Sink The Bismarck! Pursuit (Part 1)

Summary

WW2 Pod: We Have Ways of Making You Talk

Episode: Sink The Bismarck! Pursuit (Part 1)

Hosts: Al Murray & James Holland

Date: January 27, 2026

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Episode Overview

This gripping episode launches the second chapter in the multi-part exploration of the hunt for the Bismarck, the Kriegsmarine's formidable battleship, focusing on its aftermath following the sinking of HMS Hood. Comedian Al Murray and historian James Holland blend deep military insight and characteristic humor to unravel the operational, tactical, and strategic layers of the Royal Navy's relentless pursuit, interweaving perspectives from both sides of the Atlantic. The episode emphasizes the scale, complexity, and drama of what became one of the most famous naval chases in history.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Setting the Scene: Aftermath of Hood’s Sinking

• The show opens with a recounting of the loss of HMS Hood and the impact both tactically and emotionally on the Royal Navy.
• Bismarck, though victorious, is heavily damaged and must find safe harbor for repairs ("Admiral Gunter Lutjens knows he's got to get her fixed to go to Brest..." – Al, 05:56).
• Discussion on German naval doctrine vs. British strategy and the inherent disadvantages faced by the Germans in a surface engagement against the Royal Navy.

2. Fleet vs. Ship: Lessons in Naval Power

• Al and James stress how simply having powerful ships—like Bismarck—is not a substitute for having an integrated, well-supported fleet ("Ships don't make fleets, and fleets make navies." – Al, 04:07).
• The lack of sufficient German naval support, scattered logistics, and inadequate infrastructure (e.g., oilers, dry docks) becomes a recurring thread.

3. The Tactical Dilemma: Where Should Bismarck Run?

• Lutjens’ forced choice between returning via the Denmark Strait or running for France.
• Tension between Lutjens (overall command) and Lindemann (Bismarck’s captain), who favors a different escape route.
• Uncertainties faced with either option, compounded by significant battle damage slowing Bismarck down (from 30 knots down to 24, later 20).

4. Royal Navy’s Strategic Response

• The British response: Not just seeking revenge for Hood but recognizing the strategic necessity of destroying the Bismarck.
• The assembly of a vast multi-fleet task force, highlighting the Royal Navy's global reach ("It's literally all hands on deck, this situation..." – Al, 02:02).
• Notable orchestration by Admiral Pound and Admiral Tovey, plus the deployment of naval and air assets from all directions.

5. Atmosphere and Emotion within the Fleets

• Vivid descriptions of the mood aboard British warships after Hood is lost: determination, pride, and a thirst for vengeance ("There's a sense of new grimness and determination to pursue the Bismarck and avenge the Hood." – James, 21:24).
• Personal accounts, like that of Sub Lieutenant George Wally from HMS Tartar, are used to humanize the scale of loss and resolve.

6. Fog of War: Naval Maneuvers and the Chase Intensifies

• The North Atlantic’s treacherous weather, fog, and high seas play a major role in the engagement and pursuit.
• Both sides engage in cat-and-mouse maneuvers, using fog banks for cover and radar for tracking.
• Wake Walker’s key intuition almost leads to a direct collision, avoided only at the last moment (22:26–23:12).

7. American Cameo: The Modoc Incident

• The US Coast Guard cutter Modoc accidentally stumbles onto the scene (25:03–25:55). Both sides recognize each other, but, in the interest of neutrality, no engagement occurs.
• Highlights the growing reach of Allied cooperation, even as the US was not yet at war.

8. The Fleet Air Arm Attack from HMS Victorious

• The maiden operation for the new carrier Victorious and her green crews.
• Nine Swordfish biplanes (with minimal night-landing experience) brave wild weather and formidable anti-aircraft fire for a torpedo run ("What Dams raid. You can keep your dams raid." – Al, 29:10).
• One torpedo strike achieves minor flooding but exacerbates prior battle damage, especially to Bismarck’s boiler room.

9. Breakdown in British Communication

• Showcased “fog of war” in signals and plotting errors: a misplaced signal leads Admiral Tovey and his ships hundreds of miles off course (44:22–45:26).
• The Admiralty and fleet command try to make sense of (and correct) the confusion amidst multiple signals and technological limitations ("It's a massive [mess] actually." – James, 44:22).

10. Lutjens’ Fateful Birthday Pep Talk

• As Bismarck gains a real lead and the immediate chase falters, crew morale and perception of command are explored.
• Lutjens gives a sobering, fatalistic speech to mark his 52nd birthday:

  "If we have to die let us take with us as many of the enemy as we can."
  (Lutjens, recounted by James, 50:53)

11. Resumption of the Chase

• British fleets realign and accel forward after directions are ultimately corrected; destroyer screens attempt to close the distance.
• The damage to Bismarck leaves her limping but not yet cornered; both sides are running against time.

12. Cliffhanger Conclusion

• As dawn breaks on May 26, both sides face uncertainty, but an RAF Catalina appears on the horizon, setting up the next chapter of the pursuit.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "Ships don't make fleets and fleets make navies. If you... You can build ships but what you need is fleets if you want to have a navy."
  – Al Murray (04:07)

• "There's a sense of new grimness and determination to pursue the Bismarck and avenge the Hood."
  – James Holland (21:24)

• "It was like watching a gigantic chess game with the whole North Atlantic as a board and each unit with the freedom of movement of a queen but without her devastating disregard for distance."
  – Sub Lt. George Wally (quoted by James, 20:01)

• "Right chaps, this is what we’re going to do. I just imagine your air crew there, you're just thinking, 'Oh… okay.'"
  – Al Murray (29:25)

• "Let us take with us as many of the enemy as we can."
  – Admiral Lutjens’ birthday message (recounted by James, 50:53)

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Timeline of Important Segments

• 00:52 – 06:56: Recap of previous events and assessment of Bismarck’s predicament
• 09:53 – 13:26: Strategic vs. tactical thinking—a German shortcoming?
• 14:36 – 18:48: British response; emotional and tactical narratives from the fleet
• 22:26 – 23:26: Wake Walker and Lindemann’s simultaneous maneuvers in the fog—a near disaster
• 25:03 – 26:27: US Coast Guard's Modoc episode—the American cameo in the chase
• 27:12 – 33:58: The Swordfish attack from HMS Victorious; incredible feats by unseasoned crews
• 35:20 – 36:09: Bismarck damage assessment; speed reduction and urgency for Brest
• 44:22 – 47:32: British communication errors and the blunders at fleet command
• 50:53 – 51:05: Lutjens’s birthday address—futility and fatalism
• 55:52 – 56:07: Setup for next episode—the arrival of the RAF Catalina and the return of Swordfish

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Tone and Style

• Witty and conversational, characteristic of Al Murray and James Holland's style.
• Frequent tongue-in-cheek humor lightens the technical discussion of naval warfare.
• Authentic camaraderie and exasperated admiration for both the absurdities and heroics of WWII.

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Summary

This episode vividly illustrates the epic scale and complexities of the pursuit phase of the Bismarck saga. The hosts convey how both luck and expertise, as well as human intuition and hardship, drove the action at sea. The episode deftly balances deep military analysis with human stories, painting a vivid picture of determined sailors, strained communications, and the immense stakes at play. The cliffhanger ending promises more drama as the story heads toward its climactic resolution.

