Good Morning:On the eve of Memorial Day weekend...

[Okla-homey]

Raise a glass to the immortal memory of 1500 brave Allied sailors who died in a single instant during WWII. This installment was originally broadcast last year. New pics have been added for your viewing pleasure.

May 24, 1941 Bismarck sinks HMS Hood

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Hood sallies forth to intercept Bismarck

66 years ago on this day in 1941, Germany's largest battleship, Bismarck, sinks the pride of the British fleet, HMS Hood.

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Stern view of the Nazi behemoth Bismarck

Bismarck was the most modern of Germany's battleships, a prize coveted by other nation's navies, even while still in the blueprint stage (Hitler handed over a copy of its blueprints to Joseph Stalin as a concession during the days of the Hitler-Stalin neutrality pact).

HMS Hood, originally launched in 1918, was Britain's largest battle cruiser (41,200 tons)-but also capable of achieving the relatively fast speed of 31 knots. IOW, you could water ski behind her with a very long ski rope.

Hood was designed during the post-WWI period in which British naval architects believed warships could be more effective relying on great speed than weighty steel armor. Thus, they traded-off lighter armor for speed. In fact, Hood had hardly any horizontal armor at all beneath her decks and thus the plunging fire she received from Bismarck was hardly prevented from penetrating deep into her vital areas.

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Hood's crest

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Hood photographed during happier days in 1924 enroute to Australia.

The two ships met in the North Atlantic, northeast of Iceland, where Hood and her sister ship HMS Prince of Wales had tracked down Bismarck. Commanded by Admiral Gunther Lutjens, commander-in-chief of the German Fleet, Bismarck sunk Hood, resulting in the death of 1,500 of its crew; only three Brits survived. Prince of Wales took to her heels after witnessing Hood's destruction

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The death of HMS Hood. She went down with a loss of all but three hands due to a direct 15" main battery Bismarck hit on one of Hood's ammunition magazines which resulted in a catastrophic explosion.

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Snapshot by German sailor of Bismarck's engagement with Hood shot on this day in 1941. Those spashes are the impact of Bismarck's 15" guns striking the sea around Hood which can be seen between the plumes.

During the engagement, Bismarck's oil bunker was damaged. The breach contaminated her fuel supply with seawater and made tracking her easier because she left an oily film trail like a garden slug as she made for port and the relative safety Luftwaffe land-based aircover could provide. Lutjens tried desperately to make for the French coast, but was sighted again only three days later.

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Flight of Fairey "Swordfish." The rag-wing biplanes proved they could still be effective in modern naval warfare in 1941 when flown by very dedicated two-man crews.

Torpedoed to the point of incapacity by Royal Navy carrier based Fairey "Swordfish" torpedo bombers, Bismarck was finally sunk by a task force of British war ships especially assembled for the purpose of sending the Nazi menace to the bottom. Admiral Lutjens was one of the 2,300 German casualties.

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Bismarck underway as photographed from the deck of escort cruiser Prinz Eugen.

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Hood was named for Samuel Hood, 1st Viscount Hood (12 December 1724 – 27 January 1816) a British admiral who served during the American Revolutionary era. Admiral Lord Nelson said of him, "he was the greatest sea officer I ever knew."

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[SoonerStormchaser]

Didn't the guy who sang "Battle of New Orleans" also sing "Sink the Bismarck?"

[VeeJay]

Homey - I know this is probably inappropriate for this thread, but you said "penetrating deep into her vital areas."

Faux pas or trying to slip one by us?

[TUSooner]

Nice one, Homey.
Coffee cup raised; drinking glass to follow at the proper time for all those who gave "the last full measure of devotion."

[Harry Beanbag]

Didn't the guy who sang "Battle of New Orleans" also sing "Sink the Bismarck?"


Yes, Johnny Horton.


http://www.luma-electronic.cz/lp/h/Horton/horton_makeshistory.jpg

[1stTimeCaller]

That is one great big fish habitat.

[royalfan5]

The Germans did have a knack for taking out British ships in one salvo. It should also be noted that the Germans built some of the toughest Capital ships around. The Bismarck took a amazing amount of punishment, and still had to be helped to the bottom by it's crews own hand. The British really got lucky that the torpedo took out the Bismarck's steering. Had the Bismarck made it to France, and survived awhile, it would of posed an interesting threat during D-Day.

[picasso]

The Germans did have a knack for taking out British ships in one salvo. It should also be noted that the Germans built some of the toughest Capital ships around. The Bismarck took a amazing amount of punishment, and still had to be helped to the bottom by it's crews own hand. The British really got lucky that the torpedo took out the Bismarck's steering. Had the Bismarck made it to France, and survived awhile, it would of posed an interesting threat during D-Day.
ah the stupid Germans wouldn't have deployed it wisely anyway. Look how they misused all of their armor in the early stages of D-Day.

[royalfan5]

ah the stupid Germans wouldn't have deployed it wisely anyway. Look how they misused all of their armor in the early stages of D-Day.
That may be, but it would have had to be accounted for.

[picasso]

yeah, he would have had them place the ship way up north prior to our invasion. that's where the real one was going to take place.:D

God was definitely on our side. As my father now says, God may not be on our side in the next big one.

