British battleships in World War II. Fast battleships in the second world war and after it
The defeat in the First World War, it would seem, finally crossed out Germany from the contenders for naval dominance. According to the Treaty of Versailles, the Germans were allowed to have in service ships with a displacement of up to 10 thousand tons with guns with a caliber of no more than 11 inches. Therefore, they had to say goodbye to the hope of keeping even their very first dreadnoughts and be content with hopelessly outdated battleships of the Deutschland and Braunschweig types. When it became possible to replace the latter with ships of new projects (and this was allowed to be done no earlier than after 20 years of their being in service), it was these "Versailles" restrictions that led to the appearance of "capital" ships of the Deutschland type, unusual in all respects.
When it was created, the Germans proceeded from the fact that the new ship would primarily be used on enemy communications as a raider. The successful actions of Emden and Koenigsberg in 1914 against British shipping at the same time clearly showed that the weak armament of light cruisers leaves them no chance when a more serious enemy appears. Therefore, the "Deutschland" must be stronger than any enemy heavy cruiser and at the same time faster than any battleship. This idea, frankly, is not new, but previous attempts to implement it rarely led to the desired result. And only the Germans finally managed to embody it in metal as close as possible to the idea. "Deutschlands" with a very limited displacement received powerful weapons, decent (by cruising standards) protection and a huge cruising range. In the German Navy, the new ships were officially classified as battleships (panzerschiffe), in fact they were heavy cruisers, but because of the excessively powerful main battery artillery, they remained in the history of world shipbuilding as "pocket battleships".
Indeed, the armament of the "Deutschland" - two three-gun 11-inch towers and another 8 six-inch as a medium caliber - looked quite "battleship". The new 283-mm cannon (the Germans officially called it "28-cm", and therefore in the literature it is often listed as 280-mm) - with a barrel length of 52 calibers and an elevation angle of 40, it could fire 300-kg shells at a range of 42.5 km. To "shove" such artillery into cruising dimensions was made possible, firstly, by the all-round lightening of the hull due to the widespread introduction of electric welding and, secondly, by the use of fundamentally new engines - four twin diesel units with hydraulic transmission. As a result, the project left room for an armor belt with a thickness of 60-80 mm, and for anti-torpedo protection about 4.5 m wide (together with boules), ending with a 40-mm longitudinal bulkhead.
The entry into service of the lead "pocket battleship" coincided with Hitler's coming to power and resulted in a noisy propaganda campaign designed to instill in the layman that the revival of the German fleet began with the creation of "the best" ships in the world. In fact, these statements were far from the truth. For all their originality, the "Deutschland" and the "Admiral Scheer" and "Admiral Graf Spee" that followed it were by no means superior to all the "Washington" cruisers in terms of armor protection, and in speed they were inferior to everyone by an average of 4-5 knots. The seaworthiness of the "pocket battleships" at first turned out to be unimportant, because of which they had to urgently redo the bow of the hull. To top it all, it should be noted that their real standard displacement exceeded the declared one (10 thousand tons) by 17-25%, and the total displacement on the "Admiral Count Spee" generally reached 16020 tons!
The obvious limitations of the capabilities of "pocket battleships" in the light of the new naval doctrine announced by Hitler forced the construction of three more ships of the same type to be abandoned in favor of full-fledged battleships. In June 1935, an agreement was concluded in London, allowing Germany to have a fleet that was 35% of the British. Having won a diplomatic victory, the Germans could now build battleships quite legally.
The creation of ships went under the personal control of the Fuhrer. It is he who is considered to be the author of the new role assigned to the armored giants of the Kriegsmarine in the impending war. The fact is that, being unable to compete with the British fleet in a general battle, the Nazis intended to use their battleships as ocean raiders. It was in the actions of mighty ships against transport shipping that Hitler saw an opportunity to bring the "mistress of the seas" to her knees.
By the combination of parameters, the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau are often (and quite rightly) called battlecruisers. However, their continuity with their outstanding ancestors - "Derflinger" and "Mackensen" - is very arbitrary. The Scharnhorst project is largely descended from "pocket battleships". The only thing that the designers borrowed from the Kaiser battlecruisers was the armor scheme. Otherwise, the Scharnhorst is simply a Deutschland that has grown to normal size with a third 283-mm turret and a steam turbine plant.
The armor protection of the Scharnhorst according to the scheme was old-fashioned, but at the same time very powerful. A vertical belt of 350 mm cemented armor was mounted on the outside and could withstand 1016 kg 406 mm projectiles at ranges of more than 11 km. Above was an additional 45 mm belt. There were two armored decks: 50 mm upper and 80 mm (95 mm above the cellars) lower with 105 mm bevels. The total weight of the armor has reached a record value - 44% of the normal displacement! Anti-torpedo protection had an average width of 5.4 m on each side and was separated from the hull by an inclined 45-mm bulkhead.
The 283-mm guns of the SKC-34 model were somewhat improved compared to the previous model SKC-28: the barrel length increased to 54.5 calibers, which allowed the heavier 330-kg projectile to provide the same firing range - 42.5 km. True, Hitler was dissatisfied: he considered the German ships of the First World War period clearly underarmed and demanded that 380-mm guns be installed on the Scharnhorst. Only the unwillingness to delay the entry of battleships into service for a long time (and new weapons would delay their readiness for at least a year) forced him to compromise, postponing the rearmament of the ships at the time of their future upgrades.
The mixed placement of medium artillery in two-gun turrets and deck shield installations looks very strange. But this fact is explained very easily: the latter had already been ordered for the failed 4th and 5th "pocket battleships", and the Scharnhorst designers simply "disposed" them.
Already during the construction of the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, it became clear that the attempts of the international community to limit the naval arms race had failed. The leading maritime powers immediately began designing super-battleships, and the Germans, of course, did not stand aside.
In June 1936, the Bismarck and Tirpitz, the largest warships ever built in Germany, were laid down at the shipyards of Hamburg and Wilhelmshaven. Although it was officially announced that the displacement of the new battleships was 35 thousand tons, in reality this value was exceeded by almost one and a half times!
Structurally, the Bismarck largely repeated the Scharnhorst, but fundamentally differed primarily in the main caliber artillery. A 380 mm cannon with a barrel length of 52 calibers could fire 800 kg projectiles at a muzzle velocity of 820 m/s. True, by reducing the maximum elevation angle to 30, the firing range, compared with the 11-inch, decreased to 35.5 km. However, this value was also considered excessive, since it seemed impossible at that time to fight at such distances.
The armor differed from the Scharnhorst mainly by increasing the height of the main belt and thickening the upper belt to 145 mm. Deck armor, as well as the width of anti-torpedo protection, remained the same. Approximately the same can be said about the power plant (12 Wagner boilers and 3 four-casing turbo-gear units). The relative weight of the armor has decreased somewhat (up to 40% of the displacement), but this cannot be called a disadvantage, since the ratio between protection and armament has become more balanced.
But even such giants as Bismarck and Tirpitz could not satisfy the Fuhrer's growing ambitions. At the beginning of 1939, he approved the design of the "H" type battleship with a total displacement of over 62 thousand tons, armed with eight 406-mm guns. In total, it was supposed to have 6 such ships; two of them managed to lay in July-August. However, the outbreak of war crossed out the plans of the Nazis. Surface ship construction programs had to be curtailed, and in September 1939 Hitler could only oppose 22 English and French battleships and battlecruisers with the "11-inch" Scharnhorst and Gneisenau ("pocket battleships" do not count). The Germans had to rely only on new raider tactics.
The first joint corsair operation "Scharnhorst" and "Gneisenau" was carried out in November 1939. It resulted in the sinking of the English auxiliary cruiser Rawalpindi, a former passenger liner armed with old cannons. The success was, to put it mildly, modest, although Goebbels' propaganda inflated this unequal duel to the scale of a major naval victory, and in the German Youth Library series they even published a separate book called The End of Rawalpindi.
In April 1940, both sisterships provided cover for the German invasion of Norway and for the first time engaged in battle with a worthy enemy - the battlecruiser Rinaun. The duel proceeded in conditions of poor visibility and continued intermittently for more than two hours. The Gneisenau scored two hits on the British, but also received two 381-mm shells, one of which silenced the rear turret. The Scharnhorst was not hit, but her forward turret was also out of action due to damage caused by the storm.
Soon another battle took place in Norwegian waters, which received a huge response in the navies of the whole world. On June 8, the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau stumbled upon the British aircraft carrier Glories, escorted by the destroyers Ardent and Ekasta. Using radar, the Germans opened fire from a range of 25 km and quickly achieved hits that damaged the flight deck and prevented the aircraft from being lifted into the air. Glories caught fire, capsized and sank. Trying to save the aircraft carrier, the destroyers bravely rushed into a suicidal attack. Both were shot, but still one torpedo from the Ecasta hit the Scharnhorst. The battleship took in more than 2500 tons of water and received a roll of 5 to starboard; two artillery turrets - aft 283 mm and one 150 mm - were out of order; speed has dropped drastically. All this somewhat blurred the undoubted success of the operation.
The results of the first battle of battleships with an aircraft carrier inspired admirals with conservative views on naval warfare, but, alas, not for long. It soon became clear that the shooting of the Glories was just a tragic coincidence, an exception to the rule...