Transcript

[A]

Thank you for listening to we have ways of making you talk. Sign up to our Patreon to receive bonus content, live streams and our weekly newsletter with money off books and museum visits as well. Plus early access to all live show tickets. That's patreon.com we haveways. Sub Lieutenant David Beryl failed to return to Victorious only a few hours after he had taken part in the attack against Bismarck a year ago. He took part as an observer in the bombing in broad daylight of the enemy gun emplacements behind Dunkirk. Of the 10 aircraft sent on this operation, five were shot down and those that returned were well battered. A month later he was turned upside down in a swordfish at night in a field while returning from a bombing raid. Some months afterwards he went into the sea in the back of a swordfish over the side of HMS Furious. And again later he went over again. I have never seen him dismayed under any circumstances. And that's Captain John Bovell of HMS Victorious relating the story of Fleet Air Arm officer and welcome to. We have ways of making you talk with me, our Murray James Holland for the first episode of. Say it, Jim.

[B]

Sink the Bismarck.

[A]

That's right.

[B]

How exciting is this? And it's literally got everything because obviously you and I are now completely obsessed with all matters naval and it's got Swordfish.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And battleships and heavy cruisers and light cruisers and Tribal class destroyers. It's got the lot.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

It's got great characters. It's got the mightiest battleship the Germans ever produced. There is literally nothing not to like about this absolutely amazing story. And originally when we were going to do this, we were going to do four episodes of on the whole thing and now we're doing eight because we got a bit carried away with Hood and why wouldn't you? So we've done Hood versus Bismarck and now this is part two of that extraordinary escapade, Sink the Bismarck.

[A]

It's literally all hands on deck, this situation. That's what's so amazing about this. It's the Royal Navy's intent to snuff the Bismarck threat out. And Admiral Lutyens, in the last four episodes we rather characterised him as sort of fatalistic and doomed and looking, looking.

[B]

Out into the middle distance and sighing.

[A]

A lot, Sighing a lot, thinking, oh.

[B]

Well, I've had it, my ship is doomed.

[A]

He had every reason to feel like that because this is the maths that the Germans have decided to take on by building a surface fleet in a weird way, trying to play big boys games in terms of naval Action. They've got themselves and these crews and these officers and these men into this terrible situation where the minute they leave Norway they're spotted. Their options are either to sail down the Channel or through the De Mark Straits. All their options are rotten and it's simply a matter of time, isn't it?

[B]

They could have done the Pharaoh Shetland Gap. Yeah, maybe, but it's not much of a gap when you're reigned against the largest navy in the world, you know, so that therein lies the rub. And you're absolutely right, you know. And they've also done the same sort of mistake to a certain extent that the current Royal Navy in the UK has done, which is building, you know, it's two vast carriers but no support around it, or not sufficient support around it.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And it's great having a really powerful world's biggest battleship, but if you haven't got the tools that go with it, you're going to be in trouble. And they haven't got any places to dock and oil, they've got tankers sort of roaming around in the Atlantic at various points. But the mistakes that Lutjens has made, not refuelling when he was at Bergen, not refuelling again before going into the Denmark Straits is really coming back to haunt him in a very, very big way. And the problems that the Kriegsmarine have of trying to play this big game of sending these, these capital ships out to Maraud Allied convoys is the shortcomings are really starting to become very, very clear.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

You know, a lucky shot from Bismarck hit the Hood and destroyed the Hood. But a lucky shot from Prince of Wales also caused untold damage to the Bismarck. Slowed her down and she's operating not at max capability already.

[A]

But what this is about is ships don't make fleets and fleets make navies. And if you, you, you can build ships but what you need is fleets if you want to have a navy. And, and what they've done is built themselves some, some exciting big battleships, but just nowhere near enough. They haven't built a fleet. You need a fleet and without fleet you don't have a navy. And they're in this invidious position where they're. No, sir, they're up against the world's biggest navy, which is made up of lots of fleets and seemingly endless ships, as we'll see, you know, when the basic, the balloon goes up and they know that the, the Royal Navy knows that the Bismarck's there for the take.

[B]

Well, I, I mean, I can't imagine anyone Listening to this hasn't already listened to Hood versus Bismarck but just in case they haven't is it worth us giving a quick one minute recap?

[A]

Yes, absolutely. One minute recap. Go Jim.

[B]

The battleship Bismarck and Prinz Eugen have left Germany. They've gone up the coast of Norway, round the top of Iceland into the Denmark Straits which is a comparatively narrow channel between the west coast of Iceland and the east coast of Greenland up in the Arctic to sort of then go. And the plan is to then move out into the Atlantic where they can maraud allied convoys. But they've got ships in pursuit, they've got the cruisers Norfolk and Suffolk shadowing them and they've been also been intercepted by the brand new British battleship the Prince of Wales and the battle cruiser HMS Hood which is the most famous battle ship warship in the world.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And there's an engagement called the Battle of the Denmark Straits on the 24th of May and in that Hood is struck and there is a catastrophic explosion and this mighty warship sinks very, very quickly. And it was with the end of Hood and Bismarck pushing on to the south that we left our last series. So this is the continuation of that.

[A]

Extraordinary story and although it's a 20 minute encounter this just before 6 in the morning and the Hood is lost but the Bismarck is damaged badly enough that she knows she's got in the bow, in the bow she's lost fuel, she's had problems with her steering and stuff. So they know basically Admiral Gunter Lutins knows he's got to get her fixed to go to Brest where there's a dry dock. Yes, as quickly as he can but of course he can't go quickly because he's been damaged. So he's lost some speed, he's lost some of his edge because that's part. One of the advantages of Bismarck is she's, she's pretty quick. Basically what he's going to do is rely on the fact that the Atlantic.

[B]

Is enormous which is.

[A]

And hope that if he steams on he can shake the Royal Navy off. But if he can get her to Sanazaire initially he can get her patched up and then head back out into the Atlantic with the Scharnhorstiganised now and they can do their marauding and they can do some convoy raiding although even that how long for?

[B]

That's the plan. Sounds great on paper.

[A]

Well I don't think it does sound great on paper actually.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Particularly as. I mean the other thing is the Scharn, Austin and Eisenhower have had an Absolutely diabolical time in dock, in harbour with the Royal Air Force. Essentially they've had the unrelenting attention of the Royal Air Force.

[B]

Well, yes, and this is the kind of slightly push me pull you kind of problems or advantages that the Germans face. Because if you're in Kiel or Bremen or either gotten Halfen, which is now in Poland, after all, up in the Baltic, you're comparatively safe. You know, even if you're deep in the fjord by Bergen, you're comparatively okay. But if you're hopping a skip across the channel in Brittany, in Brest or Saint Nazaire, you're pretty exposed. You know, there's only so much that kind of anti aircraft defence can do and booms and all the rest of it.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And as we discussed in an early episode, you know, the damage has been made. So yes, it's great that you're so close to the Atlantic, but you're also closer to British bombers and Coastal Command and Bomber Command and all the rest of it. So that's a problem. And by the way, the command structure is such that Gunter Lutjens is a guy overall in command, but the captain of the Bismarck is Capitan Z. Lindemann. And Lindemann and Leuchens are not aligned at all on what they should do. Lindemann is all for doing 180 degrees and heading back up through the Denmark Straits. That's their best chance of escape. Yeah, you know, that's questionable, but. But both routes, whether you go back over the north of Iceland.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And into the arms of the comparatively narrower, smaller waters of the North Sea, or whether you go down into the vastness of the Atlantic. There's both problems because obviously you can get back to the safety of a fjord in Norway quicker along night. You might be able to kind of pull it off for, you know, a couple of nights. Whereas the Atlantic is going to take you a long time. The longer you're out there, the longer the British have to kind of muster their own forces. So it's really six of one, half a dozen the other. And fact that Lutchens makes a decision to go for Saint Nazaire, which then becomes Brest, as it happens. It's not a straightforward decision. No, but he's made it. He's made his bed and now he's going to have to lie in it along with all his men.