[Harry Beanbag]

The Germans did have a knack for taking out British ships in one salvo. It should also be noted that the Germans built some of the toughest Capital ships around. The Bismarck took a amazing amount of punishment, and still had to be helped to the bottom by it's crews own hand. The British really got lucky that the torpedo took out the Bismarck's steering. Had the Bismarck made it to France, and survived awhile, it would of posed an interesting threat during D-Day.


A threat during D-Day three years later? No way the Allies would have let that thing live that long. If it actually would have made it back to France, I doubt it would have ever left. The British would have sent every plane in the RAF to blow her up in drydock. It's operational life was less than two weeks as it was. After the sinking of the Bismarck, Hitler was so afraid of losing her sister ship Tirpitz, that he kept it in Norwegian fjords for the next three years, basically relegating her to irrelevance.

[royalfan5]

A threat during D-Day three years later? No way the Allies would have let that thing live that long. If it actually would have made it back to France, I doubt it would have ever left. The British would have sent every plane in the RAF to blow her up in drydock. It's operational life was less than two weeks as it was. After the sinking of the Bismarck, Hitler was so afraid of losing her sister ship Tirpitz, that he kept it in Norwegian fjords for the next three years, basically relegating her to irrelevance.
If it had gotten through unscathed, a lot of things could have happened in three years. It's an alternate history theory, you don't have to over analyze it. I mean if the Bismarck had survived, perhaps the British don't lose the Prince of Wales and the Repulse in the Pacific that December because they would have been kept back to defend the Islands.

[Okla-homey]

If it had gotten through unscathed, a lot of things could have happened in three years. It's an alternate history theory, you don't have to over analyze it. I mean if the Bismarck had survived, perhaps the British don't lose the Prince of Wales and the Repulse in the Pacific that December because they would have been kept back to defend the Islands.

Bismarck could not have survived an hour within 75nm of Britain. The RN wouldn't have to have been kept back to guard against her either. The RAF could have killed her easily.

[royalfan5]

Bismarck could not have survived an hour within 75nm of Britain. The RN wouldn't have to have been kept back to guard against her either. The RAF could have killed her easily.
Maybe not in 1943, but in May of 1941 I think the Kriegsmarine could have kept things going for awhile if they successfully broke out to sea. The Royal Navy couldn't get too carried away chasing the Bismarck, if they don't knock out the steering because of the U-Boat threat, as well as the Scharnhorst and Gneisnau still capable of wreaking havok at that time.

[Okla-homey]

Maybe not in 1943, but in May of 1941 I think the Kriegsmarine could have kept things going for awhile if they successfully broke out to sea. The Royal Navy couldn't get too carried away chasing the Bismarck, if they don't knock out the steering because of the U-Boat threat, as well as the Scharnhorst and Gneisnau still capable of wreaking havok at that time.

D00d,
Ragwing carrier-based Fairey Swordfish nailed the Bismarck. Had she been within range of land-based aircraft at anytime after June 1940, she would have went down like Paris Hilton.

[royalfan5]

D00d,
Ragwing carrier-based Fairey Swordfish nailed the Bismarck. Had she been within range of land-based aircraft at anytime after June 1940, she would have went down like Paris Hilton.
The British let the Scharnhorst and Gneisnau sat in Brest from March until February of 1942 and then ran the channel without the British being able to do **** about it. The British were unable to sink them in port despite repeated attacks, and only damaged the Scharnhorst when it moved south as a decoy. Both of those ships, were a bigger threat as raiders than the Bismarck, and the British were unable to sink them.

[Harry Beanbag]

D00d,
Ragwing carrier-based Fairey Swordfish nailed the Bismarck. Had she been within range of land-based aircraft at anytime after June 1940, she would have went down like Paris Hilton.


No kidding. The RAF was probably ****ed that the Royal Navy finished her off before she made it to drydock 100 miles from England. The minute Bismarck left Germany she was living on borrowed time.

And playing the alternate history theory card, say Bismarck made it to safety and was repaired. By that time, the U.S. Army Air Corps would have been sending 300 B-17s at a time to bomb the poor thing during daylight hours. But if she was still around and knowing how cautious he was, I would hazard a guess that Ike would have withheld the Invasion until she was on the bottom of the ocean, meaning it would be priority number one.

The surface German navy was nothing to write home about and had no hope of protecting this one great ship.

[Mixer!]

bumpadump.

[Jerk]

Awesome thread.

[Rogue]

Johnny Horton was the singer mentioned earlier.

I thought Homey was making a triumphant return.
Alas, he's being recycled in a great way though.

[r5TPsooner]

Good stuff, thanks Homey!

[Preservation Parcels]

Recycled Homey is better than no Homey at all. You're missed, though, especially at this time of year when you who served our country so well are appreciated all the more.

A deep, heartfelt thanks to you, Homey.

[StoopTroup]

Recycled Homey is better than no Homey at all. You're missed, though, especially at this time of year when you who served our country so well are appreciated all the more.

A deep, heartfelt thanks to you, Homey.

Agreed.

Thanks Homey!