Operation Rheinübung
Encyclopedia
Operation Rheinübung was the sortie
into the Atlantic by the new German
battleship
Bismarck
and heavy cruiser
Prinz Eugen
on 18–27 May 1941, during World War II
. This operation to block Allied shipping to England culminated in the sinking of Bismarck.
s, the island of Britain was dependent upon huge numbers of merchant ships to bring in food and essential raw materials, and protecting this lifeline was one of the highest priorities for British forces. Likewise, Germany recognised that, if this lifeline could be severed, Britain would be defeated, regardless of any other factor.
Operation Rheinubung was the latest in a series of raids on Allied shipping carried out by surface units of the Kriegsmarine
.
It was preceded by Operation Berlin, a highly successful sortie by Scharnhorst
and Gneisenau
which ended in March 1941.
By May 1941, the Kriegsmarine battleships Scharnhorst
and Gneisenau
were at Brest
, on the western coast of France
, posing a serious threat to the Atlantic convoys, and were heavily bombed by the RAF. The original plan was to have both ships involved in the operation, but Scharnhorst was undergoing heavy repairs to her engines, and Gneisenau had just suffered a damaging torpedo hit days before which put her out of action for 6 months.
This left the just two new warships available to the Germans: the battleship Bismarck and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen (while the Kriegsmarine had three servicable light cruisers, none had the endurance necessary for a long Atlantic operation), both initially stationed in the Baltic Sea
.
The aim of the operation was for Bismarck and Prinz Eugen to break into the Atlantic and attack Allied shipping. Großadmiral
Erich Raeder
's orders to 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 her 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."
To support and provide facilities for the capital ships to refuel and rearm, German Naval Command (OKM) established a network of tankers and supply ships in the Rheinubung operational area.
7 tankers and 2 supply ships were sent as far afield as Labrador
in the west and the Cape Verde islands in the south.
Lütjens had requested that Raeder delay Rheinübung long enough either for Scharnhorst to complete repairs to her engines and be made combat worthy and to rendezvous at sea with Bismarck and Prinz Eugen or for Bismarcks sister-ship Tirpitz
to accompany them. Raeder had refused, as Scharnhorst would not be ready until early July. The crew of the newly-completed Tirpitz was not yet fully trained, and Raeder cited the coming German invasion of Crete as a reason for disrupting Allied supply lines and diverting strength from the Mediterranean.
To meet the threat from German surface ships, the British had stationed at Scapa Flow
the new battleships HMS King George V
(sometimes referred to as KGV) and HMS Prince of Wales
(PoW) as well as the elderly battlecruiser HMS Hood
. Elsewhere, at Gibraltar
, at Halifax, Nova Scotia
and at sea in the Atlantic were the battleships Revenge
, Rodney
and Ramillies
, the battlecruisers Repulse
and Renown
, and the aircraft carriers HMS Ark Royal
and Victorious
. Cruisers and air patrols provided the fleet's 'eyes'. At sea, or due to sail shortly, were 11 convoys, including a troop convoy.
OKM did not take into account the Royal Navy's determination to destroy the German surface fleet. To make sure Bismarck was sunk, the Royal Navy would ruthlessly strip other theatres of action. This would include denuding valuable convoys of their escorts. The British would ultimately deploy six battleships, three battlecruiser
s, two aircraft carrier
s, 16 cruisers, 33 destroyer
s and eight submarine
s, along with patrol aircraft. It would become the largest naval force assigned to a single operation up to that point in the war.
At 2:00 am, 19 May, Bismarck left Gotenhafen (now Gdynia
, Poland
), the heavy cruiser
Prinz Eugen
having already left at about 21:00 the previous day, both ships proceeded under escort, separately and rendezvoused off Cape Arkona on Rügen Island in the western Baltic. They then proceeded through the Danish Islands into the Kattegat. Entering the Kattegat
on 20 May Bismarck
and Prinz Eugen
sailed north toward the Skaggerak, the straight between Jutland
and Southern Norway where they were sighted by the Swedish aircraft-carrying cruiser Gotland on around 1:00 pm. Gotland forwarded the sighting in a routine report.
On 21 May, the Admiralty
was alerted by sources in the Swedish
government that two large warships had been seen in the Kattegat
. The ships entered the North Sea
and took a brief refuge in a fjord
near Bergen
, Norway
on 21 May, making a break for the Atlantic shipping lanes on the 22nd. By this time, Hood and Prince of Wales, with escorting destroyers, were en route to the Denmark Strait
, where two cruisers, Norfolk
and Suffolk
were already patrolling. The cruisers Manchester
and Birmingham
were to guard the waters south-east of Iceland
.
Once the departure of the German ships was discovered, Admiral of the Fleet
Sir John Tovey, the Commander-in-Chief of the British Home Fleet, sailed with the King George V, Victorious and their escorts to support those already at sea. Repulse joined soon afterwards.
On the evening of 23 May, Suffolk sighted Bismarck and Prinz Eugen in the Denmark Strait, close to the Greenland
coast. The Admiralty was alerted and Norfolk and Suffolk, hopelessly out-gunned, shadowed the German ships. British naval groups were redirected to either intercept Lutjens' force or to cover the troop convoy.