Finest hour "Scharnhorst" and "Gneisenau" - their joint "ocean voyage" in January - March 1941. During two months of piracy in the Atlantic, they captured and sank 22 allied steamships with a total tonnage of over 115,000 tons and returned to Brest with impunity.
But then fortune turned away from the Germans. While in French ports, the battleships began to be subjected to massive air attacks. It was hardly possible to complete the repair of some damage, as the English bombs caused new ones. I had to take my feet. The breakthrough across the English Channel to Germany in February 1942 was the last joint operation of the Nazi super raiders.
On the night of February 27, the Gneisenau, which had just arrived in Kiel, was hit by a British 454-kg armor-piercing bomb in the area of \u200b\u200bthe first tower. The explosion caused huge destruction and a fire (230 powder charges of the main caliber flared up at once). 112 sailors were killed and 21 wounded. The battleship was towed to Gotenhafen (Gdynia) for repairs. During the latter, by the way, it was planned to replace the main artillery with six 380-mm guns. Alas, these plans remained on paper. In January 1943, all work was stopped, and on March 27, 1945, the skeleton of the Gneisenau was flooded in order to block the entrance fairway.
The Scharnhorst, after a lengthy repair (and it was blown up by two mines during the English Channel breakthrough), moved to Norway, where it then mainly settled in the fjords. On December 26, 1943, under the flag of Admiral Erich Bey, while trying to attack the allied convoy JW-55B, he was intercepted by British cruisers. The very first hit from the Norfolk cruiser disabled the German radar, which in the conditions of the polar night led to fatal consequences. Soon the battleship Duke of York joined the cruisers, and the Scharnhorst's position became hopeless. After stubborn resistance, the raider, mutilated by heavy shells, was finished off by torpedoes from British destroyers. The British picked up 36 people from the water - the remaining 1932 crew members of the fascist battleship died.
Bismarck and Tirpitz entered service with the Kriegsmarine already during the war. The first combat campaign for the lead ship was the last. The beginning of the operation, it would seem, was going well: the unexpected death of the Hood in the eighth minute of the battle on May 24, 1941 shocked the British admirals. However, the Bismarck also received a fatal hit from a 356-mm projectile that dived under the armor belt. The ship received about 2 thousand tons of water, two steam boilers failed, the speed decreased by 3 knots. What follows is well known. Three days later, the Nazi battleship sank. Of the 2092 people on board, 115 escaped. Among the dead was Admiral Lutyens, a former hero of the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau Atlantic raid.
"Tirpitz" after the death of the sistership, the Germans used extremely carefully. As a matter of fact, he also had only one combat operation on his account - an almost fruitless campaign to Svalbard in September 1942. The rest of the time, the super-linker hid in the Norwegian fjords and was methodically "beaten" by British aircraft. In addition, on September 11, 1943, he received a severe blow from under the water: the British midget submarines X-6 and X-7 blew up 4 two-ton mines under its bottom. The last Nazi battleship was no longer able to go out to sea under its own power:
It should be noted that in the maritime historical literature, Bismarck and Tirpitz are often referred to as almost the most powerful battleships in the world. There are several reasons for this. First, the Nazi propaganda said so. Secondly, the British played along with her in order to justify the not always successful actions of their fleet, which was many times superior in strength. Thirdly, Bismarck's rating was greatly increased, in general, by the accidental death of Hood. But in reality, against the background of their counterparts, the German super-battleships did not stand out for the better. In terms of armor, armament and anti-torpedo protection, they were inferior to the Richelieu, Littorio, and South Dakota, not to mention the Yamato. The weak points of the "Germans" were capricious energy, the "non-universality" of 150-mm artillery, and imperfect radar equipment.
As for Scharnhorst, it is usually criticized, which again is not entirely fair. Although it had the same drawbacks as the Bismarck (to which, at first, poor seaworthiness was added, which forced the bow of the hull to be rebuilt), it deserves a good rating due to its smaller size in accordance with the cost-effectiveness criterion. In addition, it should be borne in mind that it was the second in the world (after the Dunkirk) completed project of a high-speed battleship, which was ahead of its more powerful "class brothers" in time. And if the Scharnhorst could be rearmed with six 380-mm guns, then it could generally be considered a very successful battlecruiser, surpassing the British Repulse in almost all respects.
The fate of these steel monsters, conceived as a thunderstorm of the oceans and seas, has developed in different ways. The military leadership of all the warring countries had high hopes for them. However, it soon became clear that size, in general, does not matter. Battleships gradually gave way to aircraft carriers.
(Total 7 photos)
1. By the beginning of World War II, the USSR was armed with three Sevastopol-class battleships: the Paris Commune, the October Revolution and the Marat. They were laid down in June 1909 at the shipyards of St. Petersburg and launched in June-September 1911 and then, of course, they were called differently: “Sevastopol”, “Gangut” and “Petropavlovsk”. "Marat" and "October Revolution" were used in the system of coastal defense of Leningrad, and the flagship of the Black Sea Fleet "Paris Commune" defended Sevastopol in 1942. All three battleships were withdrawn from service only after the war.
2. The history of German battleships was sad. The Bismarck was sunk by a British squadron on May 27, 1941 in the very first combat campaign. The Tirpitz, sent to Norwegian waters in 1942 to hunt for Arctic convoys, was destroyed by five-ton bombs in the parking lot as a result of a British air raid in November 1944. On the night of February 27, 1942, in the North Sea, a 500-kilogram British aerial bomb pierced the upper deck of the battleship Gneisenau; it was never restored. The Scharnhorst sent the battleship Duke of York and the cruiser Jamaica to the bottom north of Norway on December 26, 1943.
3. The French battleship "Richelieu" in 1943-1944, together with the forces of the British Navy, participated in the liberation of Norway. The obsolete battleship was scrapped in 1968.
4. Almost two dozen battleships of the King George V, Queen Elizabeth, Nelson and Rivenge types of the Royal Navy of Great Britain fought against enemies from the English Channel to the Mediterranean and the coast of Africa.
5. Four American battleships were sunk and four more seriously damaged in the attack on the naval base at Pearl Harbor. The remaining American battleships fought as part of the US Pacific Fleet. On board the battleship Missouri, the Japanese surrender was signed on September 2, 1945. Missouri turned out to be a long-liver: he fired his last salvo in 1991 in the Persian Gulf. The ship appears in the old film "Under Siege" with Steven Seagal. True, the shooting was carried out on the decommissioned battleship Alabama.
6. Japanese battleships "Yamato" and "Musashi" were the largest ships of this type in the world. Imperial Japan really hoped that thanks to battleships it would be possible to seize dominance at sea. However, the very first combat campaign of the Yamato in the Philippine Sea turned out to be extremely unsuccessful: on June 19, 1944, he fired at his own planes. On October 24, 1944, Musashi was killed in the Sibuyan Sea by bombs and torpedoes from American aircraft. On April 7, 1945, as a result of a powerful attack by carrier-based aircraft, he went to the bottom of the Yamato, taking with him more than three thousand crew members.
7. Italy has never been a sea power. Three battleships "Littorio", "Vittorio Veneto" and "Roma" did not distinguish themselves by major successes. “Vittorio Veneto” and “Littorio” went to the Allies after the war and were dismantled for scrap, and “Roma” on September 9, 1943, the day after the capitulation of Italy, was sunk by German aircraft.
After Hitler came to power, Germany secretly began building large ships. At the end of the thirties, the so-called "Z" plan was developed, according to which the Germans were going to build eight battleships, five heavy cruisers, four aircraft carriers and 12 smaller cruisers. The "nails" of the program were to be the battleships Bismarck and Tirpitz.
The Anglo-German agreement on naval armaments of 1935 allowed Germany to build two 35,000-ton battleships, but Bismarck and Tirpitz exceeded the established limit in terms of their displacement. The standard displacement of the battleship is 42,000 tons, and when fully loaded - 50,000 tons.
The main battery guns, eight 381 mm, were housed in four twin-gun turrets. All the towers had their own names: bow - Anton and Brun, stern - Caesar and Dora. And in that year, when the Wehrmacht pushed the borders of the Reich from the Pyrenees to the North Cape, from the Atlantic to the Oder, the ship became combat-ready.
"Bismarck" and "Prinz Eugen" in a military campaign
By May 1941, together with the cruiser Prince Eugene, he was already operating in the North Atlantic, but his first voyage was destined to become his last. The battleship had not yet managed to track down a single Allied convoy when the CVMF scouts themselves discovered it. The Hood and the Prince of Wales made visual contact with the German formation in the early hours of 24 May. The British ships began the battle at 5:52 am at a distance of 22 km. By 6:00 the ships were at a distance of 16-17 km. At this time, an explosion was heard on the Hood, apparently caused by the hit of the fifth salvo of the Bismarck, the ship was torn into two parts, and it sank in a matter of minutes. In addition to three people, the entire team, consisting of 1417 people, died. The battleship "Prince of Wales" continued the battle, but very unsuccessfully: he was forced to close up to 14 km with two German ships in order to avoid a collision with the sinking Hood. The battleship withdrew from the battle under a smoke screen, having received seven hits. The Hood was one of the largest losses suffered by the British Navy during World War II. The death of Hood was perceived by the English people as a national tragedy.