[A]

And again, his problem is that he can't go. He can't go as fast as he'd hope because of the damage. You know, they've had to repair the ship, they're repairing the ship on the hoof. And so rather than cruising at sort of 30 knots maximum, we could actually cover quite a lot of ground quite quickly. They're down to 24 knots which, you know, opportunities for the Royal Navy, for the admiralty to strike are blossoming, aren't they? Is the truth.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

It's interesting, isn't it? The Germans are in a tremendous rush. The Royal Navy isn't particularly. It's sort of gathering itself well, it's.

[B]

In a rush in the sense that it needs to intercept while they can.

[A]

But it's gathering all its assets it possibly can. There's a difference, isn't there, in other aspects? The Germans are operating, this is all tactical. They're just thinking tactically, whereas the Royal Navy is operating on a strategic level here.

[B]

Yeah, that's absolutely right.

[A]

You know, and we've talked about that in land fighting where the Germans are, they're always thinking tactically. You know, Kesselring in Italy, he's thinking tactically the old time, what can I do right now? What can I do right now rather than what will benefit me in the long term? What's the best use of my assets in the long term?

[B]

It's that short termism.

[A]

Exactly. Complete absence of strategic component in their thinking.

[B]

This is the Bismarck's first operational trip. It's launched in 1939 to great fanfare. You know, it's probably launched as an operational ship the previous autumn of 1940. It's been working up, doing exercises, getting its crew training, all the rest of it up until this point. Yeah. You know, when it leaves the Baltic on 18 May 1941, this is its first mission, its first ever mission. The most vaunted, heralded, biggest battleship in the world, you know, about which the Germans have made unbelievable mileage and fanfare and film footage and Hitler visiting the crew on the 5th of May and all this sort of stuff and coming aboard, blah blah, blah. I mean it couldn't be more high profile. So everyone's watching. So Luchens is in a bind. You know, which way does he go? Does he go back up the Denmark Straits? Does he go down to Brittany? He's made the decision to go to Brittany, but he's also got the Prinz Eugen with him, which is a cruiser. So he thinks actually I'll just be better off on my own because two's a crowd. It means you've got to factor in them as well, makes them bigger target, blah blah, blah. So he orders Capitan's Z Brinkmann who's the captain of the, of the Prinz Eugen to detach and says go and hunt independently before returning safely to the Baltic. And Admiral Raeder who is the commander in chief of the Kriegsmarine of the German Navy is back in Germany. He recognizes that Lutjens is the best man to make his call. He's the man on the spot so he goes, okay, fine, that's your call. But Lutchens has also signaled his intention so radar is now able to prep for all eventualities or do what he can to prep for all eventualities, which is comparatively limited. So destroyers are alert in the North Sea operating out of bases in Norway. U boats are sent on to patrol the Faroe Shetland Passage. Luftlotter 5 in Norway is put on alert in San Azer. Dry docks prepared. So are they in Brest. Barrage balloons are raised. Searchlights heavy and light flak are ordered immediately to the port. Which makes you think what, they weren't already there? I mean what the heck's going on? Loflotte3 which is in France is also on alert and Donitz is ordered to put all his U boats at Bismarck's disposal. Well if the U boats are all at Bismarck's disposal then they can't be just stopping Allied convoys, can they? Yeah, because as we've already pointed out in an earlier series about the Atlantic war, there aren't very many U boats at this point. You know, you're talking about a maximum of probably 10 operating in the Atlantic at any one time. Yeah, so again it's a bit like the battle for Norway where the U boats were taken out of the Atlantic to kind of get involved in the Norwegian campaign, take them out of the Atlantic. They can't do what they're supposed to do, which is destroy Allied shipping. If you put them over to the defense of the Bismarck, that's what they're doing. They're now not destroying convoys because you can absolutely bet your bottom dollar no convoy is going to go anywhere near this. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you've got a problem on your hand. Anyway, after that afternoon of the, of the 24th of May following the morning battle of the Denmark Straits, Bismarck's speed drops from 26 knots to 24 knots and then a little bit more later on as well. So yeah, the problems are multiplying and you think okay, it's great that raider's doing all this, this, you know, putting people on alert and getting luff. Lot of, you know, weren't they on alert anyway? I mean it's Kind of sounds good but so what?

[A]

But this goes to my point is the Germans are operating in this sort of immediate tactical space and they don't have a. They don't, they aren't thinking in a strategic sense at all because if Bismarck were out and about she'd expect to take damage. So you'd expect to have a dry dock ready so you'd expect to have the air cover for said dry dock. The air forces, the Luftwaffe are on hold for that exact eventuality but they're just reacting to everything. It's all reaction rather than deep planning. Yes, but then that's characteristic of the German war effort in general. I think it's interesting to see it played out here on the sea just as much as anywhere else. So when we get through all of this, all of the assets deployed it's almost like there's that Simpsons meme kicking someone on the floor. It's a bit like that. So the British destroyers head back to Havelfjord and Iceland to refuel.

[B]

These are the destroyers that were with Norfolk and Suffolk.

[A]

Yeah with this flotilla around Norfolk and Suffolk.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Prince of Wales is patched up and of course there's civilian contractors on board because the guns, the guns are brand new and don't quite work and they've been involved in the battle which is I think do draw overtime for that. And by midday Captain John Leach, the Prince of Wales he's confident he can carry on fighting if necessary.

[B]

Let me at them sir.

[A]

I mean it's extraordinary. Everyone's a pocket Nelson aren't they? Forget pocket battleships. It's pocket Nelson's pocket.

[B]

Yeah, that's very good.

[A]

Admiral Tovey says to him just shadow the Bismarck please. Why lose another capital ship when when you're bringing so many that the Bismarck won't know what to shoot at is to basically.

[B]

Okay so, so let's hear it. Well yeah, it's quite impressive.

[A]

Yeah. Well yeah so the weather's clear the south of the Denmark Straits and Admiral Frederick Wake Walker who's. Come on, come on. So the 12th Cruiser Squadron, that's who's shadowing the Bismarck, he's got the Prince of Wales, the Norfolk and Suffolk and they're moving their way through the fog. But the radar, British radar is too good and can keep track of the Bismarck by early evening. Revisibility is reduced to six miles and they're sending signals, they're closing in and one of the reasons they're able to close it is because the Bismarck's losing speed. Yep. And they really, really you know there's two good reasons now to sink the Bismarck, let alone the important strategic reason to remove a major dangerous asset from the Kriegsmarines inventory. It's the Hood and people really want revenge. So Admiral Pound. Dudley Pound orders up his dispositions for this battle. And before the battle of Trafalgar the first order of the Admiralty, Lord Byram, you know, sets in motion all the ships that are then able to turn up for that battle.