Then, at about 6 am, one or more of Hoods magazines exploded, probably as the result of another shell hit from Bismarck. The explosion broke the great battlecruiser's back, and she sank within minutes. All but three of her 1,417-man crew died.
Prince of Wales continued the action, but suffered badly, receiving multiple hits with 15-inch and 8-inch shells, and experiencing repeated mechanical failures with her main armament. Her commanding officer, Captain Leach, wounded when one of Bismarck's shells struck Prince of Wales bridge, broke off the action, and the British battleship retreated under cover of a smokescreen.
Bismarck had been hit only two (or perhaps three) times. All of the hits had been inflicted by Prince of Wales 14-inch guns. One of the hits had penetrated the German battleship's hull near the bow, rupturing her fuel tanks, causing her to leak oil continuously and at a serious rate. This was to be a critical factor as the pursuit continued, forcing Bismarck to make for Brest instead of escaping into the great expanse of the Atlantic. The resulting oil slick also helped the British cruisers to shadow her.
At 10 pm, Victorious was 120 miles away and launched an air attack with nine Fairey Swordfish
torpedo bomber
s, which were guided in by Norfolk. In poor weather, and against heavy fire, they attacked and made a single torpedo hit under the bridge
. However, up against strong belt armour and torpedo bulge
s, they failed to cause substantial damage. The attacking aircraft were all safely recovered by Victorious, despite poor weather, darkness, aircrew inexperience and the failure of the carrier's homing beacon.
At 3 am on 25 May, the British shadowers lost contact with Bismarck. At first, it was thought that she would return to the North Sea and ships were directed accordingly. By the time it was realised that she was heading for Brest Bismarck had broken the naval cordon and gained a lead. By 11 pm she was well to the east of Tovey's force and had managed to evade Rodney. Bismarck was short of fuel, due to the damaging hit inflicted by Prince of Wales, but was able to outrun the British Home Fleet. From the south, however, Somerville's Force H with the carrier Ark Royal
, the battlecruiser Renown, and the light cruiser HMS Sheffield
were approaching to intercept.
The British ships were also beginning to run low on fuel and the escape of Bismarck seemed more and more certain. However, at 10:30 am, on 26 May, a Catalina
flying-boat, based at Lough Erne
, Northern Ireland
, found Bismarck. She was 700 miles from Brest and not within range of Luftwaffe
air cover.
This contact was taken over by two Swordfish from Ark Royal. This carrier now launched an air strike, but her aircrew were unaware of Sheffield's proximity to Bismarck, mistook the British cruiser for the German battleship and therefore immediately attacked her. Their torpedoes had been fitted with influence detonators, and several of them exploded prematurely. Others missed their target, and the attacking aircraft then received a warning from Ark Royal that Sheffield was in the vicinity, whereupon the Swordfish finally recognized the cruiser and broke off the attack.
Ark Royal now launched, in almost impossibly bad weather conditions for air operations, and from a distance of less than 40 miles upwind of Bismarck, a second strike consisting of 15 Swordfish. These were carrying torpedoes equipped with the standard and reliable contact detonators. The attack resulted in two or three hits on the German ship, one of which inflicted critical damage on her steering. A jammed rudder now meant she could now only sail away from her intended destination of Brest. At midnight, Lutjens signalled his headquarters: "Ship unmanoeuvrable. We shall fight to the last shell. Long live the Führer
."
Bismarck's end The battleships Rodney and King George V waited for daylight on 27 May before attacking. At 8:47 am, they opened fire, quickly hitting Bismarck. Her gunners achieved near misses on Rodney, but the British ships had silenced most of the German guns within half an hour. Despite close range shelling by Rodney, a list to port and widespread fires, Bismarck did not sink.
According to Ballard's underwater surveys in recent years the British guns achieved only four penetrations of Bismarcks armour, two through the upper armour belt on the starboard side from King George V and two on the port side from Rodney. These four hits occurred at about 10:00 am, at close range, causing heavy casualties among the sheltering crew.
Nearly out of fuel – and mindful of possible U-boat
attacks – the British battleships left for home. The heavy cruiser HMS Dorsetshire
attacked with torpedoes and made three hits. Scuttling
charges were soon set off by German sailors, and at 10:40 am, Bismarck capsized and sank. Dorsetshire and the destroyer HMS Maori
rescued 110 survivors. After an hour, rescue work was abruptly ended when there were reports of a U-boat presence. Another five survivors were picked up by U-74 and the German weather ship
Sachsenwald. Over 2,000 died.
mission without sinking any merchant ships, and made her way to Brest, arriving on 1 June.
In the action, just two U-boats had sighted the British forces, but neither was able to attack. In the aftermath, the British ships were able to evade the patrol lines as they returned to base; there were no further U-boat contacts.
The Luftwaffe
also organized sorties against the Home Fleet, but none were successful until 28 May, when planes from Kg77 attacked and sank destroyer Mashona.