The Bismarck transfers fire to the battleship Prince of Wales after the sinking of the Hood. The most famous photo of "Bismarck"
Bismarck also got it hard. English sailors were not the ones to die with impunity. Three heavy shells hit the port side of the battleship, most likely all three from the Prince of Wales. The first one hit the battleship in the middle of the hull below the waterline, pierced the skin below the armor belt and ruptured inside the hull, as a result of which flooded power plant No. 4 on the port side. Water began to flow into the neighboring boiler room No. 2, but the emergency batches stopped the flow. The second shell pierced the hull above the armor belt and came out from the starboard side without exploding, but having made a hole with a diameter of 1.5 meters. As a result, about 2,000 tons of water poured into the tank, the fuel tank was damaged, and the battleship lost 1,000 tons of fuel. Plus a trace of spreading fuel ... The overall result of all these hits was that Bismarck's speed dropped to 28 knots. There was a trim of 3 degrees to the nose and a roll of 9 degrees to the port side, due to which the right screw was exposed from time to time. I had to take water into ballast tanks to eliminate the roll.
It was a clash of the titans - the largest battleships of the world at that time tested themselves and their strength, and the matter ended with the death of one of these giants.
And then came the hour of reckoning. A squadron of 47 ships and 6 submarines of Her Majesty chased the Bismarck. The Bismarck tried to reach the coast of France, but was again discovered and subjected to a torpedo attack by Swordfish aircraft from the British aircraft carrier Ark Royal. As a result of the raid, torpedoes hit the ship in one of the most vulnerable places. After that, with damaged rudders, the British battleships King George V and Rodney attacked from a distance of 20,000 meters, and later Norfolk and Dorsetshire joined them. Ultimately, on May 27, 1941, the German battleship sank, torpedoed by the British cruiser Dorsetshire. Almost two hours passed from the beginning of the battle to the death of Bismarck, the battleship showed extraordinary vitality. Hood - the flagship of the British fleet, drowned in 6 minutes, Bismarck could only be drowned in 74.
After the battle, the British calculated that in order to sink the Teutonic beast, they had to fire 8 torpedoes and 2876 shells of the main, medium and universal caliber (from 406 mm to 133 mm).
Battle of Denmark Strait
The Battle of the Denmark Strait, also known as the Battle of Iceland, was essentially a short-lived engagement lasting just over a quarter of an hour. But it was a clash of the titans - the largest battleships of the world at that time tested themselves and their strength, and the matter ended in the death of one of these giants.
In the early morning of May 24, the weather cleared up and visibility improved. The Germans followed a course of 220 degrees at a speed of 28 knots, and at 0525 Prinz Eugen's hydroacoustics detected the propeller noise of two ships on the port side. At 0537 the Germans visually spotted what they initially thought was a light cruiser at a range of 19 miles (35 km) to port. At 05.43 another silhouette was discovered, the combat alarm was sounded. On Bismarck, they still have not decided what exactly they are observing, mistakenly believing that these are heavy cruisers. But the fact is that the accurate identification of enemy ships was of great importance for the upcoming battle, since it was necessary to determine the type of shells for firing. Prinz Eugen's artillery commander, Lieutenant Commander Pauls Jasper, decided by will that they were observing British heavy cruisers, and ordered the guns to be loaded with the appropriate shells. In reality, Hood and the Prince of Wales were rapidly approaching the Germans, on a course of 280 degrees, with a speed of 28 knots. It is likely that Vice Admiral Holland, aware of the weakness of the battlecruiser Hood in long-range combat, wanted to get as close as possible in order to gain advantages or at least negate possible advantages for the enemy. So Lutyens had no choice whether to get involved in the fight or not. The fight was inevitable.
The British also failed to recognize the silhouettes, and deciding that Bismarck should have been the leader, Holland ordered Hood and the Prince of Wales to open fire on the leader. After that, the British ships turned 20 degrees to starboard, thereby taking a course of 300 degrees. At 0552, Holland finally figured out that Bismarck was not the leader and gave the appropriate commands, but for some reason Hood continued to track the leader - Prinz Eugen. The Prince of Wales followed the command correctly and turned his sights on Bismarck, who followed in the wake of Prinz Eugen at a distance of about a mile. To everyone's surprise, at 05525 Hood opened fire at 12.5 miles. Following him spat out the first volleys and the Prince of Wales. Both ships fired volleys from the forward turrets, the stern turrets could not be put into action due to the too acute approach angle. Admiral Lutyens reported to the command by radiogram “He entered into battle with two heavy enemy ships” - and surrendered to the elements of battle.
The first shells from the Prince of Wales were divided - part flew over Bismarck, part fell into the sea at the stern. The Prince of Wales immediately began having technical problems with the opening of fire, and for a start, the first gun of the first bow turret failed. The next volleys of Wales also missed the target, whistling over the Aryan heads and exploding in a safe distance. Hood's first volleys fell short, however, dousing the cruiser with water from explosions - let me remind you that Hood opened fire on Prinz Eugen.
The shells of the bastards of the British began to fall closer and closer, and the German guns were still silent. Bismarck's artillery commander, Lieutenant Commander Adalbert Schneider, requested "go-ahead" for firing, without waiting for commands from the ship's command post. Adalbert was at the fire control post on the foremast. Finally, at 0555, when the British turned 20 degrees and thus helped the Germans to understand that they were dealing with Hood and the King George V class battleship, Bismarck opened fire, and immediately after him - Prinz Eugen. At this time, the distance was about 11 miles (20,300 meters). Both German ships concentrated their fire on the enemy's lead ship, the battlecruiser Hood. Bismarck's first volley is undershot. At this time, the commander of Prinz Eugen orders the commander of the mine-torpedo warhead, Lieutenant Reimann, to load the port side torpedo tubes with torpedoes with a diameter of 53.3 cm and open fire, without waiting for commands from the bridge, as soon as the ship reaches the torpedo fire zone, at the discretion of the lieutenant. The 5th salvo of Wales again overshot, but the sixth, it is possible, hit the battleship, although the Prince of Wales did not record a hit. The return fire of the Germans cannot be called anything other than sniper fire. At 05.57 Prinz Eugen recorded the first hit, his shells hit Hood in the mainmast area. Explosions of shells caused a large fire, the flames spread to the second chimney.
Bismarck also got it, that was the famous hit that pierced the fuel tank, and now the battleship left a trail in the form of a wide oil stain. Lutyens ordered Prinz Eugen to fire on the Prince of Wales, and Bismarck's gunners to open fire with second-caliber guns on the Prince of Wales.
At 0600, Hood and Prince of Wales began to turn 20 degrees to port, thus allowing the aft turrets of the main battery to come into play. And just at this time, the fifth volley of Bismarck covered Hood with direct hits. The distance at that time was already less than 9 miles (16668 m). At least one 15-inch projectile from the salvo pierced through Hood's armor belt, flew into the powder magazine and exploded there. The explosion that followed horrified the witnesses with its force. Hood, Great Hood, for 20 years the largest ship of the line in the world, the pride of the Royal Navy, split in two and sank in just three minutes. At the point with coordinates 63 degrees 22 minutes north latitude, 32 degrees 17 minutes west longitude. The stern part sank first, stern up, followed by the bow, stem up. No one had time to leave the ship, everything was so fast. Of the 1418 people on board, only three survived ... Admiral Holland and his staff, ship commander Ralph Kerr and other officers died. The three survivors were picked up from the water by the destroyer Elektra and later landed in Reykjavik.
After Hood's explosion, Bismarck veered to the right and shifted his fire to the still-alive Prince of Wales. The British battleship was also forced to tuck in order not to crash into the sinking remains of Hood, and thus found itself between the sinking Hood and the Germans, presenting an excellent target. The Germans did not miss theirs. At 0602, a Bismarck shell explodes in the conning tower of the Prince of Wales, killing everyone there except for the battleship's commander, John Catterall, and another man. The distance was reduced to 14,000 meters, now even the shells of the largest anti-aircraft caliber Prinz Eugen could reach the poor fellow Welsh, and of course, anti-aircraft guns also opened fire. If the English battleship did not want to share the fate of Hood, he had to run away. And quickly. The British put up a smoke screen and rushed to retreat at maximum speed. They got it hard - four hits from Bismarck and three from Prinz Eugen. Finally, burning with revenge, the British fired three volleys from the “Y” turret, controlled at the time of firing on their own, but to no avail, all the volleys missed. At 06:09 the Germans fired their last salvo and the Battle of Denmark Strait ended. Many sailors from the Prince of Wales, probably after this trip, put candles in the church in memory of their savior, Admiral Lutyens. The fact is that the British were amazed by the fact that the German raiders did not finish off the Prince of Wales. Most likely, there is only one reason - Lutyens was in a hurry to get away from the main British forces hurrying to the battlefield, and decided not to waste time chasing. There is no doubt that Lutyens and the sailors of the raiders, inspired by victory, wanted nothing at that moment more than to catch up with Welsh and send Hoodoo to the company, but the circumstances - due to the choice made by Lutyens - were stronger.
