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Another bit of trivia: in the 1960 movie 'Sink The Bismark' the captain of HMS Prince of Wales was played by Esmund Knight, who actually was aboard the Prince of Wales when she engaged the Bismark and was wounded
Yes like weird submarine things that carried these big mines, the mines go off n wreck all the light bulbs n most of the machinery but the ship still floated
My favorite part of this story is the Polish. Their one destroyer they were able to scramble for the task, while shelling the Bismarck, was flashing "I am a Pole" at the German ship.
OPP Piorun! I want to say that it fired all guns blazing - literally, if it was in range, it would be fired. Depth charges? Fired. Small arms? Fired. Primary and secondary guns? Fired.
@@bobolobocus333 not many who lived in the fight to sink the Bismarck can say they truly gave it their all, and I only recently actually found out the name of the ship, but, by God, Piorun gave all they had, and then some! Even stayed on station, continuing to fire until they were dangerously low on fuel! Not many nations, as a whole, suffered like the Polish did in WWII, but OPP Piorun definitely made sure to give back to her oppressors!
@@jasonholland7770 The brittish guns were aimed and the shells were coming fast! the first shell hit the Bismark, they knew she couldn't last, that mighty German battleship is just a memory ... :) yup ballads! a lost art I think.
@@DougieFresh765 I had to buy the CD when I found it in a clearance bin a few years back because hey! it really is a banger! also I think its on youtube?
As a previous and present First lord of the admiralty you can tell he really knew just how much of a threat this battleship posed, not just to the military and merchant fleet, but to the moral of the country as a whole. The Bismarck had to be sunk! Even if it mean't diverting the majoity of assets in the atlantic to do so. We needed this win (or at least pulling even). To have let the Bismarck slip away would have been catastrophic
What he is saying about the Bismark is overstated. It was about the same size and capability of other battleships being built at the time. The problem was not the lack of allied ships of it's size, the problem is that most of them were in the Pacific fighting the Japanese. As for the battle itself, the Bismark with it's 15" guns was outgunned by the HMS Rodney and it's 16" guns which sank her.
@@chrisaustin9949 Except it sank because the Germans scuttled it. The Royal Navy had still not managed to make a single hole below the water line. The torpedo that fucked the rudder was a direct hit on the bow. That would have put most ships of the time under water in short order.
@@chrisaustin9949 Experts think otherwise. If Bismarck was in good fighting shape (Which she wasn't) she would have been able to out maneuver Rodney. And with Bismarcks better fire control and gunnery....Would have made it an even, if not slightly in the bismarks favour.
@@McTeerZor Still the fact that Bismarck would by your words only slightly have the edge over Rodney isn't saying much. Rodney entered service 11 years before Bismarck was even launched. If you compare Bismarck to her actual contemporaries like this KGVs and the North Carolina's she comes off pretty badly. Inefficient, underarmoured and undergunned for her size.
1:30 - Chapter 1 - Development 3:55 - Chapter 2 - Launch 5:20 - Chapter 3 - The bismarck 8:15 - Mid roll ads 9:25 - Chapter 4 - Operations begin 12:00 - Chapter 5 - Battle of the denmark strait 13:55 - Chapter 6 - The hunt 15:25 - Chapter 7 - The sinking of the bismarck 17:45 - Chapter 8 - The wreck
It's actions were also legendary. In the night before KGV and Rodney showed up, the destroyer flotilla that included Piorun was ordered to harass Bismarck trough the night in order to keep its crew up so they would be fatigued in the battle on the next morning. Piorun closed to point blank range in order to fire every weapon it had, including the light aa, whilst signaling "I am a Pole".
@@SabreSix1980 All true except for the "fired everything she had"... Piorun was the only destroyer of the 4th Destroyer flotilla to not fire her primary weapon at Bismarck.... her torpedoes.
Given the mention of Tirpitz, could we get a video on 617 Squadron? Not just the standard bit on the Dam Busters raid, but a look at the groundbreaking work they did with high-altitude precision bombing throughout the war?
That'd be an hour long epic as it'd need to mention the development of the sights and munitions that made it possible as well as the pilots and planes of 617. Definitely a worthwhile idea though
Bismarck was made to 'old' designs. The seperate secondaries and tertiaries was a throw back to WW1, and greatly reduced the effectiveness of the armour as it had to cover more ammo storages and trunking.
She was based on the Mackensen, the allies tested the surviving German battleships to destruction, the KGV class were probably better, Hood was in dire need of modernization but war stopped that.
The US and the UK were the only ones who had a strict break between surface action only primary and dual-purpose secondary batteries. Everyone else had surface action only secondaries and dual-purpose tertiary batteries.
Also a lot of wasted weight. The 15 inch guns in 4 twin turrets was outclassed by 3 triple 16 inch turrets with all or nothing armour scheme. Rodney was rather slow, bur was highly effective and very heavily armed. The Royal Navy’s KGV was also the most heavily armoured battleship ever built until the Yamato was completed .
It's well worth watching Drachinifel's TH-cam video on what happened to HMS Hood. It was almost certainly not a plunging shell that did the damage, and the deck armour was not to blame. The range was too short, the shell came in at a shallow angle and most likely somehow penetrated or bypassed the thick side armour, perhaps striking under the waterline. However it happened, it was a lucky shot that would most likely have destroyed any battleship of the time. Another lucky shot, the torpedo that disabled the Bismarck's rudders ensured the final end of that ship.
Yeah, considering the range and angle, neither the deck nor the belt were likely to be penetrated at all. Must be one lucky shell that somehow hit somewhere unprotected.
Well, it would have destroyed any ship which didn’t have an armor belt extending well below the waterline and had its magazines positioned in the same place. If it hit one of the US SoDak and Iowa classes, the British King George V class, or the Yamato class, it wouldn’t have penetrated the armor belt at that range and angle. Those ships also had their magazines lower in the ship than Hood did. Hood was just designed at a time when underwater protection wasn’t as great of a priority.
Drachinifel's video on HMS Hood "But why did it blow up?" is a masterclass in naval history, and to which you realise just how astronomical the shot that sunk her was. Forensically detailed whilst thoroughly engaging. Dr Alexander Clarke's video "A bit more on RN destroyers - The Hunt for the Bismarck" explains the role of those ships in the kill. It's brilliant, as epic as the Swordfish and battleship action, and the conduct/mentality of Tribal destroyers and ORP Piorun hammers home a singular point: the RN was not going to let Bismarck return home alive.
A series of luck incidents dogged this battle. Norfolk & Suffolk must have driven Lutjens insane the way they stuck to it despite evasive action. Victorious's first Swordfish hit slowed it down. The Ark Royal's Swordfish hit on the rudder got the one vulnerable spot. Nearly all Swordfish survived despite flying directly into the fire from the Bismark, ironically so slow & flimsy it was less effective for guns calibrated to faster aircraft. One took damage from the waterspouts the shells caused. And landing in 50 foot seas, after managing to relocate the carrier in the fog etc.
I could name a few. King George V class, HMS Hood, Iowa-class, Vittorio Veneto-class are just a few battleships that are worthy of videos. Panzershiff’s Graf Spee and Deutschland are good video ideas
@@FreshwaterNautical yeah but it makes way more sense to just watch a naval history channel than to ask a guy who has no idea about naval stuff to read off what he finds on Wiki
The death of the Prince of Wales and the Repulse off the coast of Singapore is one of the most interesting ones for me, because they were supposed to have a carrier, the Illustrious with them, but she had run aground in Jamaca and nobody ever got charged.
For anyone interested, Drachinifel does a fantastic video on the loss of HMS Hood and does a great job on world naval history in general. Here's the link to the Loss of the Hood video: th-cam.com/video/CLPeC7LRqIY/w-d-xo.html
Getting close enough that its 20mm and 40mm AA guns could open fire and Bismarcks main battery couldn't depress low enough to engage. Would like to add, the Polish destroyer actually hounded the Bismarck at night before the final battle.
Interesting. As a side note, and not that it matters much to me, Prinz Eugen reads Prince 'Hoigen' and not 'eoojen'. Other than that, never mind the torpedoes, full speed ahead.
In 1987 I was working for ‘Sukling Airways’ based in Ipswich Suffolk, one of my Captains was a chap called Nick Von-Berg, he lent me a hard back copy of “Sink the Bismarck”, inside was an inscription from a chap he used to fly with in Gulf Air by the name of Bismarck Briggs, so called because he was the Catolina pilot who spotted the Bismarck after it had escaped from the Hood engagement.