After Rheinubung the Royal Navy made a concerted effort to round up the network of supply ships deployed to refuel and rearm the Rheinubung ships. The first success came on 3 June, when the tanker Belchen was discovered by cruisers Aurora and Kenya south of Greenland
.
On 4 June tanker Gedania was found in mid-Atlantic by Marsdale, while 100 miles east supply ship Gonzenheim was caught by Esperance Bay, and aircraft from Victorious.
On the same day in the south Atlantic, midway between Belem
and Freetown
, the southern most limit of the Rheinubung operation, tanker Esso Hamburg was intercepted by cruiser London; while the following day London, accompanied by Brilliant, sank the tanker Egerland.
A week later, on 12 June, tanker Freidrich Breme was sunk by cruiser Sheffield in mid-Atlantic. On 15 June, tanker Lotharingen was sunk by cruiser Dunedin, with aircraft from Eagle.
In just over two weeks 7 of the 9 supply ships assigned to Operation Rheinubung had been accounted for, with serious consequences for future German surface operations.
No merchant ships were sunk, or even sighted, during the 2 week raid. Allied convoys were not seriously disrupted; most convoys sailed according to schedule, and there was no diminution of supplies to Britain
. On the other hand, the Atlantic U-boat campaign was disrupted; boats in the Atlantic sank just 2 ships in the last weeks of May, compared to 29 at the beginning of the month.
And the Kriegsmarine
was never again able to mount a major surface operation against Allied supply routes in the North Atlantic; henceforth its only weapon was the U-boat
campaign.
Sortie
Sortie is a term for deployment or dispatch of one military unit, be it an aircraft, ship, or troops from a strongpoint. The sortie, whether by one or more aircraft or vessels, usually has a specific mission....
into the Atlantic by the new German
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
battleship
Battleship
A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of heavy caliber guns. Battleships were larger, better armed and armored than cruisers and destroyers. As the largest armed ships in a fleet, battleships were used to attain command of the sea and represented the apex of a...
Bismarck
German battleship Bismarck
Bismarck was the first of two s built for the German Kriegsmarine during World War II. Named after Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, the primary force behind the German unification in 1871, the ship was laid down at the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg in July 1936 and launched nearly three years later...
and heavy cruiser
Cruiser
A cruiser is a type of warship. The term has been in use for several hundreds of years, and has had different meanings throughout this period...
Prinz Eugen
German cruiser Prinz Eugen
Prinz Eugen was an Admiral Hipper-class heavy cruiser, the third member of the class of five vessels. She served with the German Kriegsmarine during World War II. The ship was laid down in April 1936 and launched August 1938; Prinz Eugen entered service after the outbreak of war, in August 1940...
on 18–27 May 1941, during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. This operation to block Allied shipping to England culminated in the sinking of Bismarck.
Background
During both World WarWorld war
A world war is a war affecting the majority of the world's most powerful and populous nations. World wars span multiple countries on multiple continents, with battles fought in multiple theaters....
s, the island of Britain was dependent upon huge numbers of merchant ships to bring in food and essential raw materials, and protecting this lifeline was one of the highest priorities for British forces. Likewise, Germany recognised that, if this lifeline could be severed, Britain would be defeated, regardless of any other factor.
Operation Rheinubung was the latest in a series of raids on Allied shipping carried out by surface units of the Kriegsmarine
Kriegsmarine
The Kriegsmarine was the name of the German Navy during the Nazi regime . It superseded the Kaiserliche Marine of World War I and the post-war Reichsmarine. The Kriegsmarine was one of three official branches of the Wehrmacht, the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany.The Kriegsmarine grew rapidly...
.
It was preceded by Operation Berlin, a highly successful sortie by Scharnhorst
German battleship Scharnhorst
Scharnhorst was a German capital ship, alternatively described as a battleship and battlecruiser, of the German Kriegsmarine. She was the lead ship of her class, which included one other ship, Gneisenau. The ship was built at the Kriegsmarinewerft dockyard in Wilhelmshaven; she was laid down on 15...
and Gneisenau
German battleship Gneisenau
Gneisenau was a German capital ship, alternatively described as a battleship and battlecruiser, of the German Kriegsmarine. She was the second vessel of her class, which included one other ship, Scharnhorst. The ship was built at the Deutsche Werke dockyard in Kiel; she was laid down on 6 May 1935...
which ended in March 1941.
By May 1941, the Kriegsmarine battleships Scharnhorst
German battleship Scharnhorst
Scharnhorst was a German capital ship, alternatively described as a battleship and battlecruiser, of the German Kriegsmarine. She was the lead ship of her class, which included one other ship, Gneisenau. The ship was built at the Kriegsmarinewerft dockyard in Wilhelmshaven; she was laid down on 15...
and Gneisenau
German battleship Gneisenau
Gneisenau was a German capital ship, alternatively described as a battleship and battlecruiser, of the German Kriegsmarine. She was the second vessel of her class, which included one other ship, Scharnhorst. The ship was built at the Deutsche Werke dockyard in Kiel; she was laid down on 6 May 1935...
were at Brest
Brest, France
Brest is a city in the Finistère department in Brittany in northwestern France. Located in a sheltered position not far from the western tip of the Breton peninsula, and the western extremity of metropolitan France, Brest is an important harbour and the second French military port after Toulon...
