The saying goes "never bring a knife to a gunfight". Just occasionally though the apparently weaker protagonist comes out on top.
As we're coming up to the 83rd anniversary of the sinking of the Bismarck, I thought I'd pay a brief homage to the courageous RAF crewmen who pulled off the daring raid.
The Fairey Swordfish, introduced in the early 1930's was an upgrade to the 1917 Fairey III.
Fondly nicknamed The Stringbag, with its fabric-covered biplane wings, cockpit open to the elements and proliferation of struts and wires, the WW1 heritage of the aircraft was evident. It was, however, an extremely agile little aircraft, with a remarkably slow stall-speed, which made it an ideal platform from which to launch torpedoes.
On 26th May 1941, a flight of 15 Swordfish took off from HMS Ark Royal at dusk, following a sighting of the mighty Bismarck.
Flying at 90 mph and barely 20ft above the waves, they closed in on their target amidst a tremendous barrage of anti-aircraft fire from the German behemoth.
Sub Lieutenant Jock Moffat recalled "They fired all kinds of things at us. It was like hail coming at you – you wondered how they could miss.”
Miss they did though. The pilots' unfeasibly low altitude was a factor in their survival, as the German guns struggled to depress sufficiently to target their tiny, flimsy assailants.
Three torpedoes found their target. Two amidships, causing a few German fatalities but comparatively minor damage, but the third hit the stern of the Bismarck and crippled her rudder. After this, Bismarck could only steam in a great circle and was effectively doomed.
Bismarck's guns were still functioning though and it wasn't until the next day and some tremendous exchanges of fire that Royal Navy ships King George V, Rodney, Norfolk and Dorsetshire delivered the coup de grâce to the once great pride of the German navy.
All crew on the 15 Fairey Swordfish survived the encounter.
Of Bismarck's crew of over 2,200 men, only 114 survived.
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The Fairey Swordfish on Ark Royal, just prior to launch.
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In contrast to the howlers on the most historically inaccurate movies thread, the 1960 film "Sink the Bismarck" starring Kenneth Moore, is generally considered to be a commendably accurate depiction of the events.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_battle_of_Bismarck
https://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/news-and-latest-activity/news/2021/may/26/20210526-bismarck-hit
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sink_the_Bismarck!