Killing the Bismarck: Destroying the Pride of Hitler's Fleet

Iain Ballantyne‏

مئی 2014 · Pen and Sword

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“An excellent account . . . A suspenseful narrative that will keep readers on the edge of their seats.” —WWII History Magazine
 
In May 1941, the German battleship Bismarck, accompanied by heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen, broke out into the Atlantic to attack Allied shipping. The Royal Navy’s pursuit and subsequent destruction of Bismarck was an epic of naval warfare.
 
In this new account of those dramatic events at the height of the Second World War, Iain Ballantyne draws extensively on the graphic eyewitness testimony of veterans, to construct a thrilling story, mainly from the point of view of the British battleships, cruisers, and destroyers involved. He describes the tense atmosphere as cruisers play a lethal cat and mouse game, shadowing Bismarck in the icy Denmark Strait. We witness the shocking destruction of the British battle cruiser Hood, in which all but three of her ship’s complement were killed—an event that filled pursuing Royal Navy warships, including the battered battleship Prince of Wales, with a thirst for revenge. While Swordfish torpedo-bombers try desperately to cripple the Bismarck, we sail in destroyers on their own daring torpedo attacks, battling mountainous seas.
 
Finally, the author takes us into the final showdown, as battleships Rodney and King George V, supported by cruisers Norfolk and Dorsetshire, destroy the pride of Hitler’s fleet. This vivid, superbly researched account portrays this epic saga through the eyes of so-called “ordinary sailors” caught up in extraordinary events—conveying the horror and majesty of war at sea in all its cold brutality and awesome power.

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Iain Ballantyne has been on both ends of a submarine attack. At the close of the Cold War he was aboard a warship forced to take evasive action in the Barents Sea when a Russian submarine launched a torpedo. He has also sailed under the waves aboard a nuclear-powered attack submarine, at one stage using the periscope to view potential targets during a combat exercise. A one-time London-based defence and diplomatic correspondent for a national news agency, Iain has contributed to coverage of naval and military issues in the SUNDAY TELEGRAPH, SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY, MAXIM and FOCUS as well as prestigious publications published on behalf of NATO and the Royal Navy. http://www.iainballantyne.com/