, on the western coast of France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, posing a serious threat to the Atlantic convoys, and were heavily bombed by the RAF. The original plan was to have both ships involved in the operation, but Scharnhorst was undergoing heavy repairs to her engines, and Gneisenau had just suffered a damaging torpedo hit days before which put her out of action for 6 months.
This left the just two new warships available to the Germans: the battleship Bismarck and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen (while the Kriegsmarine had three servicable light cruisers, none had the endurance necessary for a long Atlantic operation), both initially stationed in the Baltic Sea
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is a brackish mediterranean sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and...
.
The aim of the operation was for Bismarck and Prinz Eugen to break into the Atlantic and attack Allied shipping. Großadmiral
Grand Admiral
Grand admiral is a historic naval rank, generally being the highest such rank present in any particular country. Its most notable use was in Germany — the German word is Großadmiral.-France:...
Erich Raeder
Erich Raeder
Erich Johann Albert Raeder was a naval leader in Germany before and during World War II. Raeder attained the highest possible naval rank—that of Großadmiral — in 1939, becoming the first person to hold that rank since Alfred von Tirpitz...
's orders to Admiral Günther Lütjens
Günther Lütjens
Günther Lütjens was a German Admiral whose military service spanned almost 30 years. Lütjens is best known for his actions during World War II, primarily his service as admiral of the squadron comprising and her consort, , during the Operation Rheinübung sortie.-Early career:Günther Lütjens was...
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 her 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."
To support and provide facilities for the capital ships to refuel and rearm, German Naval Command (OKM) established a network of tankers and supply ships in the Rheinubung operational area.
7 tankers and 2 supply ships were sent as far afield as Labrador
Labrador
Labrador is the distinct, northerly region of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. It comprises the mainland portion of the province, separated from the island of Newfoundland by the Strait of Belle Isle...
in the west and the Cape Verde islands in the south.
Lütjens had requested that Raeder delay Rheinübung long enough either for Scharnhorst to complete repairs to her engines and be made combat worthy and to rendezvous at sea with Bismarck and Prinz Eugen or for Bismarcks sister-ship Tirpitz
German battleship Tirpitz
Tirpitz was the second of two s built for the German Kriegsmarine during World War II. Named after Grand Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz, the architect of the Imperial Navy, the ship was laid down at the Kriegsmarinewerft in Wilhelmshaven in November 1936 and launched two and a half years later in April...
to accompany them. Raeder had refused, as Scharnhorst would not be ready until early July. The crew of the newly-completed Tirpitz was not yet fully trained, and Raeder cited the coming German invasion of Crete as a reason for disrupting Allied supply lines and diverting strength from the Mediterranean.
To meet the threat from German surface ships, the British had stationed at Scapa Flow
Scapa Flow
right|thumb|Scapa Flow viewed from its eastern endScapa Flow is a body of water in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, United Kingdom, sheltered by the islands of Mainland, Graemsay, Burray, South Ronaldsay and Hoy. It is about...
the new battleships HMS King George V
HMS King George V (41)
HMS King George V was the lead ship of the five British King George V-class battleships of the Royal Navy. Laid down in 1937 and commissioned in 1940, King George V operated during the Second World War as part of the British Home and Pacific Fleets...
(sometimes referred to as KGV) and HMS Prince of Wales
HMS Prince of Wales (1939)
HMS Prince of Wales was a King George V-class battleship of the Royal Navy, built at the Cammell Laird shipyard in Birkenhead, England...
(PoW) as well as the elderly battlecruiser HMS Hood
HMS Hood (51)
HMS Hood was the last battlecruiser built for the Royal Navy. One of four s ordered in mid-1916, her design—although drastically revised after the Battle of Jutland and improved while she was under construction—still had serious limitations. For this reason she was the only ship of her class to be...
. Elsewhere, at Gibraltar
Gibraltar
Gibraltar is a British overseas territory located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula at the entrance of the Mediterranean. A peninsula with an area of , it has a northern border with Andalusia, Spain. The Rock of Gibraltar is the major landmark of the region...
, at Halifax, Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
and at sea in the Atlantic were the battleships Revenge
HMS Revenge (06)
HMS Revenge was the lead ship of the Revenge class of battleships of the Royal Navy, the ninth to bear the name. She was launched during World War I in 1915. Though the class is often referred to as the Royal Sovereign class, official documents of 1914–1918 refer to the class as the Revenge class...
, Rodney
HMS Rodney (1925)
HMS Rodney was one of two s built for the Royal Navy in the mid-1920s. She was named for Admiral Sir George Brydges Rodney...
and Ramillies
HMS Ramillies (07)
HMS Ramillies was a Revenge-class battleship of the Royal Navy, named after the Battle of Ramillies. The ship is notable for having served in both the First and Second World Wars...
