A great Christmas present, by Mr.
Fabrizio Prudenziatti!
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| Bismarck in port in Hamburg |
Bismarck was the first of two
Bismarck-class battleships built for the
German Kriegsmarine during
World War II. Named after
Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, the primary force behind the
German unification in
1871, the ship was laid down at the
Blohm & Voss shipyard in
Hamburg in July 1936 and launched nearly three years later in
April 1939. Work was completed in
August 1940, when she was commissioned into the
German fleet. Along with her sister ship
Tirpitz, Bismarck was the largest battleship ever built by
Germany, and the heaviest built by any
European power.
Bismarck conducted only one offensive operation, codenamed
Rheinübung, in May 1941. The ship, along with the heavy cruiser
Prinz Eugen, was to break out into the
Atlantic Ocean and raid
Allied shipping from
North America to Great Britain. The two ships were detected several times off
Scandinavia, however, and
British naval units were deployed to block their route. At the
Battle of Denmark Strait, Bismarck engaged and destroyed the battlecruiser
HMS Hood, the pride of the
Royal Navy, and forced the battleship
HMS Prince of Wales to retreat with heavy damage, although
Bismarck herself had been hit three times and suffered an oil leak from a ruptured tank. The destruction of
Hood spurred a relentless pursuit by the
Royal Navy with dozens of warships involved. Two days later, while steaming for the relative safety of occupied
France,
Bismarck was attacked by
Fairey Swordfish torpedo bombers from the aircraft carrier
HMS Ark Royal; one hit was scored that jammed the battleship's steering gear and rendered her unmanoeuvrable. The following morning,
Bismarck was destroyed by a pair of
British battleships. The cause of her sinking is disputed: some in the Royal Navy claim that torpedoes fired by the cruiser
HMS Dorsetshire administered the fatal blow, while
German survivors argue that they scuttled the ship. In
June 1989,
Robert Ballard discovered the location of
Bismarck's wreck. Several other expeditions have surveyed the sunken battleship in an effort to document more completely the condition of the ship and to determine the cause of the ship's loss. -
Wikipedia
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| Bismak em 1940. |
O Bismarck foi um couraçado
alemão da classe
Bismarck construído e operado durante a
Segunda Guerra Mundial. Batizado com este nome em homenagem a
Otto von Bismarck, tornou-se famoso por ser o responsável pelo afundamento do cruzador-de-batalha e orgulho da
Marinha Real Britânica, o
HMS Hood, durante a batalha do
Estreito da Dinamarca, em 1941, e pela subsequente perseguição que culminou na sua destruição, apenas três dias depois. Isso só foi possível após ter sido torpedeado no leme por aviões
Fairey Swordfish lançados do porta-aviões
Ark Royal, sendo este o primeiro ataque realizado por aviões lançados a partir de um navio. Apenas com o leme avariado, pôde ser alcançado pela esquadra
inglesa e afundado após um terrível bombardeamento, tendo perdido mais de 2.000 homens. Em tal batalha, os
ingleses alegam ter liquidado o navio
alemão com seus torpedos, mas tal fato não é verídico, posto que expedições sub-aquáticas confirmaram que o casco interno está intacto. A verdadeira causa do afundamento foi a abertura das comportas para inundar o navio pela sua tripulação, pois assim, vendo os
britânicos se aproximarem cada vez mais, com o navio indefeso após quase duas horas de batalha desigual, impediriam uma tentativa inglesa de tomar a belonave
germânica. O couraçado
alemão somente foi afundado devido ao grande número de aviões e navios que o cercaram. Além disso, com o leme avariado devido ao ataque de aeronaves
Swordfish, o
Bismarck só conseguia navegar em círculos, sendo impossível escapar do cerco
britânico, que atacou sem piedade o navio e sua tripulação. -
Wikipedia
Link: WW2.German.Battleship.Bismarck.by.Zio.Prudenzio
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