Last battle of Bismarck 1941
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 27 May 1941 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1941 | Wikidata P585 (point in time) |
| Era | World War II era (1939–1945) | derived from year |
| Nearest landmass | At sea (nearest continent: Islands & open ocean) | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Islands & open ocean | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | Battle of the Atlantic, Operation Rheinübung | Wikidata P361 |
| Coordinates | 48.1667, -16.2000 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The last battle of the German battleship Bismarck took place in the Atlantic Ocean approximately 300 nautical miles (560 km; 350 mi) west of Brest, France, on 26–27 May 1941 between the German battleship Bismarck and naval and air elements of the British Royal Navy. Although it was an action between capital ships, it has no generally accepted name. It represented the culmination of Operation Rheinübung where the attempt of the Bismarck and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen to disrupt the Atlantic convoys to the United Kingdom failed and resulted in the former's scuttling after battle damage rendered the Bismarck unable to fight back. The four British warships continued firing throughout the scuttling process, and most experts agree that the accumulated battle damage would have caused the Bismarck to sink eventually.
The last battle consisted of four main phases. The first phase late on 26 May consisted of air attacks by Fairey Swordfish torpedo bombers from the British aircraft carrier Ark Royal, which disabled Bismarck's steering gear, jammed her rudders in a turning position and prevented her escape. The second phase was the shadowing and harassment of Bismarck during the night of 26/27 May by British and Polish destroyers, with no serious damage to any ship.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Last battle of Bismarck (revision 1371800527), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
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Other battles of the Battle of the Atlantic
- Battle of the Denmark Strait 1941
- Channel Dash 1942
- Battle of Sept-Îles 1943
- Battle of the Bay of Biscay 1943
- Battle of Audierne Bay 1944
All 6 battles of the Battle of the Atlantic →
Browse more: battles at sea · Islands & open ocean · World War II era battles