![]() On arrival, Admiral Tovey personally interviewed the commander of 825 Squadron, Lieutenant-Commander(A) Eugene Kingsmill Esmonde, RN, as to his squadron’s ability to deliver a torpedo attack. On the 20th the final preparations seemed to be in place when she embarked the 48 RAF fighters.Įarly on the 21st, RAF reconnaissance aircraft had placed the two German warships at Korsfjord near Bergen, Norway, and all indications were that they intended to break out momentarily.Īs such, Captain Bovell was ordered to disembark the RAF fighters and proceed to Scapa Flow forthwith to join the Home Fleet. HMS Victorious actually embarked 800Z Flight on 11 May.Įight days later, as she moved into the Clyde, 825 Squadron flew aboard. ![]() Plans had already been set in motion for Victorious to deliver 48 RAF Hurricane IIs to Gibraltar and hence to the beleaguered island of Malta.Īt the same time, Victorious embarked two Fleet Air Arm organizations to handle fighter and anti-submarine defense of the ship en-route: 800Z Flight with six Fulmar II fighters, and 825 Squadron with nine brand new Swordfish Is, three of which were equipped with the newest in strike technology, Anti-Surface-Vessel (ASV) radar.īigger things were on tap in the Mediterranean for 825 Squadron, which was slated to replace the long serving 820 Squadron as one of HMS Ark Royal’s Torpedo-Spotter-Reconnaissance squadrons.įor 800Z Flight, the job was much more mundane they were simply ferrying new replacement fighters for Ark Royal’s two fighter squadrons, after which the pilots were scheduled to lead the RAF fighters on to Malta. There being a war on, even shakedowns involved a mission. Bovell, RN, was currently at Liverpool preparing for her shakedown cruise. The newest addition to the Royal Navy’s carrier force, HMS Victorious, having been commissioned on under Captain Henry C. Patterson, CVO, RN) the new fleet flagship, and HMS Prince of Wales (Captain John Catterall Leach, MVO, RN) still fitting out, the fleet currently contained not a single aircraft carrier. Though Admiral Tovey theoretically controlled the Royal Navy’s three most effective battleships, the venerable HMS Hood (Captain Ralph Kerr, CBE, RN), the largest warship afloat, HMS King George V (Captain Wilfred R. Raeder’s timing would appear to have been impeccable, for the strength of the Royal Navy’s Home Fleet, under Admiral Sir John Tovey, KCB DSO, RN, was at a low ebb. Operation Rheinübung would see the first use of the Kriegsmarine newest warships, the battleship Bismarck (Captain Ernst Lindemann), and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen (Captain Helmuth Brinkmann).Ĭommand was vested in the Admiral Gunther Lütjens, recently returned from commanding the highly successful Atlantic sortie by the battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau.īased on his earlier experience, as well as the separate operations of pocket battleship Admiral Scheer and the heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper, great things were expected. On, Grand Admiral Erich Raeder set in motion the most dramatic test of the Royal Navy’s ability to defend the North Atlantic shipping lanes to date. “With Gallantry and Determination” The Story of the Torpedoing of the Bismarck Home Intro Technical History Crew Models Gallery Kriegsmarine Archives More Forum Español The Story of the Torpedoing of the Bismarck
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