Chapter 11 - Operation Rheinübung

Post-war opinion is divided on this operation. Some see it as the best attempt of the outnumbered German Navy to inflict considerable damage on the Royal Navy and the British convoy system; others consider it a 'Death-Ride' in keeping with the Nazi mentality.

The basics of the operation itself were simple. The Kriegsmarine had four heavy surface units available; the battleships Bismark and Scharnhorst, the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen and the carrier Graf Zeppelin. There were a number of destroyers that would accompany the heavy ships for the first part of the operation, but these short ranged craft would then return to Norway. The preparations for the operation itself had been carried out in great secrecy; the heavy units had slipped out of port and up the coast of Norway as far as Bergen under cover of cloud and poor weather, and had in fact managed to concentrate in the fjord without having been spotted by the RAF.

Sadly, all that careful forethought was wasted. The code-breakers at Bletchly Park had given the Admiralty news that German heavy ships were heading up the Norwegian coast, and confirmation that the Bismark and Prinz Eugen at least were involved was confirmed by a member of the Norwegian resistance. As a result, although they didn't all go to sea, the units of the Home Fleet were put at four hours readiness for steam. The Prince of Wales was hurried out of her hull cleaning in dry dock, and all boiler cleaning cancelled. The old battleships Barham and Ramilles were ordered to join two of the most valuable northern convoys; their slow speed made them unlikely to be useful in a chase, while putting them in front of a potential breakout meant they might be able to intercept.

The main force of the Home Fleet was the fleet carriers Illustrious and Formidable, the light carrier Colossus, the battleships KGV, Prince of Wales, Nelson and Rodney, and the battlecruiser Hood. A number of cruisers were also available. Coastal command was also put on alert, both to try and keep the German ships under surveillance in Norway, and then to hopefully track and attack them if they ventured out. In addition, two other carriers were put on readiness to join the Home Fleet; the light carrier HMS Ocean, currently at Liverpool having just escorted in a convoy, and HMS Glorious, just finishing working up after a recent refit.

The aim of the operation was to cause as much damage and disruption to the British convoys as possible, then slip back home. The fleet would then be a constant threat to a repeat foray, and would require the Royal Navy to keep heavy units tied up in Scapa Flow as a response. This would then make them vulnerable to a heavy air raid on the base itself (provisionally planned for the autumn). The start of the operation would be the breakout from Norway. The ships would be covered for the first part of their trip by land-based Luftwaffe fighters, allowing them to proceed without having to worry about the Graf Zeppelin flying off aircraft. As this was going on, high level Luftwaffe reconnaissance planes would check Scapa Flow. If the British Home Fleet was still an anchor, then the Graf Zeppelin would conduct an air strike on the base (aided by Norwegian based bombers) as a distraction, and would then retreat to Norway, allowing the surface units to slip past to the north before the British discovered them. If the Home Fleet heavy units were at sea (especially the carriers), then the Graf Zeppelin would accompany the surface force to provide air cover and a strike capability against the Royal Navy. While the carrier could only launch a small strike, it was thought this would be adequate against the biggest threat to the breakout, patrolling Royal Navy cruisers.

While the Luftwaffe kept up a constant air patrol over the fjord to discourage the RAF, a reconnaissance Whirlwind managed to get over the ships and get a set of photographs. The results concerned the Royal Navy; they had assumed this was one or two of the German heavy ships aiming to slip out to raid, not all four. The disposition of the Home Fleet was therefore split into four parts.

First, the carrier Glorious and the cruisers Norfolk and Suffolk, along with a number of destroyers, would cover the Denmark straight between Iceland and the Greenland ice barrier. The cruisers would be deployed to the east of the carrier in order to protect her if they ran into the German ships without warning. Second, the light carrier Colossus and her escorts would cover a light cruiser force consisting of Galatea, Aurora, Kenya and Neptune between Scotland and the Faroes. The most likely route between the Orkneys and Iceland would be covered by the fleet carriers Illustrious and Formidable with the battleships Prince of Wales and KGV, and the battlecruiser Hood. This force could also reinforce either the northern or the southern force if the Germans used one of those routes. Finally the battleships Nelson and Rodney would remain at Scapa to block the escape route. They would be joined by the light carrier Ocean as soon as she arrived (she was currently escorting a convoy). The biggest worry was the weather. Poor weather, not uncommon at this time of year, could allow the German force to slip past, or catch one of the light carriers by surprise. The risk was, it was felt, worth taking, as such a powerful force could not be allowed to break free into the Atlantic convoy lanes.

