"Sink the Bismarck!" It was one of the most fearsome ships afloat. Its mission: force Britain's surrender. London, desperate, put every ship to sea. (time past).

"ENEMY IN SIGHT! ENEMY IN SIGHT!" the message rang from the crow's nest of HMS Prince of Wales. It was 5:45 a.m. on May 24, 1941, The British warship, paired with the imposing battle cruiser HMS Hood, plowed. through rough seas on an intercept course: Their prey was the Bismarck, a fearsome new German battleship steaming west of Iceland.

The fight didn't last long--just minutes, in fact. Bismarck, firing its gigantic guns from 15 miles away, scored a direct hit on a huge stockpile of the Hood's explosives. The pride of the British fleet sank fast, taking with it all but three of the 1,400-man crew.

The Bismarck's decisive victory stunned the Royal Navy, the British nation, and the world. If this new war machine were to control the Atlantic, Great Britain feared-and Nazi Germany hoped that German naval power could choke off the convoys of merchant ships from the U.S. that were the lifeline of the British Isles.

Winston Churchill, Britain's Prime Minister, issued a terse order: "Sink the Bismarck!" The Royal Navy put every available ship to sea. The chase and climactic battle ushered in a new era of naval warfare and was one of the early turning points in World War II.

More than half a century later, the sinking of the Bismarck is receiving renewed attention from James Cameron, the director of Titanic, in a Discovery Channel special (James Cameron's Expedition: Bismarck, airing Dec. 8). Using the latest undersea filming and salvaging equipment, Cameron explored the wreck of the Bismarck, which was first discovered in 1989 lying three miles deep in the waters off the coast of France.

SINKING SHIPS

In May 1941, Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany controlled nearly all of Europe, and German troops were poised to invade the Soviet Union to the east. In the west, only Great Britain fought on, supplied by a steady stream of food and war material from America. Officially neutral, the U.S.--led by President Franklin Roosevelt--worked all angles to aid the British in their desperate fight.

The key to Britain's survival, according to Churchill, was to win the "Battle of the Atlantic." In his memoirs, he wrote later:

... dominating all our power to carry on the war, or even keep ourselves alive, lay mastery of the ocean routes and the free approach and entry to our ports.

Germany knew this, too. It sent "wolfpacks" of submarines against the lightly armed convoys as they crossed the Atlantic, and bombed shipping routes along Europe's coasts. In 1940 alone, German raiders had sunk 520 ships--plunging thousands of people and millions of tons of cargo into the cold Atlantic. Now the Bismarck was on the prowl as well.

FLOATING TERROR

Bismarck was a terror of engineering when it was launched. Named for Otto von Bismarck, who united Germany in the 19th century, its main armor was at least 13 inches thick. Its top speed reached 30 knots (34.5 mph), making her one of the fastest ships in the world. And its 15-inch-wide guns had a range of 23.6 miles, far enough to hit opponents without their being able to hit back. It was swift, muscular, and deadly.

In comparison, many British Navy ships were outdated. Most, including the Hood, had seen action in World War I, more than 20 years earlier. Great Britain had done little to upgrade its military between the wars, while Hitler was turning Germany into a war machine.

The Bismarck left the German port of Gotenhafen on May 19 accompanied by the Prinz Eugen, a heavy cruiser one-third Bismarck's size. Their objective? To wreak havoc on Britain's vital Atlantic shipping lanes.

On May 22, a British plane spied the two ships near the Norwegian port of Bergen (under Nazi control). Two British heavy cruisers moved in to shadow the German ships as they headed for the Denmark Strait, between Iceland and Greenland. There, it was hoped, the Hood and Prince of Wales might bottle up the Bismarck and kill it.

Instead, Bismarck killed the Hood, but did not leave the battle unscathed. The Prince of Wales, though damaged, had landed three parting shots that rocked the battleship. The Bismarck took on water and lost speed. Worse, some fuel lines were severed.

Fleet Admiral Gunther Lutjens, the German commander, recognized that the Bismarck had to abandon its mission and sail for a safe harbor. He gave the order to head east, toward German-controlled France. Soon after, the Bismarck separated from the Prinz Eugen and maneuvered to shake off the pursuing British ships.

Not until the next morning did a British reconnaissance aircraft spot the Bismarck. But officers realized that in less than 24 hours the Nazi ship would come under the protection of German land-based warplanes and escape to fight another day.

The British tried one last gambit. In stormy seas on May 26, the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal launched 15 Swordfish biplanes--slow, obsolete craft carrying just one torpedo each.

CORNERED AND SUNK

About 8:30 p.m., the squadron found its target and attacked in the face of heavy anti-aircraft fire. One torpedo exploded near the stern, jamming both rudders in a left-hand turn that took the Bismarck under the guns of the pursuing British warships.

"Ship unable to maneuver," Lutjens radioed to his headquarters that night. "We will fight to the last shell."

