Pilot who helped sink the Bismarck only learned of his place in history 59 years later

Daily Mail (UK) ^ | 10th June 2009

[naturalman1975]

At 2300, the last of the strike planes was recovered. It had been an interesting recovery. The weather was still abominable, and five of the attacking Swordfish had been hit by the AA fire. Swanton managed to get 4C back on to Ark Royal in one piece, but on closer inspection was found to be damaged beyond repair and it was jettisoned. Three others crashed on landing, but miraculously, no one was hurt. Only six of the Swordfish remained serviceable and, expecting the possibility that another attack would be necessary, they were re-armed and ranged for yet another strike.

- “With Gallantry and Determination” The Story of the Torpedoing of the Bismarck By Mark E. Horan

[Oztrich Boy]

How did they ever get the "Stringbags" (Swordfish) back aboard?

Fly into the wind and let the ship catch up to them

[donna]

Sink the Bismarck, Johnny Horton’s 1960 song
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EdngnDdjCo

In may of nineteen forty-one the war had just begun
The germans had the biggest ships
That had the biggest guns
The Bismark was the fastest ship
That ever sailed the seas
On her deck were guns as big as steers
And shells as big as trees
Out of the cold and foggy night
Came the british ship the Hood
And ev’ry british seaman he knew and understood
They had to sink the Bismark the terror of the sea
Stop those guns as bid as steers
And those shells as big as trees

We’ll find that german battleship
That’s makin’ such a fuss
We gotta sink the Bismark
‘Cause the world depends on us
Hit the decks a-runnin’ boys
And spin those guns around
When we find the Bismark we gotta cut her down

The Hood found the Bismark and on that fatal day
The Bismark started firin’ fifteen miles away
We gotta sink the Bismark was the battle sound
But when the smoke had cleared away
The mighty Hood went down
For six long days and weary nights
They tried to find her trail
Churchill told the people put ev’ry ship a-sail
‘Cause somewhere on that ocean
I know she’s gotta be
We gotta sink the Bismark to the bottom of the sea

We’ll find that german battleship
That’s makin’ such a fuss
We gotta sink the Bismark
‘Cause the world depends on us
Hit the decks a-runnin’ boys
And spin those guns around
When we find the Bismark we gotta cut her down

The fog was gone the seventh day
And they saw the mornin’ sun
Ten hours away from homeland
The Bismark made its run
The admiral of the british fleet said
Turn those bows around
We found that german battleship
And we’re gonna cut her down

The british guns were aimed
And the shells were comin’ fast
The first shell hit the Bismark
They knew she couldn’t last
That mighty german battleship is just a memory
Sink the Bismark was the battle cry
That shook the seven seas

We found that german battleship
Was makin’ such a fuss
We had to sink the Bismark
‘Cause the world depends on us
We hit the deck a-runnin’ and
We spun those guns around
We found the mighty Bismark
And then we cut her down

We found that german battleship
Was makin’ such a fuss
We had to sink the Bismark
‘Cause the world depends on us
We hit the deck a-runnin’ and
We spun those guns around
We found the mighty Bismark
And then we cut her down

[Oztrich Boy]

The Bismarck was actually largely based on a late World War I design, and had numerous design flaws, including very poor anti-aircraft armament, and a weak stern.

Designed for refighting the Battle of Jutland

[gigster]

Yes, the fire control system was set to track the newer airplanes, and could not calculate the old “obsolete”
bi-planes. They lead them far in front of where the fire-control system thought it would be.
Sometimes, the old technologies work just fine for the job, at hand.

[rmlew]

He watched as the Bismarck, which had been under siege from the Royal Navy, rolled over. And he saw hundreds of German sailors leaping into the water as she started to sink. Only 115 of Bismarck's crew of 2,222 survived.
WTF? Had the Daily Mail reporter reread his own work, much less looked up the sinking, he would know this statement was false. Do they not have Copy Editors at the Mail?

The 18 inch torpedo from the Stringbag (nickname of the anachronistic Fairey Swordfish) did not sink the Bismark. It only crippled the steering mechanism. She was sunk days latter, when after the battleships HMS Rodney and and King George V pounded it to submission, and when HMS Dorsetshire fired a spread of 21 inch torpedoes into the Bismarck. Still today there is a debate whether these heavy torpedoes actually sunk the crippled, burning, and disarmed ship or if she was scuttled.

[rmlew]

Where does the non-modernized HMS Hood stand?

[naturalman1975]

Mr Moffat pulled up before the torpedo hit and didn't see it strike. The following morning he flew to the ship for a second attack but there was no need.

He watched as the Bismarck, which had been under siege from the Royal Navy, rolled over. And he saw hundreds of German sailors leaping into the water as she started to sink. Only 115 of Bismarck's crew of 2,222 survived.

I don't think the article makes any claim that the torpedoes from the Swordfish sank the Bismarck. It states that the following day he flew back, and was in place to see it sink after it had "been under siege from the Royal Navy."

The Mail reporter didn't describe all the details of that 'siege' because it wasn't relevant to the story he was telling.

That's my reading anyway.

[rmlew]

Are you certain you are not thinking of the SMS Fürst Bismarck, a never completed Mackensen class battlecruiser?
According to Jane's Battleships of the 20th Century, the Mackensen class battlecruiser and the Bismarck class fast battleship were quite different. They carried 350mm (13.8 inch) cannons, not the 15 inch ones of the 1940 ship. Also they had a displacement of 30,000 ton full load instead of the 50,000 tons of the later Bismarck.
You might as well be calling BB-56, USS Washington, an update of BB-47, the unfinished Colorado Class battleship in so far as they carried the same name and both had 16 inch guns.

[Oztrich Boy]

Are you certain you are not thinking of the SMS Fürst Bismarck, a never completed Mackensen class battlecruiser?

Absolutely

Baden to Bismarck: A Story of Stagnation

While there is a superficial resemblance between Bayern and Bismarck, the real similarities are under the skin. Both ships had nearly identical three-shaft machinery layouts
Magazine layouts were also nearly identical between the two ships, another sign of heavy borrowing by Bismarck's designers. Where they differ is in their bridge arrangement, but here also Bismarck's designers drew on earlier work. Werner Fuchs, the Germany navy's head of construction, demanded that all heavy ships share a similar appearance, thinking this would confuse enemy spotters. Features included a heavy foremast for the fire control director and a single large funnel. Bismarck's upper works, like that of Scharnhorst and the Admiral Hipper class cruisers, was based not on Bayern but on L28
Bismarck and Bayern also shared strong internal protection, and were well-built ships (though British engineers had been rather scornful of the Bayern class in post-war testing). Their armor schemes were very similar, with Bismarck sporting thicker deck armor but a thinner armored belt than Bayern.

The 1917 L20/28 designs would have even been a closer match to the Bismark in appearance, size, speed.

[MindBender26]

Like the time I was trying to fly an Ercoupe from San Antonio to El Paso in the spring time. Airspeed of 90 kts. Ground speed? Well after 45 minutes I was still talking to San Antonio tower, gave up, turned final half way down the rabbit lights and it still took me 3 minutes to plop it on the numbers!

[DoughtyOne]

Very cool, but how could a guy who did something this significant be overlooked for that long? Amazing...

[GATOR NAVY]

Interesting. Thanks.

[backhoe]

The Bismarck was actually largely based on a late World War I design, and had numerous design flaws, including very poor anti-aircraft armament, and a weak stern.

I remember seeing ( somewhere, damn if I can recall where... ) a line drawing comparison of the internals of the Baden/Bayern class, and Bismark, and it was eerie how similar they were.

[magslinger]

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