[B]

Well Pound can now pretty much do the same thing, can't he?

[A]

Do what he wants.

[B]

You know, when you've got a large army, a large navy rather. Yeah, this is what you can do. You've suddenly got a lot of assets and you can do what the hell you like. You can maneuver them all over the place from all different corners of the globe. And that's exactly what.

[A]

Because navies of fleets rather than ships. So HMS Revenge is sent from Halifax, Ramillies sent from Newfoundland. The light cruisers Manchester, Birmingham, Arethusa there are ordered to new positions, the Denmark Strait. Then from northeast of the Azores the cruises London and Edinburgh are ordered onto, onto the, from the west of the Clyde the battleship HMS Rodney and the destroyers Eskimo, Tartar and Moshona are also ordered into the Atlantic Force H which.

[B]

Yeah, and these are all Tribal class. These are all Tribal class destroyers. They're the latest, newest, fanciest destroyers bristling with torpedoes and weaponry.

[A]

Yeah, Force H, which is based out of Gibraltar is on its way with Art Royal the carrier, the battlecruiser Renown and the light cruiser Sheffield and Admiral Vian's destroyers and they're all just, they've just been told drop what you're doing.

[B]

There'S a bigger fish to fry.

[A]

Exactly. And we're gonna deep fry it and then air fry it.

[B]

Yes, we're the lions and we're gonna get the jackal.

[A]

Wake Walker is ordered to stick to the Bismarck even if it means running out of fuel. So just keep your radar eyes on her. And then.

[B]

And is that's not enough?

[A]

I mean this is fantastic. Then Admiral Tovey is coming with a king George V KG5 Repulse, the new carrier Victorious. Admiral Curtis's second cruiser squadron with Galatea, Aurora, Kenya and Neptune nine destroyers and they're just 360 miles away. So if they're steaming on hard they're going to get there. They're going to get there dead quick.

[B]

And I mean this is just fantastic, isn't it?

[A]

When we talked about big boys games earlier, this is the problem. If you're the Kriegsmarine. Right. This is why. Why are you building surface ships? Because this is. This is what's going to happen to them.

[B]

Right. But also what you've also got is a large number of fighting naval commanders who have been around the block who've been beaten up at Dartmouth when they were 14, have kind of gone through the First World War. You have seen plenty of action all around the world in the Mediterranean and elsewhere, you know, in the. In the interwar period, have since been involved in the Second World War. And these guys are really, really good. Completely imperturbable and have got to where they've got to by proving their worth. Time, time again. Yeah, that's this. When the news is broken about the sinking of Hood, Tovey's on the bridge of the. Of the KG5, the King George V and the. And he's told via the fleet wireless officer who's Commander Jacob, who comes and tells him very excitably and then Toby just goes, all right Jacob, there's no need to shout.

[A]

That's extraordinary, isn't it?

[B]

But of course Toby has got a bit of a problem on his hands because he's got a second guess what Luchin's is trying to do with Bismarck and indeed Prince Zygon still at this point. And he doesn't know about the splitting up because that hasn't happened yet. And he's got to kind of work out where to. Where to send all this vast forces. But he's under no illusion that the Atlantic really, really is vast. And I can tell you from having done that trip across the Atlantic in December, it really, really is. But I think it was also, it's worth mentioning there's an amazing count of this whole episode by a sub lieutenant on HMS Tartar, which is one of the tribal classes which is attached to the Rodney. And he's called Sub Lieutenant George Wally. And Wally's only been in the Navy a year. He's rmvr. He still considers himself massively wet behind the ears and already this has been a very tough trip. And he says, you know. Cause the weather's been absolutely disgusting, you know. And so it has. You know, we've talked a lot about fog banks and huge waves and all the rest of it. So don't underestimate how tough it is this life on a tribal class in the kind of wide big ocean, trying to sort of shadow these cruisers and battleships which can obviously cut through the waves much more effectively than a very small destroyer.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

But anyway, at noon on the 24th of May, HMS Eskimo has been detached with the Britannic which is a troop ship and sent on to America. While Tartar and Mashona are told to stick with HMS Rodney, the battleship. And Wally always seems to be on watch at night and he says there it was like watching a gigantic chess game with the whole North Atlantic as a board and each unit with the freedom of movement of a queen but without her devastating disregard for distance. And Wally and crew then all learn about the loss of the hood that day, the 24th of May. You know, in the forenoon as they call the morning, he writes it still does not seem possible that such a big ship with beauty and speed in her lines should suddenly have gone, that our ship's company taking their ease on deck will no more eye her with satisfaction and delight. And I really do think that that line kind of sums up what Hood means to Royal Navy crews. Yeah, every single man knows exactly who the Hood is, what it is, what it represents and what this loss means.

[A]

But if it means that to naval people, what does it mean in terms of national prestige and politics? Yeah, that's what these things are, aren't they? When we talked about the blitz and about London being bombed and the blow to British power and prestige of the center of the world's largest empire, its commercial center being attacked. It's got that kind of resonance, hasn't it?

[B]

Yes, and shock and shock.

[A]

Absolute shock.

[B]

Yeah, and shock when it then goes yeah, yeah. But aboard Tartar and you can imagine this is replicated across every single warship that's now hurtling towards the Bismarck. There's a sense of new grimness and determination to pursue the Bismarck and avenge the Hood. Yeah. So you've now got the situation on the afternoon of the 24th of May, the afternoon of the morning where Hood has been lost, that the gamut of Royal Navy assets are all now being driven towards the Bismarck but in unseasonably rough seas. So Tartar is hurtling at a maximum speed through the mountain seas. The Stroy is rocking up to 50 degrees at times. I mean can you imagine? So there's little to be feeling cheerful about on Tartar. It's a grim undertaking in grim conditions but you know, jaws are set basically. Well of course then there's a moment of intuition, a kind of sixth sense. What we've talked about a lot in other circles, circumstances. And this comes with Admiral Wake Walker who is the commander of the squadron pursuing the Bismarck.

[A]

He thinks to himself surely she's going to change Course she, she has to surely. And Admiral Lutyens on board the Bismarck he's really aware you know he knows he's being pursued. He's got to do everything he can to shake them off. So at 6:39pm And I love how we know this at the minute it takes a sudden change course he basically turns round 180 degrees to head in the other direction in a fog bank. Wake Walker at the same moment pretty much has ordered a 360 degree turn. And as the fog clears Bismarck is just nine miles away. The fog clears of course. So that means Bismarck opened fires on the Suffolk. Mrs. Suffolk scuttles into the fog. But because of Wake Walker's hunch the Bismarck would have been almost directly upon them and probably blown her out of the water.

[B]

Yep.

[A]

Suffolk fires nine broadsides. Norfolk also opened fires. But Prince of Wales guns which as we saw we, we said in the previous episodes are brand new and aren't quite working. Ms. Fire again. So those, those technicians are dog.

[B]

Oh I thought we fixed it boss.