Next morning, four Royal Navy ships dosed in for the kill. Bismarck brought its dangerous guns to bear. But without rudder control, it was virtually helpless. For nearly two hours, British guns pounded the Bismarck, firing 2,876 shells. The German ship was taking on water, and began to tilt. Finally, the great battleship rolled over and sank--finished off by British torpedoes or scuttled by its crew (Cameron's film argues that torpedoes sank the ship, not its crew).

About 800 of its 2,221-man crew managed to abandon ship before it disappeared beneath the waves. British ships picked up 110; they did not recover more, they said, because a submarine was reported in the area. The Germans contended that the rest of the survivors were abandoned to avenge the destruction of the Hood.

The victory buoyed the spirits of a war-battered nation that had seen little good news. Parliament cheered when Churchill announced the sinking. The head of the Royal Navy, A.V. Alexander, was quoted in The New York Times:

... let us hope that the destruction of the Bismarck--Germany's latest and greatest ship--marks the beginning of the end of [Hitler's] reign.

Other Nazi attacks continued, but with support from across the Atlantic, Britain survived. The Bismarck's demise marked Germany's first major defeat of World War II, and signaled the end of the time when battleships were regarded as the ultimate weapon of naval warfare.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

* Should Germans today honor the memory of those who died in the service of Adolf Hitler?

* Suppose it was proved that the British crews deliberately left Bismarck survivors to die. Should that be regarded simply as the fortunes of war? Should those responsible have been punished?

TEACHING OBJECTIVES

To help students understand how the fortuitous sinking of the Bismarck helped Britain snatch victory from what many raw as almost certain defeat.

CLASSROOM STRATEGIES

CRITICAL THINKING: One of the biggest mistakes students make when studying history is to just look at the facts--names, dates, places, and events, and accept them as they are. Students should also consider how history--and the lives of millions--would have changed if certain events had not happened. In the case of the Bismarck, how different might history have been if the battleship had succeeded in its mission and Britain had been defeated? Discuss the following assumptions:

* Buoyed by his victory, Hitler builds more Bismarck-type warships. Would the loss of Britain as a base have kept the U.S. out of the war in Europe?

* Relieved of the need to fight a two-front war, Germany is able to defeat the Soviet Union and continues to march east and south. Might control of oil and other resources in conquered lands ensure Germany's domination of half the world?

* Hitler's victory causes World War II to drag on longer. Would millions more have lost their lives?

WRITING EXERCISE: Engage students in the Bismarck battle by asking them to imagine they were aboard the Bismarck or any of the British ships. Their job is to use information in the article as the foundation for letters to their families in Germany or Britain.

Students should not just reword information in the article, but draw upon it to describe their thoughts and feelings. What did they think about the sailors on the enemy ships? What did they think about after the sinking of the Hood? After the Bismarck was initially damaged? After Bismarck's rudders were jammed, forcing it to limp toward the British warships' guns?

WEB WATCH: For detailed information on the Bismarck, including technical data, the ship's history, its crew, a war diary of the ship, and the wreck, go to www.kbismarck.com/.

Upfront QUIZ 4

MULTIPLE CHOICE

DIRECTIONS: Circle the letter next to the correct answer.

1. Winston Churchill, Britain's Prime Minister during
   World War II, said the key to his country's survival
   was winning the

   a Battle of the Atlantic.
   b struggle against Communism.
   c respect of the German nation.
   d assistance of the American people.

2. In addition to the Bismarck, Germany relied on
   "wolfpacks" of

   a bombers and fighters.
   b submarines.
   c tanks.
   d Army divisions.

3. In early 1941, the official policy of the United States was

   a armed and ready to fight.
   b uncaring.
   c neutrality.
   d a declaration of war intent.

4. What accounts for Germany's relative superiority over
   Britain in warships?

   a Germans were better sailors than the British.
   b Britain relied on donations of old U.S. ships.
   c Germans were better at maintaining their ships.
   d After World War I, Germany rearmed, while Britain
     did little to upgrade its military.

5. Which of these statements does the article support?

   a Sabotage doomed the Bismarck.
   b The Bismarck would not have been sunk if Admiral
     Lutjens had followed orders to avoid British warships.
   c Members of the Bismarck's crew were inexperienced.
   d The British victory came from a last-ditch effort.

6. The sinking of the Bismarck signaled that

   a Britain would be among World War II's winners.
   b the United States would soon enter the war.
   c battleships were no longer the ultimate naval weapon.
   d the Soviet Union would help defeat Nazi Germany.

ANSWER KEY

1. (a) Battle of the Atlantic

2. (b) submarines

3. (c) neutrality

4. (d) After World War I, Germany rearmed while Britain did little to upgrade its military.

5. (d) The British victory came from a last-ditch effort.

6. (c) battleships were no longer the ultimate naval weapon.