In some places the decks looked like a slaughterhouse.

The funnel and superstructure were holed in many places. The destruction aboard the Bismarck was complete, and men had begun jumping overboard.Īll guns were out of action, their barrels pointing in different directions at odd angles. Soon after 1000, the Norfolk launched four torpedoes from about 3,600 metres with one possible hit to the starboard side. Once the Bismarck lost her fighting capability, Rodney got closer, and from distances between 2,500 and 4,000 metres continued firing with her nine 16-inch guns against both sides of the German battleship.Īt about 0940, the rear wall of turret 'Bruno' blew out and the turret caught on fire.Īt 0956, the Rodney launched two more torpedoes from 2,700 metres with one possible hit scored on the portside.įrom this point blank range it was virtually impossible to miss a shot, and shell by shell hit the Bismarck which amazingly was still afloat. Only a few secondary guns were still in action, but these were soon to be silenced, too, by the enormous avalanche of British fire.Īt this time, Captain Lindemann, gave the order to scuttle and abandon ship. The after turrets then proceeded to fire under local control at Rodney which, in the meantime, had launched six torpedoes at Bismarck, none of them hit.Īt 0921, turret 'Dora' was put out of action after one of its own shells exploded inside the right barrel.Īt 0927, turret 'Anton' or 'Bruno' surprisingly fired one last salvo.įour minutes later, at 0931 turret 'Cäsar' fired its last salvo. Two battleships and two heavy cruisers were firing against the Bismarck.Īt 0908, the forward range finder and turrets 'Anton' and 'Bruno' were put out of action.īismarck's fire control was, therefore, shifted to the after command post.įrom there, the Fourth Artillery Officer, Kapitänleutnant Müllenheim-Rechberg directed four salvoes against the King George V.īut at about 0913, just as he got the range, his station was also put out of action by a 14-inch shell that destroyed the cupola. Martin) which had just arrived, also opened fire. įinally, at 0902, the Bismarck was hit by several shells that struck the forecastle, foremast and disabled the foretop rangefinder.Īt 0904, the Dorsetshire (Captain Benjamin C. Nevertheless, just at this time the Bismarck managed to straddle Rodney.īismarck's final battle has just begun and the first British shells fall near the German battleship on the morning of. Moreover, at 0854, the Norfolk joined the battle with her eight 20.3 cm guns, and at 0858 the secondary battery of Rodney joined the action. So, the initial stage of this engagement consisted of an exchange between four German guns and fifteen British. On the contrary, the Rodney had all her nine guns positioned forward and the King George V added six more. Turrets 'Cäsar' and 'Dora' could not be trained at this time. The Bismarck returned fire at 0849 with the forward turrets 'Anton' and 'Bruno' against the Rodney. The distance at this time was about 20,000 metres (21,870 yards). The Rodney opened fire at 0847, followed by the King George V one minute later.

Naval action map steering