In addition to the naval forces, Coastal Command was also put on alert and asked to add its reconnaissance planes to the search north of Scotland, In particular the A/S-radar equipped Stirlings. There were only a small number of these available, and so far they had been kept busy on the convoy routes looking for and keeping down submarines. It was hoped their range and radar would allow them to spot the raiding force even in bad weather. For the next few days the convoys would have to take the risk of less air cover. While the chances of them being intercepted by the German carrier was of course a risk (the RN knew, from its own experience of intercepting Kondors, how vulnerable a large plane could be to fighters), the hope was that the radar would allow discovery at sufficient range to keep safely back and in range of cloud cover. Finally a squadron of SeaLance torpedo planes, normally based in East Anglia in case of an attempted invasion, were put on alert to move to Scotland at short notice to provide a strike capability off Scotland in case the German fleet attempted to slip by closer to land.

At 2100 on the 25th April, Operation Rheinübung began.

Admiral Lutjens's fleet had first headed north towards Trondheim. Reports from the Luftwaffe had indicated that the Home Fleet seemed to not be in Scapa, so he intended to keep his carrier with him. Shortly before dawn the destroyers accompanying the force were detached to Trondheim, having insufficient range to accompany the heavy ships. He intended to take the ships out through the Denmark Straight, rather than through the Iceland/Faeroes gap, as he felt this would be too heavily patrolled by British aircraft. By midnight on the 26th the ships had turned west to head directly for the Straight.

Meanwhile the British had confirmation that the force had sailed; reconnaissance over the fjord had shown the absence of the heavy ships, and it was assumed that a breakout into the convoy lanes was intended. However until more was known about what route the German fleet would take, Admiral Tovey decided there was no reason to change the disposition of his ships. The ships had left the fjord before a strike on them could be arranged; the weather in Norway had delayed the possibility until it was too late. He had therefore moved his fleet carriers to cover the capital ships, and be ready to move north or south if the German fleet didn't take the central passage into the Atlantic. In case the Germans slipped past them in bad weather, Force H was ordered to leave Gibraltar and sail north to take up a blocking position.

The weather on the 27th was poor, and as the British ships took up station only the ASV-equipped planes were of any use, and searches from the fleet carriers and Coastal Command found nothing. The situation was of course the same for the Germans; with no ASV equipped planes, they were operating without any aerial reconnaissance at all. The German ships were not in fact spotted until late in the evening, and not by an aircraft but by the radar of HMS Suffolk, on patrol in the Denmark straight. The large echoes on the radar set could hardly be anything other than the German force that was expected, and the cruiser radioed a sighting report even as she retired westward, keeping the enemy under contact by radar.

The cruiser had also been spotted by the German radar, and although the one, smaller echo could have been anything, the fact that it was retreating at 27 knots to keep the distance between them indicated a warship of some sort. Meanwhile Coastal Command on Iceland was asked to send out a radar-equipped Stirling to confirm the sighting; this was done at 0100, and an hour later a confirmation was received. Four large echoes (assumed to be capital ships) heading west out of the Denmark Straight.

While a night strike from the nearest carrier, HMS Glorious, was a possibility, the poor weather made the attempt difficult. With the enemy now under observation, Tovey decided to have the carrier retire west to keep the range open (she was around 120 miles from the German fleet), in preparation for a dawn strike, when the weather might not be better but at least they would have daylight.

Lutjens had no night strike capability at all (the planes carried by the Graf Zeppelin were modified Me109 fighters and Ju87 dive bombers), so the only option seemed to be to cripple or sink the cruiser tracking them at first light, and then search for any other ships in front of him. If the cruiser was alone, he still felt he had a good chance of breaking out before other ships could intercept his force.

The strike from HMS Glorious was spotted on deck well before dawn on the 28th. The Admiralty was still uncertain as to the number of planes that the German carrier could handle. Intelligence had given the ship's displacement at around 25,000 tons, about the same as a British fleet carrier. They estimated she could be carrying up to 60 - 80 planes, probably split evenly between dive bombers and fighters (no sign had ever been found of a carrier-operable torpedo plane). Glorious was carrying 18 TBD, 18 DB and 20 fighters. The fleet carriers and the battleships had altered course to the north during the night, but they would not be in a position to send off a strike until the afternoon. The decision was made to have Glorious attack the carrier, as without air support it would be relatively easy to hunt down the rest of the German force. With luck, Glorious would hit the carrier before she got her own strike off.

At 0430 the Glorious started to fly off her planes. Given the unknown quantity of aircraft on the German carrier, it was a maximum strength strike in two waves. First eighteen SeaLance armed with torpedoes, escorted by six Goshawks, then a second strike of eighteen Cormorants with another six Goshawks. The remaining eight Goshawks would be retained for defence.

Meanwhile Lutjens was still only aware of the cruiser loitering at the edge of his radar range. During the night, it had been decided to send out an air search at first light, to sweep in front of the ships. While the weather was still poor, he needed to know if there were any British ships apart from the cruiser close to him. The Graf Zeppelin was carrying 20 Me109's and 24 Ju87. The Ju87 had a secondary function as a search plane, and twelve would be flown off to start the search as soon as it was light. The other twelve would attack and sink the cruiser, who's shadowing was beginning to annoy the German Admiral. As a result the German planes would have cleared their carrier by the time the FAA strike arrived.

