Episode 12

With the Hood sunk and the Prince of Wales damaged, nothing stands between the Bismarck and the Atlantic. But this is only the beginning of the Royal Navy's misfortunes. The 24th May, 14:40 hours. Admiral Tovey's flagship, King George V. The Battle of the Denmark Strait has not only been a disaster for British morale, but it's presented a tactical problem. Bismarck and Prinz Eugen are loose in the Atlantic. Worse, the only ships close enough to engage the Germans are no match for the battleships. Instead of intercepting Bismarck, Admiral Tovey's Home Fleet is now chasing her south. But thanks to the cruisers and their radar, they at least know where the Bismarck is. Reconnaissance planes have reported a large oil slick following the vessel. It seems one of the Prince of Wales' shells wounded the beast, but it hasn't slowed her. If Tovey hopes to catch up to Bismarck, he has to cause her further damage. He orders his aircraft carrier Victorious to steam ahead of him. She's a faster ship, and with luck, she can get her Swordfish torpedo-bombers within range of the enemy before dark. 18:39 hours. The Prince of Wales and a squadron of cruisers have been shadowing Bismarck and Prinz Eugen with their forward radar when one of the Cruiser's lookouts spots something in the haze. Suddently, Bismarck cuts through the fog bank and opens up with her guns. The cruiser quickly turns and flees into the fog. A mile behind, the Prince of Wales fires a salvo. Battle seems imminent, but Bismarck breaks off and continues north. When the cruiser re-acquires Bismarck, its captain notices there's only one ship on radar now, not two. The attack was a bluff, a ploy to break radar contact so Prinz Eugen could detach and slip away. They've lost one prize. 23:00 hours. On the aircraft carrier Victorious. Nine Swordfish torpedo bombers lift off the pitching deck. They are not fit for this mission. The pilots are inexperienced. The aircraft are biplanes, with bodies made of metal struts and stretched fabric. They carry only one torpedo each, and their top speed is only 138 miles per hour. But they are the only solution available. The squadron reaches the target area and sees a ship below. Then, these rookie pilots begin an attack run that could change history. They dive low, 100 feet above the waves, and line up to create a bank of torpedoes that will be hard to thread. But the ship's AA gun aren't opening fire. And this ship seems a little small to be Bismarck. Flak lashes past the squadron. It's coming from a different ship, ten miles distant. Now that's Bismarck. The Swordfish pull out of their attack run and climb into the clouds, glimpsing the US Coast Guard ensigns flying from the ship they'd nearly just sunk. US-UK relations are saved, but they've lost the element of surprise. The squadron drives toward the Bismarck in a storm of AA gun fire. Tracer rounds zip past. The great 15-inch guns fire into the sea, creating walls of water a hundred feet high. Flak rips bottom out of one plane, while another Swordfish hits a pillar of spray and nearly stalls. But all the things that make Swordfish obsolete also make them a perfect weapon in this case. Modern anti-aircraft batteries are design to target faster planes, and the Swordfish's low speed makes them easy to maneuver. Their cloth sins and frames are so fragile, that shells smash right through without detonating. The Swordfish loose their torpedoes. The Bismarck slowly swerves, trying to thread the gap between the torpedoes. It succeeds twice, but as the Swordfish buzz away, they see a bright flash and gush of water amidships right on the thick armor belt. Likely no damage. 25th of May, 01:15 hours. Under orders to engage the Prince of Wales fires on Bismarck at extreme range, but the weather cuts visibility to nothing. The cruiser squadron resumes shadowing the Bismarck by radar, zig-zagging to throw off the U-boat that admiralty warns are in the area. During these evasive maneuvers, they lose and re-acquire Bismarck every 20 minutes. At 03:06, the lead cruiser has the Bismarck on radar, then turns away. When hey turn back at 03:30, the Bismarck is gone. They search, but in vein. After shadowing her for 32 hours and 1,000 miles, they have lost their quarry. 06:00 hours on the King George V. 3 hours since last contact. When Tovey learns that the cruisers have lost Bismarck, he goes to his charts. The oil slick reported behind Bismarck suggests the that ship is damaged. In which case, he reasons, it would try to return to port in either Norway or occupied France. But if Bismarck is not badly damaged it could link up with an oil tanker, refuel, and play havoc with supply convoys. This scares Tovey. His ships are already low on fuel and if the search continues too long they will have to return home. If Bismarck finds a tanker, she could simply wait them out. He orders several of his cruisers, battleships, and the Victorius to refuel in Iceland. It will mean he is shorthanded in the meantime, but he will have the option for a long-term search. If it comes down to it, he has the battleship Rodney in intercept position, just in case Bismarck heads for the French coast. 