, the battlecruisers Repulse
HMS Repulse (1916)
HMS Repulse was a Renown-class battlecruiser of the Royal Navy built during the First World War. She was originally laid down as an improved version of the s. Her construction was suspended on the outbreak of war on the grounds she would not be ready in a timely manner...
and Renown
HMS Renown (1916)
HMS Renown was the lead ship of her class of battlecruisers of the Royal Navy built during the First World War. She was originally laid down as an improved version of the s. Her construction was suspended on the outbreak of war on the grounds she would not be ready in a timely manner...
, and the aircraft carriers HMS Ark Royal
HMS Ark Royal (91)
HMS Ark Royal was an aircraft carrier of the Royal Navy that served during the Second World War.Designed in 1934 to fit the restrictions of the Washington Naval Treaty, Ark Royal was built by Cammell Laird and Company, Ltd. at Birkenhead, England, and completed in November 1938. Her design...
and Victorious
HMS Victorious (R38)
HMS Victorious was the second Illustrious-class aircraft carrier ordered under the 1936 Naval Programme. She was laid down at the Vickers-Armstrong shipyard at Newcastle-Upon-Tyne in 1937 and launched two years later in 1939...
. Cruisers and air patrols provided the fleet's 'eyes'. At sea, or due to sail shortly, were 11 convoys, including a troop convoy.
OKM did not take into account the Royal Navy's determination to destroy the German surface fleet. To make sure Bismarck was sunk, the Royal Navy would ruthlessly strip other theatres of action. This would include denuding valuable convoys of their escorts. The British would ultimately deploy six battleships, three battlecruiser
Battlecruiser
Battlecruisers were large capital ships built in the first half of the 20th century. They were developed in the first decade of the century as the successor to the armoured cruiser, but their evolution was more closely linked to that of the dreadnought battleship...
s, two aircraft carrier
Aircraft carrier
An aircraft carrier is a warship designed with a primary mission of deploying and recovering aircraft, acting as a seagoing airbase. Aircraft carriers thus allow a naval force to project air power worldwide without having to depend on local bases for staging aircraft operations...
s, 16 cruisers, 33 destroyer
Destroyer
In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against smaller, powerful, short-range attackers. Destroyers, originally called torpedo-boat destroyers in 1892, evolved from...
s and eight submarine
Submarine
A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...
s, along with patrol aircraft. It would become the largest naval force assigned to a single operation up to that point in the war.
Bismarck sails
Gdynia
Gdynia is a city in the Pomeranian Voivodeship of Poland and an important seaport of Gdańsk Bay on the south coast of the Baltic Sea.Located in Kashubia in Eastern Pomerania, Gdynia is part of a conurbation with the spa town of Sopot, the city of Gdańsk and suburban communities, which together...
, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
), the heavy cruiser
Heavy cruiser
The heavy cruiser was a type of cruiser, a naval warship designed for long range, high speed and an armament of naval guns roughly 203mm calibre . The heavy cruiser can be seen as a lineage of ship design from 1915 until 1945, although the term 'heavy cruiser' only came into formal use in 1930...
Prinz Eugen
German cruiser Prinz Eugen
Prinz Eugen was an Admiral Hipper-class heavy cruiser, the third member of the class of five vessels. She served with the German Kriegsmarine during World War II. The ship was laid down in April 1936 and launched August 1938; Prinz Eugen entered service after the outbreak of war, in August 1940...
having already left at about 21:00 the previous day, both ships proceeded under escort, separately and rendezvoused off Cape Arkona on Rügen Island in the western Baltic. They then proceeded through the Danish Islands into the Kattegat. Entering the Kattegat
Kattegat
The Kattegat , or Kattegatt is a sea area bounded by the Jutland peninsula and the Straits islands of Denmark on the west and south, and the provinces of Västergötland, Scania, Halland and Bohuslän in Sweden on the east. The Baltic Sea drains into the Kattegat through the Øresund and the Danish...
on 20 May Bismarck
German battleship Bismarck
Bismarck was the first of two s built for the German Kriegsmarine during World War II. Named after Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, the primary force behind the German unification in 1871, the ship was laid down at the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg in July 1936 and launched nearly three years later...
and Prinz Eugen
German cruiser Prinz Eugen
Prinz Eugen was an Admiral Hipper-class heavy cruiser, the third member of the class of five vessels. She served with the German Kriegsmarine during World War II. The ship was laid down in April 1936 and launched August 1938; Prinz Eugen entered service after the outbreak of war, in August 1940...
sailed north toward the Skaggerak, the straight between Jutland
Jutland
Jutland , historically also called Cimbria, is the name of the peninsula that juts out in Northern Europe toward the rest of Scandinavia, forming the mainland part of Denmark. It has the North Sea to its west, Kattegat and Skagerrak to its north, the Baltic Sea to its east, and the Danish–German...
and Southern Norway where they were sighted by the Swedish aircraft-carrying cruiser Gotland on around 1:00 pm. Gotland forwarded the sighting in a routine report.