The first ship to be subject to air attack that morning was the cruiser HMS Suffolk. The weather was clearer today, although the German ships were not quite visible over the horizon, and the ship was at action stations at dawn. Radar emissions from the German ships made it possible they had been spotted, and the intelligence reports indicated that there may be a carrier with the group. If so, it was going to get interesting when the sun rose.

At 0600 the cruiser saw the black dots of a flight of Stukas heading for them. The ship worked up to full speed and puffs of AA fire started to pockmark the sky around the dive bombers as they moved into their attack formation. As soon as the planes turned over into their dives, the close range AA joined in as well. Despite the lack of fighter cover, the Stukas did not escape without loss; two of them were shot down by the cruiser. This did not stop them getting three hits on the ship with 500kg bombs. The first hit just aft of the bridge, splinters killing and wounding many of the men on the bridge, and penetrating deeper to put the forward boiler room out of action. The second hit further aft, destroying the aircraft hangar and killing many of the crews serving the AA weapons, although fortunately none of the splinters from the bomb caused serious damage to the machinery space below. The third struck her on X turret, destroying the turret and causing additional damage to the engine room forward of the turret. Prompt action to flood the aft magazine prevented an explosion, but the ship was on fire and temporarily out of control and not under power.

While the attack on the Suffolk was taking place, the German ships radar reported the echo of the first strike from Glorious, her torpedo planes. These were escorted by six fighters, who moved to intercept the four Me109's that were the German CAP. As the fighters wove into a dogfight, the torpedo planes moved into attack formation. It was only when they dropped their torpedoes that things went badly wrong. In order to achieve the maximum damage, the torpedoes were using the magnetic duplex fuse. When the torpedoes hit the rough water of the Denmark Strait, instead of heading for the carrier they exploded on contact with the water. Only two torpedoes launched successfully, and the carrier managed to avoid both of them. The shooting down of two Me109's and damaging one more for the loss of one Goshawk hardly compensated for this, especially as two of the torpedo planes were lost to AA fire.

By now, it was obvious to Lutjens that a British carrier was in the area. Since his force was now located, the direction the British planes had come from was passed to his scouting force. It did not take long for one of the Ju87's to spot the Glorious and her two escorting destroyers. While that plane dodged in and out of clouds to avoid the attention of defending fighters, and a second plane was sent to join her as a back-up, the remaining scout planes were recalled. They would hopefully be recovered after the second British strike, already visible on the radar screens, had been fought off.

All the available fighters had been launched, seventeen Me109's. Facing them were the 18 dive bombers and their escort of six Goshawks. While the Goshawks did their best to keep the fighters off the dive bombers, it was almost impossible, and as a result the attack was severely disrupted, five of the Cormorants and four of the Goshawks being shot down for the loss of two Me109's. Only eight planes managed to attack the carrier, and the need to keep dodging the fighters and the AA fire from all four of the German heavy ships meant that only one hit was achieved on the Graf Zeppelin. The 1,000lb bomb penetrated her flight deck well forward, wrecking her forward elevator and causing serious damage to the forward part of the hanger. Luckily for the ship, all her planes were in the air, and as a result there were no large amounts of inflammable material or fuel to spread the blaze. However the thick plume of smoke towering in the sky over the ship did little to reassure the worried pilots, who were wondering if they would have anywhere to land shortly. Even as the last of the British aircraft headed back to their carrier, the damage-control parties were racing to bring the fire under control.

It seemed that the Graf Zeppelin was a lucky ship. While it took some time to get the (thankfully minor) fire under control, the position of the hole in the deck was far enough forward that planes could still land, although moving them around to allow more to land on was a complex undertaking, especially as it was necessary to strike the dive bombers below to rearm them - a strike on the now-located British carrier was urgently needed, and being pushed by the Admiral.

While this was happening, Lutjens was deciding on the course of action for his force. He obviously needed to sink, or at least incapacitate, whatever carrier was out there, or his heavy ships would be attacked before they could break clear into the Atlantic. The question was, should he scatter the ships now, and leave the carrier on her own, or should they remain together until the carrier was dispatched. In the end he decided to remain together for the time being. As it turned out, a mistake. His decision was, however, fortunate for the Suffolk. Taking advantage of the delay and confusion in the German force, she had cross-connected her remaining boiler and engine rooms and was limping Northwest at her best speed, hoping to close the icepack where she was likely to find fog to hide in. If the German ships had split up at that point, it is likely one of them would have been close enough to finish her off, however as a result of the flying operations the force was in fact heading south.