Prince Eugen did not suffer from the fire of the British in any way, except for the deck that became wet from close explosions and several fragments that clinked powerlessly against this deck. But Bismarck got it hard. English sailors were not the ones to die with impunity. Three heavy shells hit the port side of the battleship, most likely all three from the Prince of Wales. The first hit the battleship in the middle of the hull below the waterline, pierced the skin below the armor belt and burst inside the hull, as a result of which the power station No. 4 was flooded on the port side. Water began to flow into the neighboring boiler room No. 2, but the emergency batches stopped the flow. The second shell pierced the hull above the armor belt and exited from the starboard side, without exploding, but having made a hole with a diameter of 1.5 mm. As a result, about 2,000 tons of water poured into the tank, the fuel tank was damaged, and the battleship lost 1,000 tons of fuel. Plus a trace of spreading fuel ... The third shell pierced the boat without any other consequences.
The sum total of all these hits was that Bismarck's speed dropped to 28 knots. There was a trim of 3 degrees to the nose and a roll of 9 degrees to the port side, due to which the right screw was exposed from time to time. I had to take water into ballast tanks to eliminate the roll.
Technically speaking, nothing serious happened to Bismarck. He did not lose combat capability, the speed remained sufficient, only 5 people from the crew received minor injuries - in other words, scratches. The most serious consequence was the loss of a considerable part of the fuel.
After the battle, the raiders remained on the same course, following in a south-westerly direction. Lutyens had two options - either to return before it was too late to Norway, or to continue the breakthrough to the Atlantic.
Today, all experts believe that the best way out was to turn back to Norway, along the way finishing off the Prince of Wales. Two ways - either the Danish Strait, or a shorter way, the passage of the Faroe Islands - Iceland, although there was a considerable risk of meeting with the main forces of the British - the battleship King George V, the aircraft carrier Victorias, the light cruisers Kenya, Galatea, Aurora, Neptune and Hermione, the destroyers Active, Ingelfield, Intrepid, Lance, Punjab and Windsor. There is also no doubt that Bismarck's commander Lindemann insisted on this option.
However, Lutyens informs the command, and orders the raiders to follow to France, to Saint-Nazaire. He was right about one thing, that Operation Rheinburg should be forgotten for the time being and the repair of Bismarck should be taken care of. Meanwhile, an undamaged Prinz Eugen could bite enemy convoys here and there. But why did Lutyens decide to bite into St. Nazaire instead of Norway, which was so much closer? Maybe because he was still thinking more about the raids in the Atlantic than about the situation in which he found himself? After all, raids from the ports of France were much more convenient than from Norway, and shorter. Or maybe because only two months ago he safely brought the battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau to Brest? Speaking in a stamp, we will never know about it.
At 09.50, commander Eugen Brinkmann received an order from Lutyens by semaphore to go to Bismarck's wake and visually assess the damage to the battleship - namely, fuel leakage. At 11.00 Eugen again led the column. The British ships continued their pursuit under Rear Admiral Wake-Walker, Suffolk to starboard, Norfolk and the newly born Prince of Wales to port. At noon, the Germans laid down on a course of 180 degrees, due south, and reduced their speed to 24 knots.
That's something that the Admiralty did not expect at all - the death of Hood. The indignant admirals immediately began issuing orders to involve all available ships within reasonable limits of the course in the hunt for Bismarck. Including those ships that were involved in the protection of convoys.
The British and Americans understood perfectly well what a Bismarck-class battleship Tyrannosaurus was like against helpless sheep in convoys, and the Bismarck raid demonstrated that it was worth destroying this Tyrannosaurus rex. That is why, having received intelligence about the exit of Tirpitz, they removed and tore everything they could from everywhere, and threw it across the proposed raid. Tirpitz's combat training was no worse than that of Bismarck, there was the cream of the Kriegsmarine, and they would not have died cheaply.
In general, most of the convoys in the Atlantic were left unguarded. The battleship Rodney (commander Frederick Dalrymple-Hamilton) was heading to Boston USA for repairs, accompanied by the destroyers Somalia, Tartar, Mashona and Eskimo of the 6th flotilla, along the way accompanying the liner Britannic (27759 tons displacement, used as a transport for transporting military units) - they turned and him without sparing the liner. It was said: "If the liner cannot follow you, leave one destroyer with it, and throw it to hell."
Battleship Ramilles (commander Arthur Reed) escorted convoy HX-127. Order: "Proceed immediately to the west so that the enemy raiders are between you and our forces pursuing him." And the convoy, accordingly, will be interrupted somehow.
The battleship Rivenge (commander Ernst Archer) formed a convoy in Halifax, on the same day at 15.00 he was already rushing at full speed to meet Bismarck, who had inflicted such a strong offense on the Grand Fleet of the Lady of the Seas.
On the morning of May 24, Lutyens decided that the cruiser should continue to follow independently, and at 14.20 he announced his decision to commander Eugen Brinkmann by semaphore. The order read: “During a rain squall, Bismarck will lie on a course due west. Prinz Eugen will follow the same course and speed for at least three hours after Bismarck's departure. The cruiser should then refuel from tankers Belchen or Loringen. Then act against enemy convoys independently. The code word for the start of the operation is Hood.
At this time, Karl Doenitz orders his wolves, all submarines in the North Atlantic, to completely cease hostilities and be ready to help Bismarck. Doenitz wanted to arrange a grand trap for the British - to put boats in a certain square so that they would attack the British ships pursuing Bismarck. In accordance with this plan, Doenitz placed the boats U-93, U-43, U-46, U-557, U-66, U-94 south of the southern tip of Greenland.
At 15.40 a squall came up, and the word "Hood" sounded. Bismarck turned to starboard and headed west, speeding up to 28 knots. However, Suffolk was too close, Bismarck returned to his place at the stern of Eugen. Two hours later, the attempt was repeated, this time successfully. Prinz Eugen broke away, and Bismarck, just in case, at 18.30 opened fire on Suffolk from a distance of 18,000 meters. The cruiser retreated quickly under the cover of a smoke screen.
After which Bismarck fell upon the Prince of Wales, the exchange of volleys ceased at 18.56, there were no hits from either side. However, Suffolk left Bismarck's starboard side and joined Norfolk and Wales, fearing that Bismarck would catch him and finish him off after all. Thus, no one pursued Bismarck from the starboard side. A little later, it cost the British dearly.
In the meantime, it turned out that the battleship was extremely bad with fuel, so Lutyens was forced to decide to go straight to St. Nazaire, which he notified the command about. The battleship had about 3000 tons of fuel left, too little for maneuvers and attempts to break away from the pursuers.
If only they had refueled in Bergen... If only the fuel tank had not been damaged in the battle in the Danish Strait... History, what can you do with it! There is "if-would" and there is what is. Do not remake or replay.
Another extremely unpleasant consequence of the lack of fuel for the Germans - the undertaking with an underwater trap failed, as Bismarck had to turn around to straighten the course to St. Nazaire. The trap was left aside, but for the uninitiated, we note that diesel submarines and in the surface position are no match for surface ships in terms of speed. That is, the boats simply could not have time to change position. Dönitz ordered the boats at Biscay to prepare to cover the approaching Bismarck, and that was all Dönitz could do for the hunted battleship.
At 15.09, Admiral Tovey detached a separate group under the command of Rear Admiral Alban Kurteys, who held the flag on the cruiser Galatea. The group included the aircraft carrier Victories, light cruisers Galatea, Aurora, Kenya and Hermione. The task was set as follows - to get close to Bismarck and conduct a torpedo attack.
At 22.10, at a distance of about 120 miles from Bismarck, all of its torpedo bombers took off from the aircraft carrier in the amount of 9, 825 squadron under the command of Lieutenant Commander Eugene Esmond. At 11:50 p.m., Esmond's torpedo bomber got a mark on the radar, but it was not Bismarck, but the American Coast Guard cutter Modoc. Bismarck was 6 miles further, he spotted the planes, opened fire and increased his speed to 27 knots. One Swordfish fought off the squadron while passing the cloud layer, the remaining 8 went on the attack at about midnight. Bismarck fired back from all types of guns, even the main and second caliber came into play. At first, Lindemann and helmsman Hans Hansen successfully dodged, and six torpedoes missed. But still the British got in. An 18-inch MK XII torpedo hit the starboard side in the area of the midship frame, hitting the armor belt, and the armor belt withstood the blow! Damage was minimal. The first victim appeared - Oberboatswain Kurt Kirchberg died. Six people were injured.
All torpedo bombers returned to the aircraft carrier despite the battleship's furious fire.
After the raid, Bismarck slowed down to 16 knots to ease the water pressure on the forepeak bulkheads and try to make some repairs. The distance between the opponents decreased, and at 01.31 already on May 25, the Prince of Wales opened fire. Bismarck did not remain in debt, and at a distance of 15,000 meters, two battleships exchanged two volleys each, to no avail. An unusually high spirit was maintained on board the Bismarck; according to the general ship broadcast, the crew congratulated Admiral Lutyens on his 52nd birthday - the admiral's birthday fell on May 25th.
The trinity, pursuing Bismarck, began to go in an anti-submarine maneuver due to fear of attacks by German submarines. At 03:06 Lutyens saw this as his chance, turning to the right. It worked - the British lost it. After that, Bismarck lay down on a course of 130 degrees - right on St. Nazaire.
For some time the British tried to re-establish contact, but finally gave up, and at 0401 Suffolk radioed guiltily: "Contact lost." Yesterday's order from Vice Admiral Wake-Walker to pull Suffolk off the starboard side of the Bismarck proved to be a mistake. Bismarck was given the opportunity to maneuver, and did not fail to take advantage of this opportunity. Stay Suffolk in his place, Bismarck could hardly break away.
