German battleship Bismarck Bismarck was the first of two s built for the German Kriegsmarine . Named after Chancellor Otto von Bismarck , the primary force behind the unification of Germany in 1871 , the ship was laid down at the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg in July 1936 and launched two and a half years later in February 1939 . Work was completed in August 1940 , when she was commissioned into the German fleet . " Bismarck " and her sister ship were the largest battleships ever built by Germany , and two of the largest built by any European power . In the course of the warship ' s eight - month career under its sole commanding officer , Capt . Ernst Lindemann , " Bismarck " conducted only one offensive operation , in May 1941 , codenamed " Rheinübung " . The ship , along with the heavy cruiser , was to break into the Atlantic Ocean and raid Allied shipping from North America to Great Britain . The two ships were detected several times off Scandinavia , and British naval units were deployed to block their route . At the Battle of Denmark Strait , " Bismarck " engaged and destroyed the battlecruiser , the pride of the Royal Navy , and forced the battleship to retreat ; " Bismarck " herself was hit three times and suffered an oil leak from a ruptured tank . The destruction of " Hood " spurred a relentless pursuit by the Royal Navy involving dozens of warships . Two days later , while heading for the relative safety of occupied France , " Bismarck " was attacked by obsolete biplane Fairey Swordfish torpedo bomber s from the aircraft carrier ; one scored a hit that rendered the battleship ' s steering gear inoperable . In her final battle the following morning , " Bismarck " was neutralised by a sustained bombardment from a British fleet , was scuttled by her crew , and sank with heavy loss of life . Most experts agree that the battle damage would have caused her to sink eventually . In June 1989 , several years after discovering the wreck of the " Titanic " , Robert Ballard located the wreck , which has since been surveyed by several other expeditions . Construction and characteristics . " Bismarck " was ordered under the name " Ersatz Hannover " ( " " Hannover " replacement " ) , a replacement for the old pre - dreadnought , under contract " F " . The contract was awarded to the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg , where the keel was laid on 1 July 1936 at Helgen IX . The ship was launched on 14 February 1939 and during the elaborate ceremonies was christened by Dorothee von Löwenfeld , granddaughter of Chancellor Otto von Bismarck , the ship ' s namesake . Adolf Hitler made the christening speech . Fitting - out work followed the launch , during which time the original straight stem was replaced with a raked " Atlantic bow " similar to the s . " Bismarck " was commissioned into the fleet on 24 August 1940 for sea trials , which were conducted in the Baltic . " Kapitän zur See " Ernst Lindemann took command of the ship at the time of commissioning . " Bismarck " displaced as built and fully loaded , with an overall length of , a beam of and a maximum draft of . The battleship was Germany ' s largest warship , and displaced more than any other European battleship , with the exception of , commissioned after the end of the war . " Bismarck " was powered by three Blohm & Voss geared steam turbines and twelve oil - fired Wagner superheated boilers , which developed a total of and yielded a maximum speed of on speed trials . The ship had a cruising range of at . " Bismarck " was equipped with three FuMO 23 search radar sets , mounted on the forward and stern range - finder s and foretop . The standard crew numbered 103 officers and 1 , 962 enlisted men . The crew was divided into twelve divisions of between 180 and 220 men . The first six divisions were assigned to the ship ' s armaments , divisions one through four for the main and secondary batteries and five and six manning anti - aircraft gun s . The seventh division consisted of specialists , including cooks and carpenters , and the eighth division consisted of ammunition handlers . The radio operator s , signalmen , and quartermaster s were assigned to the ninth division . The last three divisions were the engine room personnel . When " Bismarck " left port , fleet staff , prize crews , and war correspondent s increased the crew complement to over 2 , 200 men . Roughly 200 of the engine room personnel came from the light cruiser , which had been lost during Operation " Weserübung " , the German invasion of Norway . " Bismarck " s crew published a ship ' s newspaper titled " Die Schiffsglocke " ( The Ship ' s Bell ) ; this paper was only published once , on 23 April 1941 , by the commander of the engineering department , Gerhard Junack . " Bismarck " was armed with eight 38 cm SK C / 34 guns arranged in four twin gun turret s : two super - firing turrets forward — " Anton " and " Bruno " — and two aft — " Caesar " and " Dora " . Secondary armament consisted of twelve L / 55 guns , sixteen L / 65 and sixteen L / 83 , and twelve anti - aircraft guns . " Bismarck " also carried four Arado Ar 196 reconnaissance floatplane s , with a single large hangar and a double - ended catapult . The ship ' s main belt was thick and was covered by a pair of upper and main armoured decks that were and thick , respectively . The turrets were protected by thick faces and thick sides . Service history . On 15 September 1940 , three weeks after her commissioning , " Bismarck " left Hamburg to begin sea trials in Kiel Bay . " Sperrbrecher 13 " escorted the ship to Arcona on 28 September , and then on to Gotenhafen for trials in the Gulf of Danzig . The ship ' s power - plant was given a thorough workout ; " Bismarck " made measured - mile and high speed runs . While her stability and manoeuvrability were being tested , a flaw in the ship ' s