On Glorious, there was consternation as to the problems with the torpedoes, and the resulting survival of the German carrier. While a bomb hit had been reported, it was not clear if this would be enough to cripple her or even stop her making an attack on them. So while she recovered her planes, the carrier and her escorts turned south to close on the approaching fleet carriers and battleships, hoping to draw the German fleet after them.

It was still only 0900, and even though the British force was indeed drawing the Germans towards the heavy Home Fleet units, it would be a few hours before the fleet carriers could launch. The information as to the torpedo problems had already been passed on, and preparations were underway on Glorious for a second strike, using the contact fuse on the torpedoes. The Germans were still being tailed by a radar-equipped Stirling out of Iceland, and the carrier air commander was sure he could get off a strike before the German carrier, even if the damage done wasn't enough to stop her flying off aircraft.

This estimate was in fact quite accurate; it had taken the Graf Zeppelin well over an hour to get the fire under control and land her planes, and by the time the fire was out two hours had passed. Under normal circumstances this would have given the Glorious ample time to rearm, refuel, and get a second strike on the way before the German carrier could respond. However something was to happen which made this impossible.

At 0955, a lookout on the Glorious yelled a warning as he saw three torpedo tracks heading for the port side of the carrier.

Almost immediately the carrier swung hard to port to try and comb the tracks, an emergency action which was hardly appreciated by the crews trying to attach torpedoes onto planes. The carrier nearly managed to evade; two of the torpedoes missed by a matter of feet, watched by the men on the AA guns with a sort of horrified fascination as the white wake passed close down the port side, but the third hit the old carrier about 1/3 of the way down her hull. The shock caused chaos in the hangar, a number of crewmen being injured as they and the equipment were thrown around - the attack had been so unexpected there hadn't been time for any of them to prepare for the impact. The carrier slowed drastically to prevent more damage due to the flow of water into the gaping hole, rapidly taking on a list which increased to 15 degrees.

Meanwhile the carrier's two escort destroyers were attacking the underwater contact which they hoped was the submarine, who had given herself away by the torpedo attack. No-one was sure how a U-boat had slipped in so close with the carrier moving at speed, but it was later assumed this was some expert German planning to aid the breakout (in fact, as came out after the war, it was pure chance - the U-boat was on anti-convoy work, and had stumbled upon the carrier and found itself in a position to attack - just good luck, at least from the German point of view). While the damage control parties on the carrier worked to shore up bulkheads and bring the flooding under control, the ocean heaved in white columns as the two destroyers enthusiastically depth-charged their contact. Some 30 minutes later, they were rewarded by a thick film of oil on the water, and debris floating on the surface

After an hour, the Glorious was able to resume her now-limping course south at some twelve knots. Despite the best efforts of her engineers, the carrier still had a list of some six degrees, which was going to make flying off of aircraft 'rather tricky' (in the words of her deck officer). The carriers air staff were hopeful that the damage to the Graf Zeppelin had been enough to put her out of action (although the thick cloud cover had allowed the shadowing planes to stay safe, the carriers radar made it clear that they were under observation). As soon as the submarine attack on the Glorious had been reported, and it was realised she might be unable to send up aircraft, the British force altered course slightly to intercept her and allow the carrier to be brought under the fleet carriers CAP.

The fleet carriers were making their own preparations for a strike. Unless there was a drastic change in course by the enemy, they expected to launch around 1200 and hit the Germans about an hour later. Indeed, such a change, and a dispersal of the German fleet into individual raiding units was being suggested and discussed on the Bismark at that very moment. However Lutjens had decided he wanted the British carrier sunk or put out of action before he did so. At 1130 the Glorious spotted a large radar return closing from the North. It looked like whatever damage had been done to the Graf Zeppelin, it had not been enough to prevent her launching an air strike. It had made taking off difficult; the shortening of the take-off area meant that the Ju87's were only carrying 250kg bombs, but this was considered adequate to sink or cripple a carrier. The take off had been difficult - two Ju87's and an Me109 had floundered on takeoff, but the rest of the carrier planes were heading for the Glorious, the Graf Zeppelin's captain having decided to use all his available planes on the strike. Twenty Ju87's and fourteen Me109's were closing the British force.

The Glorious currently had twelve Goshawks available (three planes had been damaged by the shock of the torpedo hit), and no-one had ever taken off from a carrier with a six degree list. Nevertheless, the pilots were prepared to take the chance. In what was to become one of the legendary feats of launching, the deck officer timed the movement of the carrier perfectly. All twelve of the fighters got off into the air (although with more than one takeoff that came close to disaster). While this was happening, a flight of eight more Goshawks was on its way from the fleet carriers, who had vectored in their CAP. However they wouldn't arrive until the strike had reached the Glorious.

Her fighters in the air, the carrier and her escorts prepared for the attack; the two escort destroyers to either side of her, and the cruiser Norfolk (who had closed the carrier during the morning once the torpedo attack had been reported) astern of her. With the torpedo damage having opened her hull the carrier could do little to evade the dive bombers once they were into their attack runs.

