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Winston Churchill gave the order to sink the Bismarck

The pocket battleship set off on her maiden voyage on 19 May 1941 with the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen. Their mission was to sink supply convoys between the UK and the US. On 24 May 1941, they were discovered and HMS Hood, with HMS The Prince of Walles, engaged them. Only minutes into the battle the Bismarck landed what was described as a 'lucky' shot which struck the Hood's magazine. She went down in minutes with the loss of 1,415 souls of her compliment of 1,418.

Upon hearing the news Churchill ordered that every resource possible be used to sink the Bismarck, who in turn was taking on water and was reduced to a max speed of 20 knots. Following three days of cat-and-mouse with the Royal Navy, her rudder was damaged by a torpedo from a Fairey Swordfish which left her at the mercy of the pursuing Royal Navy and on the morning of 27 May 1941 the Bismarck, suffered a huge bombardment which led the captain of the stricken ship to order it to be scuttled and his crew to abandon ship

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15y ago

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