On 21 May, the Admiralty
Admiralty
The Admiralty was formerly the authority in the Kingdom of England, and later in the United Kingdom, responsible for the command of the Royal Navy...
was alerted by sources in the Swedish
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
government that two large warships had been seen in the Kattegat
Kattegat
The Kattegat , or Kattegatt is a sea area bounded by the Jutland peninsula and the Straits islands of Denmark on the west and south, and the provinces of Västergötland, Scania, Halland and Bohuslän in Sweden on the east. The Baltic Sea drains into the Kattegat through the Øresund and the Danish...
. The ships entered the North Sea
North Sea
In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...
and took a brief refuge in a fjord
Fjord
Geologically, a fjord is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created in a valley carved by glacial activity.-Formation:A fjord is formed when a glacier cuts a U-shaped valley by abrasion of the surrounding bedrock. Glacial melting is accompanied by rebound of Earth's crust as the ice...
near Bergen
Bergen
Bergen is the second largest city in Norway with a population of as of , . Bergen is the administrative centre of Hordaland county. Greater Bergen or Bergen Metropolitan Area as defined by Statistics Norway, has a population of as of , ....
, Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
on 21 May, making a break for the Atlantic shipping lanes on the 22nd. By this time, Hood and Prince of Wales, with escorting destroyers, were en route to the Denmark Strait
Denmark Strait
The Denmark Strait or Greenland Strait |Sound]]) is an oceanic strait between Greenland and Iceland...
, where two cruisers, Norfolk
HMS Norfolk (78)
HMS Norfolk was a County-class heavy cruiser of the Royal Navy; along with her sister ship , she was part of a planned four-ship subclass.She served throughout the Second World War....
and Suffolk
HMS Suffolk (55)
HMS Suffolk was a County class heavy cruiser of the Royal Navy, and part of the Kent subclass. She was built by Portsmouth Dockyard, Portsmouth, UK), with the keel being laid down on 15 November 1924...
were already patrolling. The cruisers Manchester
HMS Manchester (C15)
The second HMS Manchester was a Town-class light cruiser of the Royal Navy, belonging to the Gloucester subclass. She was laid down by Hawthorn Leslie at Hebburn in March 1936, launched in April the following year and commissioned in August 1938...
and Birmingham
HMS Birmingham (C19)
HMS Birmingham was a member of the first group of five ships of the "Town" class of light cruisers. She was built at Devonport Dockyard , and launched on 1 September 1936.-Early career:...
were to guard the waters south-east of Iceland
Iceland
Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...
.
Once the departure of the German ships was discovered, Admiral of the Fleet
Admiral of the Fleet
An admiral of the fleet is a military naval officer of the highest rank. In many nations the rank is reserved for wartime or ceremonial appointments...
Sir John Tovey, the Commander-in-Chief of the British Home Fleet, sailed with the King George V, Victorious and their escorts to support those already at sea. Repulse joined soon afterwards.
On the evening of 23 May, Suffolk sighted Bismarck and Prinz Eugen in the Denmark Strait, close to the Greenland
Greenland
Greenland is an autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark, located between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Though physiographically a part of the continent of North America, Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe for...
coast. The Admiralty was alerted and Norfolk and Suffolk, hopelessly out-gunned, shadowed the German ships. British naval groups were redirected to either intercept Lutjens' force or to cover the troop convoy.
Battle of the Denmark Strait
Hood and Prince of Wales made contact with the German force early on the morning of 24 May and the action started at 5:52 am, with the combatants about 25,000 yards apart. Hood suffered an early hit, which started a rapidly spreading fire amidships.Then, at about 6 am, one or more of Hoods magazines exploded, probably as the result of another shell hit from Bismarck. The explosion broke the great battlecruiser's back, and she sank within minutes. All but three of her 1,417-man crew died.
Prince of Wales continued the action, but suffered badly, receiving multiple hits with 15-inch and 8-inch shells, and experiencing repeated mechanical failures with her main armament. Her commanding officer, Captain Leach, wounded when one of Bismarck's shells struck Prince of Wales bridge, broke off the action, and the British battleship retreated under cover of a smokescreen.
Bismarck had been hit only two (or perhaps three) times. All of the hits had been inflicted by Prince of Wales 14-inch guns. One of the hits had penetrated the German battleship's hull near the bow, rupturing her fuel tanks, causing her to leak oil continuously and at a serious rate. This was to be a critical factor as the pursuit continued, forcing Bismarck to make for Brest instead of escaping into the great expanse of the Atlantic. The resulting oil slick also helped the British cruisers to shadow her.
The pursuit
Norfolk and Suffolk and the damaged Prince of Wales continued to shadow the Germans, reporting their position to draw British forces to the scene. In response, it was decided that Prinz Eugen would detach to continue raiding, while Bismarck drew off the pursuit. In conjunction with this Admiral Dönitz committed the U-boat arm to support Bismarck with all available U boats in the Atlantic. He organized two patrol lines to trap the Home Fleet should Bismarck lead her pursuers to them. One line of 7 boats was arrayed in mid-Atlantic while another, of 8 boats, was stationed west of Biscay. At 6:40 pm on 24 May, Bismarck turned on her pursuers to cover the escape of Prinz Eugen. The German cruiser slipped away undamaged.At 10 pm, Victorious was 120 miles away and launched an air attack with nine Fairey Swordfish
Fairey Swordfish
The Fairey Swordfish was a torpedo bomber built by the Fairey Aviation Company and used by the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Navy during the Second World War...
torpedo bomber
Torpedo bomber
A torpedo bomber is a bomber aircraft designed primarily to attack ships with aerial torpedoes which could also carry out conventional bombings. Torpedo bombers existed almost exclusively prior to and during World War II when they were an important element in many famous battles, notably the...
s, which were guided in by Norfolk. In poor weather, and against heavy fire, they attacked and made a single torpedo hit under the bridge
Bridge (ship)
The bridge of a ship is the room or platform from which the ship can be commanded. When a ship is underway the bridge is manned by an OOW aided usually by an AB acting as lookout...
