pamerort . Seven sailors were killed . Despite mine damage , " Bayern " engaged the coast defense battery at Cape Toffri on the southern tip of Hiiumaa . " Bayern " was released from her duties at 14 : 00 that day . Preliminary repairs were made on 13 October in Tagga Bay before she returned to Kiel on 1 November 1917 . After the armistice in 1918 , " Bayern " — together with the majority of the German High Seas Fleet — was interned at Scapa Flow , the home of the British Grand Fleet . " Bayern " arrived there on 23 November 1918 with a skeleton crew of only 175 men , including Lindemann , who was then ordered to return to Germany , arriving in Kiel on 12 January . On 21 June 1919 , Admiral Ludwig von Reuter ordered the interned fleet to be scuttled , and " Bayern " sank at 14 : 30 . Between the wars : Reichsmarine . When Ernst Lindemann returned to Germany , it was uncertain whether he could remain on active military service . As a result of the Treaty of Versailles which was signed on 28 June 1919 , the German Navy was downsized to 15 , 000 men , including 1 , 500 officers , while the German Navy was renamed the " Reichsmarine " in the era of the Weimar Republic . As Lindemann had finished fifth in the Class of 1913 , he stood a good chance of being retained . He served temporarily in the Dahlem Protection Company a part of the Protection Regiment of Greater Berlin ( June – July 1919 ) , before he became adjutant to the newly created chief of the Naval Command Department ( 1 August 1919 – 30 September 1922 ) , at the time under the command of William Michaelis . The Naval Command Department was directly subordinated to the Admiralty Staff . At the same time , he held the position of adjutant in the Fleet Department . During this assignment Lindemann was promoted to " Oberleutnant zur See " ( Sub - Lieutenant ) on 7 January 1920 . Lindemann ' s next assignment ( 1 October 1922 – 30 September 1924 ) was aboard the battleship , where he served as a watch and division officer . During this assignment , he attended an officers ' course at the ships ' gunnery school in Kiel between 5 February and 3 May 1924 . From here , Lindemann took command of the 1st Artillery Company of the 3rd Coastal Defense Department in Friedrichsort in Kiel from 1 October 1924 – 26 September 1926 . His commanding officer was " Korvettenkapitän " ( Lieutenant Commander ) Otto Schultze , a former World War I U - boat commander and later " Generaladmiral " ( general admiral ) of the " Kriegsmarine " . In this position , Lindemann was promoted to " Kapitänleutnant " ( captain lieutenant ) on 1 January 1925 . His next assignment ( 27 September 1926 – 6 September 1929 ) placed him on the Admiral ' s staff at the Baltic Naval Station , first as a staff officer and then as assistant to the chief of the station , which at the time was under the command of Vice Admiral Erich Raeder . From here , he was transferred to the " Elsass " serving as the second gunnery officer and " Fähnrichsoffizier " ( officer in charge of cadets ) , responsible for the on - board training of the officer cadets , from 7 September 1929 – 25 February 1930 . Holding the same rank and position , Lindemann then transferred to the " Schleswig - Holstein " . Between the wars : Kriegsmarine . On 30 January 1933 , the Nazi Party , under the leadership of Adolf Hitler , came to power in Germany , ushering in a period of naval rearmament . In 1935 , the " Reichsmarine " was renamed the " Kriegsmarine " . Between 22 September 1931 and 22 September 1934 , Lindemann was a senior lecturer at the Naval Gunnery School in Kiel . He was then posted to the under the command of Captain Hermann Boehm and served as first gunnery officer from 23 September 1933 to 8 April 1934 . Ernst Lindemann was promoted to Lieutenant Commander on 1 April 1932 . On 9 April 1934 , he was ordered to the Wilhelmshaven Shipyard ( 9 April – 11 November 1934 ) for training in ship construction and familiarisation with the heavy cruiser , under the command of Captain Wilhelm Marschall . On " Admiral Scheer " , he again served as first gunnery officer , and in this position he participated in the Spanish Civil War ( 24 July – 30 August 1936 ) . " Admiral Scheer " had to make ready for the mission on short notice ; the order came from Admiral Rolf Carls on 23 July 1936 at 13 : 45 . The normal 48 hours required to prepare the ship was reduced to 12 hours , demanding a lot of the crew and especially Lindemann . As the first gunnery officer , Lindemann was responsible for handling and storing all munitions . " Admiral Scheer " and the cruiser left Germany on 24 July at 8 : 00 . Lindemann ' s main responsibilities included commanding the German landing parties and acting as diplomatic aid and interpreter for Captain Marschall . These landing parties consisted of up to 350 men , which included 11 officers , 15 non - commissioned officers