The Battle of the Denmark Strait

[Wink]

Hello all,

The battle of the Denmark Strait was the high-water mark of the Kriegsmarine during World War II.  Outnumbered two to one, the Bismarck and the Prinz Eugen were able to destroy the pride of the Royal Navy, the mighty Hood, and drive away the newest British battleship, the Prince of Wales.

Even thought the battle was perhaps the most documented naval engagement in history, there continue to be many questions about how the battle was fought.  Part of the problem is that some of the evidence seems to be conflicting, and therefore it has been impossible to put all of the pieces together and form a coherent picture of exactly what happened.   Perhaps if we examine all of the evidence from German sources, we can together resolve the remaining issues regarding the battle.

Paulus Jasper, the first artillery officer on the Prinz Eugen, reported In the ship's Kriegstagebuch:  "Während des Gefechtes drehte das eigener Schiff dreimal hart.  Es war während der Drehung weiter geschossen.  Vorübergehend kam die Batterie im Zusammenhang damit zweimal seitlich vom Ziel ab.  Bei der dritten Ausweichbewegung kam die Schussrichtung unmittelbar vor den "Bismarck."  Ich erhielt daraufhin von der Schiffsführung den Befehl: "Bismarck nicht überschiessen!" und gleich darauf "Feuer-Einstellen."  Das Feuer wurde 0509 Uhr eingestellt."

The Prinz Eugen's Gefechtsskizze shows that between 0603 and 0607 (local time), the cruiser made three hard turns, the first to starboard, the second to port, and then back to starboard again before returning back to course.  Since the enemy was always to port of the German squadron, that would seem to indicate that the Bismarck was on the port side of the Prinz Eugen from 0603 until after 0609.  Do you agree or do you have a different outlook as to what happened?

Regards,

Robert

[Sarkas]

The old film from Prinz Eugen clearly shows that Bismarck was on starboard side behind Prinz Eugen:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPmkOtSveXY   (time 5:41 - 7:04)

By the way, I think that the British were the inferior side at the Battle of the Denmark Strait, and Admiral Holland acted stupidly during this battle.

[Wink]

You are quite correct.  The battle film and several still pictures do show the Bismarck on the starboard side of the Prinz Eugen.  That is exactly what I meant by "conflicting evidence."  It is my hope that we can sort this out by further examining all of the evidence.

The British tactics and Admiral Holland's performance during the battle are rather complex issues that cannot be reduced to simple conclusions.

Robert

[Wink]

Let's now look at some additional evidence from German sources.

Paul Schmalenbach, the second artillery officer on the Prinz Eugen. reported In the ship's Kriegstagebuch:  "Ich habe merere Male zu "Bismarck" hingesehen, aber nichts zu berichten."  I would interpret that to mean Schmalenbach took a look at the Bismarck several times over a period of perhaps over five minutes between 0600 and 0609.   

If the Bismarck had been coming up on the port side of the Prinz Eugen, he would have had to turn his sights only a few degrees to the left to acquire the Bismarck and then quickly return to the Prince of Wales, ready to take over the fire control mission of the Prinz Eugen if the ship's main fire control station could no longer function.

If the Bismarck had been coming up on the starboard side of the Prinz Eugen, Schmalenbach would have had to turn his sights completely around to acquire the Bismarck and then turn them back again to re-acquire the target.  That means that Schmalenbach would have had his eyes off the target for several seconds.  Do you think that Schmalenbach would have risked censure by reporting his digressions in the Kriegstagebach if he had viewed the Bismarck on the starboard side of the Prinz Eugen during the battle? 

After the war, Schmalenbach published his battle diagram showing the Bismarck on the port side of the Prinz Eugen from 0600 to after 0609, apparently based on his observations during the battle.  Burkard Freiherr von Müllenheim-Rechberg adopted that diagram for his book "Schlachtschiff Bismarck" published in 1999 by Bechtermünz Verlag.  Presumably the Baron was convinced that this diagram more closely represented his own personal recollections of the battle than the earlier diagram provided by Jürgen Rohwer in the English version of his book "Battleship Bismarck."

Robert

[Herr Nilsson]

Blödsinn. Schmalenbach war für die Flak verantwortlich und war im Hauptflakeinsatzstand mit wunderschöner Rundumsicht.

[redfort]

Moin,

irgendwie habe ich ein Déjà-vu Erlebnis !

Es geht schon wieder los.....

http://www.forum-marinearchiv.de/smf/index.php/topic,17289.msg193140.html#msg193140

[Baunummer 509]

don't feed the wink!

[Wink]

Hallo Marc,

Can you explain why Schmalenbach would report in the Kriegstagebuch that he took a look at the Bismarck several times during the battle and had nothing to report if he had the Bismarck under observation at all times?

Can you explain why he showed the Bismarck on the port side of the Prinz Eugen from 0600 until after 0609 in his battle diagram?  That is really the point that I was trying to make.

What is your scenario of the battle of the Denmark Strait and what evidence do you have to back it up?

[Thoddy]

apparantly there is imprecise timing in the scetch
the first turn to starbord took place in about 06:03 with Bismarck followed by Prinz Eugen one minute later
according to the scetch this turn took place in about 05:55

[Herr Nilsson]

Hallo Marc,

Can you explain why Schmalenbach would report in the Kriegstagebuch that he took a look at the Bismarck several times during the battle and had nothing to report if he had the Bismarck under observation at all times?