Maybe something about the hypothetical Tillmans/A-150s/lion class/H class insanity? I'd love to see someone delve into the fevered pipe dreams of yesteryears naval architects.
From the mist a shape, a ship is taking form And the silence of the sea is about to drift into a storm Sign of power, show of force Raise the anchor battleship plotting its course Pride of a nation a beast made of steel Bismarck in motion king of the ocean He was made to rule the waves across the seven sea
Missed some interesting facts about it. Her own guns knocked out her main radar, a polish dd that went nuts, and the Rodney being the only BB to torp another BB
also that they stopped for like an hour to try to fix the jammed rudder (that a torpedo, dropped by a BIPLANE, had fired, that the advanced AA directors couldn't target because of how SLOW they flew), and couldn't get into the steering compartment to uncouple the rudders (she had 2, but only 1 was jammed) because of the rough seas.
@@virt1one "she had 2 rudders, but only 1 was jammed" maybe true, but the steering compartment above the rudders was flooded, as a consequence Bismarck's crew couldn't disengage the jammed rudder, otherwise her other rudder could be set to the oppossing angle to counteract the jammed rudder.
@@virt1one That’s a misconception about the German AA guns not being able to track the Swordfish torpedo bombers. The reason none were shot down is largely that the Swordish’s canvas skin wouldn’t initiate the fuzes on the German AA shells, whereas the metal skin on other aircraft would have. Some of those Swordfish came back shot full of holes, but since the shells didn’t hit any structural members, the engine, or the pilot, they just passed on through and the plane kept flying.
And Hood fired a torpedo at Bismarck just as she slipped beneath the waves causing a sharp change of course which ruined the firing solution on Prince of Wales. This last act quite possibly save PoW from the same fate as Hood.
The 15inch guns were pretty good. The 5.9 inch secondary were surface action only. The tertiary 105mm were overly complicated. The 37mm was absolutely pants. The RN was already using dual purpose secondary battery and large numbers of 2lb pompoms or 40mm bofors guns. This made for spare weight which was better used for armour and engines. Edit. Hood's armour was actually very thick. She had 12 inch belt armour and a 5 inch deck. She suffered from a number of piecemeal refits, with a lightly protected 4 inch magazine installed right in front of the main after 15 inch magazine. It's likely that the combination of piecemeal refits combined with subpar protection around her 4 inch magazine was what killed Hood.
There's a chap with a channel called Drachinifel, and that more or less mirrors his conclusion - which I happen to agree is the most plausible explanation.
It was reasonable to assume Bismarck would be in front; the ship had been in front (and observed to be in front) until the shockwave from a main battery salvo directed and Norfolk and Suffolk knocked out Bismarck's own rader set. The weather conditions in the Strait (plus it being night) meant that the lead ship really kind of needed working radar.
For some reason I've been super interested in this story lately and learning everything I can about it. That's crazy timing you decided to do a video on it now.
I don't believe the title is accurate. The Bismarck was NOT designed to go toe to toe with the Royal Navy beyond harassing merchant shipping and their escorts. She WAS designed to battle the French Navy, specifically the likes of the Richelieu. Even the Kriegsmarine knew she wasn't supposed to slug it out with the RN - they actually were really fearful of going into a brawl with them. Hence why, in their first mission, they didn't chase down the PoW. Even without the damage she was never going to pursue, she wanted to be out in the Atlantic hunting supply ships.
As a Dane, I remember learning about this ship in school (MANY moons ago) Love getting all the detailed information Thank you very much for the video 👍
@@jamesharding3459 wasn't that taken out by a lucky shot to the superstructure though? Otherwise the Bismarck's better accuracy would of likely taken out the British fire control first.
I think you mean the Tirpitz saw considerably less action at sea, on the few occasions it had fuel to sail it failed to confront anything and famously backed out of going up against HMS Duke of York and HMS Renown when they were detected escorting an Artic Convoy she was vectored onto.
Bismark was the first ship that truly got me into WW1-2 history. I read a book written about it in like 4th grade and was immediately hooked. I could watch a thousand different videos about her and never get bored.
Unfortunately I can't immediately dredge up the beginning of the song. All I keep thinking is "In 1814 we took a little trip; Along with Colonel Jackson down the mighty Mississipp'" Right singer, wrong song. Wrong war.
@@FutureFlash2034 No quite. They didn't find any outright breaches from torpedoes but that's pretty standard for any torpedoes against a Capital ship. You don't need to blow a hole in the side of a ship to crack plates and joins. As it stands, despite the torpedo bulge "doing its job" Bismarck was down to Port with a 20 degree list and several machinery spaces flooded after torpedo hits.
@@1993Crag The partial list that began was because of the one major breach from 2 shell near the bow below the water line, however the water tight bulkheads held. However before the last 3-4 torps were launched the ship was stable and the crew decided to begin scuttling, The ship began to take on water and started to sink but the british presumed it was going to stay floating (whilst she was intentionally being sunk) so they fired 3-4 torps into its broadside trying to "make sure" It sank. Though I agree normally yes plate buckling could cause flooding, the ship was already sinking and all evidence from the dives to the wreck since its discovery show that though the belt armour came off with the torp impacts, the inner citadel armour and turtleback armour was entirely intact with no cracks nor holes. In the end if the british continued to attack the Bismarck it would have probebly eventually sunk after an hour or two (possibly more if the german crew continued to try and keep it afloat), however if they completely left it be, it is completely agreed upon that it would have continued staying afloat for another 12-24hrs+.
@@FutureFlash2034 Even according to the crew who said they did the scuttling and escaped, they didn't begin to do so prior to the 20 degree list. A list most major capital ships were abandoned at. Unless you're saying they started to scuttle with the crew on board and ship still fighting. If you're talking about Cameron or Ballard, they both said for the sections they could see. This missed the Port mid section that was under mud where most of the major surface torpedoes made impact.
You should do a video on "the greatest raid of all time" the raid on St nazaire.. honestly it's completely mind blowing, and it's linked to the tirpitz as they were targeting the only dry Dock on the Atlantic that was big enough for her.. more Victoria crosses were issued during this raid.. and if you haven't heard about it.. find out about it because its honestly it's just insane.
From the mist, a shape, a ship, is taking form And the silence of the sea is about to drift into a storm Sign of power, show of force Raise the anchor, battleship's plotting its course Pride of a nation, a beast made of steel Bismarck in motion, king of the ocean
Something awesome about that last torpedo run, Lieutenant Commander John “Jock” Moffat was piloting one of the Swordfish, as he was just about to launch he heard his navigator shout, “Not yet, Jock!” There was his friend, hanging over the side of the plane, shouting, “Not yet!” Then Jock realized why, he only had one torpedo, and if it hit the top of a wave, it could veer off course, but if the landed in a trough, the low point, there was a chance. Eventually he shouted, “Let her go!” Jock immediately fired and less than a minute later, that torpedo was the one that hit Bismark’s stern.
3:41 "The Tirpitz saw considerably more action at sea" I'm not sure that was true. The Tirpitz only had one offensive operation where it fired its main guns. It mainly spent the war in port. There were several British attempts to sink the Tirpitz. That would be worth a Megaprojects video too.
Yes, and there is very good movie about it which name I can't forget. It focuses on the attempts to make tiny submarines to place under water charges on it.
Grandfather served as a officer on the HMS Norfolk. He was present on the ship during the hunting of the bismark. My family still has photos of the bismark he took while hunting it. After the war he later became a Admiral.
@@Skraeling1000I'm sorry to hear that your grandfather was a victim of the magazine incident. Horrific event in naval history 🙁 I think my grandfather served on Hood on occasions too. And Rodney. I really need to get his records out again. He got about as he was attached to one of the admirals. Maybe they knew each other. Who knows 🙂
Quick note, at the ranges recorded, Bismarck's shells would be ~11° from horizontal. There's a picture of the turret roof of Dunkerque which has had a shell from a 15"/42 shell skip off it at a slightly shallower angle, if you can find it. By the time battleship shells are falling near vertically they are far beyond any practical battle range.
Don't forget to add the tilt of the target ship to that, according to Ted Briggs, one of the three Hood survivors, his ship was inclined at least 15 degrees toward the Bismarck when hit by the fatal shell due to the high speed turn to port.
