Sink The Bismarck WW2 Classic
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- Опубликовано: 4 апр 2009
- Battle sequence in which the English ship HMS HOOD takes on the German Battleship Bismark and losses big time. True story! Update 6/28/10: typo fix. Thanks for letting us know..
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This Actor playing Prince of Wales captain saw H.M.S Hood blow up and was nearly blinded.....GOD BLESS EDMUND KNIGHT....
Not only can you see the actor reliving the moment of _Hood_ 's loss (you can see him glance down and away as if having a flashback), the shell that takes out _Prince Of Wales_ 's bridge is the actual one that blinded him in real life
If you Google "Death of the Hood" on RUclips you will see a 28 minute Radio 4 documentary. It was broadcast in May 1981 on the 40th anniversary of the Battle of the Denmark Strait and was narrated by Esmond Knight.
ruclips.net/video/yh3psxGGDMs/видео.html Here's something else from RUclips. Esmond appeared on This is your Life in 1957. The senior survivor of the Bismarck Baron Mullenheim Rechberg was meant to appear on it as well, but couldn't because he was ill. A few weeks later, Eamon Andrews met Esmond and his family again to discuss the show and unbeknownst to Esmond, the Baron crept up behind him in this piece and introduced himself. A great little video. While they hadn't met before, they had corresponded.
😢😢😢😢😢
ESMOND 😊
Those old movies had charm, just actors playing great and story as real as possible. Today movie makers should learn from them.
Hearing the emotion in the voice of Captain Leach when he instructs the Yeoman to ‘tell the Admiralty the Hood’s blown up,’ is even more powerful when you realise the actor playing the role - Esmond Knight - was onboard Prince of Wales, and ON the bridge as well, when not only Hood was catastrophically hit, but was badly wounded minutes later
God keep those brave men of the Hood who died doing their best for their country.
Agree - also, there are genuine photographs taken during this battle showing what the men on deck on either side saw, which is rather amazing, given the circumstances.
I remember following the 2001 expedition that finally located the wreck of the Hood off Greenland, through the site of their sponsor (UK Channel 4) and later bought a book about these two iconic ships, the battle and the wrecks.
In a way, he was lucky, the Prince was sent to Malaya for slaughter. By injuring himself, he didn't went with Prince to Malaya.
Fun fact: Captain John Leach's son, Admiral Sir Henry Leach, led the Royal Navy during the Falklands War in 1982
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The German saying FIRE! has been my favourite line for years
The special effects still hold up pretty well here....I watched this as a kid every year on Frazier Thomas' Family Classics growing up in Chicago.
A pleasure to meet a fellow Chicagoan from that era!
It was a bitter blow to the Royal Navy as H.M.S Hood was sunk within minutes loosing all but three of her 1,500 marines and saliors. On hearing the news that the pride of the Royal Navy had been sunk Winston Churchill himself issued the order "sink the Bismarck "
The graphics are more real that today because there is no CGI just miniatures, real water splashes and real explosions 👍🏻
Frazier Thomas.."and now, if you're quite ready...."
I grew up in Chicago too, every boy in my school talked about the Bismarck on Monday morning after Family Classics. The mystic of the Bismarck captured all of us!
Fantastic special effects, especially for the time. The water looks great with the models...very hard to pull off and look real. They did a great job.
They did a somewhat great job but the movements of ships, directions of fire and aim was depicted wrong. Bismarck and Prinz Eugen only fired starboard coz Hood and PoW came from that side. And btw: Hood did not recognize she shot at the wrong ship because Bismarck was not leading... against all expectations! Greetings from Germany! 😉
I was talking purely of the special effects not the historical accuracy. Water is a extremely hard medium to work in regarding miniatures and special effects. Especially the size of the water droplets ect. I understand they use a alcohol solution to make the water disperse better. Anyway for the time fantastic special effects.
But I understand what your saying.
@@shannonmonroe5873 I agree!
@@shannonmonroe5873 They had similar difficulties with the same special effects and water in The Thunderbirds series. I recall watching a doco made at the time of the series and they used a shallow swimming pool in the studio to do the water scenes in.
@@shannonmonroe5873 That came yesterday for a silly commercial we're working on: a desert isle with a pond(?) in the sand. I pointed out the alcohol trick but apparently the crew said they "have that in hand." I look forward to the results!
Yes the Actor was my step grandfather Esmond Knight, he was an officer on the Prince of Wales and he actually lost his left eye and was partially blinded in his right. He had a glass eye which he used to remove much to the horror of us when we were kids.
So your grandfather is in your mother’s side right?
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basking_in_reflected_glory
Terrific actor! Watch him in "Henry V" when he was virtually blind!
My Dad had a false leg he really scared a friend of mine one night who didn't know when he took it off and put it under the coffee table to lay down on the couch she was just staring at horror and poked me in the ribs I just say yeah he does that all the time don't worry about and went back to watching TV
He was lucky he was injured in that battle and was recovering from his injury. Otherwise, he might have been aboard the ship when it was sunk off Malaysia by the Japanese on Dec.10.1941.
3:26 Actor Esmond Knight, who plays the commander of HMS Prince of Wales, actually served on board at the time and was badly wounded,when the bridge was hit, losing one eye and being blinded in the other, although he regained some sight in it after 2 years. It must have taken courage on his part to relive that battle scene during the making of this film.
Took a man who was ALL MAN to go back and portray that Navy Commander.
he is the sailor leaning over the binnacle that knight as the captain helps! the galass hit him in his eyes.
Very brave man Great service to his country
What a legend
@@mikekemp9877 knight wasn't on the compass platform he was that the air defence position to the aft of the CP on the open part of the bridge level
Rest in peace, brave men of Hood and Bismarck. You both were worthy opponents and fough bravely.
oh shut up with this begging for likes...