. However, up against strong belt armour and torpedo bulge
Anti-torpedo bulge
The anti-torpedo bulge is a form of passive defence against naval torpedoes that featured in warship construction in the period between the First and Second World Wars.-Theory and form:...
s, they failed to cause substantial damage. The attacking aircraft were all safely recovered by Victorious, despite poor weather, darkness, aircrew inexperience and the failure of the carrier's homing beacon.
At 3 am on 25 May, the British shadowers lost contact with Bismarck. At first, it was thought that she would return to the North Sea and ships were directed accordingly. By the time it was realised that she was heading for Brest Bismarck had broken the naval cordon and gained a lead. By 11 pm she was well to the east of Tovey's force and had managed to evade Rodney. Bismarck was short of fuel, due to the damaging hit inflicted by Prince of Wales, but was able to outrun the British Home Fleet. From the south, however, Somerville's Force H with the carrier Ark Royal
HMS Ark Royal (91)
HMS Ark Royal was an aircraft carrier of the Royal Navy that served during the Second World War.Designed in 1934 to fit the restrictions of the Washington Naval Treaty, Ark Royal was built by Cammell Laird and Company, Ltd. at Birkenhead, England, and completed in November 1938. Her design...
, the battlecruiser Renown, and the light cruiser HMS Sheffield
HMS Sheffield (C24)
HMS Sheffield was one of the Southampton sub class of the Town-class cruisers of the Royal Navy during the Second World War. She took part in actions against several major German warships. Unlike most Royal Navy ships of her time, her fittings were constructed from stainless steel instead of the...
were approaching to intercept.
The British ships were also beginning to run low on fuel and the escape of Bismarck seemed more and more certain. However, at 10:30 am, on 26 May, a Catalina
PBY Catalina
The Consolidated PBY Catalina was an American flying boat of the 1930s and 1940s produced by Consolidated Aircraft. It was one of the most widely used multi-role aircraft of World War II. PBYs served with every branch of the United States Armed Forces and in the air forces and navies of many other...
flying-boat, based at Lough Erne
Lough Erne
Lough Erne, sometimes Loch Erne , is the name of two connected lakes in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. The lakes are widened sections of the River Erne. The river begins by flowing north, and then curves west into the Atlantic. The southern lake is further up the river and so is named Upper...
, Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
, found Bismarck. She was 700 miles from Brest and not within range of Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....
air cover.
Ark Royal now launched, in almost impossibly bad weather conditions for air operations, and from a distance of less than 40 miles upwind of Bismarck, a second strike consisting of 15 Swordfish. These were carrying torpedoes equipped with the standard and reliable contact detonators. The attack resulted in two or three hits on the German ship, one of which inflicted critical damage on her steering. A jammed rudder now meant she could now only sail away from her intended destination of Brest. At midnight, Lutjens signalled his headquarters: "Ship unmanoeuvrable. We shall fight to the last shell. Long live the Führer
Führer
Führer , alternatively spelled Fuehrer in both English and German when the umlaut is not available, is a German title meaning leader or guide now most associated with Adolf Hitler, who modelled it on Benito Mussolini's title il Duce, as well as with Georg von Schönerer, whose followers also...
."
Bismarck's end The battleships Rodney and King George V waited for daylight on 27 May before attacking. At 8:47 am, they opened fire, quickly hitting Bismarck. Her gunners achieved near misses on Rodney, but the British ships had silenced most of the German guns within half an hour. Despite close range shelling by Rodney, a list to port and widespread fires, Bismarck did not sink.
According to Ballard's underwater surveys in recent years the British guns achieved only four penetrations of Bismarcks armour, two through the upper armour belt on the starboard side from King George V and two on the port side from Rodney. These four hits occurred at about 10:00 am, at close range, causing heavy casualties among the sheltering crew.