[A]

But this means that Luty's figures and there's intuition in all of this because they don't know Lucian's twigs that Suffolk has the radar. And so losing the cruiser in the fog has given Bismarck her brief advantage. And during this far fight Prince Eugen is able to, to get away. So the gunnery officer forgarten Capitaine Jasper he can see gunfire through the fog and mist as they speed south as they get out of there and he says there goes our big brother. We are going to miss him very very much. The U boats aren't too far away but the Admiralty of you know noticed the signal traffic that there's U boat signal traffic. So it's obviously U boats are coming. Yep. So they're able to dodge them. So so this means that you're still in hot contact with the Bismarck. And here comes the US Coast Guard. James.

[B]

Yes. Well should we take a quick break and then get back to that afterwards?

[A]

Yes, why not. We'll take a quick break for the US Coast Guard to come to the rescue because this in a sense is an allied effort even though they're not quite in it yet. We'll see after the break. Welcome back to. We have ways of making you talk with me Al Murray and James Holland. And we left Leon on the thrilling cliffhanger particularly for our American listeners of the imminent involvement in this story of the US Coast Guard. So Jim, what we've got here is the U.S. coast Guard. It's a cutter, the Modoc Yes. And she's a nice patrol boat at 1800 tons.

[B]

Yeah. So she's basically crept up the Canadian coast up towards sort of south of Greenland. This is where, where, where she is. So that's why she, you know as Bismarck and Eugene are kind of emerging out of the, out of the Denmark Straits into the wider Atlantic. She's there, you know, she, she's a small ice patrol boat but she's out there searching for the survivors of convoy HX126 and also patrolling as part of the defense of Greenland. And it's about 11:15pm They've seen absolutely nothing for days. Lt. Backus who is the officer of the watch is doing his usual interminable sweep from the bridge with his binoculars and then suddenly there it is, there, the Bismarck. Kind of this huge figure on the, on the horizon speeding south. And Bismarck must have sighted MODOK at the same time.

[A]

Yeah. Gee Captain, there's something on the horizon. Oh my God.

[B]

It's a huge great battleship.

[A]

I think it's the Bismarck.

[B]

Most of the crew from that the Bismarck does no deviation, makes no attempt to engage, recognizes that it's an American ship and a neutral. So just cracks on. And also it's not going to waste its time on a tiny little poxy 1800 tonight. Coast Guard cutter. Most of the crew rush up to see the giant battleship and then see biplane suddenly appear and swarm towards the Bismarck followed by Norfolk, Suffolk and the Prince of Wales. And at the same time Prince of Wales trains her guns towards the Murdoch and Wake Walker is not as well briefed as Lutyens clearly.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And then fortunately in the nick of time MODOK is identified and back they go. But unknown to Lutyens, Admiral Tovey has sent HMS Victorious ahead. And you'll remember Victorious is a brand new aircraft carrier which is with Tovey's KG5 and Renown and it's commanded by Captain Henry Bovill and laid down in 1937, launched in September 1939 but only commissioned into service on the 14th of May this year, 1941. So this is like the Bismarck, this is her first wartime operation. It hasn't even probably been worked up yet. And working up is the process by which you train all the crew, you make sure that everything works, you know, you do your speed runs, you check your, you know, flying on and off and all that kind of stuff.

[A]

Yeah. Find out what's wrong with her.

[B]

And it has actually just had 48 crated hurricanes put on board for Malta. Only nine swordfish of 825 Naval Air Squadron and a single flight of Fulmars. So in many ways it's greener than the Bismarck is anyway. Captain Bovell hopes to be within 100 miles of Bismarck by 9 o'. Clock. But then the battleship diverts to let Prinz Eugen go into the open gap. So by 10pm it's still 120 miles away and this is beyond the operational range that Bovill laid down for his new crew. He thinks that should be 100 miles max but the weather's deteriorating with low cloud and squalls and so on. And of course they're so high up that it's still light at this time. And the longer Boval leaves it, you know, the harder it's going to be to find the Bismarck. So there's a sense of mounting urgency to get to her. So he thinks right, okay, we're just gonna have to do it as soon as we get to 100 miles. Off you go boys. So 825 Squadron is divided into three subflights which are led by Eugene Esmond, Purty Gick, the squadron CEO and Speed Pollard. And of course he's called Speed because he's slow. So lethargic a character. And these are all three career Royal Navy but the only men with any kind of experience. So the rest of the crews are all greenhorns really. Yeah. And they're all briefed by Commander Ranald who's the flight operations officer given silhouettes of the Bismarck. Don't get it wrong, you know, this is what it looks like bombing Suffolk and Norfolk, what have you. And you know, then they're told about the method of attack. So it just gets to show how green they all are. Yeah, and this is, I just want to straighten this out. This is a really, really big ask because the weather's really bad as we've repeatedly said. You know, they'll be taking off from a swaying carrier flying 100 miles in decreasing visibility. They then have to find the Bismarck, attack it with its devastating array of anti aircraft weaponry, then fly back in darkness and land in darkness. Okay, and own. Of the 27 aircrew involved, only three have any experience.

[A]

I'm going to say this right now Jim. What Dams raid. You can keep your dams raid.

[B]

It reinforces our love of swordfish. I'd like to think.

[A]

Well in the Fleet Air armed crews, the Fleet Air armed crews have absolutely, I mean what the heck, totally the cajones on the Fleet Air arm.

[B]

Right chaps, this is what we're going to do. I just Imagine your air crew there, you're just thinking oh okay.

[A]

And Esmond is deeply experienced though he's been in for a long time. He's an Irishman from a family of essentially Irish nationalists, but has joined the Fleet Air Arm because he thinks Hitler's a threat to the whole world and all this sort of thing. He's quite the chap Esmond. He will resurface when we get around the Channel. Dash as well because one of the things about the Fleet Air Arm is it's tiny.

[B]

Not a lot to go round, not.

[A]

A lot to go round. So everyone ends up everywhere doing everything. If you look at the Swordfish crew, everyone ends up on everything. It's quite amazing. So at 10pm Victorious turns to starboard, reduces speed 15 knots and off go these nine, four swordfish following Esmond. Eugene Esmond. Captain Bobble watches them disappear, suspects he'll never see any of them again. Which is not unlike Taranto, isn't it where they, they set off for the odds. They're thinking the odds are completely stacked against them. They do find the Bismarck and this is what the Americans on USS Modoc saw with disbelief. And they don't believe it on the Bismarck either. They simply don't believe it. And you have third gunnery Officer Capitan Lieutenant Buchard Baron von Mullenheim Rethberg. It was incredible to see such obsolete looking planes having the nerve to attack a fire spitting mountain like the Bismarck. And this is an absolute classic Fleet Air Arm pressing the attack home in spite of the odds. Esmond's flight. They come in first. They're very low on the port beam. They're dropping their torpedoes at a half a mile's range. A minute later Gick's three planes are straight on on the port barrel. Gick's not happy with his run. So what does he do Jim? He turns round and he does it again.

[B]

Does again. It's all very Warby esque, isn't it?

