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N 48 10 W 16 12
On the morning of 27.
May 1941, Admiral Tovey manoeuvred his squadron so that it would approach
the Bismarck from the west and have the target silhouetted by the
morning light. The battleships HMS Rodney and HMS King George V sailed
in line abreast about 550 meter apart toward the last reported position
of Bismarck. Bismarck, steering on a meandering course finally came
into view to the south-east at about 08:43 at a range of about 23,000
meters . As soon as the enemy was sighted, the Rodney peeled off to
port and headed on a more easterly course to engage the Bismarck.
The naming of the battleship
Bismarck and a short historic view of Otto Von Bismarck |
Slagskipet
Bismarck er antagelig en av verdens mest kjente kriggskip gjennom nyere
tid, og var Adolf Hitlers stolthet under den andre verdenskrig. Bismarck
ble lagt ned i Wilhelmshaven i 1937, og sto ferdigstilt i 1939. Hun
ble oppkalt etter den velkjente prøyssiske "jernkansleren"
Otto Von Bismarck, og ble besøkt av Adolf Hitler og Feltmarskalk
Keitel. Etter en tid med trening og testing, ble Bismarck sent på
sin første større operasjon i Mai 1941,
operasjon Rheinübung . Den 19. Mai forlater Bismarck København,
og møter den tunge Krysseren Prinz Eugen og tre jagere før
de setter turen mot Norge. 21. Mai forlater Bismarck og Prinz Eugen
Norge, og morgenen etter forlater de eskorterende jagerne kampgruppen.
Bismarck og Prinz Eugen seiler nå alene, og setter kursen nordover.
05:43 den 24. Mai oppdager kampgruppen de britiske krigsskipene HMS
Hood og HMS Prince of Wales ved Danmarksstredet utenfor Grønland.
HMS Prince of Wales får inn en treffer på Bismarck i denne
kampen, men kort tid etter eksploderer HMS Hood i en gigantisk eksplosjon,
og like etter blir også Prince of Wales truffet fire ganger av
salver fra Bismarck. Etter denne voldsomme kampen trekker HMS Prince
of Wales seg fra stedet sterkt skadet, og Bismarck setter kursen sørover
for å komme til St. Nazaire i Frankrike og reparere skadenet.
Den tunge tyske krysseren Prince Eugen returnerer mot Tyskland. I de
følgende dager blir Bismarck etterfulgt av brtiske styrker og
også angrepet av Swordfish fly som klarer å få inn
tre torpedo treff. Det ene treffet skal vise seg å avgjøre
Bismarcks skjebne, roret låser seg fast og hun klarer ikke holde
rett kurs. 
The
battleship Bismarck is probably one of the worlds most known warship
through modern times, and was the pride of Adolf Hitler under
second world war. Bismarck was laid down in Wilhelmshaven in 1937
and was completed in 1939. She was named after the well known
Prussian "iron chancellor" Otto Von Bismarck, and was
visited by Adolf Hitler an Field Marshal Keitel. After some time
with trials and testing, Bismarck was sent on her first major
mission on May 1941, operation 
16.
November 1935: Building contract placed with the Blohm & Voss
Shipyard in Hamburg, construction number BV 509. 
The
hull rests upright embedded in mud that covers the keel to about the
level of the ship's designed waterline. Despite of the heavy shell
and torpedo damage that the British inflicted on the battleship and
the obvious effects of the sinking itself, the wreck is in surprisingly
good condition. Few other shipwrecks are as well preserved as the
Bismarck, and, except for the last 35 feet of the stern (frame 10.5)
that broke away, the hull is intact. The main battery turrets dropped
off the hull due to their own weight as the ship rolled over and sank,
and they are now upside-down on the bottom. But the secondary battery
turrets and most anti-aircraft guns are still there in their proper
location. Both the forward and after conning tower, and the bridge,
though heavily damaged, are with the hull, too, and the propellers
are clearly visible. In the debris field that surrounds the hull,
other parts of the battleship can be found such as the foremast, the
mainmast, the funnel, rangefinders, etc. Considering the fact that
on most parts of the decks the wooden teak planking is still conserved,
and even the paint, it is most likely that the wreck will resist the
effects of the corrosion for at least a few hundred years if not more.
According to the international law, the wreck of the Bismarck, sunk
in international waters, is property of its country of origin, and
is considered a war grave. After the discovery of the wreck, the German
government issued the following statement regarding future diving
expeditions: 
The
German battleship Bismarck was named in honor of the "Iron Chancellor",
Otto von Bismarck, where Germany grew from a loose confederation of
weak states to a unified powerful empire. His smart and dashing way
of making politics (winning three wars in eight years) led to the
extension of German borders and the rapid growth of German industry.
Bismarck was born on April 1, 1815, in the aristocratic family of
estate owners at Schoenhausen in Prussia. He went to the prestige
school in Berlin, and then studied law in Hanover. Bismarck was not
an outstanding student, and spent much of his time drinking with his
fellows in an aristocratic fraternity. After the university he enrolled
into the Prussian civil service where he did not stay long because
of the boredom inevitably cast by the bureaucracy. He didn't appear
in the politics till 1847. Meanwhile, he spent 8 comfortable years
helping his father manage the estate. He also married Johanna von
Puttkamer in these years. His wife came from a conservative aristocratic
family, which was greatly to Bismarck's liking, who later entered
German politics as an archconservative. Bismarck's political views
in the beginning of his career were those of a typical country squire.
He soon joined the conservative Gerlach group who stood for the noble
estate and defended it from the bureaucratic centralization. When
the democratic revolutions swept across Europe and reached Berlin
in 1848, his first impulse was to arm the peasants of his estate in
defense of King and the country. However in a very short time he realized
that being principled and tradition-bound like the reactionary Gerlach
group was not enough. At that time Bismarck's ideas became very pragmatic,
and concrete interests plus the power to defend them were his chief
care. In 1849 he was elected to the Prussian Chamber of Deputies.
When the democratic revolution in the central Europe was defeated,
Bismarck, despite his archconservative ideas, was not willing to maintain
the status quo according to which Austria preserved its hegemony in
the German Confederation. Bismarck's goal was to make Prussia the
dominating power in Germany and the northern Europe. To achieve this,
he was ready to start a war with Austria...|
Edited 29.06.2007 |