Nearly out of fuel – and mindful of possible U-boat
U-boat
U-boat is the anglicized version of the German word U-Boot , itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot , and refers to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in World War I and World War II...
attacks – the British battleships left for home. The heavy cruiser HMS Dorsetshire
HMS Dorsetshire (40)
HMS Dorsetshire was a heavy cruiser of the County class of the Royal Navy, named after the English county . She was launched on 29 January 1929 at Portsmouth Dockyard, UK. During the Second World War, she was last commanded by Captain Augustus Agar V.C....
attacked with torpedoes and made three hits. Scuttling
Scuttling
Scuttling is the act of deliberately sinking a ship by allowing water to flow into the hull.This can be achieved in several ways—valves or hatches can be opened to the sea, or holes may be ripped into the hull with brute force or with explosives...
charges were soon set off by German sailors, and at 10:40 am, Bismarck capsized and sank. Dorsetshire and the destroyer HMS Maori
HMS Maori (F24)
HMS Maori was a Tribal-class destroyer laid down by the Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, Limited, at Govan in Scotland on 6 June 1936, launched on 2 September 1937 by Mrs. W. J. Jordan and commissioned on 2 January 1939...
rescued 110 survivors. After an hour, rescue work was abruptly ended when there were reports of a U-boat presence. Another five survivors were picked up by U-74 and the German weather ship
Weather ship
A weather ship was a ship stationed in the ocean as a platform for surface and upper air meteorological observations for use in weather forecasting. They were primarily located in the north Atlantic and north Pacific oceans, reporting via radio...
Sachsenwald. Over 2,000 died.
Aftermath
After separating from Bismarck, Prinz Eugen went further south into the Atlantic, intending to continue the commerce raiding mission. On 26 May, with just 160 tons of fuel left, she rendezvoused with the tanker Spichern and refuelled. On 27 May she developed engine trouble, which worsened over the next few days. After a further refuelling on 28 May from Esso Hamburg, Prinz Eugen abandoned her mission on 29 May and headed for Brest. With her speed reduced to 28 knots it was no longer considered practicable to continue. She abandoned her commerce raidingCommerce raiding
Commerce raiding or guerre de course is a form of naval warfare used to destroy or disrupt the logistics of an enemy on the open sea by attacking its merchant shipping, rather than engaging the combatants themselves or enforcing a blockade against them.Commerce raiding was heavily criticised by...
mission without sinking any merchant ships, and made her way to Brest, arriving on 1 June.
In the action, just two U-boats had sighted the British forces, but neither was able to attack. In the aftermath, the British ships were able to evade the patrol lines as they returned to base; there were no further U-boat contacts.
The Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....
also organized sorties against the Home Fleet, but none were successful until 28 May, when planes from Kg77 attacked and sank destroyer Mashona.
After Rheinubung the Royal Navy made a concerted effort to round up the network of supply ships deployed to refuel and rearm the Rheinubung ships. The first success came on 3 June, when the tanker Belchen was discovered by cruisers Aurora and Kenya south of Greenland
Greenland
Greenland is an autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark, located between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Though physiographically a part of the continent of North America, Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe for...
.
On 4 June tanker Gedania was found in mid-Atlantic by Marsdale, while 100 miles east supply ship Gonzenheim was caught by Esperance Bay, and aircraft from Victorious.
On the same day in the south Atlantic, midway between Belem
Belem
Belem or Belém may refer to:* Belém, capital city of the Brazilian state of Pará* Belem , a three-masted barque from France* Belém, Alagoas, a municipality located in the Brazilian state of Alagoas...
and Freetown
Freetown
Freetown is the capital and largest city of Sierra Leone, a country in West Africa. It is a major port city on the Atlantic Ocean located in the Western Area of the country, and had a city proper population of 772,873 at the 2004 census. The city is the economic, financial, and cultural center of...
, the southern most limit of the Rheinubung operation, tanker Esso Hamburg was intercepted by cruiser London; while the following day London, accompanied by Brilliant, sank the tanker Egerland.
A week later, on 12 June, tanker Freidrich Breme was sunk by cruiser Sheffield in mid-Atlantic. On 15 June, tanker Lotharingen was sunk by cruiser Dunedin, with aircraft from Eagle.
In just over two weeks 7 of the 9 supply ships assigned to Operation Rheinubung had been accounted for, with serious consequences for future German surface operations.
Conclusion
Despite the success in sinking Hood, offset a few days later by the sinking of Bismarck, Operation Rheinubung was a failure.No merchant ships were sunk, or even sighted, during the 2 week raid. Allied convoys were not seriously disrupted; most convoys sailed according to schedule, and there was no diminution of supplies to Britain
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. On the other hand, the Atlantic U-boat campaign was disrupted; boats in the Atlantic sank just 2 ships in the last weeks of May, compared to 29 at the beginning of the month.
And the Kriegsmarine
Kriegsmarine
The Kriegsmarine was the name of the German Navy during the Nazi regime . It superseded the Kaiserliche Marine of World War I and the post-war Reichsmarine. The Kriegsmarine was one of three official branches of the Wehrmacht, the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany.The Kriegsmarine grew rapidly...
was never again able to mount a major surface operation against Allied supply routes in the North Atlantic; henceforth its only weapon was the U-boat
U-boat
U-boat is the anglicized version of the German word U-Boot , itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot , and refers to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in World War I and World War II...
campaign.
External links
- José M. Rico, 1998–2008, "Operation Rheinübung" (kbismarck.com)
- John Asmussen 2000–08 "Bismarck admiral-hipper-class.dk
- (no author stated) 2006, "Prinz Eugen" admiral-hipper-class.dk