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Modern Mysteries

Should the Navy have sunk the Bismarck?

By T.K. Randall
May 29, 2011 · Comment icon 31 comments

Image Credit: German Federal Archive
Its one of the great British triumps of WW2, but did the German crew attempt to surrender ?
The son of one of the sailors who witnessed the ship's demise, Tommy Byers, claimed to his dying day that the German crew of the Bismarck has tried desperately to communicate a message of surrender. Hoisting a black flag, sending a morse code message and even resorting to a man waving with semaphore flags the attempts at surrender by the Germans were seeminly ignored as the ship was destroyed within the space of two hours.
With her steering jammed and her speed slashed by torpedo attacks, the Bismarck and her crew of 2,200 were a sitting duck for the Royal Navy. And in two hours the German battleship was a helpless wreck of twisted metal, raging fires and dead and dying crew.


Source: Daily Mail | Comments (31)

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Recent comments on this story
Comment icon #22 Posted by danielost 13 years ago
When you look at the thousands of tons of shipping and freight that the Bismark sent to the bottom - along with many, many merchant seamen ie, non-combatants - it's little wonder the Royal Navy had only one thought in mind; Destroy the Bismark and her crew. That's war. sorry the bismark only sunk one ship, and that was a battle cruiser. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_battleship_Bismarck if she had gotten into the atlantic she could have been deadly.
Comment icon #23 Posted by danielost 13 years ago
The Bismarck didn't try to surrender. This story is just make believe. And whether it tried to surrender or not we can say it was revenge for the Bismarck sinking HMS Hood. She was hit by five salvoes from the Bismarck and of the 1,418 men only three survived. first i linked to a story where the british navy ran out of fuel and ammo and went home to get more, guess it was tea time. second the bismarck got lucky and hit the hoods magizine, third the hood was a battle cruiser not a battle ship. ie it had the guns of a battleship but the armour of a cruiser. fourth, i think the hoods escort hit t... [More]
Comment icon #24 Posted by BiffSplitkins 13 years ago
well all i gotta say is acting like this was some sort of atrocity is ridiculous. its war not to mention the anger and outrage at the time about the holocaust. even if they did try to surrender i don't think the people manning the other ships would have cared. trying to make a scandal out of it now is just plain stupid. Bingo. In the time of WWII they believed "All is fair in love and War." Today we believe "All is fair in love and War, but only if it's politically correct."
Comment icon #25 Posted by Device 13 years ago
sorry the bismark only sunk one ship, and that was a battle cruiser. http://en.wikipedia....leship_Bismarck if she had gotten into the atlantic she could have been deadly. Oh, ok, thanks. I must've been thinking of the Graf Spee.
Comment icon #26 Posted by Device 13 years ago
Again, I have made a comment [above] without doing my homework first. Neither the Bismark nor the Graf Spee were responsible for the lives of any allied merchant seaman - although the Graf Spee did sink nine allied merchant vessels. And the rescued crews said they were treated well. But war is war. Hitler was ruthless and so the Allies had to be too. The Bismark had to be sunk.
Comment icon #27 Posted by danielost 13 years ago
Again, I have made a comment [above] without doing my homework first. Neither the Bismark nor the Graf Spee were responsible for the lives of any allied merchant seaman - although the Graf Spee did sink nine allied merchant vessels. And the rescued crews said they were treated well. But war is war. Hitler was ruthless and so the Allies had to be too. The Bismark had to be sunk. not really sure the brits can actually claim that they were hunting the bizmark in revenge of the hood. since they started hunting the bizmark as soon as it left port the first time. and the hood was sunk after it left ... [More]
Comment icon #28 Posted by RussL 13 years ago
The only ship the Bismarck sank was the HMS Hood
Comment icon #29 Posted by danielost 13 years ago
The only ship the Bismarck sank was the HMS Hood i know. it was a lucky shot too.
Comment icon #30 Posted by UFreak 13 years ago
would-a, should-a, DID-a!...Who cares, it happened. Cannot cast today's 'eye" on what happened 70 years ago anyway! The rules weren't "made for TV" like they are now. It was war; - you shoot my brother then want me to accept your surrender?...ppppfffttt!
Comment icon #31 Posted by 3.0 13 years ago
The "Bismarck" was built to break the allied blockade of the North Sea; and cause havoc in the shipping lanes. It wasn't built to surrender!
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