First contact was made between the two groups of fighters. The British had split into two groups, one of eight which went for the escorting Me109's, the other four heading for the dive bombers. The German pilots were expert, but as often happened the lure of a dogfight meant that all fourteen attacked the Goshawks. The resulting fight lasted until the divebombers had closed and attacked the carrier, six of the Goshawks being shot down for the loss of two Me109's. However this had allowed four fighters to intercept the dive bombers, and five of the Ju87's were despatched before they could fall into their dive.

The fifteen Ju87's left had been somewhat disrupted by the fighter attacks, but nevertheless turned and fell into the attack in groups of three, into a ferocious AA barrage from the British ships. A barrage heavy enough to shoot down two of them, and damage another so badly it had no hope of attacking. The dive bombers were following their orders, which were to sink the carrier and ignore any other ships until this was done. This they did with commendable dedication and accuracy.

 

Four of the twelve bombs hit the old carrier. One of them did not explode due to a faulty fuse, but the other three did her serious damage. Two exploded in her hangar, destroying many of the aircraft there and starting a number of fires (although the RN doctrine of not having fuel or explosives in the hangar limited the intensity). The third went through the flight and hangar decks, exploding in her machinery spaces, and causing damage to the temporary work holding back the water from the torpedo damage. As a result, water started to flood into the carrier, causing her list to increase again. Despite all this, the ship was still under control; her aft machinery was still in operation, but the necessity of reducing the pressure of the water into the torpedo hole meant she had to slow to five knots, barely under way. It was fortunate that the damage to the German carrier had forced the Ju87's to reduce their bomb load to 250kg, as if they had been using heavier bombs it was likely the damage would have sunk the old carrier. As it was, she was almost stationary and on fire, but not yet in any danger of sinking.

Meanwhile, and sadly just too late to stop the attack, the CAP from the fleet carrier had arrived. This was obviously completely unexpected by the Germans, and as a result they shot down four Me109's and three Ju87's before the German planes could disengage to the north. They stayed circling the burning carrier in case another attack emerged; the British overestimate of the planes on the Graf Zeppelin made them think she would have enough planes available for a second strike.

The manoeuvres of the two forces during the morning - the German fleet heading south, the British force heading north - had now brought them only 120 miles apart, and while the dive bombers had been closing on the Glorious, the Illustrious and Formidable had been launching their first strike and spotting the second ready to launch. Even before the last of the Ju87's was retiring from the attack, 21 TBR, 18DB and 12 fighters were getting into formation and heading north, a second equally powerful strike warming up on the carrier decks.

To the north, Lutjens was happy about the results of the strike. With the British carrier out of action and almost certainly sinking, his ships could break out into the convoy lanes. It was a shame that the Graf Zeppelins airgroup had been ruined by the effort, but that was why she was there, and now his powerful battleships could do what they had been designed for. Once the carrier had recovered her planes, he would split his force, leaving the Prinz Eugen to protect the carrier while the Bismark and Scharnhorst went on to sink record numbers of British merchantmen.

Unfortunately this plan came apart even as the Graf Zeppelin was landing on her planes. A large echo was picked up from the south - obviously another British strike. The damage to her flight deck made the landing-on a slow process, and the fighters were ordered to intercept the inbound strike rather than try to land. This was a tactic of desperation; many of the planes were low on ammunition after their previous combat and intercepting and engaging the new attackers would likely mean they had to ditch due to lack of fuel. Nevertheless, all eight fighters turned south as ordered.

The inbound attack was intercepted some 10 miles from the German ships (while the Graf Zeppelin had radar, the Germans had not developed anything like the FAA's techniques of combat management, and the fighters were simply sent in the direction of the strike). The SeaLance were already losing altitude for their torpedo attacks. However the fighters sent with them outnumbered the defenders, and as the Me109's started an attack on the torpedo planes they were intercepted and kept away from the attack planes by a dozen Goshawks.

The first planes to attack the carrier were the Cormorants. The Graf Zeppelin was in the middle of the heavy ships, who were adding their firepower to hers, but the AA, while heavy, was not of the intensity that an RN force was used to putting up. All eighteen of the planes were tasked to attack the carrier, to put her out of commission and ideally sunk before the second strike arrived, and only one of the planes was shot down by the defences. As the planes levelled off into their escape, the carrier was reeling from four 1,000lb bomb hits.

Unlike the RN and the USN, the German navy had not really appreciated what a fire hazard a carrier was. The precautions and protection against avgas fires was thus less. In addition, she had managed to strike all nine of her returning dive bombers below. As the attack had been at a fairly short range, this meant she had nine partly-fuelled potential bombs in her hangar. All four of the bombs had penetrated her flight deck easily. Two had exploded in the hangar itself, causing major fires; the other two had sliced through the hangar floor and exploded lower in the ship. Shock damage cut power in the vessel, that and serious machinery damage due to the bomb hits caused the ship to slew to a halt.

