NAVY IN ACTION

Wairarapa Times-Age, 7 June 1941, Page 5

NAVY IN ACTION

MORE ABOUT THE PURSUIT OF THE BISMARCK / — PART PLAYED BY BRITISH BATTLESHIPS. FLEET AIR ARM ATTACKS. (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY. June 5. Vivid accounts of the action against the German batllesliip Bismarck' have been given by an officer who was present in JI.ALS. King George V and by others who look part in the battle*. Starting his account at the time when it was discovered by naval aircraft that the Bismarck had left the Norwegian port where she was previously located, the King George V officer said additional dispositions were taken to cover a possible break out into the Atlantic. It was no surprise when H.M.S. Norfolk sighted two German warships in Denmark Strait, west of Iceland, making all speed southward toward blue water. A fast squadron consisting of the Hood and Prince of Wales was near at hand, and it made contact shortly after daylight on the following morning. “You know how the Hood went.” he said, "firing every one of her great guns as she split in two and sank. The Prince of Wales fought on alone. All that day and night and into the early hours on Maj' 25 she and the Suffolk and Norfolk chased and shadowed the enemj' through icefloes, patchy fog, flurries of snow, and intermittent rainsqualls. There were two separate long cannonades, and at one point, fire was visible in the after part of the Bismarck. FIRST HIT BY AIRCRAFT.

“In the meantime, the King George V was pounding along with spray flying right up over her bridge. She was taking care that there was no wisp of smoke to give her away too early to the enemy. The Victorious was in the chase, too. and as soon as she was within air range she flew off torpedocarrying aircraft. These at noon on May 25 reported one hit. Within an hour of this news, however, the Bismarck and her companion, the Prince Eugen, had skipped away from their pursuers in the treacherous half-dark and the northern mist.

‘■The Bismarck was lost for 311 hours, and was then picked up by a Coastal Command flying-boat. Soon afterward aircraft from the Ark Royal were on her track, and escort ships from convoys —ships from little ports in all corners of the North Atlantic —were closing in to help in the chase. “As the daylight on Maj' 2G closed in, the Ark Roj'al flew off a striking force of torpedo-carrying aircraft. This force, however, was unable to locate the target, and a second striking force took off. At last, learning that torpedo hits had been obtained by the second force, the King George V turned at once to close with the enemy more rapidly. As the last light died the cruiser Sheffield and the destroyer Cossack and her flotilla slid quietly into the night in shadowing positions. SHEFFIELD IN DANGER. “'The Sheffield quickly received a blast of 15in gunfire which straddled her. She was too big and too visible, and had to sheer of, for at that short range a single accurate salvo would I have sunk her easily. The destroyers, though often’engaged, were less visible and less vulnerable. As the night wore on they put two or three torpedoes into the Bismarck. When at last daylight appeared there were patchy rain squalls and a tearing wind from the north-west, with a rising sea. After a little manoeuvring, the Suffolk appeared to the east, signalling, "enemy in sight 12 miles south of me.” H.M.S. Rodney opened out to port a little more saying, “Enemy in sight.” There was a sudden shift of the wind and a squall of rain. Admiral Tovey saw it first, and gave orders Io alter course. With a cracking roar the Rodney opened lire with her 16in guns, and an instant later King George V let fly with her 14in armament. The Bismarck fired all four guns from her two forward turrets.

“The Germans have a reputation for hitting with their early salvos,” the officer continued. “Now I know what suspended animation means. It seemed to take about two hours for those shots to fall. Splashes shot up opposite, but beyond, the Rodney's forecastle. I’m sorry to say that we all thought ‘thank Heaven, she’s shooting at the Rodney.’ But the Rodney’s first salvo produced great white columns of water, 120 ft high, that would break the back of a destroyer and sink it like a stone if it steamed through one of them. The second salvo missed, all. except one shot which seemed to belong to the King George V and was a little ahead of the Bismarck. SHELLS THAT GOT HOME. “Then I watched the Rodney to see if she was being hit, but she. just stood like a great slab of rock blocking the northern horizon, and suddenly belched a full salvo. I actually saw the projectiles flying through the air some seconds after they left the guns like little diminishing footballs, curving up into the sky. Now I am sure that four or five of them hit. There was only one great splash, and a sort of flurry of spray and a splash which might have been a waterline hit. “The Bismarck turned north, steaming at about 12 to 14 knots. We kept turning in and out to confuse the enemy range-takers. all the while closing range rapidly. The Admiral kept on saying, 'Close the range. Get closer, get closer. I can’t see enough hits.'

"Somewhere about eight o’clock there was a fire on the forecastle which seemed to envelop the upper turret, and one observer says that he saw a huge plate torn away from the tail of it. The Bismarck, turning away and then back again, writhing, it seemed. under the most merciless hail of high-explosive armour-piercing shells that any ship ever faced. But there was no escape for the Bismarck. Smoke shot up, but it quickly flew away.” RODNEY CAPTAIN’S STORY. The captain of the Rodney also described Diesinking of Hie Bismarck.“ The action developed," he said, “into a battle with Hie ships steering on opposite courses, the Bismarck steering due north and the King George V and Rodney toward the south. The wind was in the north, and very soon after we had made an alteration of course which was necessary so that I could get all my guns to bear, it came nearly astern. This meant that we experienced considerable interference from Hie smoke from our guns and a certain amount of funnel smoke —as we

were going fast —which drifted down between us and the enemy. “This made us a bit impatient, and as we were drawing rapidly past the enemy I considered it best to turn (he Rodney round. At about this time the Bismarck shifted her fire from the Rodney to the King George V. This made it easier for me to come to this decision. We therefore turned the Rodney right round and steered so as to cross Ihe bows of the enemy. This meant that the range was closed pretty rapidly, and I think it closed from 20,000 yards to 10.000 yards. I "Having turned round, we were in an extremely favourable position, with the wind on the engaged bow blowing the smoke away and all the guns bearing on the enemy."