I have a bordfunker's set of flugbuchs, with a few notations of the Bismarck. On May 6,1941 he noted in the bemerfungen section: "Schlaghtschiff Bismarck unternehmen biggint, schlaghtschiff 'Rodney u. 3 zerstorer'". There was a position written down which was probably radioed in. The question I have is it is widely held that the Bismarck was supposed to be beyond the range of Luftwaffe air cover. Why couldn't long range bombers such as the one this airman served have come to her defense? Thanks!
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I'd also wonder if the FW200s or any other long-range aircraft that could have reached the location would be able to carry enough or the type of weapons to really fight off the larger Royal Navy ships- 500kg bombs and torpedoes aren't exactly a huge threat to battleships. Remember the Swordfish whose torpedo sent Bismarck's rudder into her screw was UNBELIEVEABLY lucky. Rudel used a 1000kg armor-piercing bomb to sink the Marat. Also, against heavily-armed warships, the FW200s would have had a hell of a time attacking them successfully.Last edited by Matt L; 11-18-2005, 12:18 AM. -
Finding her.
First they would have to find her at long range on a very limited fuel supply.
Flying standing patrols over her if she could have been found ( providing she was within range) would have not have been possible as there were not enough Condors to do this.
Time over the ship would have been very limited.Comment
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This reports that the battleship Rodney and 3 Destroyers were sighted. This 'flotilla' may well have been 100 miles or more from the Bismarck You can easily check any reference on the Bismarck for that date and her location, then map the one given in the Flugbuch. She was well out of range by all accounts I have read. Interestingly, a single U-boat (possibly U-74 or U-556??) watched helplessly as the King George V sailed past on its way to engage the Bismarck, they had no torpedoes left!!Originally posted by FW 200Last edited by TMurray; 11-23-2005, 12:26 AM.Comment
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Rodney.
The U-Boat was 556 (Wohlfarth) , it was Ark Royal which sailed past his empty torpedo tubes - Rodney was the better part of 100 miles away at that moment to the NE of Bismarck.
Royal Navy ships were attacked by Luftwaffe aircraft after the sinking of Bismarck - forced to take the shortest route home due to fuel shortages it took them into range of the Luftwaffe.
The destroyers- I am not awre if Rodney had destroyers with her at this time , now I might be wrong .
The Home Fleet were feeling the pinch fuel wise and Tovey knew that unless Ark Royal could slow her down he would have to break off owing to his increasingly critical fuel situation.
What really did the damage was that hit by P.O.W. and Lutjens decision not to top up Bismarck tanks when in Norway the reduction in speed to 22 knots gace Force H the chance.
Would be interested to see the map reference for 6th May but with so few FW-200s its unlikely that unless she was within range of HE-111's / JU-88's that a major attempt to save her might have been possible.Last edited by behblc; 11-24-2005, 06:32 PM.Comment
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Inerestingly too I recall Hajo Herrmann writing in his book Eagle's Wings that he lead an attack on Ark Royal in 1940 I think it was- but failed to sink her... if things had gone slightly differently that day there would have been no Swordfish to damage Bismarck's rudder...Comment
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I will post the coordinates in a day or so, I don't have the book with me now. He also noted a u-boat that day. Interestingly, he made only one more notation. He closed the book out, with 15 blank pages left! The next book was started about a year PRIOR to the one he closed out! The dates and sightings were not quite the same as his earlier version,either. Now, this guy was extremely accurate in all his books(5 total), yet in the second book, he wrote he was on board a Do. 217, instead of a FW 200 as earlier reported!Comment
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RAF Logbooks which relate to Bismrack.
I have copies of the logbooks of two 240 Squadron aircrew who tok part in the hunt for Bismarck.
1. From a naviagtor with 240 Squadron , his Catalina crew were detached to Iceland and saw Hood and Prince of Wales mobing towards the Denmark Strait , they later heard the gunfire of the action.
2. The second is from a rigger/Air gunner also from 240 Squadron . This crew was retained at Lough Erne and along with Briggs 209 cat. made a search of the are throught which Bismarch would pass if she made a run to a Biscay port.
This gent was cooking a steak meal for the crew when they came on Bismarck.Comment
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Coordinates for 'Rodney'
Here are the coordinates for the Rodney. On May 26, 1941, its position was 50 degrees, 30min. North, and 19 degrees, 15 min. West.Comment
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Cheers.
Thank you for the position , will go and see if I can get it plotted somewhere.
The final action took place at approx. 10.00 am in the morning.
From the point of view of providing air cover range would still be the major factor - the ability to place aircraft armed and in good time to disrupt the Royal Navy.
I think she was still too far out for this to take place.
The other major problem would be geting her back under tow , a slow and difficult task in the face of the Atlantic weather.Comment
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This bordfunker had logged several missions in which his FW 200 attacked convoys with rockets. I assume the rockets were the Henschel 293's. Could they, or do you know if they were ever used against warships? Thanks.Comment
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The Hs293 glide bomb was intended for non-armoured shipping targets, although one successfully sunk the British sloop HMS Egret (L75) on 27.Aug.1943. Against armoured ships the Germans developed the Fritz X (Ruhrstahl SD 1400 X). A Fritz X sunk the Italian battleship Roma after Italy signed the armistice with the Allies. It was also used succesfully against a number of US and British warships. Neither was carried by the FW200 to my knowledge, usually carried by either the He111 or Do17.Originally posted by FW 200Comment
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