design was discovered . While attempting to steer the ship solely through altering propeller revolutions , the crew learned that " Bismarck " could be kept on course only with great difficulty . Even with the outboard screws running at full power in opposite directions , they generated only a slight turning ability . " Bismarck " s main battery guns were first test - fired in late November . The tests proved she was a very stable gun platform . Trials lasted until December ; " Bismarck " returned to Hamburg , arriving on 9 December , for minor alterations and the completion of the fitting - out process . The ship was scheduled to return to Kiel on 24 January 1941 , but a merchant vessel had been sunk in the Kiel Canal and prevented usage of the waterway . Severe weather hampered efforts to remove the wreck , and " Bismarck " was not able to reach Kiel until March . The delay greatly frustrated Lindemann , who remarked that " [ " Bismarck " ] had been tied down at Hamburg for five weeks . . . the precious time at sea lost as a result cannot be made up , and a significant delay in the final war deployment of the ship thus is unavoidable . " While waiting to reach Kiel , " Bismarck " hosted Captain Anders Forshell , the Swedish naval attaché to Berlin . He returned to Sweden with a detailed description of the ship , which was subsequently leaked to Britain by pro - British elements in the Swedish Navy . The information provided the Royal Navy with its first full description of the vessel , although it lacked specificity on important facts , including top speed , radius of action , and displacement . On 6 March , " Bismarck " received the order to steam to Kiel . While en route , the ship was escorted by several Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighters and a pair of armed merchant vessels , along with an icebreaker . At 08 : 45 on 8 March , " Bismarck " briefly ran aground on the southern shore of the Kiel Canal , though she was freed within an hour . The ship reached Kiel the following day , where her crew stocked ammunition , fuel , and other supplies and applied a coat of dazzle paint to camouflage her . British bombers attacked the harbour without success on 12 March . On 17 March , the old battleship , now used as an icebreaker , escorted " Bismarck " through the ice to Gotenhafen , where the latter continued combat readiness training . The Naval High Command ( " Oberkommando der Marine " or OKM ) , commanded by Admiral Erich Raeder , intended to continue the practice of using heavy ships as surface raiders against Allied merchant traffic in the Atlantic Ocean . The two " Scharnhorst " - class battleships were based in Brest , France , at the time , having just completed Operation Berlin , a major raid into the Atlantic . " Bismarck " s sister ship rapidly approached completion . " Bismarck " and " Tirpitz " were to sortie from the Baltic and rendezvous with the two " Scharnhorst " - class ships in the Atlantic ; the operation was initially scheduled for around 25 April 1941 , when a new moon period would make conditions more favourable . Work on " Tirpitz " was completed later than anticipated , and she was not commissioned until 25 February ; the ship was not ready for combat until late in the year . To further complicate the situation , was torpedoed while in Brest and damaged further by bombs when in drydock . required a boiler overhaul following Operation Berlin ; the workers discovered during the overhaul that the boilers were in worse condition than expected . She would also be unavailable for the planned sortie . Attacks by British bombers on supply depots in Kiel delayed repairs to the heavy cruisers and . The two ships would not be ready for action until July or August . Admiral Günther Lütjens , " Flottenchef " ( Fleet Chief ) of the Kriegsmarine , chosen to lead the operation , wished to delay the operation at least until either " Scharnhorst " or " Tirpitz " became available , but the OKM decided to proceed with the operation , codenamed " Operation Rheinübung " , with a force consisting of only " Bismarck " and the heavy cruiser . Operation " Rheinübung " . On 5 May , Adolf Hitler and Wilhelm Keitel , with a large entourage , arrived to view " Bismarck " and " Tirpitz " in Gotenhafen . The men were given an extensive tour of the ships , after which Hitler met with Lütjens to discuss the upcoming mission . On 16 May , Lütjens reported that " Bismarck " and " Prinz Eugen " were fully prepared for Operation " Rheinübung " ; he was therefore ordered to proceed with the mission on the evening of 19 May . As part of the operational plans , a group of eighteen supply ships would be positioned to support " Bismarck " and " Prinz Eugen " . Four U - boat s would be placed along the convoy routes between Halifax and Britain to scout for the raiders . By the start of the operation , " Bismarck " s crew had increased to 2 , 221 officers and enlisted men . This included an admiral ' s staff of nearly 65 and a prize crew of 80 sailors , which could be used to crew transports captured during the mission . At 02 : 00 on 19 May , " Bismarck " departed Gotenhafen and made for the Danish straits . She was joined at 11 : 25 by " Prinz Eugen " , which had departed the previous night at 21 : 18 , off Cape Arkona . The two ships were escorted by three destroyer s — , , and — and a flotilla of minesweepers . The Luftwaffe provided air cover during the voyage out of German waters . At around noon on 20 May , Lindemann informed the ship ' s crew via loudspeaker of the ship ' s mission . At approximately the same time , a group of ten or twelve Swedish aircraft flying reconnaissance encountered the German force and reported its composition and heading , though the Germans did not see the Swedes . An hour later , the German flotilla encountered the Swedish cruiser ; the cruiser shadowed the Germans for two