Funny or not, the Bismarck never realized that they had come off. At 0700, Lutyens radioed: "One battleship and two enemy cruisers continue to pursue." At 0900 Bismarck sends another rather lengthy message to headquarters. Both messages were received by the command much later than 0900, but much worse, the British tracked these radio messages and roughly calculated Bismarck's position.
At 11.52 Lutyens received a congratulatory radiogram addressed to him from Raeder: “The most cordial congratulations on the occasion of your birthday! I have no doubt that in the coming new year of your life you will achieve new glorious victories, similar to the one you won two days ago!”
A few minutes later, Lutyens addressed the entire crew over the ship's broadcast: "Sailors of the battleship Bismarck! You have already covered yourself with glory! The sinking of Hood is not only a military victory, it is also a victory of the spirit. Hood was the pride of England. Now, of course, the enemy will gather all his forces and throw them against us. That is why I released Prinz Eugen yesterday on his own voyage - he will wage his own war against the merchant fleet of the enemy. He managed to escape. It's a different matter with us, we were damaged in battle, and now we must go to the French port. The enemy will try to intercept us on the way to the port, and impose a battle. The whole German people is with us, and we will fight to the last shell. For us now there is only one motto - victory or death!
Having thus encouraged the crew, Lutyens, meanwhile, receives another congratulation, this time from Hitler. The Fuhrer sent him the best about it and wished. Meanwhile, a party of sailors under the command of Walter Lehmann, the chief mechanic of the battleship, were building a false chimney to change the silhouette of the ship and confuse the brutalized Britons. On the night of the 25th/26th, Bismarck followed the same course and speed without any incident.
Last Stand
On the morning of May 26, the battleship decided to repaint the top of the main and second caliber gun turrets yellow. Not an easy job, given the excitement, but it was done. However, it is not clear why, since the paint was washed off almost immediately.
And a few hours before the start of paintwork, from the town of Loch Erne, in northern Ireland, two flying boats Catalina of the Coastal Defense Forces took off. The task was simple and obvious at that time - to find the damned battleship! Any damn price! And at 10.10 Catalina Zet (crew commander Dennis Briggs) of 209 Squadron discovered the cursed battleship. The battleship also discovered it and immediately opened fire, quite well-aimed. Catalina dropped 4 depth charges on board - not in order to sink the battleship or damage her paint, but in order to make it easier to evade the viciously well-aimed fire of the Germans. The hull of the boat was riddled with shrapnel, which did not prevent her from sending a laconic radio command - “Battleship, bearing 240, distance 5 miles, heading 150, my coordinates are 49o 33 minutes north, 21o 47 minutes west. Transmission time is 10.30 am on the 26th.” 31 hours after Suffolk's loss of contact, the battleship was again caught in a lethal surveillance net.
But Tovey's ships were too far away, King George V 135 miles to the north, Rodney (at a max speed of 21 knots) 121 miles to the northeast. They had no chance of intercepting Bismarck, none. Provided Bismarck retains his speed and his strength.
This nightmare of the Admiralty could only be intercepted by Group H, under the command of Vice-Admiral Sir James Sommerville, coming from Gibraltar. However, the British admirals, having burned themselves with Hood, did not want to sink the battleship Rinaun (commander Roderick McGriggor), who led the group, and therefore he was ordered to stay away from Bismarck and not play a hero. The only way to delay the battleship, and at the same time not destroy their battleships, was air raids. This could be done with the aircraft carrier Ark Royal.
At 0835, ten Swordfish torpedo bombers took off from Ark Royal in search of the Germans, and as soon as the report from Catalina arrived, the two nearest Swordfish rushed to the battleship. At 11:14 they found him. A little later, two more torpedo bombers with additional fuel tanks flew up, replacing the first two.
At 1450, 15 Swordfish torpedo bombers, under the command of Lieutenant Commander Stuart-Moore, took off from Ark Royal (the commander of the aircraft carrier was Loben Mound) with the task of attacking Bismarck. At 15.50 they established radar contact with the battleship. During the attack, the British fired 11 torpedoes, none of which worked, as something was wrong with the magnetic fuses. Strong luck - but not Bismarck, but the British light cruiser Sheffield (commander Charles Larcom). He separated from the forces of N with the task of searching for Bismarck, was confused by the pilots with this same Bismarck, and mistakenly attacked. Two torpedoes exploded as soon as they fell into the water, three passed along the stern and exploded in a wave caused by the cruiser's course, the cruiser contrived to turn away from 6 others. At 1700, the torpedo bombers returned to the aircraft carrier, and it is unlikely that they were met with an orchestra. Lucky Sheffield, meanwhile, made contact with Bismarck - visually.
The British understood that this was their last chance. It's getting dark here. If Bismarck leaves now, he will be in France the next day. At 19.15, 15 Swordfish took to the air, mostly the same ones who demonstrated their combat skills on the cruiser Sheffield during the day. This time, the fuses on all torpedoes were installed with contact ones - the British used the mistake, which almost became fatal, for the good of the cause.
During all these disturbances, group H, led by the battleship Rinaun and the aircraft carrier Ark Royal, entered the combat position of the German submarine U-556 (commander - Lieutenant Herbert Wolfart). The shooting position was perfect. But ... the boat did not have torpedoes, they spent their last "fish" on the ships of the HX-126 convoy a few days ago. All Wohlfarth could do was report back to HQ the details of the enemy group, its location, course, and speed. He did this, but it did not help Bismarck. What can I say - fate ...
The Swordfish strike squadron this time flew under the command of Lieutenant Commander Kuda, and on the way to Bismarck flew over Sheffield to clarify the distance and bearing to the battleship, and this time nothing was fired at Sheffield, not a single torpedo. The pilots finally remembered how their own cruiser looks from the air.
The last hours of Bismarck
The attack began at 20.47, the battleship's artillery immediately opened barrage fire. But it did not help, at least two torpedoes hit the battleship. One or two hit the battleship from the port side in the middle of the hull, the other hit the stern on the starboard side. Hitting or hitting the port side caused practically no harm, Krupp steel saved, but the rudders jammed from hitting the stern in a position of 12 degrees to the left. Bismarck made a circulation, and then, almost uncontrollably, began to follow in a northwesterly direction. As before, not a single torpedo bomber was shot down, although several aircraft were damaged.
This time, the damage to the battleship was so severe that Lutyens radioed: “The ship is uncontrollable. We will fight to the last shell. Long live the Fuhrer! Although what does the Fuhrer have to do with it?
A hit in the stern not only jammed the rudders, but also led to the flooding of the helmsman and the compartments adjacent to it. That is, repair work could only be carried out under water. A group of divers entered the compartment, but it was impossible to work because of the strongest whirlpools. From the outside - that is, overboard, it was also excluded - there was too much excitement. They wanted to blow up the rudders and then be controlled by machines, but they were afraid that the explosions could damage or destroy the propellers. Bismarck was doomed. The most offensive - he was still in excellent even, not satisfactory condition, no serious damage, but the jamming of the rudders doomed him to uncontrollability and inevitable death.
After the air raid, the almost uncontrollable Bismarck began to scour in different directions, and approached Sheffield. In order to somehow have some fun, the Germans fired six volleys at the light cruiser at a distance of about 9 miles. They did not hit, but fragments damaged the cruiser's radar antenna and injured 12 people, of whom three later died. The cruiser was enveloped in a smoke screen and moved away. Contact with the battleship was lost, at 22.00 the cruiser reported the approximate bearing and distance to the battleship to the destroyers of the 4th flotilla (commander of the flotilla Philip Vaillant) Kossak, Maori, Zulu, Sikh and Piorun, the latter under the Polish flag.
At 22.38, the Poles (commander Edzhenish Plawski) spotted the battleship, and received three volleys in response. Despite the fierce barrage, the destroyers rushed to the attack. At 2342, shrapnel shot down the radar antenna of the destroyer Kossak. After zero hours, the destroyers began firing illuminating shells, one of which fell on the battleship's forecastle and started a fire, which was quickly extinguished.
The weather for torpedo attacks was unsuitable - heavy seas, squalls with rain, almost no visibility. Not the last word remained with Bismarck - the dying lion snapped aptly and strongly, even the Polish uhlans did not dare to approach the "pistol shot".
There were no hits, although by 07.00 in the morning 16 torpedoes were fired at Bismarck.
Bismarck's last day met him with a storm from the northwest. His strength reached 8 points. In the conning tower of the battleship, the atmosphere was hardly cheerful. Everyone understood that the main enemy forces would soon attack the battleship. Bismarck somehow hobbled along at a speed of 7 knots and waited for the end - and what else was left for him?
At 0833, King George V and Rodney lay down on a course of 110 degrees, and 10 minutes later they spotted Bismarck at 23,000 meters.
Rodney opened fire at 0847, joined by King George V a minute later. The range was 20,000 meters. Bismarck began to snarl with the Anton and Bruno bow turrets, aiming at Rodney. At 0854 Norfolk entered with his eight 203mm guns, at 0858 Rodney's secondary caliber joined the main caliber, also opening fire.
At 09.02, the first hits began, several shells hit the forecastle, the foremast and disabled the rangefinder on the foremast. At 09.04 fire on Bismarck was opened by Dorsetshire (commander Benjamin Martin). Now two battleships and two heavy cruisers were firing at Bismarck. Of course, this execution quickly brought results - already at 09.08 the Anton and Bruno towers were out of order.
