Hood's bridge-base hit - another eyewitness?

[paulcadogan]

Hi all,

So far, all the evidence presented on the apparent hit on Hood at the base of her bridge structure has been survivor Bob Tilburn's account which he provide outside of the official inquiry (and he described in his own words in the Imperial War Museum interview).

But I've just discovered that someone else saw it - Yeoman of Signals Tonkin observing through binoculars from the flag deck of HMS Norfolk! He reported to both Boards of Inquiry that Bismarck's second and third salvos hit Hood and one of these caused a hit forward of the forefunnel and caused the structure there to "fall apart" or "fall down".

The time sequence may not be in sync with Tilburn, but we are well aware of how eyewitness recollections can vary... The second Board did not take him too seriously - but then Tilburn had told them nothing about that part of his experience! I just though this was a very interesting bit of corroboration!

Yeoman of Signals CLIFFORD GEORGE TONKIN, D/JX. 140331.

The witness was cautioned in accordance with K.R. Chapter II.

528. Where were you at the time?
I was the yeoman on watch on the Flag Deck with a glass trained on Hood.

529. Were you watching her closely?
Yes, sir.

530. How much of the actual ship could you see?
The upper work.

531. You could not see her hull?
No, sir.

532. Will you tell us what you saw?
I saw Hood fire, I think, two salvoes before there was any reply, I could not be sure from which turrets but I should say the after turrets. Then I saw splashes round her and thought the Bismarck had opened fire. The second salvo from Bismarck hit the Hood, I could actually see she shell going inboard abaft the bridge. The third salvo I saw a small fire about between the mainmast and the after funnel, the fifth salvo fell round and there appeared to be a considerable amount of smoke and I could not be sure of any hits. By this time the small fire had spread only it appeared to be running along the upper deck both ways. The sixth salvo definitely hit and there was a sheet of flame and Hood appeared to fire from one or other of the after turrets but I could not be sure of it. Just before the sheet of flame and almost immediately after that there was a terrific sheet of flame and that shot up and it appeared that practically the whole of the after part of the ship had gone up.

533. Do you mean by that that this terrific sheet of flame rose from the after part of the ship?
Yes, sir.

534. Can you say what colour it was?
(Witness indicated No. 4 on Exhibit 2.) There were black blodges in it.

535. Was there much smoke?
No a lot, sir.

536. What colour?
At the actual time of the flame I could not say, but afterwards very black.

537. You said you saw a shell hit, what did you actually see?
At the back of the bridge just by the funnel it was like a piece of the ship there seemed to fall apart.

538. Did you see a spark?
No, sir.

539. Was that before the foremost funnel?
Yes, sir.

540. How high did this piece of ship go?
It just seemed to fall down, it may possibly have been a bit of the funnel.

[Dave Saxton]

My first thought was that he doesn't seem to distinguish between PG and BS fall of shot. But he does specifically say Bismarck's second salvo. Also he doesn't seem to describe an HE hit, in that he doesn't report a visible spark or an explosion, indicating the shell burst after penetrating the interior resulting in the structure collapsing or falling down.

[paulcadogan]

But at that range, would he have been able to see PG's fall of shot clearly enough? Remember, very few British witnesses - those on PoW included - paid any attention to PG's fall of shot around Hood enough to notice it, save for one mention of an HE salvo falling astern.

This is Bruce Taylor's description of Bob Tilburn's experience, this after Petty Officer Edward Bishop had come aft and ordered him and and two others to try to put out the boat deck fire, which they refused to do until the exploding ammo was gone:

No sooner had Bishop returned to the bridge structure to report the matter to an officer than a shell landed inside making a terrible execution of the 200 men sheltering there, a massacre only Tilburn lived to relate.

If it exploded inside the bridge structure, then the flash may not have been all that visible from Norfolk.

An alternative thought is that Tolken may have seen a bit of spotting top falling, as related by Bill Dundas & Ted Briggs. But he seems to be very specific to the base of the bridge forward of the fore-funnel. Uncanny coincidence....

[Dave Saxton]

Since BS was firing AP by salvo 2 and Jasper continued to fire HE it would further support that this was a BS hit. I doubt a dud round would produce the carnage and structural damage described. (however the bridge hit on POW didn't explode until after it had exited, which would have also been visible to a remote observer) A PG hit here would likely have to had been a dud HE and it destructive effects lesser.

This would indicate 4 Bismarck hits on Hood:

Salvo 2: the hit described by Tolken.
Salvo 3 the hit on the foretop.
Salvo 5: Leach reported only two splashes observed.

[paulcadogan]

But Dave, since that part of Hood's superstructure was relatively unprotected, couldn't a base-fused HE from PG have gone inside before exploding - or maybe partially detonating (so that Ted Briggs on the compass platform did not distinguish it from the exploding boat deck ammo)? I would think an exploding AP from Bismarck should have produced a pretty good shock that would have thrown down everyone upstairs. Otherwise, a dud 38 cm from BS might have been a feasible culprit without the big shock, but with the flying shrapnel causing the heavy casualties.

And I think Tolken's recall may have reversed the order of the hits since Tilburn clearly described it happening after the boat deck conflagration. I think the subtle appearance of the scene - something falling apart - probably captured his attention enough to take precedence over the much more spectacular boat deck hit.

Salvo 5: Leach reported only two splashes observed.

Uh-uh....Leach described three splashes - two short, one over, or the other way around, he couldn't recall for sure. So the probable hit tally is either BS 2, PG 2 or BS 3, PG 1, barring any others that we'll never know about.