Smoke was already billowing from the ship as the divebombers made their escape, and it was only minutes after before a number of secondary explosions shook her as partly-fuelled planes in her hangar exploded like small bombs, causing additional fires and decimating the damage control parties trying to bring the original ones under control. As they watched pieces of the flight deck hurled into the air, the torpedo planes were certain that this carrier at least wouldn't be launching any more strikes today.

While the orders to the first strike were to make certain of the carrier, they did have a problem, in that the carrier was surrounded by three rather large pieces of moving steel, making her quite a difficult target for a torpedo run. In view of the damage already done, the raid leader decided to expend some of his torpedoes on the Scharnhorst, in order to make a clear path to the carrier. Twelve of the SeaLance curved into an attack run on the battlecruiser, while the remaining nine started an attack run behind them aimed at the carrier itself.

As expected, the captain of the battlecruiser really had no choice but to take violent evasive action against the torpedo tracks heading for his ship. Indeed, the Scharnhorst managed to evade ten of the twelve torpedoes, but in doing so the carrier was left completely uncovered against the remaining torpedo planes. The two torpedoes that hit the battlecruiser caused only moderate damage against her heavy Torpedo Defence System, but even so a considerable amount of water entered the ship through the damaged parts of her hull, and her speed was reduced to 24 knots.

The Graf Zeppelin, almost stopped now, could do little to evade the attack. It was a textbook example of how to torpedo a ship - four of the nine torpedoes hit the helpless carrier on the same side. While the attack was somewhat mitigated by her TDS, the damage caused let so much water in that in minutes the ship had developed a list of over 15 degrees, and made it impossible to restore power. As a result, the fires and petrol burning in the hangar (and already starting to leak down deeper into the ship) were obviously uncontrollable, and as yet more explosions rocked the ship the captain had no choice but to give the order to abandon.

The whole attack had barely taken 15 minutes, and as the aircraft headed south, the German force was left trying to recover from the loss of its carrier and the damage to the battlecruiser. Without any destroyers present, the Prinz Eugen came close enough to launch her boats to try and pick up survivors, but the heat from the burning carrier made it difficult to get close enough for effective rescue work. Meanwhile the Scharnhorst was starting to make temporary repairs to the torpedo damage.

Less than half an hour after the attack, with the Graf Zeppelin capsizing into the North Atlantic amid clouds of black smoke and steam, the Bismarck's radar picked up another large echo of aircraft heading towards them from the south.

The second wave of aircraft had no difficulty in finding the German force - the pillar of smoke sent up by the Graf Zeppelin could be seen 50 miles away. It was just as well they had the help, the weather was steadily worsening, the tops of the waves beneath being blown into spray. With no enemy fighters to worry about (the three Me109's who had survived combat with the Goshawks had been forced to ditch as they ran out of fuel), they could take their time to make a deliberate attack. With the carrier gone, their orders were to damage and slow the two capital ships so they would not to be able to evade the British force. The first strike was a combined one on the Scharnhorst; a hammer and anvil attack by twelve torpedo planes while ten Cormorants dive bombed her. While the battlecruiser was slowed by the earlier torpedo hits, she was still fully under control and attempted to avoid the torpedoes. However with a dozen torpedoes cutting in from two directions, it was simply impossible to comb all the tracks. Two more of the aerial missiles struck her on the port side, and she was forced to slow to reduce the new inflow of water.

While she was manoeuvring to try and evade the torpedoes, the dive bombers were making their near-vertical attacks. Armed with 1,600lb AP bombs, they were quite confident of penetrating the ships armoured deck. Faced with the almost impossible task of combing two groups of torpedoes and a simultaneous dive bombing, the battlecruiser was hit three times. One of the bombs failed to explode (although even so nearly a ton of armour-piercing steel did considerable damage to one of the ships engine rooms). Of the two that exploded, one hit her amidships close to the port side, slicing through the deck and exploding in one of the secondary magazines. Not designed to withstand a direct hit of that size, the magazine itself detonated, blowing a large hole in the side and deck of the ship. The final bomb did by far the most serious damage, even though it almost missed. The armour piercing missile cut through the stern of the ship, its fuse detonating it just after it hit the water close to the ships propellers

The Scharnhorst was unusual among capital ships as having three propeller shafts. While a ship with four shafts might have survived being incapacitated by the bomb, the explosion wrecked the starboard and centre shafts. It also severely damaged and jammed the rudder, leaving the huge ship unable to steer, and in fact do anything than curve around in a huge circle.

