Tides of War

Just thinking about this last night while reading about the Bismarck, what do you think? All of the shell hits on Bismarck that did damage were above the waterline, but the British DID fire about 4 torps at her towards the end of the battle. On the other hand, the inner torp wall was largly intact on the wreck pf the ship. Both of these theories have been argued back and forth over many years, and I tend to think she was scuttled due to the fact that the crew's commander was dead, and the superstructure was completely destroyed. My vote goes for scuttled.

Same here. I think the Gerry's scuttled her.`

It wasn't as if she were a more common ship. She was a very valuable prize if captured, and it would've hurt morale more if the British were able to claim they sunk her outright.

Which they did.

I think that it may have been a combination of the two I reckon that although she was scuttled she was so badly damaged that she would have gone down anyway. and just because there is no visable fatal torp impacts does not mean that there were not and fractures that were caused by the impact.

and just because there is no visable fatal torp impacts does not mean that there were not and fractures that were caused by the impact.

James Cameron led an expedition to the Bismarck, and they documented every shell hole, torp hole, etc. They found that the ENTIRE inner torpedo wall was intact, and that every extensive damaging shell hole was above water, thereby supporting the fact that the crew used charges to blow the ship's bottom.

The History channel had a two-hour special on Bismark, including interviews with some of the few survivors. They maintained that the crew did indeed fire scuttling charges, but that the ship was doomed anyway. So, I vote for both.

Hello all,

Here is my opinion of what actually happened in my knowledge and experience of this truly epic ship.

The British could not sink her, even the torpedoes could not penetrate the armour of the hull. However she was completely crippled with limited rudder control and her entire upper decks in flames and destroyed by shelling.

The ship was indeed ordered scuttled and then the captain killed himself probably after being ordered to do so by Hitler to avoid capture and for his own personal reasons.

The British probably inflated the events to claim they sunk it to boost morale and claim revenge for the HMS Hood.

The HMS Hood was blown up by the Bismark with a single 15" shell that, against incredible odds, managed to penetrate the upper deck and explode deep below in the ammunition dump.

Zap

I'd definitely have to go with scuttled.