and 266 sailors , or roughly one - third of the crew . On the return voyage to Germany , " Admiral Scheer " stopped at Gibraltar on the morning of 25 August 1936 . Marschall , Lindemann and other officers met with the British Governor and Rear Admiral James Somerville . After Lindemann returned to Germany , he was promoted to commander on 1 October 1936 . Between 1936 and 1938 , he was an adviser and later head of the ship construction department at the Naval High Command , and at the same time a consultant to and later chief of the Naval Training Department . On 1 April 1938 , he was promoted to the rank of captain . On 30 September 1939 , one month after the outbreak of World War II , Lindemann succeeded Captain Heinrich Woldag as commander of the Naval Gunnery School in Wik in Kiel , after Woldag took command of the heavy cruiser . Under his command were three training departments , the gunnery training ship and " Hektor " , numerous gunnery training boats , gun carriers , auxiliary vessels , and occasionally Hitler ' s state yacht , the aviso . Commander of the battleship " Bismarck " . Ernst Lindemann was frustrated by the fact that — as commander of the Naval Gunnery School — he would never come into direct contact with the enemy . When he received the news that he had been selected to be the first commander of the battleship , he was honoured by the trust that had been bestowed on him but doubted that he would be able to get " Bismarck " ready for action before the war was over . His doubts suggest that he was confident the war would end in a favourable outcome for Germany by mid - 1940 . Prior to commanding " Bismarck " , Lindemann had never held any shipboard command , a situation rare if not unique in the " Kriegsmarine " . Nevertheless , Lindemann had served exclusively on ships with a gun calibre of at least , and he was Germany ' s leading gunnery expert . In 1940 , he ranked second out of Crew 1913 and was considered an outstanding leader . Lindemann arrived at the Blohm & Voss shipbuilding works in Hamburg at the beginning of August 1940 . " Bismarck " s keel had been laid on 1 July 1936 and she was launched on 14 February 1939 . Burkard Freiherr von Müllenheim - Rechberg joined " Bismarck " as fourth gunnery officer in June 1940 , and he would become the highest - ranking officer to survive " Bismarck " s last battle on 27 May 1941 . Much of what is currently known about " Bismarck " s final days is attributed to his account as a witness . Lindemann made Von Müllenheim - Rechberg his personnel adjutant and instructed him to refer to the ship as " he " rather than " she " ; Lindemann considered the ship too powerful to be referred to as a female . He commissioned the battleship on 24 August 1940 . He showed a great deal of attachment to the ship and was respected by his crew . " Bismarck " left the Kiel Fjord on the morning of 28 September 1940 heading east . After an uneventful voyage through rough seas , " Bismarck " reached Gotenhafen ( now Gdynia ) the next day . Here " Bismarck " conducted a number of sea trials in the relative safety of the Bay of Danzig ( now Gdańsk Bay ) . By 30 November 1940 , Lindemann had set a number of tests for the crew , which they passed easily . During high speed trials , " Bismarck " reached a top speed of , exceeding the design speed . However , one weakness quickly became apparent : without using the rudders but only the screws , " Bismarck " was almost impossible to steer . In November 1940 , Von Müllenheim - Rechberg was sent to the Naval Gunnery School at Wik to complete his heavy gun training courses , which ended his position as Lindemann ' s personal adjutant . Lindemann ' s new adjutant was the signals officer Second Lieutenant Wolfgang Reiner . " Bismarck " s heavy guns were first test - fired in the second half of November , and " Bismarck " was shown to be a very stable gun platform . After the 1940 Christmas celebration on board , Lindemann and the majority of the officers , non - commissioned officers and sailors went on home leave . First gunnery officer Lieutenant Commander Adalbert Schneider relieved Lindemann as " Bismarck " s commander during his absence . Lindemann spent his leave with his wife and daughter and returned on 1 January 1941 . On 28 April 1941 , the ship and crew were ready , and stores were on board for a three - month mission . Lindemann notified Naval High Command ( " Oberkommando der Marine " ) , Naval Groups North and West ( " Marinegruppen Nord und West " ) and Fleet Command that " Bismarck " was ready for action . The Chief of Fleet — Admiral Günther Lütjens — and his fleet staff held drills for the first time on board " Bismarck " on 13 May , testing the communication chain between Fleet Command and " Bismarck " s officers . Adolf Hitler — accompanied by " Generalfeldmarschall " Wilhelm Keitel , his former naval adjutant Commander