hours in the Kattegat . " Gotland " transmitted a report to naval headquarters , stating : " Two large ships , three destroyers , five escort vessels , and 10 – 12 aircraft passed Marstrand , course 205° / 20 ' . " The OKM was not concerned about the security risk posed by " Gotland " , though both Lütjens and Lindemann believed operational secrecy had been lost . The report eventually made its way to Captain Henry Denham , the British naval attaché to Sweden , who transmitted the information to the Admiralty . The code - breakers at Bletchley Park confirmed that an Atlantic raid was imminent , as they had decrypted reports that " Bismarck " and " Prinz Eugen " had taken on prize crews and requested additional navigational chart s from headquarters . A pair of Supermarine Spitfire s were ordered to search the Norwegian coast for the flotilla . German aerial reconnaissance confirmed that one aircraft carrier , three battleships , and four cruisers remained at anchor in the main British naval base at Scapa Flow , which confirmed to Lütjens that the British were at that point unaware of his operation . On the evening of 20 May , " Bismarck " and the rest of the flotilla reached the Norwegian coast ; the minesweepers were detached and the two raiders and their destroyer escorts continued north . The following morning , radio - intercept officers on board " Prinz Eugen " picked up a signal ordering British reconnaissance aircraft to search for two battleships and three destroyers northbound off the Norwegian coast . At 7 : 00 on the 21st , the Germans spotted four unidentified aircraft , though they quickly departed . Shortly after 12 : 00 , the flotilla reached Bergen and anchored at Grimstadfjord . While there , the ships ' crews painted over the Baltic camouflage with the standard " outboard grey " worn by German warships operating in the Atlantic . While in Norway , a pair of Bf 109 fighters circled over " Bismarck " to protect her from British air attacks . Nevertheless , Flying Officer Michael Suckling managed to fly his Spitfire directly over the German flotilla at a height of and snap several photos of " Bismarck " and her consorts . Upon receipt of the information , Admiral John Tovey ordered the battlecruiser , the newly commissioned battleship , and six destroyers to reinforce the pair of cruisers patrolling the Denmark Strait . The rest of the Home Fleet was placed on high alert in Scapa Flow . Eighteen bombers were dispatched to attack the Germans , but weather over the fjord had worsened and they were unable to find the German warships . " Bismarck " failed to replenish her fuel stores while anchored in Norway , as her operational orders did not require her to do so . She had left port short of a full load , and had since expended another on the voyage from Gotenhafen . " Prinz Eugen " , meanwhile , took on of fuel . At 19 : 30 on 21 May , " Bismarck " , " Prinz Eugen " , and the three escorting destroyers left Bergen . At midnight , when the force was in the open sea and headed toward the Arctic Ocean , Raeder finally disclosed the operation to Hitler , who only reluctantly consented to the raid . The three escorting destroyers were detached at 04 : 14 on 22 May , while the force steamed off Trondheim . At around 12 : 00 , Lütjens ordered his two ships to turn toward the Denmark Strait to attempt the break - out into the open Atlantic . By 04 : 00 on 23 May , Lütjens ordered " Bismarck " and " Prinz Eugen " to increase speed to to make the dash through the Denmark Strait . Upon entering the Strait , both ships activated their FuMO radar detection equipment sets . " Bismarck " led " Prinz Eugen " by about ; mist reduced visibility to . The Germans encountered some ice at around 10 : 00 , which necessitated a reduction in speed to . Two hours later , the pair had reached a point north of Iceland . The ships were forced to zigzag to avoid ice floe s . At 19 : 22 , hydrophone and radar operators aboard the German warships detected the cruiser at a range of approximately . " Prinz Eugen " s radio - intercept team decrypted the radio signals being sent by " Suffolk " and learned that their location had indeed been reported . Lütjens gave permission for " Prinz Eugen " to engage " Suffolk " , though the captain of the German cruiser could not clearly make out his target and so held his ship ' s fire . " Suffolk " quickly retreated to a safe distance and shadowed the German ships . At 20 : 30 , the heavy cruiser joined " Suffolk " , but approached the German raiders too closely . Lütjens ordered his ships to engage the British cruiser ; " Bismarck " fired five salvoes , three of which straddled " Norfolk " and rained shell splinters on her decks . The cruiser laid a smoke screen and fled into a fog bank , ending the brief engagement . The concussion from the 38 cm guns ' firing disabled " Bismarck " s FuMO 23 radar set ; this prompted Lütjens to order " Prinz Eugen " to take station ahead so she could use her functioning radar to scout for the formation . At around 22 : 00 , Lütjens ordered " Bismarck " to make a 180 - degree turn in an effort to surprise the two heavy cruisers shadowing him . Although " Bismarck " was visually obscured in a rain squall , " Suffolk " s radar quickly detected the manoeuvre , allowing the cruiser to evade . The cruisers remained on station through the night , continually relaying the location and bearing of the German ships . The harsh weather broke on the morning of 24 May , revealing a clear sky . At 05 : 07 that morning , hydrophone operators aboard " Prinz Eugen " detected a pair of unidentified vessels approaching the German formation at a range of , reporting " Noise of two fast - moving turbine ships at 280° relative bearing ! " Battle of the Denmark Strait . At 05 : 45 , German lookouts spotted smoke on the horizon ; this turned out to be from " Hood " and " Prince of