@@jimbluma2558 The problem with the Person Account is that none of the other accounts can agree on whether or not Hood had begun her turn. Ted Briggs was blown off Hood, had a building dropped on him and nearly drowned, so I don't need to call him a liar to be sceptical. I'm similarly doubtful of the details of Burkard Baron von Mullenheim-Rechberg's account. My preferred explanation is that Hood's hull flexed as the turn commenced which opened a flame path from the secondary magazine. his should start a fire at the back, where it may be less visible so there is insufficient time to flood the magazine. I like this because it's in line with how industrial accidents usually occur (ratchetting stupidity) and doesn't require a million to one shot. th-cam.com/video/CLPeC7LRqIY/w-d-xo.html&t
Drachinifel has a very detailed breakdown of this battle. He also has the the best channel on TH-cam for naval ships and and battle breakdowns that is produced in English.
Sorta painful. I know Simon is aware some mispronunciations are inevitable... but Prinz "you-jen?" Ouch. The Prinz Eugen is one of the most famous ships in history. Can't believe it was tortured like that.
Incredible the role of decrypting messages. It made possible sink Bismark. Does Megaprojects channel have a Colossus computer video? I haven't found it. It could be an interesting one
@@Metallica4Life92 G'day, Why not underestimate the RAF..., in the sinking of the Bismark...? The Stringbags (Swordfish) which torpedoed the Bismark had NOTHING to do with the RAF...; the Swordfish were operated by the Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm. Wake up to yourself. ;-p Ciao !
@@Metallica4Life92 Ah, there there, nivertheemoind ; you did too good a job of masquerading as one of the Video-Game "Educated" Warriorist Enthusiasts. I took you at your word, y'see. Such is life, Have a good one... Stay safe. ;-p Ciao !
Good stuff, thank you! I've been looking forward to you covering this, it's one of my favorite ww2 stories. It's got everything, drama, tragedy, suspense, and Churchill probably foaming at the mouth. And the code breaker getting the message, that's a third act turn around right there.
It did, if less colourful. The German battleships of WW2 really didn't do much in terms of offensive actions, but they did tie up resources. Myths around Bismarck, Scharnhorst and Gneisenau and Tirpitz abound, but the real stories are more interesting.
Gneisenau had almost exactly the same career - and most of her crew even survived the war. For some strange reason she always seems to be in the shadow of her sister. The Twins did far more damage than Bismarck, but for sheer drama nothing beats Bismarck's first and final sortie.
@@TTTT-oc4eb Because her story ended after _CERBERUS_ basically. _Scharnhorsts_ lasted up until December the following year. The British raid was incredibly successful with that single hit on the bow which detonated the magazines for turret "Anton"
Thank you for another well done and informative video. Whenever I see that another Megaprojects video is available to watch I know that I will be enjoying a treat soon!
You are going to offend a lot of people with the title "English Naval Supremacy" - Its BRITISH, not English - I would have thought a guy who does a geography channel would know the difference!
You know I might be interested in Magellan if I knew how much it was. $? By the way that was a great video. I’ve watched the movie SINK THE BISMARCK many times and always think how sad so many lives were lost.
You have forgotten to mention the one Bismarck survivor adopted by the British Royal Navy 'Oskar'. A brave cat later renamed (unsinkable) Sam. Oskar the cat was found floating on a board and picked from the water by a British destroyer. He served on 2 British destroyers before retiring in Gibraltar. You can google him.
At the range they were, the Hood's armour was more than enough to protect her from the German guns, it should not have blown up, however the clue is in some of the hits scored on both Bismarck and Prince of Wales in which shells dived under the belt armour of the ships. The reason being that the battle was run at full speed and the pressure of wakes of the ships deflected incoming shells causing them to dive below the armour belt. Also Prince of Wales did not stagger away, she was still capable of full speed and had suffered no damage to her guns and critically its radar fire control systems for her 14" guns, the malfunctions due to her still being debugged from the builders not battle damage, she unjammed her turrets and joined the shadowing cruisers and those two subsequent engagements were led by her with the Bismarck choosing ot to slog it out with her but use the fog to evade her. She only returned to Iceland for fuel and repairs after hunting for her for another 12 hours in the fog and was kept ready to act as a block should Bismarck try to double back.
And yet. a twenty-year old battleship 60% it's displacement spanked it in it's final battle, due largely to a major failing in the design. The conduits from the main fire control directors to the main guns ran ABOVE the armored deck, and got taken out in the first of many 16" shells Rodney would pommel it with in Bismark's final battle.
HMS Rodney was a beast of a ship, you should take a trip to the maritime museum on Liverpool docks if you’re interested. They have the ships bell and a large amount of history on her in a display 😊
@@Morris2182 Liverpool is a bit far from New Mexico for convenience, but if I ever get out there it's on the list. Drachinifel gives a much better evaluation of the Bismark in his videos on the subject.
And the difficulty Bismarck had with manoevering owing to the jammed rudder and list to port and trim to the bow caused by flooding due to a hit from Prince of Wales meant that even while the FCDs were operational, it couldn't hit a barn from the inside.
@@snebbywebby2587 It really was just a modified WW2 design, based on the Bayern, sharing its faults, strengths, layout and not a great deal more from the old design. Definitely capable, but not cutting edge by the time she was conceived.
It was not a 'supership'. Over all, the armour of the Bismarck was remarkably similar to that of the Hood. It just had it's deck armour in a single layer and not spread out over three decks. Thus a plunging 380mm shell managed to penetrate three individual 1 inch armour plates when it may very well have failed to penetrate a single 3.5 inch armour plate. If the Germans had waited six months for Operation Rheinübung, they would have met with the fast Battleship HMS Hood, with a unified deck armour and updated fire control, instead of Battlecruiser HMS Hood, which was pulled out of dry dock to intercept the Bismarck. As it was, although the hood was lost in the Battle of the Denmark Straight, it could be argued that the Bismarck suffered a strategic defeat, as damage (4,000 tons of water in-board) forced it to cut short its sortie against the convoys and return to port.
The girls from Azur Lane after actual warships from all over the world. I have to commend the writers for the dedication required to research the names. However, they did get one wrong. The Laffey, which they modeled as a British ship was actually an American destroyer.
I'm surprised you didn't include the little detail that ensured that the Bis wouldn't make it back to port. During one of the battles, her rudder was damaged and she had absolutely no steering for the remainder of her life
@@saberdogface Spot on! Obviously a very much modernised (at that time) take on that design but it formed the basis of what the Bismarck & Tirpitz became.
The Bishmark was'nt that great its amour layout was inferior to KG5 and some might say even the old Rodney - it was sinking and about to be hit by a spread of torpedos from the cruieser Dorchester under its armour belt as it was listing bad - it never scored a single hit on the 2 battleships that brought it down or even managed to shoot down one of the slow 80mph bi planes that crippled her - not such a great ship as this post would have you believe - its only claim to fame is it sank a WW1 mostly built battle cruieser
We gonna skip the fact that one of the officer's said that they where not gonna let Bismarck be shot out from under his ass? Yes? *Visible disappointment* I'll have to rank the Azur Lane bio video as the most accurate.
@ADRIAAN1007 Interesting comment on the Bismarck’s manliness but it left me ever so slightly confused. In all English language sources available to me, Bismarck is always referred to as “she”, just like any other ship, so I’m assuming that you were talking about the German designation. The Bismarck was christened in Germany after all. Now, my German is far from perfect but I read a German Wikipedia article on the Bismarck, where the ship was referred to as “die Bismarck”. All the other ships mentioned there are also feminine (die Prinz Eugen, die Hood and so on). The only time the article refers to a ship as neutral or masculine is “das Schlachtshiff Bismarck” or “der Kreuzer Prinz Eugen”. Like I said, my German is not that good so I’m probably missing some important sources. Please could you point me in the right direction? Many thanks in advance!
I'm glad thet you've mentioned Polish ORP Piorun, but what you didn't tell was that she was the first ship to spot Bismarck and open fire and withstand Bismarck's response to allow British ships to come. Piorun was just a destroyer so much less powerful than Bismarck. Quite often the British forget about others who did the job
You are exaggerating Piorun's role. She was operating as part of Captain Vian's destroyer flotilla. Moreover, she was the only vessel from the flotilla to fail to make a torpedo attack. By the time Vian arrived, Bismarck's stumbling progress was being constantly monitored by HMS Sheffield, and Tovey's main force was simply holding off until dawn.
how can the British ever forget, there is always someone like you reminding us. ORP Piorun was the Royal Navy destroyer, Nerissa, loaned to the Polish navy while she was still under construction, that is not often mentioned is it, there were about five other destroyers keeping the crew of Bismarck on their toes all night, the polish ship was not on its own.