Karl - Jesco von Puttkamer , and his " Luftwaffe " adjutant " Oberst " Nicolaus von Below , among others — visited " Bismarck " on 5 May 1941 . Missing was Grand Admiral Erich Raeder . Hitler was taken on a tour of the ship by Admiral Lütjens and inspected the various battle stations . Hitler and Lütjens also met in private and discussed the risks of a mission in the North Atlantic . After this meeting , Hitler and the officers of " Bismarck " had lunch in the officers ' mess , where Hitler spoke about America ' s unwillingness to enter the war . Lindemann openly disagreed with Hitler , expressing his opinion that the possibility of the United States entering the war could not be ruled out . Operation " Rheinübung " . The goal of Operation " Rheinübung " ( Rhine Exercise ) was for " Bismarck " and the heavy cruiser — under the command of Lindemann ' s " Crew 1913 " classmate Captain Helmuth Brinkmann — to break into the Atlantic and attack Allied shipping . Grand Admiral Raeder ' s orders to the task force commander — 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 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 and proceeded through the Baltic Sea and out toward the Atlantic . Unknown to Lütjens , the British had intercepted enough signals to infer that a German naval operation might occur in the area . The German task force was first encountered by the Swedish seaplane - cruiser on 20 May heading north - west past Gothenburg . The British Admiralty was informed through a Norwegian officer in Stockholm who had learned of the sighting from a Swedish military intelligence source . Alerted by this report , British Admiralty requested air reconnaissance of the Norwegian coast . A Spitfire reconnaissance aircraft found and photographed the German task force in the Grimstad fjord ( ) , near Bergen , at 13 : 15 on 21 May . On the evening of 23 May at 19 : 22 , the German force was detected by the heavy cruisers and that had been patrolling the Denmark Strait in the expectation of a German breakout . The alarm was sounded and Lindemann announced at 20 : 30 over the intercom : " " . ( Enemy sighted to port . Engage ! ) " Bismarck " fired five salvo s without scoring a direct hit . The heavily outgunned British cruisers retired to a safe distance and shadowed the enemy until their own heavy units could draw closer . However , " Bismarck " s forward radar had failed as a result of 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 . At the Battle of the Denmark Strait on 24 May 1941 , was sunk , probably by " Bismarck " . The hydrophone s on " Prinz Eugen " detected a foreign ship to port at 05 : 00 . The Germans sighted the smokestacks of two ships at 05 : 45 , which the first gunnery officer Lieutenant Commander Adalbert Schneider initially reported as two heavy cruisers . The first British salvo revealed them to be battleships , but not until the British task force turned to port was their precise identity revealed . The British ships started firing at the German task force at 05 : 53 . Vice - Admiral Lancelot Holland planned on targeting " Bismarck " first , but due to the reversed German battle order , and " Hood " opened fire on the " Prinz Eugen " instead . The commander of the " Prince of Wales " — Captain John Leach — detected this error and ordered his guns swung around to fire on " Bismarck " . The German task force was still waiting for the order to commence firing , which Admiral Lütjens did not give immediately . Two minutes later , after multiple inquiries by Schneider , " " ? ( Permission to open fire ? ) , an impatient Lindemann responded : " " ( I ' m not letting my ship get shot out from under my arse . Open fire ! ) At 06 : 01 , the fifth salvo by " Bismarck " , fired at a range of about , was seen to hit " Hood " abreast her mainmast . It is likely that one shell struck somewhere between Hood ' s mainmast and ' X ' turret aft of the mast . A huge jet of flame burst out from " Hood " from the vicinity of the mainmast . This was followed by a devastating magazine explosion that destroyed the aft part of the ship . This explosion broke the back of " Hood " , and she sank in only three minutes , her nearly vertical bow last to descend into the water . Following the explosion , " Prince of Wales " was targeted by both German ships and disengaged from combat after seven direct hits , four by " Bismarck " and three by " Prinz Eugen " , at about 06 : 09 . During this brief engagement , " Prince of Wales " had also hit " Bismarck " three times , first striking the commander ' s boat and putting 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 underwater and burst inside the ship , flooding a generator room and damaging the bulkhead of an adjoining boiler room , partially flooding it . The damage caused to " Bismarck " by these two shots allowed of water into the ship . Lindemann and Lütjens at this