Fire control on the battleship switched to the stern command post, as the bow rangefinder was destroyed. Artillery officer Lieutenant Müllenheim-Rechberg commanded Bismarck's fire from the aft command post, fired 4 volleys from the aft towers and almost covered King George V, but at 09.13 a large-caliber projectile demolished the aft command tower along with a well-aimed lieutenant.
The stern towers began to fire independently, focusing on Rodney. Rodney fired 6 torpedoes, none hit. At 09.21, the Dora's aft turret went out of order - a shell exploded in the right barrel. By some incomprehensible miracle at 09.27, the bow towers suddenly came to life and fired one volley, after which they fell silent forever. 4 minutes down, at 09.31, the last salvo was made by the Tsar tower. A few auxiliary caliber guns remained in the ranks, but even those did not last long under the hurricane fire of the British. And at this time, the commander of the battleship Lindemann gives the order to leave the dying ship.
As Bismarck's fire weakened, the British came closer. Rodney turned out to be the most arrogant and approached at a distance of about 2500 meters, opening fire from everything that was possible, for a small amount not from pistols. At 09.40, the rear plate of the Bruno tower was torn out, the tower was engulfed in fire.
At 0956 Rodney decided to continue his torpedo practice and fired two more torpedoes, one of which appeared to hit Bismarck's port side. All the British ships approached for a pistol shot - it was impossible to miss even drunk, and they put shell after shell of all calibers into the dying battleship.
Amazingly, Bismarck did not sink! A little after 1000 Norfolk fired two torpedoes, one of which appeared to hit the starboard side. On board the stubbornly not sinking Bismarck, everything that can be imagined was destroyed. People started jumping overboard. All the guns were put out of action, their barrels froze in a variety of, sometimes bizarre, positions. The chimney and settings looked like a sieve. The aircraft hangar on the port side was completely destroyed. The main deck looked like the floor of a slaughterhouse. Only the mainmast survived, and Bismarck's battle flag fluttered from it!
At 10.16 Rodney ceased fire and went aside - the battleship ran out of fuel.
At 09.20, 12 torpedo bombers took off from Ark Royal, at 10.15 they flew up to Bismarck, but they didn’t get into the slaughterhouse - their fire could sweep them away like flies. King George V in a fever decided that it was the Germans, and opened fire on the planes - as if in retaliation for Sheffield, but having figured it out, the fire ceased. However, there was nothing for the planes to do there. The torpedo bombers only got to slowly circle over the ships and watch this drama - a unique opportunity.
At 10.20 Dorsetshire came close to Bismarck and fired two 21 inch MK VII torpedoes at the starboard side of the battleship. Both hit, but the dying Bismarck paid no attention to it. No, that is, visible effect. The cruiser turned around and fired another torpedo into the port side. The battleship finally began to sink, there was a strong roll to the port side, the port side guns went into the water.
Finally, to the delight of the weary British, at 10.39 Bismarck reluctantly capsized and sank at 48 degrees 10 minutes north, 16 degrees 12 minutes west.
Almost two hours passed from the beginning of the battle to the death of Bismarck, the battleship showed extraordinary vitality. The first hits began at 09.02, the fire stopped at 10.16, for 74 minutes in a row Bismarck was hit by everyone, from anti-aircraft caliber shells to torpedoes and 406mm "suitcases". Hood was drowned in 6 minutes, Bismarck could not be drowned in 74 - after all, the battleship's armor belt withstood all the blows, and in fact the battleship sank at the hands of the Germans themselves, they opened the kingstones! In the storm and the fear of the British, shells were fired:
380 40.6 cm shells from Rodney
339 rounds of 35.6 cm caliber from King George V
527 20.3 cm shells from Norfolk
254 20.3 cm rounds from Dorsetshire
716 15.2 cm shells from Rodney
660 rounds of 13.3 cm caliber from King George V
At 1100 hours, just 20 minutes after the death of Bismarck, Churchill announced to Parliament: “This morning at dawn, the British battleships entered the battle with Bismarck, who had lost control. How it all ended, I don't know yet. It seems that the Bismarck could not be sunk by artillery fire, and it will be finished off with torpedoes. Looks like we're doing just that right now. Yes, our loss, Hood, is great, but let's pay tribute to Bismarck, the most powerful battleship that our sailors have ever fought. We will destroy it, but the control of the North Sea is still very far away, it would be a mistake to reduce the victory over the German fleet to the victory over Bismarck. Churchill sat down, at this time a note was handed to him, he got up again and proclaimed: "I have just received a message - Bismarck has been destroyed!" Parliament greeted the news with shouts and applause.
Eternal parking of the battleship "Bismarck"
The impressive success of the Tirpitz battleship is the legacy left over from the legendary Bismarck, a battleship of the same type, a meeting with which struck fear into the hearts of the British forever.
In total, about 20 units under the British, Canadian and Polish flags, as well as 2 naval tankers and 13 carrier-based aviation squadrons - only in this composition in April 1944 did the British dare to approach the Alta Fjord - where, under the gloomy vaults of the Norwegian rocks, the pride of the Kriegsmarine rusted - Tirpitz.
The carrier-based aircraft managed to bomb the German base and cause serious damage to the battleship's superstructures. However, the next Pearl Harbor did not work out - the British could not inflict mortal wounds on the Tirpitz.
The Germans lost 123 men killed, but the battleship still posed a threat to shipping in the North Atlantic. The main problems were caused not so much by numerous bomb hits and fires on the upper deck, but by newly opened leaks in the underwater part of the hull - the result of a previous British attack using mini-submarines.
In total, during the stay in Norwegian waters, the Tirpitz withstood dozens of air strikes - in total, during the war years, about 700 British and Soviet aircraft took part in raids on the battleship! In vain. The British were able to destroy the super-battleship only towards the end of the war with the help of the monstrous 5-ton Tallboy bombs dropped by the Lancasters of the Royal Air Force. As a result of two direct hits and three close gaps, the Tirpitz capsized and sank.
Tallboy ("Big Boy")
Brief performance characteristics of the Bismarck-class battleships
Standard displacement: 41,700 tons; full 50 900 t
Main dimensions: length (total) 248 m; width (at the waterline level) 35.99 m; draft 8.68 m
Power plant: 12 Wagner-type boilers, three Bloem-und-Voss-type turbines with a total capacity of 138,000 hp, rotating three propellers
Maximum speed: 29 knots
Reservation: side belt thickness from 317 mm to 266 mm; decks 50 mm; armored deck from 119 mm to 89 mm; torpedo installation 44 mm; turrets of main caliber guns from 368 mm to 178 mm; towers of anti-mine guns from 102 mm to 38 mm
Armament: eight 15-in. (381-mm) guns of the main caliber, 12 - 6-in. (152 mm) and 16 - 4.1-in. (105 mm) universal guns, 15 - 37 mm and 12 - 20 mm automatic anti-aircraft guns, from four to six aircraft
Team: 2092 people
From the moment guns are installed on ships, the eternal rivalry between shell and armor begins. After realizing the vulnerability of the majestic sailing fleet to gunfire, engineers and shipbuilders begin to install armor on warships. In the 19th century, the first battleships appeared, which completed their development by the beginning of the 20th century and became the main striking and most powerful force of the fleet. They are being replaced by dreadnought battleships, even larger, more powerful and heavily armored. The peak of the development of battleships came in World War II, when the rivalry between projectile and armor reached its climax, giving rise to the most powerful and majestic ships ever created by man. They will be discussed in our article.
6. Battleships of the type "King George V"
Before World War II, the navies of the leading maritime powers were intensively armed with modern battleships. Great Britain was considered a trendsetter in the field of military shipbuilding and the most powerful maritime power for several centuries, but after the First World War, its leadership began to gradually fade. As a result, the Lady of the Seas approached the war with the least powerful "main" battleship.
The British began designing battleships of the "King George V" type in the late 20s of the 20th century to replace superdreadnoughts. For several years, the initial project has undergone significant changes, and by 1935 the final version was approved with a length of about 230 meters and a displacement of about 35 thousand tons. The main caliber of the new battleship was to be ten 356-millimeter guns. The location of the main caliber artillery was original. Instead of the classic four 2-gun or three 3-gun turrets, they chose a variant with two turrets of four guns at the bow and stern, and one turret with two guns at the bow. The caliber of 356 mm by the beginning of World War II was considered insufficient and was the smallest among the other battleships of the leading powers. Armor-piercing projectile "King George" weighed a modest 721 kg. The initial speed was low - 757 m / s. English guns did not shine with rate of fire. Only traditionally high-quality gun barrels and armor-piercing shells, coupled with the reliability of the system as a whole, can be added to the pluses.
The average caliber of the battleship was represented by sixteen 133 mm guns in 2-gun turrets. These guns were supposed to become universal, conducting both anti-aircraft fire and performing the function of fighting enemy destroyers. If such guns coped well with the second task, then they turned out to be ineffective against aircraft due to the low rate of fire and the imperfection of guidance systems. Also, the King George battleships were equipped with two reconnaissance seaplanes with one catapult.