[A]

It's all of it. A massive flak from 50 guns. One of the cannon on Bismarck becomes so hot it has to be doused with a water. But she manages. And this, I think this is really interesting this isn't it because even with all these aircraft coming at it they could dodge the torpedoes because she's maneuverable. She's sort of nimble enough for all her size, nimble enough to dodge most of the torpedoes except one which is Lieutenant Lawson who creeps around unnoticed to the starboard side there. He's silhouetted against the setting sun but manages to drop his torpedo and then zip back up into the safety of the clouds and this torpedo hits Bismarck amidships on the starboard side followed by a big burst of black smoke from the funnel. And the Fulmars who are offering cover for the Swordfish, they see this explosion and here we go.

[B]

I mean it's just amazing that not every single Swordfish managed to get back and land on Victorious again. By which time it's dark. Can you imagine?

[A]

No.

[B]

In this sort of, you know, rising swell and not a single one shot down, although loads of them are really badly damaged. But because they're canvas. Yep, it's a bit like a hurricane. Take quite a lot of punishment and they count 175 shrapnel marks on one of them. 175. The reasons why they're not shot down is because the Bismarck is so busy constantly dodging torpedoes, makes aim very difficult and also they're so slow they're allowing far too much deflection in their shooting so they get away with it.

[A]

Their other big advantage of course as well as the fabric is that they have twice as much wing as a monoplane. So they've. Yes, you can smash up one of the wings, you've got another three basically because they're biplanes, they've just got that much more lift.

[B]

But they're heading back to the Victorious and Bovill's getting increasingly worried. They should have been been back around 1am he reckons they're now far further south so it's now very dark. Then they enter a rain squall, the signal projector switched on but visibility is absolutely zero and the signal lamp can't be seen. And at 1:15 there's still no sign and then nor is there at 1:30 and at 1:45 there still isn't. And he thinks well God they're 45 minutes late. That's it. You know my predictions was right, I'm not going to see one of them again. And Boval and his crew are really depressed about it. And then suddenly at 2am approaching engines are heard and Victorious turns into the wind and one after another the Swordfish come in to land. Yeah, three crews, three of the crews have never even done a night landing before. It just begs belief doesn't it? One engine does cut out. The moment it touches down it's run out of of fuel. Lieutenant Gick's air gunner pretty Petty Officer Sayer is soaked and be suspended the whole trip back because blast from a 15 inch shell knocked the flooring out from underneath. Him. So he's just hanging there.

[A]

Dear God.

[B]

The whole trip back. I mean can you imagine?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

In the dark in the rain across the Atlantic. It's just it, it, it's hard to sort of comprehend that isn't it?

[A]

But his, his membership of the Stoic Club. Sayer's membership of the Stoic Club is absolutely assured.

[B]

Good.

[A]

All the way back he's saying.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Bloody drafty back here.

[B]

Both the formers are lost. One came down in the sea and incredibly the crew were picked up by a passing ship. But the other one's lost forever which is a tragedy. But the Swordfish do get back. And meanwhile off the near brush with the Modoc wake. Walker's squadron briefly lose touch of Bismarck for an hour.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So it's all a bit panicky. And Prince of Wales fires off two Salvos. Bismarck replies with two non accurate. And then contact lost again in the dark. Although Suffolk does still have her on radar.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And on Bismarck the one torpedo causes minor flooding but really it's barely a scratch. One man is killed in action when he hits his head caused by the blast of the, the explosion. And this is Bismarck's first casualty. But huge numbers of empty shell cases. And to keep up morale Bismarck's loudspeaker announces that they've been attacked by 27 aircraft and shot down five tell the crew that only one plane had made it back to his caravan. This is just absolute nonsense.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And while the torpedo attack might not have made a huge amount of difference earlier damage to the number two boiler room from that hit from Prince of Wales in the battle of the Denmark strikes. That is getting worse.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And it's aggravated by the high speed twisting and turning during the Swordfish attack. Of course you know what you really want is just a sort of steady course. You don't want any water coming into that hole and all the rest of it. But the more you're sort of swerving around the more the whole thing is, is, is twisting. And so they have to reduce the speeds. Try and get the bilge pumps going and get rid of the water that's come on board. And it's not for another hour that they're able to increase speeds again but only to 20 knots. I mean you know they need to be doing 28 or 30.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So it's a problem. And Lucht now realizes he has to abandon his leisurely course and cut directly towards Brest which is where they're now going to be heading.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And get there as soon as possible. And it also Means no more engagements because they've absolutely got rid of a stack of ammo and they haven't run out yet. But you know keep going at that rate.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

It's not going to last.

[A]

Yeah. He tends to arrive at the. The right decision too late doesn't he? Luchens after the event.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

He should have decided on this sooner.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

It's a part of his decision making isn't it that he's one step behind what he ought to be doing. He must know that there are more warships. Every new engagement with the Royal Navy tells him there are more warships coming for him. He knows from Kriegsmarine Group west that Force H has left Gibraltar. So you know the trap is closing isn't it? And as night wears on it's clear that the shadowing force is falling behind. And they're listening on the hydrophone and their own radar suggests that the British ships are zigzagging. So he thinks right it's my chance to get away. Worth a punt. And in fact actually what they're doing is they're tidying up their course up to 30 degrees either side of you know they're basically reorienting themselves based on what the. What the Bismarcks do. So at 3 o' clock in the morning with the British ships that furthest away they have been so far. Lindemann orders a sharp turn to starboard, brief increase in speed and off they go. And this funnily enough this works. And Suffolk fails to pick up Bismarck on her inward leg and she's vanished completely. She increases speed, she's listening but there's nothing. And at five o' clock in the morning. So two hours later Captain Ellis on board the Suffolk. And this must have, I mean imagine in ordering this signal. Oh God you'd have had, you'd have thought. I mean for a bollocking. He signals wake Walker have lost contact with enemy.

[B]

And I'll tell you what my conclusions are in all of this is that Lindemann is substantially better than Lutchin's.

[A]

Yes. He's a sharper naval mind isn't he?

[B]

Yeah. And after all you know Lichens was the naval commander at Norway and you know made an absolute ass of it. So Lutchens has turned due west then northwest, then north then northeast. He crosses the track of The British squadron 20 miles astern behind them.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So in other words he's done a big sort of.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So he's done a great big loop and then he settles on a south eastly course of 130 degrees. You know, they have outfoxed the British. But it's not Lurchins has done it, it's Lindemann who's ordered those maneuvers. So this is a bit of a calamity for the British and Bovill had the Fulmars for searching and observation but they're very, very inexperienced. You know, it's needle in the haystack stuff. So he sends them out but the crews are totally equipped for the task and they spot absolutely nothing. So Boval then sends off seven Swordfish at first light to search east and southeast. They're all ready for 7am departure and planning a course at east and southeast. But at 7:16 they receive a signal from Toby ordering them to search west and north because Toby has been told of the loss of contact at 6:00am a.m. and Toby reckons that Bismarck most likely heading for France but needs to eliminate the other options. You know, are you going back through the fairways Shetland Gap or around the Denmark Straits again off over the top of Iceland? So if Bismarck is heading for France she could be bottled up there and, and even if she's not sunk on route, but marauding in the Atlantic is absolutely not acceptable. So it's the sort of lesser of two evils really. Toby's got instinct to saying that, that Bismarck is still heading for France but what is absolutely unacceptable is allowing her to get out into the Atlantic and maraud. And he doesn't know about the damage to Bismarck so he just wants to absolutely 100% eliminate any possibility that Bismarck has gone back northwards, which I think is a reasonable decision. Don't you? You?