The other eight dive bombers made for the Bismark. Her AA defence was heavier than that of the Scharnhorst, and this time the dive bombing was not well coordinated with the attack by the torpedo planes. Despite this, they managed one hit and one near miss. The miss did some damage to the ship's hull, but nothing serious. The other bomb was more successful, hitting directly on top of B turret. The bomb didn't penetrate - Bismarck's main turrets had almost 8" of armour protection - but it did disable the turret. The explosion also sent heavy splinters from the bomb across the upper deck, causing the bridge crew to duck reflexively, but more importantly sending a jagged shard of steel straight through the battleships main fire control radar.

The men on the bridge were getting back to their feet when a lookout saw the torpedo planes approaching. Nine planes were left, and they were attacking in two groups to make Bismark spread her defensive fire and to make it hard for her to evade both launches. The rough sea was already causing a problem as the torpedoes dropped. Two of them broached and failed in the rough water and of the remaining seven only one hit the huge battleship. Bismark had a very deep TDS, and while she was slowed slightly by the underwater damage, and started to lose fuel oil from a ruptured tank, no major damage was done.

The planes turned to fly back to the carriers, now some 90 miles to the south, disappointed that they hadn't done more damage to the Bismark. At least the Scharnhorst had been rendered incapable of action, and they looked forward to coming back and doing the same to the Bismark.

On the Bismark, Lutjens was reviewing his options. Scharnhorst was not going to be under control any time soon; either a propeller shaft had to be got back into action so she could steer on engines, or her rudder had to be repaired enough to be useful. Doing either in the worsening seas seemed unlikely. That left him with two heavy ships, the Bismark and the Prinz Eugen. While the battleships radar was, temporarily at least, out of action, the heavy cruiser reported that the raid had also left a couple of watchers. So even if he abandoned the Scharnhorst, it was unlikely he would get away, though there was always the possibility that the cruiser might break free into the convoy lanes. However a cruiser alone was not enough to seriously inconvenience the Royal Navy; most of the important convoys were now escorted by a light carrier or a heavy cruiser or battleship. While the Bismark could handle these, the cruiser could not. He needed some way of dealing with what was obviously a second carrier to his south. His own planes had already sunk one (judging from their reports). If he could sink the second, he had a chance. Especially if the weather kept on worsening, it was possible he could catch her with her planes on board. The weather had deteriorated since the captain of the Graf Zeppelin had been worried about getting his planes off and back again in, and the same would surely apply to the British carrier.

In the end, it was perhaps the thought of at least getting revenge on the British carriers which had done so much damage to the Kriegsmarine over the past year that made him take the decision he did. Leaving Scharnhorst to her best efforts at damage control, the remaining two ships turned south and brought their speed up to 27 knots. It was 1445 on the 28th March, a day that would be remembered in the German Navy.

Back at the British force, the two carriers were still landing their planes (a process slowed by the now quite rough seas) when the aircraft shadowing the Bismark reported two heavy ships heading south in the direction of the carrier force. This posed Admiral Holland a problem. He would have all the planes down in another half hour, in plenty of time to manoeuvre his force to stay away from the German ships and arrange another strike that day. However Glorious was still in poor shape. While all her fires had now been put out, the old ship still had serious damage from the torpedo hit, and in the current weather conditions couldn't do much more than 6-7 knots - preferably in an easterly direction in order to reduce the pressure on the damaged area.

He therefore decided to split his force into three parts. The Glorious, escorted by the cruiser Edinburgh and three destroyers, would make for Iceland in a course intended to keep her clear of the German ships. The Illustrious and Formidable, with their escorting destroyers, would drop back to keep about 80 miles from the Bismark, while readying a full strike. The third part of his force, the KGV, Prince of Wales, Hood and the heavy cruiser Norfolk would intercept the Germans. The carrier's would intervene when they were ready, although in view of his superiority he felt that unless the Germans changed course again his capital ships could finish the job by themselves. He wasn't too concerned about the weather unless it worsened into a full storm; while the carrier evolutions were slowed, they signalled that they saw no problem in getting another strike off in daylight.

The three capital ships and the cruiser turned north, battle ensigns snapping in the growing westerly wind. They were guided by the plane still shadowing the Bismark, the closing speed of the two forces some 50 knots. At just before 1600 a lookout in the crows nest of the Hood confirmed the sighting. Smoke on the horizon to the north. All the ships involved were already prepared and at action stations, the only thing remaining was to see what the surface action would bring. Holland had been informed that the Formidable would be ready to launch in about half an hour; the two carriers were ordered to launch their first strike, but to wait for the target. Depending on how the surface action worked out, he was considering using the strike to finish off the Scharnhorst.