Wales " , under the command of Vice Admiral Lancelot Holland . Lütjens ordered his ships ' crews to battle stations . By 05 : 52 , the range had fallen to and " Hood " opened fire , followed by " Prince of Wales " a minute later . " Hood " engaged " Prinz Eugen " , which the British thought to be " Bismarck " , while " Prince of Wales " fired on " Bismarck " . Adalbert Schneider , the first gunnery officer aboard " Bismarck " , twice requested permission to return fire , but Lütjens hesitated . Lindemann intervened , muttering " I will not let my ship be shot out from under my ass . " He demanded permission to fire from Lütjens , who relented and at 05 : 55 ordered his ships to engage the British . The British ships approached the German ships head on , which permitted them to use only their forward guns , while " Bismarck " and " Prinz Eugen " could fire full broadside s . Several minutes after opening fire , Holland ordered a 20° turn to port , which would allow his ships to engage with their rear gun turrets . Both German ships concentrated their fire on " Hood " ; about a minute after opening fire , " Prinz Eugen " scored a hit with a high - explosive shell ; the explosion detonated Unrotated Projectile ammunition and started a large fire , which was quickly extinguished . After firing three four - gun salvos , Schneider had zeroed in the range to " Hood " ; he immediately ordered rapid - fire salvos from " Bismarck " s eight 38 cm guns . He also ordered the ship ' s 15 cm secondary guns to engage " Prince of Wales " . Holland then ordered a second 20° turn to port , to bring his ships on a parallel course with " Bismarck " and " Prinz Eugen " . Lütjens ordered " Prinz Eugen " to shift fire and target " Prince of Wales " , to keep both of his opponents under fire . Within a few minutes , " Prinz Eugen " scored a pair of hits on the battleship that started a small fire . Lütjens then ordered " Prinz Eugen " to drop behind " Bismarck " , so she could continue to monitor the location of " Norfolk " and " Suffolk " , which were still some to the east . At 06 : 00 , " Hood " was completing the second turn to port when " Bismarck " s fifth salvo hit . Two of the shells landed short , striking the water close to the ship , but at least one of the 38 cm armour - piercing shells struck " Hood " and penetrated her thin deck armour . The shell reached " Hood " s rear ammunition magazine and detonated of cordite propellant . The massive explosion broke the back of the ship between the main mast and the rear funnel ; the forward section continued to move forward briefly before the in - rushing water caused the bow to rise into the air at a steep angle . The stern similarly rose upward as water rushed into the ripped - open compartments . Schneider exclaimed " He is sinking ! " over the ship ' s loudspeakers . In only eight minutes of firing , " Hood " had disappeared , taking all but three of her crew of 1 , 419 men with her . " Bismarck " then shifted fire to " Prince of Wales " . The British battleship scored a hit on " Bismarck " with her sixth salvo , but the German ship found her mark with her first salvo . One of the shells struck the bridge on " Prince of Wales " , though it did not explode and instead exited the other side , killing everyone in the ship ' s command centre , save Captain John Leach , the ship ' s commander , and one other . The two German ships continued to fire upon " Prince of Wales " , causing serious damage . Guns malfunctioned on the recently commissioned British ship , which still had civilian technicians aboard . Despite her problematic main battery , " Prince of Wales " scored three hits on " Bismarck " in the engagement . The first struck her in the forecastle above the waterline , but low enough to allow the crashing waves to enter the hull . The second shell struck below the armoured belt and exploded on contact with the torpedo bulkhead , inflicting minimal damage . The third shell passed through one of the boats carried aboard the ship and then went through the float plane catapult without exploding . At 06 : 13 , Leach gave the order to retreat ; only two of his ship ' s ten guns were still firing and his ship had sustained significant damage . " Prince of Wales " made a 160° turn and laid a smoke screen to cover her withdrawal . The Germans ceased fire as the range widened . Though Lindemann strongly advocated chasing " Prince of Wales " and destroying her , Lütjens obeyed operational orders to shun any avoidable engagement with enemy forces that were not protecting a convoy , firmly rejected the request , and instead ordered " Bismarck " and " Prinz Eugen " to head for the North Atlantic . In the engagement , " Bismarck " had fired 93 armour - piercing shells and had been hit by three shells in return . The forecastle hit allowed of water to flood the ship , which contaminated fuel oil stored in the bow . Lütjens refused to reduce speed to allow damage control teams to repair the shell hole which widened and allowed more water into the ship . The second hit caused some flooding and splinters damaged a steam line in the turbo - generator room , though " Bismarck " had sufficient generator reserves that this was not problematic . The flooding from these two hits caused a 9 - degree list to port and a 3 - degree trim by the bow . The chase . After the engagement , Lütjens reported , " Battlecruiser , probably " Hood " , sunk . Another battleship , " King George V " or " Renown " , turned away damaged . Two heavy cruisers maintain contact . " At 08 : 01 , he transmitted a damage report and his intentions to OKM , which were to detach " Prinz Eugen " for commerce raiding and to make for Saint - Nazaire for repairs . Shortly after 10 : 00 , Lütjens ordered " Prinz Eugen " to fall behind " Bismarck " to discern the severity of the oil leakage from the bow hit . After confirming " broad