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That movie is horrible in almost ALL the details. First, Guenther Lutjens is portrayed as a Nazi fanatic. He was the opposite. One of the great photos of the BISMARCK was taken during Hitler's inspection where Lutjens is the ONLY military person in shot giving Hitler the MILITARY salute. He protested the treatment of Jewish officers to Raeder.

Second, Lutjens was a fatalist on the mission. He failed to top off at Bergen, leaving BISMARCK several thousand tons of oil short, which coupled with the hit she took in the Denmark Strait forced BISMARCK to travel at 27 rather than 30 knots towards France to conserve fuel. At 30 knots, the Brits may not have caught her. In the Denmark Strait, Lutjens refused to order BISMARCK to fire on the HOOD for sufficient duration for Lindemann to issue the order saying he wasn't going to have his ship shot out from under him without a fight.

The major error, however, is the battle of Denmark Strait itself. The film fails to show that BISMARCK [initially leading] and PRINZ EUGEN changed station during the night before the battle, and the British mistook the now leading cruiser for the battleship. HOOD's initial engagement was with EUGEN - for some two minutes. EUGEN hit HOOD at extreme range for 8' guns - and the fire control data was being fed to BISMARCK - with lethal effect.

The movie also left out the facts that: BISMARCK's long radio transmissions helped the British find him [the Germans referred to their ships in the masculine gender, and called their sailors soldiers] after they lost him; that the BISMARCK went past a U.S Coast Guard cutter during her flight, and that the copilot of the PBY that found her was an American.

That being said, I saw it several times when it came out, and own a DVD or VHS of the movie.

Re: That movie is horrible in almost ALL the details. First, Guenther Lutjens is portrayed as a Nazi fanatic. He was the opposite. One of the great photos of the BISMARCK was taken during Hitler's inspection where Lutjens is the ONLY military person in shot giving Hitler the MILITARY salute. He protested the treatment of Jewish officers to Raeder.

Second, Lutjens was a fatalist on the mission. He failed to top off at Bergen, leaving BISMARCK several thousand tons of oil short, which coupled with the hit she took in the Denmark Strait forced BISMARCK to travel at 27 rather than 30 knots towards France to conserve fuel. At 30 knots, the Brits may not have caught her. In the Denmark Strait, Lutjens refused to order BISMARCK to fire on the HOOD for sufficient duration for Lindemann to issue the order saying he wasn't going to have his ship shot out from under him without a fight.

The major error, however, is the battle of Denmark Strait itself. The film fails to show that BISMARCK [initially leading] and PRINZ EUGEN changed station during the night before the battle, and the British mistook the now leading cruiser for the battleship. HOOD's initial engagement was with EUGEN - for some two minutes. EUGEN hit HOOD at extreme range for 8' guns - and the fire control data was being fed to BISMARCK - with lethal effect.

The movie also left out the facts that: BISMARCK's long radio transmissions helped the British find him [the Germans referred to their ships in the masculine gender, and called their sailors soldiers] after they lost him; that the BISMARCK went past a U.S Coast Guard cutter during her flight, and that the copilot of the PBY that found her was an American.

Don't hold back, Panzer... Tell us... what did you not like about the film?

I thought the English actors were a little faggy...

I was just telling that to Wilbur the other night... Lutjens blew the whole mission!