The German ships were in line ahead, the Prinz Eugen leading the Bismark. The British ships had broken into two groups; the KGV and Prince of Wales in one, the Hood and the Norfolk in the second. Holland's tactics were for his two heavily armoured ships to attack the Bismark at odds, while the cruiser and Hood worked around, keeping the German cruiser occupied and allowing the Hood to close the range to avoid an engagement where her thin deck protection would make her vulnerable. Once all three heavy ships were in range, they would concentrate on the Bismark. The seas were coming in from the west, making things a little difficult for the men manning the optical rangefinders, but the radar sets on the two ships were giving him accurate ranges. His sighting report had already gone off, and with the enemy in sight there was no longer any need to not use his radar. The Hood, with her older systems, was having a bit more of a problem, but if things went according to plan his two newer ships would be keeping the Bismarck's attention.

The first shots were fired by the Bismark at a range of 22,000 yards. Unknown to Holland, her main fire control radar was still out of action, but in any case the British preference was to close to decisive range if the enemy allowed. The first shells from the Bismark were accurate for bearing, but with only optical rangefinding the range was not terribly accurate. Thirty seconds later, the six forward guns of the KGV replied, followed a few seconds later by those of the Prince of Wales. Meanwhile the Hood and Norfolk were curving around to take the German force from the side.

The first hit was obtained by the Bismark; despite her lack of radar, her gunnery department was still superb, and on her fifth salvo registered a hit on the KGV. The heavy armour of the battleship took the 15" shell without allowing serious damage; despite her size and reputation, the British battleships were more heavily and better protected than the Bismark. The Prinz Eugen was also firing by this point, but as yet hadn't hit either of the British battleships.

It only took one more ranging salvo before the British started scoring their own hits, three hits from the sixth salvoes of the two battleships hitting the Bismark hard. Meanwhile the Hood had finally closed to under 20,000 yards, and turned to expose her after arc, allowing her to fire all 8 of her guns at the Bismark. With three capital ships targeting the Bismark, the Norfolk started to aim her 8" shells at the Prinz Eugen.

As soon as they saw the hits, Holland ordered his ships to turn and expose their after turret as well; the range was now down to 18,000 yards, as Bismark also turned. The battle became a pounding match, one in which the British ships outgunned the Bismark by 26 heavy guns to 8 and the result was never in doubt. While the Bismark showed the usual ability of a German heavy ship to absorb damage, the heavy 15" shells did her terrible damage, soon leaving her superstructure riddled and all but her Y turret out of action. Indeed, by this time Lutjens was already dead, the bridge having taken a direct hit from one of the Hoods main guns.

Despite her damage, the Bismark continued to fight, and Holland's force continued to pound her until all her main guns were silenced. The ship was now a blazing wreck, the heavy smoke now being the biggest deterrent to accurate British gunfire. The Prinz Eugen had not escaped either; hit by a number of 8" shells herself, as soon as the battleships realised the Bismark was finished, she had been the recipient of a number of 15" salvoes which had left her blazing and sinking.

The British ships had not escaped unharmed. The KGV had taken seven hits from the Bismarck's main guns, and her A turret was out of action as well as having serious, but not fortunately crippling, damage to her superstructure, especially as three of the shells had not exploded. The PoW had been hit four times, and twice by 8" shells from the cruiser; her most serious damage had been a hit close to the bridge which had killed most of the people on the bridge, but despite this her fire had never slackened. The Hood had closed to 17,000 yards to fight, and while having been hit a number of times, had taken the hits on her heavy main belt. She had a number of fires, and the belt had been penetrated twice, causing damage to her machinery spaces, but by that time the German ships were already clearly finished.

Despite all the damage she had suffered, the Bismark had still not struck, and so Holland ordered Norfolk, who had managed to avoid being hit by more than a couple of 6" shells from the Bismarck's secondary armament, to close and sink her with torpedoes. The cruiser made two runs, each time firing four 21" torpedoes, three of which hit. A short while later, the Bismark was seen to be listing and settling, men jumping over the side as they abandoned ship.

While the battleships had been completing the destruction of the Bismark and Prinz Eugen, the carriers had got their first strike spotted and flown off, a rather tricky operation in the current weather, but one they were used to. 28 torpedo planes and 26 dive bombers were heading north (with no enemy aircraft carrier above water, the strike was unescorted). Since Holland's battleships had nearly finished the German fleet by now, he ordered them to head back to the Scharnhorst and finish her off. This time there was no problem in dealing with the damaged, and still circling, battlecruiser. The dive bombers were carrying 1,000lb bombs (more effective against the battlecruisers relatively thin deck armour), and seven hits left her ablaze and helpless. It hardly needed the following five torpedo hits on the helpless vessel to send her sinking beneath the icy waters of the North Atlantic. As the last of the planes turned for home, they could already see her capsizing behind them, ensign still flying, the first battleship to be sunk at sea by enemy aircraft alone.

Sadly, although Holland did order a destroyer to close the Scharnhorst and pick up survivors, only 90 men had survived the sinking and the icy waters. Over 300 were picked up from the Bismark and Prinz Eugen before the British ships turned to rejoin the carriers and head for home. The last heavy ships of the German Navy were no longer a threat to the convoys keeping Britain alive.