09:30 hours at Bletchley Park. 6.5 hours have passed since last contact. Everyday is a race for the codebreakers at Bletchley Park. The settings for German Enigma code machines change every day, and everyday Bletchley's "Bombe" a huge computer runs through different settings until the intercepted messages turn into readable German. Once that happens, it is a scramble to decode a many intercepts as possible before the codes change again. Hut 4, the computer that deals with German naval signals, is trying to sort through a mountain of intercepts to find where Bismarck is headed. But the Bismarck isn't the only German vessel in the Atlantic. And because the naval version of the Enigma has five rotors instead of four, actual decryptions will take a week to come through. In the absence of translations, the analysts try to identify Bismarck's signal by the "electronic fingerprint" of it transmitter and the typing style of the ship's morse operator. If they find a signal that matches, they triangulate its position. The evidence is mixed. One triangulated signal seems headed for France, but other possible hits indicate Norway. But one analyst notices that the broadcasts being sent to the Bismarck have changed origin points. Until noon the previous day, signals to the Bismarck originated at a station in Germany, but now they're coming from Paris. This suggests that Bismarck has traveled out of the German station's range, and is headed for France. They decide to trust the French signal. They broadcast the raw data to Tovey, whose destroyers can triangulate the signals with their own equipment. 10:47 hours on the King George V. 7.5 hours since last contact. Tovey reviews the raw data indicating France, but in triangulating it, he makes a mathematical error. According to his map, the Bismarck is headed north toward Norway. He orders all ship to search north of the Bismarck's last known position. 12:00 hours at the admiralty. 9 hours since last contact. 200 feet below the Admiralty building in London, analysts are hotly debating the Bismarck's position. They are under pressure to deliver. Churchill is livid the Bismarck has escaped. He's already requested Captain Leach be court-martialed for breaking off his attack after sinking the Hood. The public, the media and parliament are pressing him for updates. But the best analysts can do is make an educated guess. Over the morning, they send signals that they believe Bismarck is headed for France, but they order destroyers and cruisers to guard the passages around Iceland just in case. They try to cover their bases, stripping supply and troop convoys to dangerous levels. 17:00 hours at Bletchley Park. 14 hours have passed since last contact. At hut 6 a team of German-speaking women type intercepted messages into Enigma replicas and prioritize the decrypted results. They've been briefed to look for anything related to the Bismarck. One decoder sees the word "brest" and "freezes". It's a message sent from a Luftwaffe Enigma machine. The sender is a general asking whether his son, a sailor on Bismarck, has survived the battle with Hood. The reply is that all aboard Bismarck are safe, and headed for Brest, France. She shoots a hand up. "I have something interesting.". 18:10 hours at the Admiralty. 15 hours since last contact. Signals go out to Admiral Tovey's flagship the King George V. Determination hardened Bismarck headed for Brest, Tovey has been sailing in the wrong direction for hours. The Admiralty orders land-based reconnaissance flights on all approaches to Brest. No on at sea or on land, will sleep tonight. 26th of May. 10:35 hours, at PBY Catalina Patrol. 31 hours since last contact. Catalina flying boats, obtained from America via lend/lease , have been scouring the ocean since dawn. But in closely-guarded secret, the pilot of one particular aircraft is also American, one of several US Navy officers sent to "train" the British. Through a break in the clouds, the Catalina pilot sees an unidentified battleship 700 miles west-northwest of Brest. It's leaking oil. The ship's anti-aircraft gun erupt in a mountain of fire, shaking the Catalina. As the pilot banks and climbs, the British co-pilot runs aft to transmit their discovery. Every ship on patrol drives straight for the Bismarck, but fuel is critical. If they make full speed, they may ran out of petrol and have to break off. But if they slow, they might lose her. And catching her is crucial. By the next day, Bismarck will be safely in range of Luftwaffe air cover. The Royal Navy can't simultaneously battle Bismarck and fight off waves of bombers. They only ship close enough to strike a blow in the aircraft carrier Ark Royal. She speeds ahead to strike range. 15:00 hours. 15 Swordfish launch from Ark Royal. The situation is dire: there's only time for two sorties before dark. New magnetic torpedoes sit beneath their plane's bellies. The crews have been briefed that Bismarck is the only ship in the sector. An hour later, they begin their attack run. 16:10 hours. Under orders from Force H, the British cruiser Sheffield has rushed ahead to shadow Bismarck by radar. They've just acquired her when the lookouts hear aircraft engines. The Swordfish flight bears down on them in an attack run. The HMS Sheffield's captain orders full speed and turns toward the planes, hoping to thread the torpedoes. Four of the Swordfish realize their mistake and break off, but eleven release their payload. By a stroke of luck, the new torpedoes are faulty. 6 detonates on contact with the water, leaving the Sheffield only 5 to weave through. She makes it, but barely. Returning to Ark Royal, the demoralized pilots refuel and rearm for another run. They had two chances to damage Bismarck, and just blew lost one of them by attacking their own ship.

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