The booking of British ships was built according to the classic “all or nothing” principle, when the main and most important components of the ship were covered with the thickest armor, and the ends of the hull and deck remained practically unarmored. The thickness of the main armor belt reached an impressive 381 mm. In general, the booking was quite good and balanced. The quality of the English armor itself was still excellent. Only frankly weak anti-mine and anti-torpedo protection caused complaints.
The main power plant developed 110 thousand horsepower and allowed the battleship to accelerate to 28 knots. The estimated cruising range with an economical 10-knot course reached 14 thousand miles, but in reality everything turned out to be much more modest.
In total, the British managed to build five ships of this type. Battleships were created to resist the German fleet in the Atlantic, but they had to serve in many parts of the world. The most belligerent of the British battleships were the King George V, which for a long time was the flagship of the English Royal Navy, and the Prince of Wales, which took the battle along with the ill-fated Hood against the legendary Bismarck. At the end of 1941, the Prince of Wales was sunk by Japanese aircraft, while the rest of her brethren survived the war and were safely scrapped in 1957.
Battleship Vanguard
In addition to ships of the King George V type, the British managed to lay down the new Vanguard during the war - a larger and more powerful battleship, devoid of many of the shortcomings of previous battleships. In terms of displacement and armament (50 thousand tons and eight 381 mm guns), it resembled the German Bismarck. But the British were able to complete this ship only in 1946.
5. Battleships of the type "Littorio / Vittorio Veneto"
After the First World War, Italy was going through hard times. There was not enough money to build new battleships. Therefore, the release of new ships was postponed in every possible way for financial reasons. Italy began to develop a modern battleship only after the laying in France, the main rival in the Mediterranean, of powerful and fast battlecruisers of the Dunkirk type, which completely depreciated the old Italian battleships.
The main theater of operations for the Italians was the Mediterranean Sea, historically considered "their own". This left its mark on the appearance of the new battleship. If for the British autonomy and a long cruising range were a key factor in the development of their own battleships, then the Italian designers could sacrifice it for the sake of increased firepower and armor. The lead "Littorio" and "Vittorio Veneto" were larger than the "King George" - their total displacement was about 45 thousand tons with a length of about 240 meters. The battleships entered service in the spring of 1940.
The armament of the main caliber consisted of nine powerful 15-inch (381 mm) guns in three 3-gun turrets. The Italians took the path of maximum forcing of old guns of a similar caliber, increasing the length of the barrels from 40 to 50 calibers. As a result, the Italian guns turned out to be champions among 15-inch guns in Europe in terms of muzzle energy and projectile power, yielding in armor penetration only to the larger-caliber guns of the American "Iowa" and the Japanese "Yamato".
The weight of the armor-piercing projectile reached 885 kg at a high initial velocity of 870 m/s. This came at the cost of extremely low grouping and firing accuracy, which is considered the main disadvantage of this type of battleship. Unlike the British, the Italians divided the medium artillery into anti-mine and anti-aircraft. Twelve 6-inch (152 mm) guns in four 3-gun turrets were used to counter the attacking destroyers. For firing at aircraft, there were twelve 90-mm guns, which were supplemented by 37-mm machine guns. The experience of the war showed the complete insufficiency of the anti-aircraft artillery of the Italian battleships, as well as most similar ships of other countries.
The Littorio-class battleship air group consisted of three seaplanes and one catapult to launch them. The main armor belt was spaced apart and, with a not too impressive thickness, provided protection against 380-mm projectiles.
Battleship Vittorio Veneto
The main power plant produced 130,000 horsepower and accelerated the Italian battleship to 30 knots. Such a high speed was a great advantage and made it possible to choose the optimal battle distance or even evade the fire of a stronger enemy. The cruising range was rather modest (4.5-5 thousand miles), but quite sufficient for the Mediterranean.
Battleship Roma
In total, the Italians managed to launch three battleships of this type, the fourth ship remained unfinished. Throughout the Second World War, the ships fought and were periodically damaged by British and American aircraft, after which they were repaired and put back into service. As a result, "Vittorio Veneto" and "Littorio" were transferred after the war to the UK and the USA, respectively, where they were sawn up in the mid-1950s. The third battleship - "Roma" - was awarded a sadder fate. After the capitulation of Italy, the Germans sank it with Fritz-X guided bombs so that the ship would not go to the Allies. Thus, the beautiful and graceful Italian battleships never managed to acquire military glory.
4. Battleships of the type "Richelieu"
After the First World War, France found itself in a position similar to Italy regarding the state and further development of the navy.
After the laying of "pocket battleships" of the Scharnhorst type in Germany, the French were forced to urgently design ships to deal with them. The resulting Dunkirk turned out to be so successful that it served as the basis for the creation of full-fledged battleships of the Richelieu type.
The total displacement of the Richelieu was almost 45 thousand tons, and the maximum length was about 250 meters. In order to fit the maximum possible weapons and heavy armor into a limited displacement, the French again applied the original layout of the main caliber weapons, tested at Dunkirk.
"Richelieu" carried eight 380-mm guns with a length of 45 calibers in two 4-gun turrets. The weight of the armor-piercing projectile was 890 kg at an initial velocity of 830 m/s. This arrangement made it possible to save the total weight of each gun compared to 3- and especially 2-gun turrets. In addition, only two main turrets instead of three or four required a shorter main armor belt to protect guns and artillery magazines, simplified the system for storing and supplying ammunition, and fire control.
But such a bold scheme had its drawbacks. Damage to any of the towers led to the failure of half of the ship's artillery, so the French separated each of the towers with an armored partition. Each pair of guns had independent guidance and supply of ammunition. In practice, the 2-tower scheme turned out to be unreliable. French sailors used to say that the turret rotation system could fail at any moment. In addition, the stern sector of the ship was not protected by the main battery guns, which was partly offset by the large angles of rotation of the forward turrets.
Battleship Jean Bart
The pride of French shipbuilders was booking and protection in general. In terms of survivability, the Richelieu surpassed its competitors from England and Italy, was approximately equal to the larger Bismarck and Iowa, and was inferior only to the much heavier Yamato. The main armor belt had a thickness of 330 mm and an 18 mm lining. The belt inclined at 18 degrees resulted in almost half a meter of armor. The unfinished "Jean Bar" happened to receive about five heavy 406-mm American shells of the main caliber. The ship survived.
The Richelieu power plant produced 150 thousand horsepower, and the speed of more than 31 knots was one of the best in the class, formally second only to the Iowa. The maximum cruising range was about 10 thousand miles with an economical course.
In total, the French planned to build three battleships of this type. It was possible to put into operation only two - "Richelieu" and "Jean Bar", which, not without incident, survived the war. These ships have become one of the most balanced and successful ships of this class. Many experts give them the palm in battleship building. They combined fairly powerful weapons, excellent armor and high speed. At the same time, they had an average size and displacement. Nevertheless, many positive aspects were good only on paper. Like the Italian battleships, the French "Richelieu" and "Jean Bar" did not cover their history with immortal feats. They managed to survive the war and even serve after it, having undergone modernization. As for the aesthetic side, the author of the article puts them in the first place. The French battleships turned out to be truly beautiful and elegant.
3. Bismarck-class battleships
After the First World War, Germany was one of the first to start designing new modern battleships. As a country that lost the war, it was forbidden to build large warships. Therefore, the starting "Scharnhorst" and "Gneisenau" could only be called battleships with a stretch. Nevertheless, serious experience was gained by German engineers. And after the signing of the Anglo-German Naval Agreement in 1935, which actually abolished the Versailles restrictions, Germany began the development and construction of the largest and most powerful ships ever in service with the German fleet.
The Bismarck-class battleships had a total displacement of about 50 thousand tons, a length of 250 meters and a width of 36 meters, surpassing their European counterparts in size. The main artillery, as on the Richelieu and Vittorio Veneto, was represented by 380 mm guns. Bismarck carried eight guns in four 2-gun turrets, two each at the bow and stern. This was a step back against the background of 3- and 4-gun turrets of competitors.
Artillery of the main caliber came out more tenacious, but required more space, armor and, accordingly, weight to accommodate it. The Bismarck guns were nothing special except for the traditional German quality compared to the fifteen-inch guns of the French and Italians. Unless, unlike the latter, the pragmatic Germans relied on shooting accuracy to the detriment of the power and weight of the projectile (800 kg). As time has shown - not in vain.
Booking "Bismarck" can be called moderate and not quite ordinary. Using a scheme with four main battery turrets, the Germans had to armor up to 70% of the hull length. The thickness of the main armored belt reached 320 mm in its lower part and up to 170 mm in its upper part. Unlike many battleships of the period, the armor of the German battleships was not sharply differentiated, with outstanding maximum thicknesses, but the overall armor area was higher than that of any of the competitors. Perhaps it was precisely this booking scheme that allowed the Bismarck to withstand numerous volleys of the British for a long time, while remaining afloat.
The main power plant was the weak point of the project. She developed about 150 thousand "horses", accelerating the Tirpitz and Bismarck to 30 knots, which was a very good result. At the same time, it did not differ in reliability and, in particular, in economy. The actual cruising range was almost 20% lower than the declared 8.5-8.8 thousand miles.
German shipbuilders were unable to create a vessel that is qualitatively superior to competitors. The combat characteristics of the Bismarck were at the level of the Richelieu and Littorio, but the combat fate of the German battleships made them the most recognizable and famous ships of the Second World War.