Can you explain why he showed the Bismarck on the port side of the Prinz Eugen from 0600 until after 0609 in his battle diagram?  That is really the point that I was trying to make.

What is your scenario of the battle of the Denmark Strait and what evidence do you have to back it up?

Bob, versuche doch einfach mal herauszufinden, wo Herr Schmalenbach in der fraglichen Zeit genau war und dann frage Dich selbst, ob Du diese Fragen wirklich ernsthaft stellen willst.

[Wink]

Hallo Marc,

You make a good point, but it still does not explain why Schmalenbach would report in the Kriegstagebuch that he took a look at the Bismarck several times during the battle and had nothing to report.  I tried to make some sense out of that remark, and perhaps I was wrong in my assumption that as second artillery officer he had to be prepared to take over if anything happened to Paulus Jasper.  If not Schmalenbach, who would have taken over if the main fire control director had been put out of action?

Robert

[Wink]

I know that most of you have a copy of the book "Schlachtschiff Bismarck" by Burkhard Freiherr von Müllenheim-Rechberg, and I would like to review some of his critical comments concerning the battle of the Denmark Strait. 

In describing the action of the Bismarck against the Hood, the Baron mentioned that first artillery officer Adelbert Schneider ordered "Vollsalven gut schnell."  I have to assume that the Bismarck was sailing at a steady course at the time to allow for accurate gunnery against the foe.  If the Bismarck had been turning, this would have required constant azimuth as well as elevation adjustments, making accurate gunnery more difficult to achieve.

In describing the Bismarck's action against the Prince of Wales after the Hood had blown up, the Baron wrote: "Da Prince of Wales ungefähr in gleicher Entfernung stand und gleichen Kurs steuerte wie vorher die Hood, konnte Schneider jetzt das Gefecht mit den eingestellten Schußwerten unverzüglich fortsetzen.  Aufgrund der konvergierenden Kurse nahm die Gefechtsentfernung bis auf 140 Hektometer ab, und Prince of Wales wurde in kürzester Zeit von deutschem Grenathagel förmlich überschüttet.  Während ich selbst  nun wiederum Norfolk und Suffolk auf Torpedogefahr hin überwachte, hörte ich Schneiders weiterer Feuerleitung in Telephon mit an.  Doch sollte das Gefecht nicht mehr lange andauern.  Prince of Wales zeigte deutlich Wirkung und drehte im Schutz eines selbst gelegten Nebel- und Rauchschleiers ab.  Als die Entfernung wieder auf 220 Hektometer gestiegen war, ließ Lütjens das Feuer auf die nunmehr in südöstlicher Richtung abgelaufende Prince of Wales einstellen."

Based on the Baron's description of the action against the Prince of Wales, it would appear that the Bismarck remained on a steady course and continued accurate gunfire against the new target.  There is no mention of any turns having been made by the Bismarck during the battle.  There is no reference to any torpedo avoidance maneuvers, or even any mention that the torpedo alert on the Prinz Eugen was ever relayed to the flagship.  There is just the straight forward account of how the Prince of Wales came under a hail of fire from the German ships and had to retreat under a self made smoke screen.

Time wise, this would cover the entire period from 0555, when the Bismarck first opened fire on the Hood, until about 0610, when the Bismarck ceased fire on the retreating Prince of Wales.  Do any of you know of any specific evidence that would refute the Baron's description of the action or my analysis of the situation?

Robert

[Thoddy]

repeat my response (scetch is in contradiction to the official PG track chart with regard to the times listed

apparantly there is imprecise timing in the scetch
the first turn to starbord took place in about 06:03 with Bismarck
followed by Prinz Eugen  one minute later
according to the scetch this turn took place in about 05:55

[Herr Nilsson]

Hallo Marc,

You make a good point, but it still does not explain why Schmalenbach would report in the Kriegstagebuch that he took a look at the Bismarck several times during the battle and had nothing to report.  I tried to make some sense out of that remark, and perhaps I was wrong in my assumption that as second artillery officer he had to be prepared to take over if anything happened to Paulus Jasper.  If not Schmalenbach, who would have taken over if the main fire control director had been put out of action?

Robert

Der 3. oder 4. AO.

[redfort]

Frage mich aller ernstens  wie das die Herren Burkhard Freiherr von Müllenheim-Rechberg und Paul Schmalenbach es geschafft hatten während des Gefechtes soviel auf- bzw. niederzuschreiben.  Echt Wahnsinn hatten ja nichts anderes zu tun auf ihren verantwortungsvollen Posten.

Einige halten dies auch noch für das non plus ultra was dort in den Erlebnisberichten niedergeschrieben wurden ist.
Bedenke es sind alles nur Erinnerungen die nach einer gewissenen vergangenden Zeit (Jahren) nieder geschrieben wurden sind und
dies aus dem Gedächnis heraus und evtl. mit unterstützung der existierenden KTB's. Einiges ist verfälscht, anderes hinzugedichtet, anders kann genau so zugetroffen sein. Aber daraus jetzt eine Hypothese zu basteln und mit aller macht versuchen die Gegenseite davon zu überzeugen grenz schon an.........  naja jeden das seine.