During World War II, the belligerent nations competed in developing weapons and war technology. Nazi Germany was the most developed country on the ground and the air. It was very important for the Germans to conquer Europe, but they knew very well that controlling Europe would control the seas and oceans.
In 1940 the Germans had finished building one of the largest ships mankind had seen. The battleship was ready for its first and last mission.
Captain Ernst Lindemann is a German naval officer, born on March 28, 1894, in Altenkirchen, Germany, and died on May 27, 1941, in the Atlantic Ocean.
Why is the story of Bismarck important?
The sinking mission of the Bismarck is the first joint mission in history between the Air Force and the Navy.
Do you know about the Operation Valkyre? Learn more here
Bismarck features
- The battleship was 251 meters long and 36 meters wide.
- Its number was 103 officers and 1962 sailors, divided into 12 divisions.
- As for armament, this battleship possessed an armament unprecedented in the world of naval fleets, as the Bismarck possessed eight guns, each of which had a caliber of 38 centimeters.
- The distinctive feature of these towers is their ability to direct upwards at an angle of 30 degrees, which allowed their giant shells to reach a distance of more than 36 kilometres.
- Ammunition for each cannon was equipped with up to 120 shells each. That is, the ship was armed with nearly a thousand heavy artillery shells.
The story
The Bismarck was a great ship, a terrifying ship accompanied by the destroyer Admiral Graf Spey, both of them were destroyed by the British Navy, but not in a fair way in number, but the confrontation was in the form of 4 to 1, which made the Bismarck and Admiral Graf Spey to be destroyed, even if the latter had been destroyed by the hands of Its crew, who then went to Argentina to seek political asylum
This is one reason that caused tension in the relations between Argentina and Britain for decades that ended with the Falklands War in 1982.
The Bismarck was a terrifying ship for its enemies, great for the greatness of its country at that time. The eyes watched its movements at night and day by Britain, which felt that such machinery of war would destroy the myth of the great British fleet that was guarding British interests in its colonies abroad. So Britain thought that eliminating these two destroyers and the bulk of the German fleet is the most important goal. It is a goal that must be achieved to ensure Britain's control over its colonies. Otherwise, it will lose those colonies if the British fleet is subjected to a crushing defeat at the hands of the German fleet with such German war pieces.
Tokey Sifullah Tanjil
Everyone should know that Britain would not face Germany by the sea in the form of a just war. Because the British knew that Germany had surprised them with such powerful war pieces secretly made by Germany, which made them far from confronting the Bismarck or Admiral Graf Spee alone.
In May of 1941 .. the Bismarck set out on a mission known as "Operation Rheinubung," escorting the Prinz Eugen, from which it would later separate.
When they found out about it, Britain decided to get rid of it quickly and sent most of its naval vessels, including those guarding the Strait of Tariq.
The Bismarcks fought fierce battles without stopping ... in which Bismarck struck hard and then fled the pursuit, but the British found a way to attack this undefeated ship, the idea was to be attacked by air
The Bismarcks were attacked by torpedoes launched by enemy aircraft to no avail. The Bismarck was able to sink the British ship (Hood), which was the pride of the Royal Navy, which made the rest of the ships withdraw from this battle due to the terror caused by the power of the guns of the Bismarck
On the morning of May 26th ... the location of the Bismarck in the Atlantic Ocean ... 790 miles west of Brest, France ... the Bismarck came under a first attack by aircraft, and it was a failed attack.
Tokey Sifullah Tanjil
But in the second attack .. the stern of the ship was hit, and it was no longer possible to direct the ship. This allowed the British fleet to catch up with Bismarck, and it was shot from each side. Which lit the fires
The final hit was the ship Dorsetshire with three torpedoes, which brought the end of the legend of the indomitable ship
At 11 am the Bismarck had reached the bottom of the ocean
Sources:
[1] https://www.aljazeera.net/news/miscellaneous/2002/12/15/الألمان-وليس-البريطانيون-من-أغرق