[A]

Yeah, absolutely, yeah. He's weighing, weighing his options as he sees them.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So he has to make sure that that isn't happening. So he orders Swordfish north and west and this, this will, this will cover a breakout to the west or return to Germany via the Denmark Straits. And, and, and as we keep saying, the Atlantic, the Atlantic is vast. It's enormous.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Forget the fact you can fly there in a matter of hours for Heathrow, it's, it's the vast gigantic empty space.

[B]

Well, yes, and you know, it's worth reiterating that on a, you know, on the bridge of a battleship or, or a Heav or something, you know, on a clear day you can see 15 miles.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

But on a not clear day that's probably six, seven, five, you know, nothing. I mean, depends. So very tricky.

[A]

So at 8 o' clock in the morning on Sunday, May, May 25th, Bismarck is east of all three British forces Tovey's forces Northeast now having passed 100 miles ahead at around, around 4 o' clock in the morning. Admiral Curtis's forces crossed Bismarck's wake at around six and is now due west of Wake Walker. So the, the British ships are all steering westerly while the Bismarck carries on southeasterly.

[B]

So they're all heading in the wrong direction.

[A]

Well, goose chase. So Tovey orders the Prince of Wales to join him with the KG5 as they're no longer needed to protect Suffolk and Norfolk. The Prince of Wales will take the place of Repulse which is now low on fuel. Repulse is anyway on her way to Newfoundland for a refit.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

400 miles to south. Captain Reed on Ramillies is reacting to the chance that Bismarck is heading to a German oiler near the Azores east of Ramillies. I mean there's just so many bits, so many pieces on the. If it, if it is a game of chess, Bismarck is, is basically, well, was a queen but is now a king. Maybe because she can't go at the pace she wants to.

[B]

Yep.

[A]

And that's the only piece the Germans have east of Ramillies. Commodore Blackman in the cruiser Edinburgh is also steering northwest along the track Bismarck was last seen. And they're now on a parallel course to Bismarck but really well to the west of her. 350 miles southeast of Bismarck on a line of course to Brest is the battleship Rodney with three destroyers. The destroyer Eskimo is sent on with Britannic to Boston while other destroyers stick to Rodney.

[B]

Yep.

[A]

At 7:30 that morning the Swordfish search starts. So Beauville sets his Swordfish off at half past seven. Four hours later six of the seven return having found absolutely nothing. One of them's lost 5H which is piloted by Sub Lieutenant Jackson and the observer is Sub Lieutenant Beryl who we described at the start of this episode. And air gun and leading airman Sparks. They're lost at sea. It's a fruitless search this and it looks like they might, they might be getting away with it.

[B]

Well yes, except Admiral Lutchin then makes another mistake. I mean how many can be tolerated from this humorless man? At 6.54am on Sunday 25 May, he thinks they're still being shadowed when they're not and why he thinks this is not really clear. But anyway, you know, maybe the crew are all knackered. Whatever the reason, Lutchen then sends a signal to Group west because he thinks, well, they already know where I am so I'm safe to make A signal. So he goes, one battleship and two heavy crew cruisers maintaining contact, which they're not absolutely insane and they haven't been since 3am so he sends a second longer signal at 7:48am and the latter signal is about the efficiency of British radar, attack on Hood, damage to oil tanks, unreliability of Bismarck's own radar. You know, it's all very sort of conversational and chatty, you know, the longer it lasts the easier it is to intercept. And of course, you know, both signals are picked up by the British and immediately deciphered and the bearings are passed on to the operations staff at the Admiralty. And at the Admiralty Lieutenant Commander Peter Kemp plots the bearings onto a mnemonic chart and it shows that Bismarck is southeast of its last known position. And Kemp shows these to his superior who is Rear Admiral Jock Clayton, and he suggests that they should radio these bearings to Toby immediately. But before setting out Toby, I had asked for bearings only, not a worked out position. So give me the bearings but don't give me the worked out position because obviously it's constantly changing.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So Tovey had two destroyers equipped with high frequency direction finding and expected these to be able to provide the cross bearing which is what you would need to pinpoint Bismarck.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So Kemp does what he's told which is to send the bearings only, which reached Toby just after 10am but the whole thing is a massive up actually. Yeah, yeah, because Toby no longer has his high frequency direction finding Huff Duff destroyers with him, they'd headed to Iceland to refuel during the night. And worse, the bearings are plotted incorrectly on the kg 5 on the king George V. So they show that Bismarck is north, not south. And Toby concludes that Bismarck is now heading to the Faroes Iceland gap. Oh no, that's not good, is it?

[A]

No. So, so at 10:47 he broadcasts this incorrect position and this incorrect analysis to his fleet. So the kgv, the Prince of Wales are victorious and all of Curtis's cruisers they all turn northeast to head her off at the wrong pass. Yep. And it's only Wake Walker who's still steering towards France. And the Admiralty can't work out what Tovey's doing and they decide to wait and see because obviously admirals are allowed quite a degree of latitude, aren't they?

[B]

Yep, yep, yep.

[A]

So they think, they're thinking maybe he's got some brilliant plan up his sleeve or something and before insisting that he turned south. And in the meantime three Catalinas from Coastal Command are sent up to search for Bismarck to see if she's still making for France. I mean it's interesting this is. Just getting all of this to join up is incredibly complex isn't it in this vast sea.

[B]

I mean you can see why cock.

[A]

Up would creep in in but when it does it's like oh my. Yeah, it's sort of maddening isn't it? And at 10:54 the Admiralty, they reflect they receive another huff duff fix on the Bismarck which again confirms she's heading towards France. And another at twenty past one. Although this is based on a U boat which has been mistaken for a surface vessel but it's heading towards France. So they, they then signal both plotted positions. They give Toby the, the news not in the form he wants but in the form they need him to have on the, on the KGV. He receives the first position at 2:01pm he takes his time to make his mind up. At 3:48pm he orders his fleet to turn immediately round to the east southeast. Then there's an intercepted signal to Rodney from the Admiralty canceling the earlier order to steer for France. So there's just this cock up on cock up and I think. But this is also a mark of the state of emergency that the Navy's in, isn't it? It with Bismarck on the loose and the fact they've lost contact with her is, it's not panic as such but there's, there's a sense of do something now going on. Toby is in turn baffled. So the Admiralty were baffled by Toby earlier, now Toby's baffling. Baffled by the Admiralty.

[B]

Yes. And the problem is things are moving all the time but the signals take time to kind of come in, get, get deciphered, passed up to the bridge and all the rest of it, you know, it can take quite a long time, time and so no one's speaking straight. They're all, you know, they're all slightly sort of befuddled by what's going on. And the first befuddlement prompts an odd response which then prompts another odd response back at the original source of the first befuddlement. And so it kind of escalates, you know, that's, that's the problem of all.

[A]

This and everyone's second guessing everyone else's movements anyway. So yeah, so we've talked so much about instinct and intuition these Admirals are all saying so they're also acting on their instinct, their intuition and in a very, very information poor environment. That's the nub of it. So this means though for the second half of the morning, the rest of the afternoon on Sunday. Tovey and Lutyens are sailing away from one another.

[B]

Well not exactly because Toby's taking a bearing of 80 degrees which is. So they're kind of sort of. Bismarck is going kind of that way.