streams of oil on both sides of [ " Bismarck " s ] wake " , " Prinz Eugen " returned to the forward position . About an hour later , a British Short Sunderland flying boat reported the oil slick to " Suffolk " and " Norfolk " , which had been joined by the damaged " Prince of Wales " . Rear Admiral Frederic Wake - Walker , the commander of the two cruisers , ordered " Prince of Wales " to remain behind his ships . The Royal Navy ordered all warships in the area to join the pursuit of " Bismarck " and " Prinz Eugen " . Tovey ' s Home Fleet was steaming to intercept the German raiders , but on the morning of 24 May , was still over away . The Admiralty ordered the light cruiser s , , and to patrol the Denmark Strait in the event that Lütjens attempted to retrace his route . The battleship , which had been escorting and was due for a refit in the Boston Navy Yard , joined Tovey . Two old s were ordered into the hunt : , from Halifax , and , which was escorting Convoy HX 127 . In all , six battleships and battlecruisers , two aircraft carriers , thirteen cruisers , and twenty - one destroyers were committed to the chase . By around 17 : 00 , the crew aboard " Prince of Wales " restored nine of her ten main guns to working order , which permitted Wake - Walker to place her in the front of his formation to attack " Bismarck " if the opportunity arose . With the weather worsening , Lütjens attempted to detach " Prinz Eugen " at 16 : 40 . The squall was not heavy enough to cover her withdrawal from Wake - Walker ' s cruisers , which continued to maintain radar contact . " Prinz Eugen " was therefore recalled temporarily . The cruiser was successfully detached at 18 : 14 . " Bismarck " turned around to face Wake - Walker ' s formation , forcing " Suffolk " to turn away at high speed . " Prince of Wales " fired twelve salvos at " Bismarck " , which responded with nine salvos , none of which hit . The action diverted British attention and permitted " Prinz Eugen " to slip away . After " Bismarck " resumed her previous heading , Wake - Walker ' s three ships took up station on " Bismarck " s port side . Although " Bismarck " had been damaged in the engagement and forced to reduce speed , she was still capable of reaching , the same maximum speed as Tovey ' s . Unless " Bismarck " could be slowed , the British would be unable to prevent her from reaching Saint - Nazaire . Shortly before 16 : 00 on 25 May , Tovey detached the aircraft carrier and four light cruisers to shape a course that would position her to launch her torpedo bomber s . At 22 : 00 , " Victorious " launched the strike , which comprised six Fairey Fulmar fighters and nine Fairey Swordfish torpedo bombers . The inexperienced aviators nearly attacked " Norfolk " on their approach ; the confusion alerted " Bismarck " s anti - aircraft gunners . " Bismarck " even used her main and secondary batteries to fire at maximum depression to create giant splashes in the paths of the incoming torpedo bombers . Nevertheless , none of the attacking aircraft were shot down . " Bismarck " evaded eight of the nine torpedoes launched at her . The ninth struck amidships on the main armoured belt and caused minor damage . The concussive shock threw one man into a wall and killed him ; five others were injured . The explosive shock from the torpedo hit caused minor damage to electrical equipment , though the high speed and erratic manoeuvres used to evade the torpedoes inflicted more serious damage . The rapid shifts in speed and course loosened collision mats , so that flooding from the forward shell hole increased ; eventually the port side number 2 boiler room had to be abandoned . The loss of now two boilers on the port shaft , coupled with decreasing fuel levels and the increasing bow trim , forced a reduction in speed to . Divers repaired the collision mats in the bow , after which speed increased to . The command staff had determined that this was the most economical speed for the voyage to occupied France . Shortly after the Swordfish departed the scene , " Bismarck " and " Prince of Wales " engaged in a brief artillery duel . Both ships failed to score any hits . " Bismarck " s damage control teams resumed work after the short engagement . The sea water that had flooded the number 2 port side boiler threatened to enter the number 4 turbo - generator feedwater system , which would have permitted saltwater to reach the turbines . The saltwater would have destroyed the turbine blades and thus greatly reduced the ship ' s speed . By morning on 25 May , the danger had passed . The ship slowed to to allow divers to pump fuel from the forward compartments to the rear tanks ; two hoses were successfully connected and a few hundred tons of fuel were transferred . As the chase entered open waters , Wake - Walker ' s ships were compelled to zig - zag to avoid German U - boats that might be in the area . This required the ships to steam for ten minutes to port , then ten minutes to starboard , to keep the ships on the same base course . For the last few minutes of the turn to port , " Bismarck " was out of range of " Suffolk " s radar . At 03 : 00 on the morning of 25 May , Lütjens ordered the ship increase to maximum speed , which at this point was . He then ordered the ship to circle away to the west and then north . This manoeuvre coincided with the period during which his ship was out of radar range ; " Bismarck " successfully broke radar contact and circled back behind her pursuers . " Suffolk " s captain assumed that " Bismarck " had broken off to the west and attempted to find her by steaming west , too . After half an hour , he informed Wake - Walker , who ordered the three ships to disperse at daylight to search visually . The Royal Navy search became frantic , as many of the British ships were low on fuel . " Victorious " and her escorting cruisers were sent west , Wake - Walker ' s ships continued to the south and west , and Tovey continued to steam toward the mid - Atlantic . Force H , centred on the aircraft carrier and steaming up from Gibraltar , was still at least a day away . Unaware that he had shaken off Wake - Walker , Lütjens sent long radio messages to Naval Group West , based in Paris . These signals were intercepted by the British , from which bearings were determined . They were erroneously plotted , which kept Tovey ' s fleet on wrong courses for seven hours . By the time the mistake had been discovered , " Bismarck " was gone . British code - breakers were able to decrypt some of the German signals , including an order for Lütjens to make for Brest . The French Resistance provided the British with confirmation , as Luftwaffe units were relocating to Brest to provide support . Tovey could now turn his forces toward France to converge in areas through which " Bismarck " would have to pass . A squadron of Coastal Command PBY Catalina s based in Northern Ireland joined the search , covering areas where " Bismarck " might be headed in her attempt to reach occupied France . At 10 : 30 on 26 May , a Catalina piloted by Ensign Leonard B . Smith of the US Navy located her , some northwest of Brest . At her current speed , she would have been close enough to reach the protection of U - boats and the Luftwaffe in less than a day . There were no British forces close enough to stop her . The only possibility for the Royal Navy was " Ark Royal " with Force H , under the command of Admiral James Somerville . " Victorious " , " Prince of Wales " , " Suffolk " , and were forced to break off the search due to fuel concerns ; the only heavy ships remaining apart from Force H were " King George V " and " Rodney " , but they were too distant . " Ark Royal " s Swordfish were already searching nearby when the Catalina found her . Several torpedo bombers also located the battleship , about away from " Ark Royal " . Somerville ordered an attack as soon as the Swordfish returned and were rearmed with torpedoes . He detached the cruiser to shadow " Bismarck " , though " Ark Royal " s aviators were not informed of this . As a result , the Swordfish , which were armed with torpedoes equipped with new magnetic detonator s , accidentally attacked " Sheffield " . The magnetic detonators failed to work properly , and " Sheffield " emerged unscathed . Upon returning to " Ark Royal " , the Swordfish loaded torpedoes equipped with contact detonators . The second attack comprised fifteen aircraft and was launched at 19 : 10 . At 20 : 47 , the torpedo bombers began their attack descent through the clouds . While the Swordfish approached , " Bismarck " fired her main battery at " Sheffield " , straddling the cruiser with her second salvo . Shell fragments rained down on " Sheffield " , killing three men and wounding several others . " Sheffield " quickly retreated under cover of a smoke screen . The Swordfish then attacked ; " Bismarck " began to turn violently while her anti - aircraft batteries attempted to destroy the incoming bombers . She evaded most of the torpedoes , though two found their mark . One hit amidships on the port side , just below the bottom edge of the main armour belt . The force of the explosion was largely contained by the underwater protection system and the belt armour , but some structural damage was effected , which allowed minor flooding . The second torpedo struck " Bismarck " in her stern on the port side , near the port rudder shaft . The coupling on the port rudder assembly was badly damaged and the rudder could not be disengaged , locked in a 12° turn to port . The explosion also caused major shock damage . The crew repeatedly attempted to regain steering control . They eventually managed to repair the starboard rudder , but the port rudder remained badly jammed . A suggestion to sever the port rudder with explosives was dismissed by Lütjens , as damage to the screws would have left the battleship helpless . At 21 : 15 , Lütjens reported that the ship was unmanoeuvrable . Sinking . With the port rudder jammed , " Bismarck " was now steaming in a large circle , unable to escape from Tovey ' s forces . Though fuel shortages had reduced the number of ships available to the British , the battleships " King George V " and " Rodney " were still available , along with the heavy cruisers " Dorsetshire " and " Norfolk " . Lütjens signalled headquarters at 21 : 40 on the 26th : " Ship unmanoeuvrable . We will fight to the last shell . Long live the Führer . " The mood of the crew became increasingly depressed , especially as messages from the naval command reached the ship . Intended to boost morale , the messages only highlighted the desperate situation in which the crew found itself . In the growing darkness , " Bismarck " briefly fired on " Sheffield " , though the cruiser quickly fled . " Sheffield " lost contact in the low visibility ; Captain Philip Vian ' s group of five destroyers were now tasked with keeping contact with " Bismarck " throughout the night . The ships encountered " Bismarck " at 22 : 38 ; the battleship quickly engaged them with her main battery . After firing three salvos , she straddled the Polish destroyer . The destroyer continued to close the range until a near miss at around forced her to turn away . Throughout the night and into the morning , Vian ' s destroyers continually harried " Bismarck " , illuminating her with star shell s and firing dozens of torpedoes , none of which hit . Between 05 : 00 and 06 : 00 , " Bismarck " s crew attempted to launch one of the Arado 196 float planes to carry away the ship ' s war diary , footage of the engagement with " Hood " , and other important documents . The third shell hit from " Prince of Wales " had damaged the steam line on the aircraft catapult , rendering it inoperative . Unable to launch the aircraft , the crew simply pushed it overboard . After daybreak on 27 May , " King George V " led the attack . " Rodney " followed off her port quarter ; Tovey intended to steam directly at " Bismarck " until he was about away . At that point , he would turn south to put his ships parallel to his target . At 08 : 43 , lookouts on " King George V " spotted her , some away . Four minutes later , " Rodney " s two forward turrets , a total of six guns , opened fire , then " King George V " s guns began firing . " Bismarck " returned fire at 08 : 50 with her forward guns ; with her second salvo , she straddled " Rodney " . As the range fell , the ships ' secondary batteries joined the battle . " Norfolk " and " Dorsetshire " closed and began firing with their guns . At 09 : 02 , a 16 - inch shell from " Rodney " struck " Bismarck " s forward superstructure , killing hundreds of men and severely damaging the two forward turrets . According to survivors , this salvo probably killed both Lindemann and Lütjens and the rest of the bridge staff . The forward main battery was now effectively disabled , though it would manage to fire one last salvo at 09 : 27 . One of " Bismarck " s shells exploded 20 feet off " Rodney " s bow and rendered her starboard torpedo tube useless — the closest " Bismarck " came to a direct hit on her opponents . The main gunnery control station was quickly destroyed . Lieutenant von Müllenheim in the rear control station took over firing control for the rear turrets . He managed to fire three salvos before a shell destroyed the gun director , disabling his equipment . He gave the order for the still active guns to fire independently , but by 09 : 31 , all four main battery turrets had been neutralised . By 10 : 00 , Tovey ' s two battleships had fired over 700 main battery shells , many at very close range ; " Bismarck " had been reduced to a shambles , aflame from stem to stern . She suffered from a 20° list to port and was low in the water by the stern . " Rodney " closed to , point - blank range for guns of that size , and continued to hammer away at the battered hulk . Tovey could not cease fire until the Germans struck their ensigns or it became clear they were abandoning ship . " Rodney " fired two torpedoes from her port - side tube and claimed one hit . According to Ludovic Kennedy this claim , " if true , [ is ] the only instance in history of one battleship torpedoing another " . First Officer Hans Oels ordered the men below decks to abandon ship ; he instructed the engine room crews to open the ship ' s watertight doors and prepare scuttling charges . Gerhard Junack , the chief engineering officer , ordered his men to set the demolition charges with a 9 - minute fuse , but the intercom system broke down , and so he sent a messenger to confirm the order to scuttle the ship . The messenger never returned , and so Junack primed the charges and ordered the crew to abandon the ship . Junack and his comrades heard the demolition charges detonate as they made their way up through the various levels . In the meantime , Oels rushed throughout the ship , ordering men to abandon their posts . After he reached the deck a huge explosion killed him and about a hundred others . The four British ships fired more than 2 , 800 shells at " Bismarck " , and scored more than 400 hits , but were unable to sink " Bismarck " by gunfire . At around 10 : 20 , running low on fuel , Tovey ordered the cruiser " Dorsetshire " to sink " Bismarck " with torpedoes , and sent his battleships back to port . " Dorsetshire " fired a pair of torpedoes into " Bismarck " s starboard side , one of which hit . " Dorsetshire " then moved around to her port side and fired another torpedo , which also hit . By the time that these torpedo attacks took place , the ship was already listing so badly that the deck was partly awash . It appears that the final torpedo may have detonated against " Bismarck " s port side superstructure , which was by then already underwater . Around 10 : 35 , " Bismarck " capsized to port and slowly sank by the stern , disappearing from the surface at 10 : 40 . Some survivors reported they saw Captain Lindemann standing at attention at the stem of the ship as she sank . Junack , who had abandoned ship by the time it capsized , observed no underwater damage to the ship ' s starboard side . Von Müllenheim - Rechberg reported the same assessment , but assumed that the port side , which was then under water , had been more significantly damaged . Around 400 men were now in the water ; " Dorsetshire " and the destroyer moved in and lowered ropes to pull the survivors aboard . At 11 : 40 , " Dorsetshire " s captain ordered the rescue effort abandoned after lookouts spotted what they thought was a U - boat . " Dorsetshire " had rescued 85 men and " Maori " had picked up 25 by the time they left the scene . A U - boat later reached the survivors and found three men , and a German trawler rescued another two . One of the men picked up by the British died of his wounds the following day . Out of a crew of over 2 , 200 men , only 114 survived . " Bismarck " was mentioned in the " Wehrmachtbericht " ( armed forces report ) three times during Operation " Rheinübung " . The first was an account of the Battle of the Denmark Strait ; the second was a brief account of the ship ' s destruction , and the third was an exaggerated claim that " Bismarck " had sunk a British destroyer and shot down five aircraft . In 1959 , C . S . Forester published his novel " Last Nine Days of the Bismarck . " The book was adapted for the movie " Sink the Bismarck ! , " released the following year . For dramatic effect the film showed " Bismarck " sinking a British destroyer and shooting down two aircraft , neither of which happened . That same year , Johnny Horton released the song " Sink the Bismarck " . Wreckage . Discovery by Robert Ballard . The wreck of " Bismarck " was discovered on 8 June 1989 by Dr . Robert Ballard , the oceanographer responsible for finding the . " Bismarck " was found to be resting upright at a depth of approximately , about west of Brest . The ship struck an extinct underwater volcano , which rose some above the surrounding abyssal plain , triggering a landslide . " Bismarck " slid down the mountain , coming to a stop two - thirds down . Ballard ' s survey found no underwater penetrations of the ship ' s fully armoured citadel . Eight holes were found in the hull , one on the starboard side and seven on the port side , all above the waterline . One of the holes is in the deck , on the bow ' s starboard side . The angle and shape indicates the shell that created the hole was fired from " Bismarck " s port side and struck the starboard anchor chain . The anchor chain has disappeared down this hole . Six holes are amidships , three shell fragments pierced the upper splinter belt , and one made a hole in the main armour belt . Further aft a huge hole is visible , parallel to the aircraft catapult , on the deck . It is unclear whether this was a result of an internal magazine explosion due to a shell penetration of the ship ' s armour . The submersibles recorded no sign of a shell penetration through the main or side armour that could have caused this ; it is likely that the shell penetrated the deck armour only . Huge dents showed that many of the 14 inch shells fired by " King George V " bounced off the German belt armour . Ballard noted that he found no evidence of the internal implosions that occur when a hull that is not fully flooded sinks . The surrounding water , which has much greater pressure than the air in the hull , would crush the ship . Instead , Ballard points out that the hull is in relatively good condition ; he states simply that " " Bismarck " did not implode . " This suggests that " Bismarck " s compartments were flooded when the ship sank , supporting the scuttling theory . Ballard added " we found a hull that appears whole and relatively undamaged by the descent and impact " . They concluded that the direct cause of sinking was scuttling : sabotage of engine - room valves by her crew , as claimed by German survivors . Ballard kept the wreck ' s exact location a secret to prevent other divers from taking artefacts from the ship , a practice he considered a form of grave robbing . The whole stern had broken away ; as it was not near the main wreckage and as of 2010 had not been found , it can be assumed this did not occur on impact with the sea floor . The missing section came away roughly where the torpedo had hit , raising questions of possible structural failure . The stern area had also received several hits , increasing the torpedo damage . This , coupled with the fact the ship sank " stern first " and had no structural support to hold it in place , suggests the stern detached at the surface . In 1942 " Prinz Eugen " was also torpedoed in the stern , which subsequently collapsed . This prompted a strengthening of the stern structures on all German capital ships . Subsequent expeditions . In June 2001 , Deep Ocean Expeditions , partnered with Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute , conducted another investigation of the wreck . The researchers used Russian - built mini - subs . William N . Lange , a Woods Hole expert , stated , " You see a large number of shell holes in the superstructure and deck , but not that many along the side , and none below the waterline . " The expedition found no penetrations in the main armoured belt , above or below the waterline . The examiners noted several long gashes in the hull , but attributed these to impact on the sea floor . An Anglo - American expedition in July 2001 was funded by a British TV channel . The team used the volcano — the only one in that area — to locate the wreck . Using ROVs to film the hull , the team concluded that the ship had sunk due to combat damage . Expedition leader David Mearns claimed significant gashes had been found in the hull : " My feeling is that those holes were probably lengthened by the slide , but initiated by torpedoes " . The 2002 documentary " " , directed by James Cameron and filmed in May – June 2002 using smaller and more agile MIR submersibles , reconstructed the events leading to the sinking . These provided the first interior shots . His findings were that there was not enough damage below the waterline to confirm that she had been sunk rather than scuttled . Close inspection of the wreckage confirmed that none of the torpedoes or shells had penetrated the second layer of the inner hull . Using small ROVs to examine the interior , Cameron discovered that the torpedo blasts had failed to shatter the torpedo bulkheads . Despite their sometimes differing viewpoints , these experts generally agree that " Bismarck " would have eventually foundered if the Germans had not scuttled her first . Ballard estimated that " Bismarck " could still have floated for at least a day when the British vessels ceased fire and could have been captured by the Royal Navy , a position supported by the historian Ludovic Kennedy ( who was serving on the destroyer " Tartar " at the time ) . Kennedy stated , " That she would have foundered eventually there can be little doubt ; but the scuttling ensured that it was sooner rather than later . " When asked whether " Bismarck " would have sunk if the Germans had not scuttled the ship , Cameron replied " Sure . But it might have taken half a day . " In Mearns ' subsequent book " Hood and Bismarck " , he conceded that scuttling " may have hastened the inevitable , but only by a matter of minutes . " Ballard later concluded that " As far as I was concerned , the British had sunk the ship regardless of who delivered the final blow . " Footnotes . Notes Citations References . Online sources