In total, the Germans managed to put into operation two ships of this type. The Bismarck in 1941 had to take the battle, which became the most famous naval battle of the Second World War. A German detachment from the battleship Bismarck and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen collided with the British ships. And although the British had an advantage in the form of the battleship Prince of Wales and the battlecruiser Hood, the Bismarck salvos sent the beauty and pride of the Royal Navy to the bottom in a matter of minutes - the flagship cruiser Hood along with the entire crew. As a result of the duel, German ships were also damaged. Shocked and furious, the British sent an entire squadron to capture the Bismarck. The German battleship practically managed to get away from the chase, but the British planes damaged the steering of the ship, and then for a long time they shot the immobilized ship from all guns. As a result, the Bismarck team opened the kingstones and sank their ship.
Model of the battleship "Tirpitz"
After the loss of one of the two battleships, the Germans hid the remaining Tirpitz in the Norwegian fjords. Even inactive and hidden, this ship remained a constant headache for the British throughout the war, drawing on huge forces. In the end, the Tirpitz was only sunk from the air with specially designed huge 5-ton bombs.
2. Iowa-class battleships
The United States approached the Second World War as a leader in terms of economic and industrial potential. The owner of the most powerful navy was no longer Great Britain, but its partner overseas. By the end of the 1930s, the Americans managed to develop a battleship project under the Washington Agreement. At first, these were ships of the South Dakota type, which generally corresponded to European competitors. Then came the time for even larger and more powerful Iowa-class battleships, called by many experts the best ships of this class.
The length of such battleships reached a record 270 meters, and the total displacement exceeded 55 thousand tons. "Iowa" was supposed to resist the Japanese battleships of the "Yamato" type. Nevertheless, American shipbuilders retained the 16-inch (406 mm) main artillery caliber used on the South Dakota. But the main caliber guns were lengthened from 45 to 50 calibers, increasing the power of the gun and the weight of the armor-piercing projectile from 1016 to 1225 kg. In addition to the guns themselves, when assessing the firepower of the Iowa-class ships, one should note the most advanced artillery fire control system among the battleships of that period. In addition to ballistic computers and optical rangefinders, it used a radar, which significantly increased the accuracy of shooting, especially in bad weather conditions.
In addition, given the perfection of guidance systems and the quality of ammunition, American battleships were the absolute leaders in anti-aircraft weapons.
But booking was not a strong point of Iowa. The citadel in the central part of the ship was covered by a modest 307 mm main armor belt. In general, the battleship was armored at the level of the South Dakota and European battleships with a smaller displacement, and the Richelieu was even inferior. Not relying too much on their armor protection, the Americans took a different path.
Battleships of the Iowa type received the most powerful power plant of 212,000 horsepower among similar ships. For comparison, on the predecessor, the power of the turbines reached only 130 thousand "horses". The Iowa could theoretically accelerate to a record 33 knots, surpassing absolutely all the battleships of the Second World War in speed. Thus, American battleships had an advantage in maneuver, being able to choose for themselves the optimal distance and conditions of artillery combat, partially compensating for not the strongest armor.
In total, the Americans planned to build six ships of this type. But taking into account the already built four South Dakota-class battleships and the ever-increasing role of aircraft carriers, the United States limited itself to a series of four ships - Iowa, New Jersey, Missouri, Wisconsin. All battleships took an active part in the Pacific War. On September 2, 1945, the Japanese Surrender Act was signed aboard the Missouri.
The post-war fate of the Iowa-class battleships, unlike most ships of this class, was not quite usual. The ships were not scrapped, but continued their service. The Americans actively used their battleships during the war in Korea and Vietnam. In the mid-1980s, the ships, already old by that time, underwent modernization, having received modern electronic filling and guided cruise missiles. The last conflict in which the battleships took part was the war in the Persian Gulf.
The main battery artillery was represented by nine 18-inch guns in three 3-gun turrets, located classically, as on the Vittorio Veneto and Iowa. Not a single battleship in the world had such artillery. Armor-piercing projectile weighed nearly one and a half tons. And in terms of the total weight of the salvo, the Yamato was almost twice as superior to the European battleships with 15-inch guns. The artillery fire control system was perfect for its time. And if the Yamato did not have such innovations as radars (they were installed on the Iowa), then the optical rangefinders and ballistic computers were not inferior to their world counterparts. Simply put, it was better not to show up to any battleship of that time within the firing range of the Japanese monster’s guns of more than 40 kilometers.
The anti-aircraft guns of the Japanese, not inferior in quality to European ones, lagged behind the American ones in terms of firing accuracy and pointing speed. Small-caliber automatic anti-aircraft guns, the number of which during the war increased from eight built-in machine guns to fifty, were still qualitatively inferior to the Bofors and Oerlikons of the Americans.
Booking battleships of the "Yamato" type, as well as the main artillery, was "the best". Moreover, in an effort to install armor of maximum thickness on their ships, the Japanese tried to reduce the length of the citadel. As a result, the main armor belt covered only about half of the vessel in the central part. But its thickness was impressive - 410 mm. It should be noted that Japanese armor was inferior in quality to the best English and German armor at that time due to the denial of access to Japan for the most modern technologies for the production of armor steel and the lack of supplies of a number of rare alloying elements. But still, the Yamato remained the most heavily armored ship in the world.
Battleship "Musashi"
The main power plant of the Japanese super battleship was quite modest and produced about 150 thousand horsepower, accelerating the huge ship to 27.5 knots. "Yamato" was the slowest among the battleships of World War II. But the ship carried the largest air group of reconnaissance aircraft - as many as seven pieces on two catapults.
The Japanese planned to put into operation three battleships of this type, but they were able to complete only two - Yamato and Musashi. The third, "Shinano", was converted into an aircraft carrier. The fate of the ships was sad. Japanese sailors joked that the Yamato-class battleships were bigger and more useless than even such huge and useless things as the Chinese Wall and the Egyptian pyramids.
More precisely, two answers. The first is Strasbourg. He, of course, is not a battleship, but a "heavy artillery ship." The main differences of which from the then cruisers are as follows: the ship cannot be drowned by dive bombers with 250-kg and even 500-kg bombs; the ship does not lose speed from one torpedo hit in the CMU zone; the ship is protected from high-explosive shells of the main linear calibers (this is much more than you might think at first).
The correct answer number two can be obtained if we remember: the best ships of World War II were designed in the USSR in the late 40s and early 50s. And battleships were no exception. Accordingly, the best WWII battleship is Project 24, this one here:
The features of this project - theoretical, yes - are that it allows you to get a ship capable of maintaining combat capability after torpedo hits;, virtually invulnerable to bomber aircraft (protection against a 1000-kg armor-piercing bomb dropped from a height of 3,000 m), having a wide zone of free maneuvering under the fire of 16 "guns (100-160 cable guns); advanced anti-aircraft and radar weapons, originally included in the project; and for all that, running at 30 knots. Let's be proud of domestic engineers and move on.
Soviet projects of the 40s are the only projects of classic ships in which the experience of the war was more or less fully taken into account. In fact, that's why they were the best. This is really important. The complex phenomenon of the "aviation and artillery fleet" did not last long. Ridiculously short - in comparison not only with the classic sailing and artillery, but even in comparison with the "steam armored". Real experience - technical and especially combat - was very limited, which does not allow us to consider it at least somewhat exhaustive, giving answers to many burning ones. That is why Soviet projects are especially interesting.
Further, in society, for some reason, it is not customary to discuss large battleships. Suspicious Japanophiles see here a conspiracy of the Anglo-Saxons who do not want to recognize the primacy of "Yamato". There is a certain consensus like "with monsters of 70 thousand tons, everything would go down the drain." This is a wrong, bad consensus. It was Japan. A country with the economy and industry of Italy, a country that has been waging a large-scale war since 1937 - and, nevertheless, built 2.7 battleships of 70 thousand tons. This alone should make one think about the fidelity of the "pipe theory". It is hardly worth assuming that a much stronger British economy would collapse when building, say, 5 "monsters".
On the other hand, the same Great Britain successfully survived a doubling of the price of a battleship in 1900-1910. At the same time, thanks to the Fisher Revolution, in 1910 the cost of the fleet was 36 million pounds - against 31 million pounds in 1901. Was there room for such maneuvers between the First and Second World Wars? Yes it was. The mass construction of "Washington" cruisers was not a cheap pleasure. The cost of maintaining such ships was approximately 0.6 of the cost of maintaining a "Washington" battleship. In the United States in the 1930s, the cost of maintaining the personnel of heavy and light cruisers was 1.5 times higher than the cost of maintaining the personnel of battleships. The total costs of maintaining 2 ... 3 cruisers of 10,000 tons over 10 years were comparable to the costs of building a battleship of 35,000 tons. In other words, timely replacement(with a certain decrease in the number) of battleships with new ones and the rejection of cruising "hyper compensation" made it possible to create a full-fledged battle fleet from large battleships.
Like this, roughly. The fight against battleships within the "Washington system" was not directly associated with the high cost of the battleships themselves. This struggle was based on the simple and understandable desires of Great Britain - to avoid a direct and obviously losing competition with the USA, to maintain a "two-power" standard in relation to Japan and Italy - which coincided with the simple and understandable desire of the United States to receive for so a fleet equal to that of the British.
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