[A]

Down towards five o'. Clock.

[B]

Tovey's heading almost due east and Bismarck is heading sort of southeast. And that's a compromise bearing because what he's thinking is if I just go east then at least I'm going in the right direction. But I can swivel north if I have to up towards the, you know, the Faroe, Shetland Gap or I can turn, turn south. So because he, his hunch is that they're the Bismarck and it always has been his hunches that Bismarck is heading towards France. It's just he's trying to cover all eventualities and then there's been this confusion of all the signals and all the rest of it. But he hasn't completely blown it by any stretch of imagination. And of course you know we're talking about comparatively small period of time and you know the distances are huge and these ships are not that quick and so it's not too late to sort things out, rectify this. But, but, but obviously with every passing hour Bismarck is getting closer to, to France and to escape well relative, relative.

[A]

Safety because it's no picnic in breast itself.

[B]

No.

[A]

Now what's wonderful though Jim is this Sunday is Amarn Lutyon's 52nd birthday. So what a wonderful way to spend your birthday he receives.

[B]

Yes, yes. Although his mind isn't on birthdays. It's on the seriousness of the situation in which he finds himself. He gets lots of birthday wishes and all the rest of it. But it's true that most of the crew don't really like him. They like Captain Lindemann but they don't like Lutchens. They find him stiff and humorless and, and they don't trust his judgment and frankly you know, fair enough. And there is a general feeling amongst the crew that he should have turned back up the Denmark Straits because everyone knows about the low fuel situation. And yeah, late that morning they hear from group west that the last British shadowing report had been at 3.13am so then there's huge relief because they realize that they have actually shaken them off. Yeah, but I wonder whether Luchin is thinking I shouldn't really have sent that sentence signal, those two signals. But anyway they've been on, all the crew have been on action stations for 36 hours. So they're now stood down. Luchin gets his birthday wishes from Hitler. Well that's nice of him but he's very much still sighing. I would say he knows he's got a thousand plus miles to go and is far from being out of the woods. Yeah, and he also notes in the volume of intercepted British radio traffic that they are absolutely searching for them. And at midday Lutjens addresses the crew. He thanks them for their birthday wishes and for the part in sinking the Hood. And then he speaks of the danger ahead. The British are massing their forces to destroy us and we shall have another battle with them before we reach home. It may well be a question of victory or death. If we have to die let us take with us as many of the enemy as we can. And you can imagine how that cheers everyone up, can't you?

[A]

Oh that's, I mean that's stirring stuff isn't it?

[B]

I mean that's an inspirational Nelsonic, Nelsonian style pep talk to buck the lads. I mean if we have to die.

[A]

Let us take with us as many of the enemies we can. Is not really. This is all going to work out, don't you worry.

[B]

I really think he's rubbish. I just think he's absolutely dreadful. Anyway, anyway so Tovey is increasingly perplexed by signals from the Admiralty isn't he?

[A]

Yes and by mid afternoon he's realized the plotting mistake earlier and he asks for clarification again from the Admiralty. He doesn't get a reply. So after an hour and a half he makes a call and turns southeast and lets the Admiralty know that he's decided to do that. So we're kind of back on course now but his ships are short of fuel. Suffolk has had to peel away. He's going back to Scapa Flow. Prince of Wales, she's heading for Iceland to refuel. Admiral Curtis's cruisers are also getting low. The K King George V carries on and the Admiralty now though has accepted that the Bismarck has to be steering for France. I mean she can't be going anywhere else. No wait, Walker's in the dilemma. Should he keep going or risk running out of fuel? His gut instinct tells him to keep going and he tells Captain Phillips on the Norfolk to turn southeast at 26 knots, sees the Prince of Wales and signals I am going towards breast. So it's on now.

[B]

So wait Walker, he's consistently good isn't he? I mean you know it's his hunch that gets them moving at the right time. I mean he's the man. Yes so they're now on the same course Norfolk and the King George V on the same course as Bismarck but 150 miles behind.

[A]

And this means for all the, for all the confusion, mixed messages and second guessing and circling that might look like dithering. They are now it's all sorted by late late afternoon on Sunday 25th May. The collision course is on. Yeah and in breast massive preparations, frantic preparations for the arrival of Bismarck. Where else did they expect? Did they really think she'd sail out through the Denmark Straits bash up a couple of convoys and send back through the Denmark Straits and back to kill or something? Is that amazing mean what did they think?

[B]

Really weird isn't it?

[A]

This is all picked up by French spy Lieutenant Jean Philippon of the French Navy. His codename is Ilarion and he manages to get a recent written message on a train to Paris to be forwarded to London.

[B]

Good man.

[A]

This means that the chase is now actually on now that it's known for sure where, where Bismarck's headed. Toby needs destroyers. He needs them right now because the King George V and Repulse are vulnerable without destroyers to screen them. Yeah and the only Destroyers available are Captain Philip Vines Force who are currently escorting troop convoy WS8B and he has at his disposal Cossack Zulu Seek Maori and the Polish destroyer Piran.

[B]

And these are all Tribals Tribal class.

[A]

Destroyers so that they're the latest thing and there are no reports of U boats nearby. So Vian decides or all right we'll join the kg5 and he's. He's an extremely experienced tough guy. He, he'd been an alt mark the previous years. Super experienced another pocket. A pocket Nelson and he receives his orders in the middle of the night at the 25th, 26th. So once everyone knows where everyone's headed. Sets course at 27 knots straight into the wind. It's a long night on the open bridge of these, of these tribal clothes. He says reports reached me of men being hurt in one case one being washed overboard but there was nothing to be done. I mean steam on.

[B]

Oh well. Part and parcel of the Tribal class destroyer's life. Lose the odd chap.

[A]

Lose the odd chap. But full steam ahead literally and she's the pursuer.

[B]

Regret and then never think about it again.

[A]

Yes. Mentally write the letter. Bismarck is steaming slower than her pursuers so that, so the gap of 150 miles isn't really a. And you know as we said she's sort of limping on now because the damage has been exacerbated by the Swordfish.

[B]

Attack to her boilers.

[A]

But the British have a feeling that time is running out. If she can get depressed, you know it will have gone wrong. So we come to dawn on Monday 26th May. It's a wild gray sea. If you're on the bridge of the Bismarck you can't see anything else. There's no, no other ships out there?

[B]

No.

[A]

It's 24 hours since Lutyens told everyone that they were probably going to die. There's 400 miles near a port.

[B]

Oh dear.

[A]

Oh no. Ach. Nein. So. And they're starting to get their hopes up on the Bismarck. But what they don't know. What they don't know and what we know though is that a Catalina, an RAF Catalina Z from 209 Squadron Coastal Command is speeding out over the Atlantic and heading straight towards.

[B]

Straight towards them. What a cliffhanger.

[A]

So if you want to find out what happens next and I'm just gonna dangle this to you, it involves string bags. So we're back in the Swordfish game.

[B]

Yes we are.

[A]

Join our Patreon or become an officer class apple subscriber and you can listen to this straight away and the rest of the series all in one delicious digestible lump as we sink the Bismarck. Here on we have ways of make you talk. Thanks everybody for listening. We'll see you again very soon. Cheerio.

[B]

Cheerio.