Arleigh Burke-class destroyer please... 68 active out of 89 planned, that's no small number for a major frontline warsips weigh almost ten thousand tons in the history of naval power.
Its likely gonna exceed 100 for US construction before they are done. Plus the Japanese, South Korean and Australian varieties that borrow heavily from the Burke class.
Simon, your videos are always supremely interesting, from Russian gulags, to undersea cables and grand battleships, "smashing the like button" never seems to do them justice.
I don't understand this video Bismarck was a 50k ton ship with the capability of a 35k ton ship. She was so heavy becuase she was inefficiency. It like a heavy weight doing ok against medium weight. Yeah she hits hard but not for her weight class. I also hate the lie that the German sunk Bismarck. In the final battle all her guns and command staff where gone very quickly. The British sunk Bismarck the German just speed it up at the very end.
I loved when he mentioned that the hood was considered on par with the bismark, a ship about 10000 tonnes lighter that's 20 years older and has been in active service the majority of the time. Granted I do give the Germans a bit a leeway they hadn't built a battleship since ww1
I agree. I like to compare Bismarck to Rodney; a ship built 15 years earlier at 10,000 tons lower combat displacement but had better firepower and armour. Bismarck was an inefficient overrated white elephant!
@@AWMJoeyjoejoe Bismarck had almost twice the firepower of the Nelson class. Higher armor penetration, much higher muzzle velocity, better explosive charge and almost twice the rate of fire. One inch extra in barrel diameter means little when you have twice as long reload and worse characteristics in every measurable way. You can argue all you want about Bismarck as a ship but the SK C/34 guns are amoung the best Naval guns ever constructed, rivaled only by the Iowa class 50 cal Mark 7.
@@admiralfloofz658 The armor penetration would have been true for the _Nelson's_ early on in their life. Certainly one of the best naval guns out there- but I don't think it's advantageous over the Royal Ordnance B.L. 16"/45-caliber _Mark 1's_
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*th-cam.com/video/KlfacqQ_Cr4/w-d-xo.html❤️*
*Not.RickRoll 😄👆*
*Actually*
Can you do a video on the Tirpitz, please?
😊😅
Another bit of trivia: in the 1960 movie 'Sink The Bismark' the captain of HMS Prince of Wales was played by Esmund Knight, who actually was aboard the Prince of Wales when she engaged the Bismark and was wounded
Thanks for sharing.
You are right!
Speaking of the Bismarck, the multiple operations to sink the Tirpitz in the fjords of Norway were certainly a mega project themselves.
YES! Churchill's obsession with sinking Tirpitz was legendary.
Yes like weird submarine things that carried these big mines, the mines go off n wreck all the light bulbs n most of the machinery but the ship still floated
Jeremy clarkson did a fantastic documentary about the raid on saint Nazaire planned to disable the turpitz
Operation Chariot is a hell of a story as well
@@WasabiSniffer Yarnhub did an awesome video on it:
th-cam.com/video/NB5mAG1WvvU/w-d-xo.html
My favorite part of this story is the Polish. Their one destroyer they were able to scramble for the task, while shelling the Bismarck, was flashing "I am a Pole" at the German ship.
OPP Piorun! I want to say that it fired all guns blazing - literally, if it was in range, it would be fired. Depth charges? Fired. Small arms? Fired. Primary and secondary guns? Fired.
@@bobolobocus333 not many who lived in the fight to sink the Bismarck can say they truly gave it their all, and I only recently actually found out the name of the ship, but, by God, Piorun gave all they had, and then some! Even stayed on station, continuing to fire until they were dangerously low on fuel!
Not many nations, as a whole, suffered like the Polish did in WWII, but OPP Piorun definitely made sure to give back to her oppressors!
"Sink the bismark was the battle cry that shook the seven seas." Johnny Horton :)
"With guns as big as steers and shells as big as trees", i thank my country music loving dad for that one. lol .
@@jasonholland7770 The brittish guns were aimed and the shells were coming fast! the first shell hit the Bismark, they knew she couldn't last, that mighty German battleship is just a memory ... :) yup ballads! a lost art I think.
That song was a Banger. I'm glad my grandpa had the Johnny Horton greatest hits on cassette in the 90s
@@DougieFresh765 I had to buy the CD when I found it in a clearance bin a few years back because hey! it really is a banger! also I think its on youtube?
Well it's nice to know that the Brits only crippled the ship and didn't actually sink it . If anything the Germans can build really solid products.
14:10
Imagining the fleet gives you a broad idea of just how pissed off Churchill was.
As a previous and present First lord of the admiralty you can tell he really knew just how much of a threat this battleship posed, not just to the military and merchant fleet, but to the moral of the country as a whole. The Bismarck had to be sunk! Even if it mean't diverting the majoity of assets in the atlantic to do so. We needed this win (or at least pulling even). To have let the Bismarck slip away would have been catastrophic
What he is saying about the Bismark is overstated. It was about the same size and capability of other battleships being built at the time. The problem was not the lack of allied ships of it's size, the problem is that most of them were in the Pacific fighting the Japanese. As for the battle itself, the Bismark with it's 15" guns was outgunned by the HMS Rodney and it's 16" guns which sank her.
@@chrisaustin9949 Except it sank because the Germans scuttled it. The Royal Navy had still not managed to make a single hole below the water line. The torpedo that fucked the rudder was a direct hit on the bow. That would have put most ships of the time under water in short order.
@@chrisaustin9949 Experts think otherwise. If Bismarck was in good fighting shape (Which she wasn't) she would have been able to out maneuver Rodney. And with Bismarcks better fire control and gunnery....Would have made it an even, if not slightly in the bismarks favour.
@@McTeerZor Still the fact that Bismarck would by your words only slightly have the edge over Rodney isn't saying much. Rodney entered service 11 years before Bismarck was even launched. If you compare Bismarck to her actual contemporaries like this KGVs and the North Carolina's she comes off pretty badly. Inefficient, underarmoured and undergunned for her size.
1:30 - Chapter 1 - Development
3:55 - Chapter 2 - Launch
5:20 - Chapter 3 - The bismarck
8:15 - Mid roll ads
9:25 - Chapter 4 - Operations begin
12:00 - Chapter 5 - Battle of the denmark strait
13:55 - Chapter 6 - The hunt
15:25 - Chapter 7 - The sinking of the bismarck
17:45 - Chapter 8 - The wreck
I love the fact that a Polish warship was involved. Get your licks in where you can...
It's actions were also legendary. In the night before KGV and Rodney showed up, the destroyer flotilla that included Piorun was ordered to harass Bismarck trough the night in order to keep its crew up so they would be fatigued in the battle on the next morning. Piorun closed to point blank range in order to fire every weapon it had, including the light aa, whilst signaling "I am a Pole".
@@SabreSix1980 Please tell me what book or video you got that from.
@@hankw69 Drachinifels long video on Operation Rheinübung th-cam.com/video/n69kV4gVoDw/w-d-xo.html
It's mentioned starting around the 1hr 10min mark
@@SabreSix1980 thanks will check it out
@@SabreSix1980 All true except for the "fired everything she had"... Piorun was the only destroyer of the 4th Destroyer flotilla to not fire her primary weapon at Bismarck.... her torpedoes.
Given the mention of Tirpitz, could we get a video on 617 Squadron? Not just the standard bit on the Dam Busters raid, but a look at the groundbreaking work they did with high-altitude precision bombing throughout the war?
That'd be an hour long epic as it'd need to mention the development of the sights and munitions that made it possible as well as the pilots and planes of 617. Definitely a worthwhile idea though
Bismarck was made to 'old' designs. The seperate secondaries and tertiaries was a throw back to WW1, and greatly reduced the effectiveness of the armour as it had to cover more ammo storages and trunking.
Yeah "Super armored ship" is just misinformed clickbait
She was based on the Mackensen, the allies tested the surviving German battleships to destruction, the KGV class were probably better, Hood was in dire need of modernization but war stopped that.
@@CaveJohnsonAperture She wasn't even that super armored, KGV had better armor
The US and the UK were the only ones who had a strict break between surface action only primary and dual-purpose secondary batteries. Everyone else had surface action only secondaries and dual-purpose tertiary batteries.
Also a lot of wasted weight. The 15 inch guns in 4 twin turrets was outclassed by 3 triple 16 inch turrets with all or nothing armour scheme. Rodney was rather slow, bur was highly effective and very heavily armed. The Royal Navy’s KGV was also the most heavily armoured battleship ever built until the Yamato was completed .
