278: The War At Sea '41 Pt. 16 - The End of the Surface Raiders

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Wesley Livesay (1:59)

Hello everyone and welcome to History of the Second World War, episode 278, War at Sea 41, part 16, the end of the Surface Raiders. This week, a big thank you goes out to Mark Ellis for the donation on Buy Me a Coffee, and to Samantha, Frank and Justin for supporting the podcast by becoming members. Members get access to ad-free versions of all of the podcast episodes, plus special member only episodes roughly once a month. Head on over to historyofthissecondworldwar.com/members to find out more.

The May 27th, 1941 sitting of the House of Commons in London would be a historic one. The members were meeting in Church House, not in the Houses of Parliament due to bomb damage that had occurred two weeks earlier. Churchill would give an overview of the Royal Navy's operations against the Bismarck over the previous day. Quote, About midnight, we learned that the Bismarck had been struck by two torpedoes, one a midship and another a stern. This second torpedo apparently affected the steering of the ship, for not only was she reduced to a very low speed, but she continued making uncontrollable circles in the sea. While in this condition, she was attacked by one of our flotillas and hit by two more torpedoes, which brought her virtually to a standstill, far from help and far outside the range at which the enemy bomber aircraft from the French Coast could have come close upon the scene.

This morning, at daylight, or shortly after daylight, the Bismarck was attacked by the British pursuing battleships. I do not know what were the results of the bombardment. It appears, however, that the Bismarck was not sunk by gunfire, and she will now be dispatched by torpedo. It is thought that this is now proceeding, and it is also thought that there cannot be any lengthy delay in disposing of the vessel. As you can tell from this message, news of the final sinking of the Bismarck had not yet arrived in London. That action was ongoing. After he finished his tale of events, Churchill would sit down and business would begin to move on to discussing other naval events and the sinking of the Hood. A messenger would then approach Churchill, and then Churchill would announce, I do not know whether I might venture, with great respect, to intervene for one moment. I have just received news that the Bismarck is sunk.

For the leaders in London, it was exactly what they had hoped for. The mighty Bismarck was no more, and the members of Parliament stood and cheered. Out to sea, there was no cheering among the men who had managed to escape the Bismarck. During the last minutes of the fighting, men had started jumping into the water from the sinking ship, but that merely took them from the ship full of fire, smoke and death into the very cold unknown. The water was around 13 degrees Celsius, or 55 degrees Fahrenheit, which meant that the estimated time of survival was measured in minutes.

They could only hope for a British rescue during those minutes, and some of them would be lucky enough to receive one. Many of the men who had jumped off the port of the ship had just been slammed back into the side by the waves, unfortunately, and most of the crew on the lower decks would not be able to make it off the ship. At least those that were left behind, dodging debris and covered in oil, still had a chance of survival. That chance was strictly in the hands of the British ships that had played a role in the sinking of the Bismarck just moments before.