Sink the Bismarck
Revenge was the order of the day. The German battleship Bismarck had destroyed HMS Hood in the Denmark Strait. The British battle cruiser was the pride of the Royal Navy, and her sudden loss was one of the most shocking events of World War II. The British high command devoted every available resource to find and sink the Bismarck. The battle was joined on May 26, 1941, when a squadron of Swordfish aircraft from HMS Ark Royal found the enemy battleship and made a torpedo strike that damaged her steering. The next morning a group of British warships closed in with a withering surface attack that sank the Bismarck in less than two hours.
Lt. Ludovic Kennedy was on the bridge of HMS Tartar and watched the final moments of the great warship. His thoughts were conflicted:
It was not a pretty sight. Bismarck was a menace that had to be destroyed, a dragon that would have severed the arteries that kept Britain alive. And yet to see her now, this beautiful ship, surrounded by enemies on all sides, hopelessly outgunned and out maneuvered, being slowly battered to a wreck, filled one with awe and pity… George Whaley, our Canadian lieutenant, wrote, “What that ship was like inside did not bear thinking of; her guns smashed, the ship full of fire, her people hurt; and surely all men are much the same when hurt.” It was a thought shared by many British sailors that day.84
It is somehow comforting to hear these conflicting emotions in a moment of triumph. The climax of this battle was surely satisfying to every British seaman. At the same time, there were pangs of conscience at the suffering of enemy counterparts. It is reassuring to know that such humanity existed then and that it is there within each one of us now. Jesus said, “I desire mercy, not sacrifice”(Matthew 9:13). In our moments of success we must open our hearts to him and let ourselves be the vessels of his mercy. This kind of loving humility is only possible through our Lord, Jesus Christ.
Yet when they were ill, I put on sackcloth and humbled myself with fasting… I went about mourning as though for my friend or brother. I bowed my head in grief.
—Psalm 35:13, 14