point differed on how best to continue the mission . Lindemann , as commander of a battleship , was guided by the tactical situation , and wanted to hunt down the damaged " Prince of Wales " . ( The Germans did not at that time know the ship to be " Prince of Wales " , but knew that it was a battleship . ) Lütjens , apparently mindful of the fleet order to avoid unnecessary contact with similar enemy units , rejected this without discussion . Lindemann and Lütjens also differed on where to take the ship for repairs ; Lindemann advocated retracing their route through the Denmark Strait and returning to Bergen , Norway . Lütjens overruled him and ordered a course set for Saint - Nazaire , France . In the afternoon , Admiral Lütjens ordered " Prinz Eugen " to break away from " Bismarck " and operate independently against the enemy ' s merchant shipping . " Prinz Eugen " and " Bismarck " separated at 18 : 14 that evening . " Prinz Eugen " arrived safely at Brest , France on 1 June 1941 . No direct witnesses to this difference of opinion survived the sinking , but " Matrosengefreiter " ( Leading Seaman ) Heinz Staat , the helmsman on the bridge , remembered a telephone call between the First Watch Officer , Commander Hans Oels , and a fleet staff officer which suggested that Lindemann had been trying to persuade Lütjens to pursue the enemy . A messenger returning to his comrades below spoke of " " dicke Luft " " ( " thick air " or a " bad atmosphere " ) on the bridge . " 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 small group of nine Swordfish biplane torpedo bomber s of 825 Naval Air Squadron under the command of Eugene Esmonde from the aircraft carrier . One hit was scored , which killed " Oberbootsmann " Kurt Kirchberg , but caused only superficial damage to the " Bismarck " s armoured belt . In mid - morning at 10 : 30 on 26 May , a RAF Coastal Command Catalina reconnaissance aircraft from 209 Squadron RAF spotted " Bismarck " roughly west of Saint - Nazaire . The British battle group Force H , under the command of Admiral James Somerville , whose main units were the aircraft carrier , the First World War era battlecruiser and the cruiser , was ordered to stop " Bismarck " . At 19 : 15 that evening , 15 Swordfish from " Ark Royal " launched an attack . The air raid alarm was sounded on " Bismarck " at 20 : 30 . Roughly 15 minutes into the attack " Bismarck " was possibly hit by one torpedo , and at around 21 : 00 another single torpedo jammed " Bismarck " s rudder 12° to port . Damage - control parties laboured to regain steering control and uncoupled and centred the starboard rudder , but failed to free the port rudder . With asymmetric power applied , speed reduced to , " Bismarck " was on a converging course with the Royal Navy units on the chase . The alarm sounded again at 23 : 00 when destroyers of the 4th Destroyer Flotilla under the command of Captain Philip Vian attacked " Bismarck " . Throughout the night " Bismarck " was targeted by incessant torpedo attacks by , , , , and , denying Lindemann and the crew much - needed rest . " 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 battleship opened fire on " Bismarck " at 08 : 48 . " Bismarck " returned fire at 08 : 49 . Further involved in the final battle were the battleship and the cruisers " Norfolk " and . 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 , killing Adalbert Schneider in the main gun director . 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 , and turret " Caesar " went out of action after a hit at 09 : 50 . All weapons fell silent at 10 : 00 . Short of fuel , " Rodney " and " King George V " had to disengage prior to " Bismarck " s sinking . The Germans were preparing to scuttle " Bismarck " when three torpedoes fired by " Dorsetshire " hit the ship ' s side armour . " Bismarck " sank at 10 : 36 at position , roughly west of Ouessant ( Ushant ) . The cruiser " Dorsetshire " saved 85 men , and the British destroyer " Maori " saved 25 . A further five sailors were saved by under the command of Captain Lieutenant Eitel - Friedrich Kentrat and the weather observation ship . The " Befehlshaber der U - Boote " ( U - boats Commander - in - Chief ) Karl Dönitz had ordered under the command of Captain Lieutenant Herbert Wohlfarth to pick up " Bismarck " s war diary . Out of torpedoes and low on fuel , Wohlfarth requested that the order be transferred to " U - 74 " . " U - 74 " failed to reach Bismarck on time and the war diary was never retrieved . Death . Burkard von Müllenheim - Rechberg saw Lindemann for the last time at around 08 : 00 on the command bridge just prior to the final battle . Von Müllenheim - Rechberg described the normally intelligent , humorous and optimistic Lindemann now as pessimistic and withdrawn . Von Müllenheim - Rechberg tried to talk to him and was ignored , and later wondered whether this was due to combat