Posted on 06/09/2009 7:29:34 PM PDT by naturalman1975
Every war veteran has a story to tell. But few could rival John Moffat's extraordinary tale.
Now 89, Mr Moffat had a ringside seat to the sinking of the Bismarck, one of the most dramatic sea battles of the Second World War.
But it was relatively recently that the pilot, who gave up flying only last year, found out just how pivotal his role was.
It was the torpedo he fired that crippled the rudder of the German battleship, leaving it at the mercy of Royal Navy ships which then sank it in the Atlantic off the west coast of France on May 27, 1941.
He was piloting one of three Swordfish open-cockpit biplanes that set off from the aircraft carrier Ark Royal to take vengeance on the Bismarck, which days before had destroyed the British warship Hood with the loss of 1,416 lives.
'What nobody talks about were the conditions - they were unbelievable,' recalled Mr Moffat, who has written a book, I Sank The Bismarck, about his experiences.
'The ship was pitching 60ft, water was running over the decks and the wind was blowing at 70 or 80mph.
'And nobody mentions the deck hands who had to bring the planes up from the hangars - they did something special. After they brought them up they had to open the wings which took ten men for each wing. And then they had to wind a handle to get the starters working.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
- With Gallantry and Determination The Story of the Torpedoing of the Bismarck By Mark E. Horan
Fly into the wind and let the ship catch up to them
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
Designed for refighting the Battle of Jutland
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.
Where does the non-modernized HMS Hood stand?
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.
Absolutely
Baden to Bismarck: A Story of StagnationWhile 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.
Very cool, but how could a guy who did something this significant be overlooked for that long? Amazing...
Interesting. Thanks.
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.
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