military@att.att.com (Bill Thacker) (05/25/91)
From: military@att.att.com (Bill Thacker) Monday, 26 May, 1941 A Catalina flying boat spots the Bismarck 700 miles from Brest, and Swordfish from the Ark Royal are launched in a last-ditch attempt to slow the battleship so that surface forces can catch her before she reaches the safety of Luftwaffe air cover. The first strike mistakenly attacks the cruiser HMS Sheffield, but a second wave finds the German battleship and scores two hits. One torpedo strikes the ship's steering gear, jamming the rudder beyond repair and leaving her stranded. During the night, five destroyers under the command of Captain Vian make torpedo attacks, without success. Efforts by divers to repair or remove the rudder fail due to the high seas and ice-cold waters, sealing the ship's fate. Ocean-going tugs and U-boats are dispatched to recover and protect the Bismarck. The carrier HMS Formidable attacks the Stuka base on Scarpunto, east of Crete, but is herself attacked and badly damaged. The ship is ordered to withdraw to the United States for repairs. On Crete, Canae falls, and General Freyberg begins to prepare to evacuate the Allied troops. Prime Minister de Valera of Eire warns Churchill against introducing conscription in Northern Ireland. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- Bill Thacker Moderator, sci.military military-request@att.att.com (614) 860-5294 Send submissions to military@att.att.com "... since Admiral Moffett's death in the ill-fated Akron, the idea of an airship as a carrier of aircraft has been dropped... So we concentrated on the carrier to the exclusion of the airship... only to be faced with the possibility in the present emergency that the airship could be a better and faster vehicle to convey aircraft to Britain than any water-borne ship." - Admiral William V. Pratt, USN, Retired