Naval History Forums

Another observer, on duty in the charthouse as an assistant to Korvettenkapitän Wolf Neuendorff, the navigator, described what he saw:

" 'Straddling', boomed out of the loudspeaker. I was standing with Kapitän Neuendorff in front of the chart on which we were continuously recording our course. We put our instruments down and hurried to the eye-slits in the forward conning tower, looked through, and asked ourselves, what does he mean, straddling? At first we could see nothing but what we saw moments later could not have been conjured up by even the wildest imagination. Suddenly, the Hood split in two, and thousands of tons of Steel were hurled into the air. More than a thousand men died. Although the range was still about 18,000 meters, the fireball that developed where the Hood still was seemed near enough to touch. It was so close that I shut my eyes but curiosity made me open them again a second or two later. It was like being in a hurricane. Every nerve in my body felt the pressure of the explosions. If I have one wish, it is that my children may be spared such an experience."