This story or parts of the same story were published around the world in various papers.Second Hit Blew Up Hood, Sent
Funnels, Masts and Parts of Hull
Bow of British Ship Tilted
Vertically, Vessel Sank
in 4 Minutes in 'Battle
of Giants.'
By J. B. NIXON,
Reuters Special Correspondent
With the Royal Navy.
LONDON, May 31. -I watched
the "battle of giants" which cul-
minated in the sinking of the 35,-
000-ton German battieship Bis-
marck. Standing on the bridge
of one of His Majesty's ships I
saw the 42,100-ton Hood, long the
world's largest warship, go down
only 200 or 300 yards away with
her guns still firing.
The end of the Hood was an al
most unbelievable nightmare.
Shortly after the engagement be-
gan shells hit the 21-year-old bat-
tle cruiser. There was a bright
sheet of flame and it blew up.
Parts of its great hull were thrown
hundreds of feet into the air and
in a few minutes all that remained
was a patch of smoke on the wa-
ter and some small bits of wreck
age.
The battleship Prince of Wales
was hit soon afterward by a 15
inch naval shell but the damage
was slight.
__ The "battle of the giants" was
the climax of a chase by the Hood
| and Prince of Wales and their ac-
companying - destroyers at top
speed to prevent the Bismarck
from breaking out into the Atlantic
to attack convoys.
Pursuit in Arctic Night .
'The pursuit began off Iceland
and continued hour after hour in
the eerie half-light of an Arctic
night. The cruisers Suffolk and
Norfolk, which had been shadow-
ing the Bismarck since the big
vessel left Bergen, Norway, kept
the Hood and Prince of Wales in-
formed of its movements and thus
heiped find the quarry.
We sighted the enemy at 6 a. m.
when a curtain of snow suddenly
lifted. For some minutes our
ships sped on toward the Germans
to shorten the range. They, too,
(the Germans) turned in toward
their pursuers and the world's big-
gest warships were thundering to-
ward each other at a combined
speed of probably more than 60
miles an hour.
The "open fire" order was given
by signal. Almost simultaneously,
orange-gold flame burst with a
roar from the Hood's - forward
guns. Within three seconds puffs
of black smoke shot out from the
Bismarck as it opened fire.
The Prince of Wales' guns then
began firing. Dense clouds of yel-
low cordite smoke enveloped its
bridge. It was to the left of the
Hood, two or three hundred yards
away, and still surging forward on
a parallel course. Fountains of
water shot up in its wake-first
about 100 yards behind and then |
only 50 yards astern.
(my bolding above - DM)
The Hood thundered on and then,
| suddenly, it was hit A shell, or
| shells, appeared to fall just for-
ward of one of its after 15-inch |
gun turrets and great flames and
heavy black smoke burst forth.l
| The Hood continued to fire and
| still raced forward. J
What happened next was a
{strangling, sickening sight. There
was a terrific explosion and the
whole of the vast ship was en-
veloped in a flash of flame and
smoke which rose high into the air
in the shape of a giant mushroom.
Sections of funnels, masts and
other parts of the ship hurtled
hundreds of feet into the air and
some of them fell on our ship.
The Hood's bow tilted verticully
into the air and within three or
four minutes it was gone entirely.
A destroyer was diverted to rescue
work and managed to pick up
three of the ship's company-two
seamen and a midshipman.
All this time the Prince of Wales
continued pouring shells at the
Bismarck. More than once spurts
of water showed it was straddled.
Again shells from the Bismarck
crashed near the Prince of Wales,
but it came out of the battle with
little damage. Then the Bismarck
turned away, to be pursued all that
day and night and the next day
over the Atlantic at top speed.
Twice during the night the
Prince of Wales fired salvoes and
aircraft made attacks. Finally
there came the dramatic message
that the cruiser Dorsetshire had
torpedoed the Bismarck.
This website has lots of interesting stories that were published in wartime:
http://www.thewarillustrated.info/93/fo ... smarck.asp including a slight variation of the above story.