I have to say, I love all of Factboy's videos from all of his many, many channels, but Drachinifel has me spoiled for this particular topic.
It's well worth watching Drachinifel's TH-cam video on what happened to HMS Hood. It was almost certainly not a plunging shell that did the damage, and the deck armour was not to blame. The range was too short, the shell came in at a shallow angle and most likely somehow penetrated or bypassed the thick side armour, perhaps striking under the waterline. However it happened, it was a lucky shot that would most likely have destroyed any battleship of the time. Another lucky shot, the torpedo that disabled the Bismarck's rudders ensured the final end of that ship.
Yeah, considering the range and angle, neither the deck nor the belt were likely to be penetrated at all. Must be one lucky shell that somehow hit somewhere unprotected.
Well, it would have destroyed any ship which didn’t have an armor belt extending well below the waterline and had its magazines positioned in the same place. If it hit one of the US SoDak and Iowa classes, the British King George V class, or the Yamato class, it wouldn’t have penetrated the armor belt at that range and angle. Those ships also had their magazines lower in the ship than Hood did. Hood was just designed at a time when underwater protection wasn’t as great of a priority.
@@bluemarlin8138 you know, they did actually have torpedoes and mines in ww1, it just so happens stopping a torpedo and a shell are not the same thing
"Lucky" = Right Place at the Right Time along with Engagement. Like all the gloves that ever found Micheal Tyson's head.
What was the range from my understanding plunging fire especially from lower velocity guns can begin happening at about 11-12 km
Drachinifel's video on HMS Hood "But why did it blow up?" is a masterclass in naval history, and to which you realise just how astronomical the shot that sunk her was. Forensically detailed whilst thoroughly engaging.
Dr Alexander Clarke's video "A bit more on RN destroyers - The Hunt for the Bismarck" explains the role of those ships in the kill. It's brilliant, as epic as the Swordfish and battleship action, and the conduct/mentality of Tribal destroyers and ORP Piorun hammers home a singular point: the RN was not going to let Bismarck return home alive.
His video is MANDATORY for understanding the most probable cause.
Yes, lts a worthy theory. Highly recommended.
Absolutely correct! From the moment HMS Hood was sunk, Bismarck had signed her own death warrant. She was getting sunk, no matter the cost after that.
A series of luck incidents dogged this battle. Norfolk & Suffolk must have driven Lutjens insane the way they stuck to it despite evasive action. Victorious's first Swordfish hit slowed it down. The Ark Royal's Swordfish hit on the rudder got the one vulnerable spot. Nearly all Swordfish survived despite flying directly into the fire from the Bismark, ironically so slow & flimsy it was less effective for guns calibrated to faster aircraft. One took damage from the waterspouts the shells caused. And landing in 50 foot seas, after managing to relocate the carrier in the fog etc.
The Hood is worthy of a video in herself! As is the Prince of Wales.
Check out Drachinifel’s channel, he’s a naval expert and talks about those ships at length
Was just about to recommend Drachinifel for that as well.
I could name a few. King George V class, HMS Hood, Iowa-class, Vittorio Veneto-class are just a few battleships that are worthy of videos. Panzershiff’s Graf Spee and Deutschland are good video ideas
@@FreshwaterNautical yeah but it makes way more sense to just watch a naval history channel than to ask a guy who has no idea about naval stuff to read off what he finds on Wiki
The death of the Prince of Wales and the Repulse off the coast of Singapore is one of the most interesting ones for me, because they were supposed to have a carrier, the Illustrious with them, but she had run aground in Jamaca and nobody ever got charged.
For anyone interested, Drachinifel does a fantastic video on the loss of HMS Hood and does a great job on world naval history in general. Here's the link to the Loss of the Hood video: th-cam.com/video/CLPeC7LRqIY/w-d-xo.html
Yes, it is good. Like he covers the fact on if it was 'unsinkable' or was/would have going down.
Drach's coverage of the Bismarck is very very good. His explanation of the Hood's loss is likely the truth among all the others' theories.
Was just about to link his vid after seeing super armored.... yeah.... that turtle back is soooo good.
Another good channel on a few famous battleships is Animarchy. There's a nice video on Bismark by him and a few others, with more incoming.
Agreed. Drach's videos are superb.
My favorite Bismarck story is that little Polish destroyer signaling away "I am a Pole" as the Bismarck was being pounded
It's my favorite too. Such a fuck you to them. I love it 😄
Kings, all of them.
Getting close enough that its 20mm and 40mm AA guns could open fire and Bismarcks main battery couldn't depress low enough to engage.
Would like to add, the Polish destroyer actually hounded the Bismarck at night before the final battle.
The pilot of the RAF PBY Catalina that spotted the Bismarck was an American Mercenary.
@@Chris_at_Home No. I am sure he would have done it just to cover his expenses. American volunteer would be more apt.
Saboton has an amazing song about the Bismark!
Dont forget the amazing music video
If the Simon does not know the Sabaton he should th-cam.com/video/oVWEb-At8yc/w-d-xo.html
I came here looking for a Sabaton Intensifies comment.
So did you find the boat? 🤘🤘
Sabaton has amazing songs of many battles.
I saw them live in Melbourne on a joint ticket with Nightwish. Raw Power and amazing stage presence.
Interesting.
As a side note, and not that it matters much to me, Prinz Eugen reads Prince 'Hoigen' and not 'eoojen'.
Other than that, never mind the torpedoes, full speed ahead.
I really thought that as a Brit, or former Brit, he would have got that one
@@brazenbunnies just because he doesn't live here doesn't mean he isnt British anymore 😂
And as for Cardinal Rish-a-low: it's embarrassing.
In 1987 I was working for ‘Sukling Airways’ based in Ipswich Suffolk, one of my Captains was a chap called Nick Von-Berg, he lent me a hard back copy of “Sink the Bismarck”, inside was an inscription from a chap he used to fly with in Gulf Air by the name of Bismarck Briggs, so called because he was the Catolina pilot who spotted the Bismarck after it had escaped from the Hood engagement.
This is epic it would be nice to see one on the HMS vanguard. The largest British battleship
yesss this right here is a brilliant idea!
Good suggestion.
Thanks gents!
Maybe something about the hypothetical Tillmans/A-150s/lion class/H class insanity? I'd love to see someone delve into the fevered pipe dreams of yesteryears naval architects.
Warspite has a more interesting story, and a way cooler name
From the mist a shape, a ship is taking form
And the silence of the sea is about to drift into a storm
Sign of power, show of force
Raise the anchor battleship plotting its course
Pride of a nation a beast made of steel
Bismarck in motion king of the ocean
He was made to rule the waves across the seven sea
Good to see a fellow Sabaton fan.
Sabaton taught me more about history than history class did
FIRE POWER FIRE FIGHT
@@chicjam8928 Battlestations, keep the targets steady in sight.
I was wondering if they'd be any Sabaton references... i'm not disappointed 😎😎😎
Missed some interesting facts about it. Her own guns knocked out her main radar, a polish dd that went nuts, and the Rodney being the only BB to torp another BB
also that they stopped for like an hour to try to fix the jammed rudder (that a torpedo, dropped by a BIPLANE, had fired, that the advanced AA directors couldn't target because of how SLOW they flew), and couldn't get into the steering compartment to uncouple the rudders (she had 2, but only 1 was jammed) because of the rough seas.
@@virt1one "she had 2 rudders, but only 1 was jammed" maybe true, but the steering compartment above the rudders was flooded, as a consequence Bismarck's crew couldn't disengage the jammed rudder, otherwise her other rudder could be set to the oppossing angle to counteract the jammed rudder.
@@virt1one That’s a misconception about the German AA guns not being able to track the Swordfish torpedo bombers. The reason none were shot down is largely that the Swordish’s canvas skin wouldn’t initiate the fuzes on the German AA shells, whereas the metal skin on other aircraft would have. Some of those Swordfish came back shot full of holes, but since the shells didn’t hit any structural members, the engine, or the pilot, they just passed on through and the plane kept flying.
And Hood fired a torpedo at Bismarck just as she slipped beneath the waves causing a sharp change of course which ruined the firing solution on Prince of Wales. This last act quite possibly save PoW from the same fate as Hood.
@@freddieellis8449 A second "million to one" shot on PoW? Unlikely.
The 15inch guns were pretty good. The 5.9 inch secondary were surface action only. The tertiary 105mm were overly complicated. The 37mm was absolutely pants. The RN was already using dual purpose secondary battery and large numbers of 2lb pompoms or 40mm bofors guns. This made for spare weight which was better used for armour and engines.
