Events during the night of May 26th

[alecsandros]

Gentlemen,
Reading through Bismarck survivor debriefings, I found several times instances of claims of speed of 24kts AFTER the Ark Royal torp strikes.

Why do you think such reports exist ? Can they have any basis in reality ?

Example:

"The attacks consisted of flights diving out of the clouds to 10-20 meter heights above the water. Overall, we got the impression that the attacks were flown very daringly. In this [action] 7 aircraft were shot down. From the main Flak battle station came the announcement: "Rudder stuck hard to starboard". "Ship sails in circle". I don't know how many torpedoes had hit. In my opinion, 1 hit was aft in the rudder assembly and another was followed in the vicinity of compartment VII-VIII. There were wounded at the port - IV gun. I heard via telephone that divers tried to switch the rudder connection assembly [to manual operation]. After approx. 20-30 minutes, came through the ship's telephone: "Manual rudder connected". Shortly thereafter, a second report: "Rudder completely clear". During the rudder fouling, an attempt was made to steer the ship with the screws. According to my recollection, the ship's 24-knot cruising speed dropped considerably after the hit. It sailed in a circle, and by the use of reverse steering with the screws the ship was laid against the seaway (head-to-wind). After the manual rudder was engaged, the ship increased speed first to 13 knots and later to 24 knots. When the 24-knot cruising speed was attained, an attack by enemy destroyers occurred (according to memory 2400 hours). Alarm was sounded. At first I did not know if the attack occurred on the starboard or port sides; however, I subsequently remembered that it initially occurred on port, followed by abaft, and shortly thereafter on the starboard side. I did not notice a change in course of "Bismarck". At this time a message was broadcast by the ship's telephone that 1 destroyer [is] sinking and 2 more are burning. I myself did not see this. "

http://kbismarck.com/archives/debriefing2.html

During that time I saw oil on the water's surface forward of portside. via the signal transmitter's phone that there was no hit in ship's forward section, but that oil was being dumped to deal with the list. In my estimation, the ship had a 5 degree list at that time. After half an hour came [the message via phone]: "Rudder machinery clear. Ship goes to 19 knot cruising speed". The ship never stopped [never lost forward speed] during this time. Soon after the ship began to run in circles, the air attack had [also] ceased. I estimate that the attack lasted 30-40 minutes.

http://kbismarck.com/archives/debriefing4.html

[dunmunro]

AFAIK, Bismarck's engines were not severely damaged by the torpedo hit, so it's quite possible that Bismarck could move much faster then she did. The main problem being that increased speed only moved her further away from France.

[Steve Crandell]

I thought increased speed would just cause her to circle. As far as I know, the rudders were not jammed in such a way as to cause a heading away from France. When they gave up working on them, they adopted a combination of shaft rotation that caused them to head very slowly more or less away from France because that was as close as they could come to a steady course for gunnery.

[Alberto Virtuani]

I tend to agree with Duncan and Steve.
Higher speed was very likely obtainable (as no damage was reported to machinery, screws or shafts), but at the cost to have the ship turning in circles.
Once on a steady (more or less) course, any possible speed improvement (we don't know Lindemann decisions here) would have just taken her more quickly away from France.
Also the list to port (that the Baron referred as increased after the last attack) could have been a reason to keep speed limited due to stability issues.

Bye, Alberto