Figure 1.--The Royal Navy since the time of Queen Elizabeth I has been one of the most respected institutions in Britain. In the inter-war period, the most admired ship in the fleet was 'HMS Hood', described as 'the cock of the fleet', beause of the sweep of her lines and fire power. Even so, it was a battle crusier and not a battleship. (Battle cruisers had big guns , but were light;u armored, in particular lacking armored decks.) Notice the British boy here about 1930 with the 'HMS Hood' cap tally. One of Britain's greatest shocks of the War was when the Admiralty received the terse message from 'Prince of Wales' in the Denmark Straits--'Hood sunk'.

The Battle of the Denmark Strait was a brief, but watershed point in naval warfare (May 24, 1941). It was Bismarck's first foray into the North Atlantic. Based on the reports from HMS Norfolk and HMS Suffolk a British squadron intercepted Bismarck and Prinz Eugen in the morning (May 24). HMS Prince of Wales was a newly commisioned British battleship which had not yet completed its sea trials. HMS Hood was Britain's largest battle cruiser, (44,600 tons). Battle cruiser was a World War I vessel type. It had the fire power of a battleship, but lacked a battleship's protective armor. The concept was that the resulting speed advantage was a form of defense. Hood did not have an armored deck. Plans called for armoring the deck after World War I, but this was never done. Still it was considered one of the most powerful ships in the Royal Navy. Hood reached the fleet after World War I. It had only fired its massive guns in one engagement, the destruction of the French fleet at Mers El Kebir (July 1940). One of the surviving sailors remembered it being called 'the cock of the fleet'. Bismarck training exercises often were designed around an engagement with Hood. Vice Admiral Sir Lancelot Holland with Hood, Prince of Wales, and and six escorting destroyers conceived of an action in which he would cross Bismarck's "T" as it emerged from the Denmark Straits. Unfortunately when the engagement begins, it is Hood's "T" that is crossed Admiral Holland opened fire. The best of both navies traded salvos. Bismarck concentrated on Hood. Admiral Lütjens had orders to avoid combat and to restrict operations to surface raiding. After several incoming salvos from Hood, Cpt. Lindemann ordered Bismarck to open fire. Bismarck's radar directed fire proved highly effective. One account describes the engagement,"During the first six minutes of the battle, the Prine of Wales had the luxury of firing on Bismarck completely unopposed and without receiving any counter-fire from the German squdron, which was concentratng its attention on the Hood. This was about to change when at 0558 the Prince Eugen was ordered to switch targets to the rear ship, thought to be the King George V, and the Prince of Wales soon came under fire from the German cruiser." [Winklareth] Bismarck at 16,500 yards scored a direct hit on Hood's unarmored deck, penetrating to the magazine containg 112 tons of high explosives. Hood blew up an sank in 4 minutes. With a crew of 1,417 men (94 officers and 1,323 ratings and Royal Marines), all went down with her except for three survivors. The fleet received the terse message from Prince of Wales "Hood sunk." Prince of Wales attempted to continue the action alone, but it had not yet completed a shakedown cruise and its forward turnents were not yet operating correctly. After being heavily danaged, it broke off the engagement, but the continued the pursuit from a far. Lütjens with orders not to engage in combat did not pursue.

Sources

Winklareth, Robert J. The Battle of the Denmark Strait: A Critical Analysis of the 'Bismarck's' Singular Triumph (2012), 336p.

Created: 9:49 PM 3/10/2014
Last updated: 9:49 PM 3/10/2014