Edit. Hood's armour was actually very thick. She had 12 inch belt armour and a 5 inch deck. She suffered from a number of piecemeal refits, with a lightly protected 4 inch magazine installed right in front of the main after 15 inch magazine. It's likely that the combination of piecemeal refits combined with subpar protection around her 4 inch magazine was what killed Hood.
There's a chap with a channel called Drachinifel, and that more or less mirrors his conclusion - which I happen to agree is the most plausible explanation.
Thankyou! I'm so sick of people saying hood was a lightly armoured glass cannon.
@@jamesharding3459 Drachinifel is excellent. Good call.
It was reasonable to assume Bismarck would be in front; the ship had been in front (and observed to be in front) until the shockwave from a main battery salvo directed and Norfolk and Suffolk knocked out Bismarck's own rader set. The weather conditions in the Strait (plus it being night) meant that the lead ship really kind of needed working radar.
For some reason I've been super interested in this story lately and learning everything I can about it. That's crazy timing you decided to do a video on it now.
Have you checked out all Drachinifel's accounts?
I’ve been waiting for a video on the Bismarck for a long time now
I don't believe the title is accurate. The Bismarck was NOT designed to go toe to toe with the Royal Navy beyond harassing merchant shipping and their escorts.
She WAS designed to battle the French Navy, specifically the likes of the Richelieu.
Even the Kriegsmarine knew she wasn't supposed to slug it out with the RN - they actually were really fearful of going into a brawl with them.
Hence why, in their first mission, they didn't chase down the PoW. Even without the damage she was never going to pursue, she wanted to be out in the Atlantic hunting supply ships.
Since I haven't seen anything yet. *clears throat* PRIDE OF A NATION! A BEAST MADE OF STEEL! BISMARK IN MOTION! KING OF THE OCEAN!
HE WAS MADE TO RULE THE WAVES ACROSS THE SEVEN SEAS!!!
As a Dane, I remember learning about this ship in school (MANY moons ago)
Love getting all the detailed information
Thank you very much for the video 👍
the Bismarck' fire control was knocked out very early in its last battle causing accuracy to greatly drop off
Germany fanboys: Bismarck OP lel
Reality check: The rest of the world did away with exposed fire control cables in the pre-dreadnought era.
This was achieved by HMS Norfolk, which repeated the feat on the Scharnhorst, 1 1/2 years later
@@jamesharding3459 wasn't that taken out by a lucky shot to the superstructure though? Otherwise the Bismarck's better accuracy would of likely taken out the British fire control first.
I think you mean the Tirpitz saw considerably less action at sea, on the few occasions it had fuel to sail it failed to confront anything and famously backed out of going up against HMS Duke of York and HMS Renown when they were detected escorting an Artic Convoy she was vectored onto.
" _Send word to Churchill. We have engaged, the Bismarck._ "
- Dramatic Music -
Bismark was the first ship that truly got me into WW1-2 history. I read a book written about it in like 4th grade and was immediately hooked. I could watch a thousand different videos about her and never get bored.
Wow, barely a week in combat service.
Anyone else got Sink the Bismarck by Johnny Horton stuck in their head now?
Also Sabaton's Bismarck.
Sabaton's song. And that's the only one. Well outside of of Last Stand, Primo Victoria, and Metallica's Orion.
Homer and Jethro's parody of Johnny Horton Sink the Bismarck.
Unfortunately I can't immediately dredge up the beginning of the song. All I keep thinking is "In 1814 we took a little trip; Along with Colonel Jackson down the mighty Mississipp'" Right singer, wrong song. Wrong war.
@@jamesclendon4811 good song though 👌
Thank you
The 1960 movie 'Sink The Bismarck' staring Kenneth Moore is always worth a watch.
That movie is worth the watch just for Dana Wynters, but great movie all the same.
The Sabaton song about the Bismarck is one of their best songs. And the video is so over the top and AWESOME
Did you know HMS Rodney was the only battleship to use torpedoes on another battleship which happens to be the Bismarck
Belt and braces approach. I like it.
Sadly as discovered later they did no damage at all to her as the anti torp belt did its job as intended.
@@FutureFlash2034 No quite. They didn't find any outright breaches from torpedoes but that's pretty standard for any torpedoes against a Capital ship. You don't need to blow a hole in the side of a ship to crack plates and joins. As it stands, despite the torpedo bulge "doing its job" Bismarck was down to Port with a 20 degree list and several machinery spaces flooded after torpedo hits.
@@1993Crag The partial list that began was because of the one major breach from 2 shell near the bow below the water line, however the water tight bulkheads held. However before the last 3-4 torps were launched the ship was stable and the crew decided to begin scuttling, The ship began to take on water and started to sink but the british presumed it was going to stay floating (whilst she was intentionally being sunk) so they fired 3-4 torps into its broadside trying to "make sure" It sank. Though I agree normally yes plate buckling could cause flooding, the ship was already sinking and all evidence from the dives to the wreck since its discovery show that though the belt armour came off with the torp impacts, the inner citadel armour and turtleback armour was entirely intact with no cracks nor holes. In the end if the british continued to attack the Bismarck it would have probebly eventually sunk after an hour or two (possibly more if the german crew continued to try and keep it afloat), however if they completely left it be, it is completely agreed upon that it would have continued staying afloat for another 12-24hrs+.
@@FutureFlash2034 Even according to the crew who said they did the scuttling and escaped, they didn't begin to do so prior to the 20 degree list. A list most major capital ships were abandoned at. Unless you're saying they started to scuttle with the crew on board and ship still fighting.
If you're talking about Cameron or Ballard, they both said for the sections they could see. This missed the Port mid section that was under mud where most of the major surface torpedoes made impact.
The Battle off Samar would be a worthwhile project.
Last stand of the tin can sailors. Destroyer escorts and jeep carriers took on the biggest Japanese fleet to ever sail.
You should do a video on "the greatest raid of all time" the raid on St nazaire.. honestly it's completely mind blowing, and it's linked to the tirpitz as they were targeting the only dry Dock on the Atlantic that was big enough for her.. more Victoria crosses were issued during this raid.. and if you haven't heard about it.. find out about it because its honestly it's just insane.
Clarkson did a documentary on it. It is available on TH-cam.
@@richardstraun th-cam.com/video/SCMCr2Kh1wI/w-d-xo.html I think he did a great job with it too.
With videos such as the one covering the Yamato on the channel, I've been waiting for one on the Bismarck, and it's finally here!
An episode about the Bismarck but not sponsored by World of Warships, I'm shocked lol
There was a very good film, “Sink the Bismarck” that shows a dramatized version of the story.
From the mist, a shape, a ship, is taking form
And the silence of the sea is about to drift into a storm
Sign of power, show of force
Raise the anchor, battleship's plotting its course
Pride of a nation, a beast made of steel
Bismarck in motion, king of the ocean
I got goosebumps from just reading it.
@@nicksivert5431 Then you should check out the Sabaton video, Bismarck. If you don't already have seen it.
@@abnurtharn2927 I’ve watched it multiple times. 😎
@@nicksivert5431 😀👍
HE WAS MADE TO RULE THE WAVE ACROSS THE SEVEN SEAS!
Awesome thanks very much
We’ll find the German Battleship that’s making such a fuss we gotta sink the Bismarck cause the world depends on us!
Hit the decks a-runnin' boys and spin those guns around
When we find the Bismarck we gotta cut her down!
Pride of a Nation, a beast made of steel, Bismarck in motion, king of the ocean, he was made to rule the waves across the seven seas!
Change the lyrics bub. Get with the times. Sabaton.
Something awesome about that last torpedo run, Lieutenant Commander John “Jock” Moffat was piloting one of the Swordfish, as he was just about to launch he heard his navigator shout, “Not yet, Jock!” There was his friend, hanging over the side of the plane, shouting, “Not yet!” Then Jock realized why, he only had one torpedo, and if it hit the top of a wave, it could veer off course, but if the landed in a trough, the low point, there was a chance. Eventually he shouted, “Let her go!” Jock immediately fired and less than a minute later, that torpedo was the one that hit Bismark’s stern.
3:41 "The Tirpitz saw considerably more action at sea"
I'm not sure that was true. The Tirpitz only had one offensive operation where it fired its main guns. It mainly spent the war in port.
There were several British attempts to sink the Tirpitz. That would be worth a Megaprojects video too.
Same as sharnhorst
Yes, and there is very good movie about it which name I can't forget. It focuses on the attempts to make tiny submarines to place under water charges on it.
