Free Article: The Battle of the Denmark Strait
At dawn on 24 May 1941, two groups of ships, one British and one German, met in the Denmark Strait in the largest clash of British and German warships since the battle of Jutland in 1916. Included in the battle were two giants of maritime history: the British battlecruiser HMS Hood and the German battleship Bismarck.
HMS Hood was the first vessel to open fire, doing so at 05.52 followed thirty seconds later by her consort, the new battleship HMS Prince of Wales. Three minutes later the Bismarck and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen returned fire.
At approximately 06.00, a mere matter of minutes after Bismarck had opened fire, her fifth salvo crashed down around the Hood. Much speculation exists as to what exactly happened next, however, the most probable event is that one shell from the salvo penetrated the deck of the Hood. As a battlecruiser, she was particularly vulnerable to plunging fire. The shell from Bismarck mashed through the decks of the Hood before detonating the 4-inch magazine which in turn detonated the adjacent aft 15-inch magazine.
The result of this detonation is not the subject of debate. The detonation tore the Hood apart with a catastrophic loss of life. Out of her crew of 1,418, only three survived.
With the loss of the Hood the Bismarck and Prinz Eugen switched their fire to the prince of Wales. The new British battleship had only been declared operational four days earlier, and still with technicians from the armament manufacturer Vickers-Armstrong on board, was suffering problems with her 14-inch main battery, a respectable portion of which was rendered inoperable by mechanical trouble.
Under the combined fire of Bismarck and Prinz Eugen, HMS Prince of Wales incurred damage. With his ship being outfought and not wishing to risk the loss of the Royal navy’s newest battleship, Captain John Leach, the commanding officer of the Prince of Wales broke off the engagement.
The sinking of the Hood and the driving off of the Prince of Wales was a cause of celebration for the Germans, the Bismarck had sustained three hits, including one in the vicinity of the bow which trapped fuel and led to limited flooding. While Hood and been lost and Prince of Wales outfought, the aim of the interception had been achieved. Bismarck had been damaged and with that, her Atlantic raiding sortie curtailed.
Despite a wealth of documentary information and photographic evidence, there continues to be controversy as to how the battle of the Denmark Strait was fought, the damage incurred by Prince of Wales and Bismarck, and how it was that the pride of the Royal Navy was destroyed in such a catastrophic manner.
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