Thanks for this short reminder one of the significant naval battles of World War 2.  The British were very hard pressed at this point such that the new Prince of Wales went into battle with shipyard acceptance workers to assist in the technical equipment.  Somebody please provide more detail or tell if this is wrong.

German battleship Bismarck

One thing rarely mentioned was the fact the Bismarck class had superior optical fire control systems allowing her to lay her main armament on target quickly.

she lost that advantage in the final battle because of the damage inflicted by a aerial torpedo hit to her rudder and one propeller shaft thus losing steering  control...

Posted by: @marmon16

Thanks for this short reminder one of the significant naval battles of World War 2.  The British were very hard pressed at this point such that the new Prince of Wales went into battle with shipyard acceptance workers to assist in the technical equipment.  Somebody please provide more detail or tell if this is wrong.

That's an accurate report, Alan. Technicians from the Cammell Laird shipyard and Vickers volunteered to stay aboard when HMS Prince of Wales sortied with Hood to intercept Bismarck. They did valuable service, although the ship still suffered many main armament breakdowns and due to that and several serious hits from Bismarck, she had to turn away from the battle. Still, before that, she scored a couple of important hits.

As David mentioned, HMS Hood was originally from the "Admiral" class of 4 battlecruisers, but the other three were cancelled before the end of the First World War and only Hood was completed. The entire class had been re-designed as a result of British battlecruiser explosions/losses at the Jutland battle in May, 1916, but almost exactly 25 years later to the day, HMS Hood herself was lost under very similar conditions.

The HMS Prince of Wales was lost some months later in December, 1941 along with battlecruiser HMS Repulse when attacked near Singapore by waves of Japanese torpedo and horizontal bombers right at the start of the Pacific war.

HMS Hood was certainly a beautiful ship (actually, I think all these ships have a power and grace about them). The pictures show :

(1) HMS Hood early in her career

(2) The last picture of HMS Hood afloat, taken from HMS Prince of Wales as the action with Bismarck started.

(3) Picture from heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen showing the destruction of HMS Hood. (the right hand pillar of smoke is where the Hood was)

(4) Newspaper accounts of the action.

@mikedetorrice

Thank you Mike for an excellent memorial to this famous naval battle. It is a fitting reminder and an honour to the memories of those who lost their lives 80 years ago.

Hopefully, many of our members will now know a lot more about this event.

An excellent read on this subject is Killing the Bismarck,Destroying the pride of Hitlers Navy.By Iain Ballantyne

I served at the American Legion's "Flags Out" event at our town cemetery last Saturday. We place an American flag at each veteran's grave. It's a very old cemetery and requires nearly a hundred people to get the job done. We'll do "Flags Out" on June 5.

What extraordinary courage those men displayed. Their last hours must have been horrific, worth reflecting on for a moment at least. Thanks for the post Mike.

Posted by: @jkuvakas

I served at the American Legion's "Flags Out" event at our town cemetery last Saturday. We lace an American flag at each veteran's grave. It's a very old cemetery and requires nearly a hundred people to get the job done. We'll do "Flags Out" on June 5.

A wonderful tribute you are doing to deserving men and women of our military, John. They certainly gave up a lot, and in many cases _everything_, to protect us.

Posted by: @geoff-jowett

What extraordinary courage those men displayed. Their last hours must have been horrific, worth reflecting on for a moment at least. Thanks for the post Mike.

Geoff, it seems the 3 survivors of HMS Hood never really got over the shock. Ted Briggs, the last survivor, passed away a few years back and to the end, doing interviews about the sudden and stunning end of his giant and powerful 42,000 ton "home", along with all his shipmates, brought him to tears. The few survivors of Bismarck's terrible final hours undoubtedly had similar emotions.

Of course, later in 1941, December 7 to be exact, battleship USS Arizona suffered an analogous fate with the detonation of her forward magazines resulting in the instant loss of 1,177 men. Americans then knew the shock of the massive cost in lives that could happen if one of these huge capital ships suffered a critical hit in a particularly vital area.

One of the most awesome and moving experiences is to step up to the big marble wall at the far end of the USS Arizona memorial at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. There are engraved each of the names of the nearly 1,200 sailors who died at their battle stations in the first minutes of the US involvement in World War II. You can then turn to your right and look out the openings to see the occasional rainbow drop appear on the water's surface as small amounts of the ships fuel oil still escapes to the surface from the sunken battleship, whose ghostly outline is not too far beneath the surface.    

USS Arizona, HMS Hood, DKM Bismarck, HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse are all considered War Graves by their respective countries and in the case of the USN and the Royal Navy, honors and salutes are given when their warships pass by or over the resting places of their own countries sunken sea giants.  

great further info, and moving, I dont mind admitting I do tear up a little when reading of the heroic actions of these incredible men. My dad was a searchlight operator in Darwin during the Japanese bombings which fortunately did not last long. Long time ago now but I dont recall him ever being hesitant to discuss the war, admittedly, a much less hostile and deadly environment. Thanks for the follow up Mike. 

We must always honor their sacrifice and never forget them.