@@andersjjensen _"Above Us The Waves"_ right?
@@peterson7082 Ah yes. Thank you good Sir! :D
Ah, but Tirpitz sailed more than once, no?
Always a winner!
If you start a reaction channel (probably on the cards :) ) do the official music video of Sabaton Bismarck first!!!
Grandfather served as a officer on the HMS Norfolk. He was present on the ship during the hunting of the bismark. My family still has photos of the bismark he took while hunting it. After the war he later became a Admiral.
I would love to hear the history of HMS Warspite
Longest successful hit, plus a long service.
Drachinifel does a really good vid on HMS Warspite,
Her officers and crew musta been either, the luckiest afloat or the toughest and best trained,
@@alanwilkin8869 Luckiest ship is USS Massachusetts, not a single fatality during it's service.
Battleship Snipa! 360noscoped another ship 16miles out
My grandfather was involved in the pursuit of Bismarck. He was on Ark Royal, which was ultimately the ship to end Bismarck's retreat.
My grandad was on HMS Hood, he wasn't a survivor. Thank you, Gary's grandfather.
@@Skraeling1000I'm sorry to hear that your grandfather was a victim of the magazine incident. Horrific event in naval history 🙁
I think my grandfather served on Hood on occasions too. And Rodney. I really need to get his records out again. He got about as he was attached to one of the admirals. Maybe they knew each other. Who knows 🙂
So we got Yamato and Bismarck who were defeated can we get the Iowa sisters who are still with us today
bystanders don't get recognition
Bismarck and Yamato have a legend. the Iowa class came to late to WW2 and the age of battleships was already over. Aircraft Carriers rule the sea.
Quick note, at the ranges recorded, Bismarck's shells would be ~11° from horizontal. There's a picture of the turret roof of Dunkerque which has had a shell from a 15"/42 shell skip off it at a slightly shallower angle, if you can find it.
By the time battleship shells are falling near vertically they are far beyond any practical battle range.
Don't forget to add the tilt of the target ship to that, according to Ted Briggs, one of the three Hood survivors, his ship was inclined at least 15 degrees toward the Bismarck when hit by the fatal shell due to the high speed turn to port.
@@jimbluma2558 The problem with the Person Account is that none of the other accounts can agree on whether or not Hood had begun her turn. Ted Briggs was blown off Hood, had a building dropped on him and nearly drowned, so I don't need to call him a liar to be sceptical. I'm similarly doubtful of the details of Burkard Baron von Mullenheim-Rechberg's account.
My preferred explanation is that Hood's hull flexed as the turn commenced which opened a flame path from the secondary magazine. his should start a fire at the back, where it may be less visible so there is insufficient time to flood the magazine. I like this because it's in line with how industrial accidents usually occur (ratchetting stupidity) and doesn't require a million to one shot.
th-cam.com/video/CLPeC7LRqIY/w-d-xo.html&t
Drachinifel has a very detailed breakdown of this battle. He also has the the best channel on TH-cam for naval ships and and battle breakdowns that is produced in English.
Awesome as always. Thank you.
How did such a mispronunciation of Prinz Eugen make it to the final cut?
Sorta painful. I know Simon is aware some mispronunciations are inevitable... but Prinz "you-jen?" Ouch. The Prinz Eugen is one of the most famous ships in history. Can't believe it was tortured like that.
Because Simon is British.
@@WhiteCamry No it's because he doesn't have a clue what he's talking about and is just reading off a script. Simon is always mispronouncing shit
Fairey Swordfish WW1 throwback, but effective.
It continued in service for most of the war .
Incredible the role of decrypting messages. It made possible sink Bismark. Does Megaprojects channel have a Colossus computer video? I haven't found it. It could be an interesting one
One hell of a ship. Thanks Simon!
Who would win : a state of the art german flag battleship that had the power to change the war or some stringy bois loaded with explosive seals
Don't underestimate the RAF, good sir ^^
@@Metallica4Life92
G'day,
Why not underestimate the RAF..., in the sinking of the Bismark...?
The Stringbags (Swordfish) which torpedoed the Bismark had NOTHING to do with the RAF...; the Swordfish were operated by the Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm.
Wake up to yourself.
;-p
Ciao !
@@WarblesOnALot twas just a joke.. :/
@@Metallica4Life92 Some jokes just are not jokes! And some people should never create/try telling one!
@@Metallica4Life92
Ah, there there, nivertheemoind ; you did too good a job of masquerading as one of the Video-Game "Educated" Warriorist Enthusiasts.
I took you at your word, y'see.
Such is life,
Have a good one...
Stay safe.
;-p
Ciao !
Good stuff, thank you! I've been looking forward to you covering this, it's one of my favorite ww2 stories. It's got everything, drama, tragedy, suspense, and Churchill probably foaming at the mouth. And the code breaker getting the message, that's a third act turn around right there.
The Scharnhorst had far more interesting genesis and career.
It did, if less colourful. The German battleships of WW2 really didn't do much in terms of offensive actions, but they did tie up resources. Myths around Bismarck, Scharnhorst and Gneisenau and Tirpitz abound, but the real stories are more interesting.
Gneisenau had almost exactly the same career - and most of her crew even survived the war. For some strange reason she always seems to be in the shadow of her sister.
The Twins did far more damage than Bismarck, but for sheer drama nothing beats Bismarck's first and final sortie.
@@TTTT-oc4eb Because her story ended after _CERBERUS_ basically. _Scharnhorsts_ lasted up until December the following year. The British raid was incredibly successful with that single hit on the bow which detonated the magazines for turret "Anton"
Thank you for another well done and informative video. Whenever I see that another Megaprojects video is available to watch I know that I will be enjoying a treat soon!
From the mist a ship a shape is taking form.
And the silence of the sea is about to drift into a storm
@@hallstuart6604 Sign of power, Show of force.
@@KingdomofNefeisea Raise the anchor, Battleship plotting its course
@@arandomfallschirmjagerdude9141 Pride of a nation, a beast made of steel
Damn. Beat me to the Sabaton reference.
Always well presented and easy to follow.
Sabaton has entered the chat...
Sabaton collaboration with Mega Projects?
Another excellent show. Thankyou.
I mean she wasn’t the Deathstar people seem to imply she was, Bismarck didn’t have anywhere near the firepower or armour of HMS Nelson or Rodney
Love this type of content Simon. Hope you and the staff are doing well. Thank you for the hard work and content from you and your entire team.
You are going to offend a lot of people with the title "English Naval Supremacy" - Its BRITISH, not English - I would have thought a guy who does a geography channel would know the difference!
Blame the ignorant American scriptwriters and editors.
Especially when a sizeable proportion of Royal Navy ships were built on the River Clyde
@@grantm902 If not the Clyde, then in Belfast.....
@@owenshebbeare2999 The man who read that script was British, can't always be our fault old chap. He didn't care and neither do we.
Very informative and enjoyable video to watch! More of these please!
You know I might be interested in Magellan if I knew how much it was. $? By the way that was a great video. I’ve watched the movie SINK THE BISMARCK many times and always think how sad so many lives were lost.
Do you have to be spoon fed everything? SMH
The RN ships started to take on German sailors but received a Submarine alert and had to abandon many who died waiting for German help.
You have forgotten to mention the one Bismarck survivor adopted by the British Royal Navy 'Oskar'. A brave cat later renamed (unsinkable) Sam. Oskar the cat was found floating on a board and picked from the water by a British destroyer. He served on 2 British destroyers before retiring in Gibraltar. You can google him.
If you want the best video on Bismarck go to Drachinifel's one of the best naval historians on TH-cam.
Yup, this guy takes stories that have been told and retold and tries to make them his own.
One of the best? More like the best!
At the range they were, the Hood's armour was more than enough to protect her from the German guns, it should not have blown up, however the clue is in some of the hits scored on both Bismarck and Prince of Wales in which shells dived under the belt armour of the ships. The reason being that the battle was run at full speed and the pressure of wakes of the ships deflected incoming shells causing them to dive below the armour belt.
Also Prince of Wales did not stagger away, she was still capable of full speed and had suffered no damage to her guns and critically its radar fire control systems for her 14" guns, the malfunctions due to her still being debugged from the builders not battle damage, she unjammed her turrets and joined the shadowing cruisers and those two subsequent engagements were led by her with the Bismarck choosing ot to slog it out with her but use the fog to evade her. She only returned to Iceland for fuel and repairs after hunting for her for another 12 hours in the fog and was kept ready to act as a block should Bismarck try to double back.