fatigue or whether the disagreements with Lütjens had worn him down . Lindemann ' s body was never recovered , and it is thought that he , Lütjens and other officers probably died when shells from the British warships hit " Bismarck " s bridge at 09 : 02 . When Robert Ballard discovered the wreck in 1989 , he found that most of the forward superstructure had been blasted away by shellfire and there were more than 50 shell holes around the area of the conning tower . This may support the theory . Alternatively , Lindemann may have left his combat position when the ship ' s controls were rendered inoperable , and prior to the lethal hit on the command position , in order to give the command to abandon the ship . The surviving " Matrose " Paul Hillen — who had managed to escape to the upper deck in the final phase of the battle , stated that he had seen a group of 20 – 30 people standing at the bow , among them a man with a white peaked cap . Normally on a German naval vessel at sea , a white cap is worn only by the commanding officer . In addition , the surviving " Maschinengefreiter " — Rudolf Römer , who at the time was already in the water — claimed that he had seen Lindemann standing on the bow , near " Bismarck " s forward 38 cm turret , " Anton " . He was said to be with his combat messenger , a leading seaman , and apparently trying to persuade his messenger to save himself . In this account , his messenger took Lindemann ' s hand and the two walked to the forward flagmast . As the ship turned over , the two stood briefly to attention , then Lindemann and his messenger saluted . As the ship rolled to port , the messenger dropped into the water . Lindemann — continuing his salute while clinging to the flagmast — went down with the ship . On Wednesday , 28 May 1941 Ernst Lindemann was posthumously mentioned in the daily " Wehrmachtbericht " , an information bulletin issued by the headquarters of the " Wehrmacht " ( the unified armed forces of Germany ) . To be singled out individually in the " Wehrmachtbericht " was an honour and was entered in the Orders and Decorations ' section of one ' s Service Record Book . Knight ' s Cross of the Iron Cross . Lindemann ' s comrades of Crew 1913 all contacted the young widow after his death . The former head of Crew 1913 , Captain Otto Klüber , contacted Mrs Lindemann in the fall of 1941 and offered her an honorary membership . Shortly after Christmas on 27 December 1941 , exactly seven months after the sinking of " Bismarck " and the death of its commander , Captain Ernst Lindemann received a posthumous Knight ' s Cross of the Iron Cross . He received this high award because the " Oberkommando der Marine " felt that his skilled leadership significantly contributed to the destruction of the British battlecruiser " Hood " and the damage inflicted on the British battleship " Prince of Wales " . Lindemann was the 94th recipient of the Knight ' s Cross of the Iron Cross in the " Kriegsmarine " . Lindemann ' s first gunnery officer — Lieutenant Commander Adalbert Schneider — had been awarded the Knight ' s Cross of the Iron Cross on 27 May 1941 . Traditionally , the commanding officer would have received this award before any other crew member was so honoured . This exception had been criticized by various circles in the " Wehrmacht " . It is thought likely that Ernst Lindemann ' s cousin , the former " General der Kavallarie " ( General of the Cavalry ) Georg Lindemann , intervened . Grand Admiral Erich Raeder , with whom Lindemann shared a 20 - year comradeship dating to the early days of the " Reichsmarine " , presented the Knight ' s Cross of the Iron Cross to Mrs Lindemann on Tuesday , 6 January 1942 , in Dahlem . Raeder went on to provide moral and emotional support to Lindemann ' s mother and widow . Awards and honours . Lindemann Battery . To honour the late Captain Lindemann , the heavy naval battery at Sangatte , between Calais and Boulogne was christened " Batterie Lindemann " ( the Lindemann Battery ) on 19 September 1942 by the admiral in command of the Channel Coast Friedrich Frisius . The battery consisted of three heavy SK C / 34 guns housed in casemates , originally intended for the early H - class battleships . Prior to this , the guns had been referred to as " Batterie Schleswig - Holstein " or " Batterie Groß - Deutschland " and were located in the Hel Peninsula , Poland . The battery was destroyed by Canadian forces on the evening of 26 September 1944 . Today the structure is partly covered by excavated material from the Channel Tunnel , and only the command bunker with a number of smaller strong points are still visible . In popular culture . Austrian actor Carl Möhner played Captain Ernst Lindemann in the 1960 black - and - white British war film " Sink the Bismarck ! " The film was based on the novel " The Last Nine Days of the Bismarck " by C . S . Forester .