The Wreck of DKM Bismarck − A Marine Forensics Analysis 1 The ...

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The Wreck of DKM Bismarck − A Marine Forensics Analysis “good question” stage with few “good answers”: What can explain the differences in rusticle growth in two adjacent rooms equally far inside the structure? Would it be the result of fire damage? Could it be that one space burned, another didn't, creating different chemistry in the substrate? Was it due to the accumulation of oil or other substances during the sinking? Fuel oil may have entered some spaces as the ship capsized, or even after the impact with the bottom, as it burst from the tanks and rose up to the surface. When the ship was sliding down the seamount, oil may have been blown into some spaces and not into others, and may have been trapped in some closed volumes or excluded from others. Could it be organics that may have been in some spaces or been forced into others during the sinking? Was it from food in the ships stores? Was it a product of human remains? What is the white substance which is aggregated in some of these structures? Presumably, it is not calcium, which is so low in concentration at these depths that bones completely dissolve in only a few years. Is it anhydrate or is it some kind of white bacterial tissue, like bacterial mats. Tube worms and galathea crabs at this depth are white. WHO SANK THE BISMARCK – The British or the Germans? We are convinced the answer is … “BOTH!!” Bismarck unquestionably would have sunk due to progressive flooding hours after the battle ended. By 0930, CDR Oels heard no response from the Bridge and he knew that the ship was defenseless, when turrets Caesar and Dora were no longer operational. There is enough evidence to indicate that he ordered the ship scuttled to prevent her boarding by the British and to end the agony of the prolonged battering by British shellfire that was hindering escape into the sea. The German Navy, prompted by memories of the scuttling of High Seas Fleet ships interned at Scapa Flow after the end of World War One and the Graf Spee at Montivideo, Uruguay in 1939, had provided scuttling charges and timers in major vital spaces on the Bismarck. This information was provided by Lt. Gerhard Junack, who set charges in the middle engine room, and Seaman Josef Statz in correspondence with author Bill Garzke. Scuttling of Bismarck to speed an inevitable sinking was likely and eminently probable. This does not detract from the fact that the men, ships, and aircraft of the Royal Navy had finally succeeded in their determined quest to “SINK THE BISMARCK!” CONCLUSION There are a number of useful historical insights that have resulted from the combination of decades of technical and historical research with the results of Jim Cameron’s 2002 survey of the wreck of Bismarck on the seabed: ○ Long-range gunfire (16,000 to 18,000 meters) from Prince of Wales the morning of 24 May was crucial to the early stages of the British effort to destroy the German battleship. This damage resulted in the loss of fuel and flooding (and counterflooding) which amounted to 3,000 to 4,000 tonnes, a significant loss of reserve 50
The Wreck of DKM Bismarck − A Marine Forensics Analysis buoyancy. Following this engagement, Admiral Lütjens to abort the mission and head to France for repairs. ○ The aerial torpedo hit in the stern late in the afternoon of 26 May wrecked the Bismarck’s steering gear, making the ship un-maneuverable. The ship gradually turned into the prevailing seas, heading directly towards the pursuing British. ○ Long-range gunfire from the battleships King George V and Rodney on the morning of 27 May early on in the final engagement destroyed much of the Bismarck’s main battery and destroyed the ship’s primary gunfire control system. The gunnery engagement lasted from 0847 to 1021. ○ Closer-range gunfire (eventually, at virtually point-blank range for battleship main battery guns) later in the engagement devastated the superstructure and exposed sections of the hull (above the waterline) and caused massive casualties, but contributed little to the eventual sinking of the ship. ○ Late in the final engagement, the Bismark was defeated, sinking as the result of uncontrollable progressive flooding, and virtually defenseless. The Executive Officer, CDR Hans Oels, ordered the scuttling of the ship − “Measure V [V = ‘Versunken’]” − and the charges were detonated shortly after 1020. By 1035, the ship had assumed a heavy port list, capsizing slowly and sinking by the stern. The bow disappeared about 1040. TORPEDO DAMAGE ANALYSIS: One of the significant achievements of the 2002 Cameron Expedition was the exploration of damage on the starboard side aft, which is believed to have been caused by the combination of the effects of a torpedo hit and by hydraulic outburst. While a torpedo likely damaged this area of the hull aft, it did not warp, buckle of displace the 45-mm torpedo bulkhead inboard of the tank. The sacrificial tankage served its purpose by dispersing the explosive force. No individual armored plates were displaced in either the armored bulkhead or the armor deck over the tank. While there was leakage through small cracks of failed welds from a torpedo hit on the port side aft from one of the Ark Royal aircraft on 26 May, as confirmed by evidence from Josef Statz and Gerhard Junack, the resulting flooding contributed little to the sinking of the ship. The hits claimed for ship-launched torpedoes during the final battle on 27 May came minutes before the battleship foundered, when some of the major vitals were already flooding from scuttling charges. Some German survivors, including Baron von Müllenheim-Rechberg during an interview with authors Dulin and Garzke, have stated that no torpedo holes could be observed when the ship capsized. It is very probable that these torpedo holes were probably hidden from sight. 51
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