Check out Drachnifel's video on the subject. He goes into more detail about just how insanely fortunate the shell that sunk Hood was.
@@Cailus3542 I have, it is an excellent video
The Bismark was actually a he. It was notable because it didn't adhere to tradition. Check out sabaton histories video on it.
Which is said to ultimately doom the ship according to maritime legend.
Great video, wonderful editing. I really liked the add in with the wolves. Very nice, guys.
And yet. a twenty-year old battleship 60% it's displacement spanked it in it's final battle, due largely to a major failing in the design. The conduits from the main fire control directors to the main guns ran ABOVE the armored deck, and got taken out in the first of many 16" shells Rodney would pommel it with in Bismark's final battle.
HMS Rodney was a beast of a ship, you should take a trip to the maritime museum on Liverpool docks if you’re interested. They have the ships bell and a large amount of history on her in a display 😊
@@Morris2182 Liverpool is a bit far from New Mexico for convenience, but if I ever get out there it's on the list.
Drachinifel gives a much better evaluation of the Bismark in his videos on the subject.
And the difficulty Bismarck had with manoevering owing to the jammed rudder and list to port and trim to the bow caused by flooding due to a hit from Prince of Wales meant that even while the FCDs were operational, it couldn't hit a barn from the inside.
Probably one of the most inefficient battleship designs. Not bad, but not amazing either
@@snebbywebby2587 It really was just a modified WW2 design, based on the Bayern, sharing its faults, strengths, layout and not a great deal more from the old design. Definitely capable, but not cutting edge by the time she was conceived.
Love the background music
Q: How do you sink a Megaprojects battleship?
A: With a Megaprojects attack.
It was not a 'supership'. Over all, the armour of the Bismarck was remarkably similar to that of the Hood. It just had it's deck armour in a single layer and not spread out over three decks. Thus a plunging 380mm shell managed to penetrate three individual 1 inch armour plates when it may very well have failed to penetrate a single 3.5 inch armour plate. If the Germans had waited six months for Operation Rheinübung, they would have met with the fast Battleship HMS Hood, with a unified deck armour and updated fire control, instead of Battlecruiser HMS Hood, which was pulled out of dry dock to intercept the Bismarck. As it was, although the hood was lost in the Battle of the Denmark Straight, it could be argued that the Bismarck suffered a strategic defeat, as damage (4,000 tons of water in-board) forced it to cut short its sortie against the convoys and return to port.
While listening to Simon list of all the ships involved, all I could picture are the girls from Azur Lane.
Cultured, I see.
Same
The girls from Azur Lane after actual warships from all over the world. I have to commend the writers for the dedication required to research the names. However, they did get one wrong. The Laffey, which they modeled as a British ship was actually an American destroyer.
YES
I'm surprised you didn't include the little detail that ensured that the Bis wouldn't make it back to port. During one of the battles, her rudder was damaged and she had absolutely no steering for the remainder of her life
The damage to the rudder was mentioned.
I've been on the bridge of the USS. Missouri. I could not imagine the insane engineering of a uniquely superior ship like the Bismark.
In what way do you imagine Bismarck was "superior" to USS Missouri?
Bismarck, while extremely powerful, was based on an older, semi-flawed design.
Baden class, a post WW1 design?
@@saberdogface Spot on! Obviously a very much modernised (at that time) take on that design but it formed the basis of what the Bismarck & Tirpitz became.
@@navnig Thank you, sir! Not an expert, but I do recall reading about Bismark design history somewhere.
Man I just really enjoy excellent content such as this. Simon is a master at his art.
The Bishmark was'nt that great its amour layout was inferior to KG5 and some might say even the old Rodney - it was sinking and about to be hit by a spread of torpedos from the cruieser Dorchester under its armour belt as it was listing bad - it never scored a single hit on the 2 battleships that brought it down or even managed to shoot down one of the slow 80mph bi planes that crippled her - not such a great ship as this post would have you believe - its only claim to fame is it sank a WW1 mostly built battle cruieser
the rudder became so popular, a phenomenon where a torpedo hitting and damaging the rudder in WoWs is called "Bismarcked"
We gonna skip the fact that one of the officer's said that they where not gonna let Bismarck be shot out from under his ass? Yes? *Visible disappointment* I'll have to rank the Azur Lane bio video as the most accurate.
it wasnt just any officer, it was the Captain of the Bismarck: Ernst Lindemann
If you haven't watched The Operations Room video on the sinking of Bismark you should
I understand that there is only so much time, but I think you should have mentioned that Bismarck was disabled by a bi-plane.
It was mentioned at 16.08 that a Fairey Swordfish jammed the rudder.
I stand corrected. Thanks
I like the blue light!
Little bit of a nit pick, but battleship Bismarck was a "He" e.g. He was the king of the seas. One of the very few ships that are christened as male
@ADRIAAN1007 Interesting comment on the Bismarck’s manliness but it left me ever so slightly confused. In all English language sources available to me, Bismarck is always referred to as “she”, just like any other ship, so I’m assuming that you were talking about the German designation. The Bismarck was christened in Germany after all. Now, my German is far from perfect but I read a German Wikipedia article on the Bismarck, where the ship was referred to as “die Bismarck”. All the other ships mentioned there are also feminine (die Prinz Eugen, die Hood and so on). The only time the article refers to a ship as neutral or masculine is “das Schlachtshiff Bismarck” or “der Kreuzer Prinz Eugen”. Like I said, my German is not that good so I’m probably missing some important sources. Please could you point me in the right direction? Many thanks in advance!
“King of the seas” lmao sunk on its maiden voyage
@Donewitu that’s why it’s at the bottom of the ocean, cause it didn’t sink
@@jb76489 Jeeez, how old are you? Five?
I'm glad thet you've mentioned Polish ORP Piorun, but what you didn't tell was that she was the first ship to spot Bismarck and open fire and withstand Bismarck's response to allow British ships to come. Piorun was just a destroyer so much less powerful than Bismarck. Quite often the British forget about others who did the job
You are exaggerating Piorun's role. She was operating as part of Captain Vian's destroyer flotilla. Moreover, she was the only vessel from the flotilla to fail to make a torpedo attack.
By the time Vian arrived, Bismarck's stumbling progress was being constantly monitored by HMS Sheffield, and Tovey's main force was simply holding off until dawn.
how can the British ever forget, there is always someone like you reminding us. ORP Piorun was the Royal Navy destroyer, Nerissa, loaned to the Polish navy while she was still under construction, that is not often mentioned is it, there were about five other destroyers keeping the crew of Bismarck on their toes all night, the polish ship was not on its own.
Arleigh Burke-class destroyer please... 68 active out of 89 planned, that's no small number for a major frontline warsips weigh almost ten thousand tons in the history of naval power.
Its likely gonna exceed 100 for US construction before they are done. Plus the Japanese, South Korean and Australian varieties that borrow heavily from the Burke class.
Simon, your videos are always supremely interesting, from Russian gulags, to undersea cables and grand battleships, "smashing the like button" never seems to do them justice.
I don't understand this video Bismarck was a 50k ton ship with the capability of a 35k ton ship. She was so heavy becuase she was inefficiency. It like a heavy weight doing ok against medium weight. Yeah she hits hard but not for her weight class. I also hate the lie that the German sunk Bismarck. In the final battle all her guns and command staff where gone very quickly. The British sunk Bismarck the German just speed it up at the very end.
I loved when he mentioned that the hood was considered on par with the bismark, a ship about 10000 tonnes lighter that's 20 years older and has been in active service the majority of the time. Granted I do give the Germans a bit a leeway they hadn't built a battleship since ww1
I agree. I like to compare Bismarck to Rodney; a ship built 15 years earlier at 10,000 tons lower combat displacement but had better firepower and armour. Bismarck was an inefficient overrated white elephant!
@@AWMJoeyjoejoe Bismarck had almost twice the firepower of the Nelson class. Higher armor penetration, much higher muzzle velocity, better explosive charge and almost twice the rate of fire. One inch extra in barrel diameter means little when you have twice as long reload and worse characteristics in every measurable way.
You can argue all you want about Bismarck as a ship but the SK C/34 guns are amoung the best Naval guns ever constructed, rivaled only by the Iowa class 50 cal Mark 7.
@@admiralfloofz658 The armor penetration would have been true for the _Nelson's_ early on in their life. Certainly one of the best naval guns out there- but I don't think it's advantageous over the Royal Ordnance B.L. 16"/45-caliber _Mark 1's_