Brave men dying for another banker's war.
Amen!
@@JG-tt4sz Tell the survivors of Auschwitz and Dachau and the rest of the 44,000 Nazi concentration camps and ghettos that it was just "another banker's war". My uncle didn't die for bankers. He died for freedom and if you are so cynical that that makes you laugh, you don't deserve the freedom he and millions of others gave their lives to preserve.
@@JG-tt4sz WW2 was not a bankers war
Came back again today when i finally got into the Navy
To think that 75 years ago
Naval Battle fought with big guns and aircrafts loaded with bombs and torpedoes
Nowadays it's fought with long range missile
I pay my utmost respect to those brave sailors
They had balls of steel fighting inside of those giant Battleships and Cruisers
Nahh i hate naval battles nowadays
@@acenavy9274 naval battles today evolved from simple question " how do save our sailor lives on a battle "
So that's that
@@benedictodunsky2790 more armor
Watched SINK THE BISMARCK many times on Family Classic's with Host Frazier Thomas as a kid.
Same here!
This film and tora tora tora were my most looked forward to movies in the 70s. Family Classics on WGN.
Great days, great times!
Same here.
Me too...Sunday evenings WGN Chicago circa 1960s!
The model work in this movie is excellent, given the time the movie was made.
Totally agree, but ... aren't they fighting the battle in reverse? BISMARCK should be firing to port and HOOD to starboard and the ordered commands for HOOD should be for port turns? Gah! Hollywood, even when it's not Hollywood.
@@Weesel71 Mirror, maybe?... 🤔
Greetings from the bottom of the Denmark strait! :D
Fun fact:
The man who plays the Captain of the Prince of Wales witnessed the Hood blowing up in real life. He was a Petty Officer on PoW and partially blinded. Esmond Knight.
+Gabriel Cox Photography The fact is not so fun, but interesting, thanks.
Gabriel Cox Photography in
Marry Christmas He was actually blind for two years until a major operation managed to restore a good part of the sight in his right eye and he resumed his acting career. It's a horrible thought, but had he not been injured he might have remained with the Prince of Wales and been killed when she was lost off Malaysia.
You can actually see the scar to.
From Petty Officer to Captain!
Best promotion ever!
Notice fantastic footage of HMS Vanguard's turret interior.
Even better playing her in World of warships....those guns are extremely accurate but her citadel above the water line is a big problem
@@mrx5840 Beautiful ship, but not easy to play for me.
@@mrtencza just load HE it's what the brit BB's are good with
And the bridge, only partially disguised by them doing some musical chairs to try and disguise the fact the Hood's, Bismarcks, Prince of Wales (and KGV) were all taken on the Vanguard's bridge.
Good Show.
That scene would have been tough on the actor playing the Captain of HMS Prince of Wales. He'd been the actual Gunnery Officer on the real Prince of Wales in the Battle against Bismarck
He was Esmonde Knight, and acted in many films and tv shows, like "Elizabeth R" with Glenda Jackson in 1971!
oh so many ships named that I thought that wales sunk in Z force attack by ijn or ij airforce?
@@Adhjie it was, about six months after the Battle with Bismarck
Oh my God
@@aydancasey1953 along with HMS Repulse
I've watched this movie many times. I'll always remember, "shoot!" and "fire!"
In reality, Admiral Lutjens ordered the Bismarck not to fire, since engaging other warships was not her mission. After the British had fired a number of salvos, despite no hits on Bismarck it was Captain Lindemann who ultimately said "I will not have my ship be shot out from under my ass," and he gave the order to engage
(Edited to clarify wording)
Actually Bismarck did not take those salvoes...they did not hit. But he thought: "Enough is enough!" Greetings from Germany. 😉
Yes, you are correct, and I apologize for the wording of that comment from way back when; in retrospect I should have phrased that better.
That said, it is true that Lutjens refused to give the order to fire, and it was Captain Lindemann who ultimately gave said order
In the field, German commanders in battle, had the final say so, not Hitler and his Circus 🎪 of Clowns in Berlin...🇺🇲🇩🇪🇮🇪🇺🇳✝️♾️🇺🇸🌎🌍🌏🗺️🌐
@@knutritter461 German gunnery ... legendary. Fair play. Brexit or not, best wishes from UK
Still hard to understand Lutjens's reluctance to open fire. The Hood's relatively thin deck armor meant that the longer the range, the more vulnerable she was to plunging fire. It would seem that Lutjens was momentarily stunned when he saw he was being confronted by two British capital ships, and not just heavy cruisers. As it was, the British probably got away three salvoes before the Germans even opened fire.
I swear, I never get tired of watching those amazing 15" guns being loaded. I've probably watched this scene a thousand times,
Seeing them in scale with the turret-crew really drives home just how BIG those things were.
I believe the Bismark had 16 inch guns which meant the English ships were under gunned. The Bismark also had heavy armour plating for protection.
@@kevinklingner3098 no, the Bismarck had 15" guns, same as the Hood, but bigger than the King George V 14" guns. She was also a lot newer than the Hood.
I was referring to the 15" guns of HMS Vanguard, which was where this scene was actually filmed.
@@MartyInLa Yes, exactly. The vanguard was a stunning ship though, certainly superior to the Bismarck in many aspects
I had the privilege to meet Lt Cmdr (ret) Bill Dundas during my time in the navy. He was one of the three survivors of the Hood.
+Eric Tull All now gone.,sadly. And so a fresh generation - without the experience of their forefathers, will start the stupidity all over again - and so it goes on........
@@factnotfictionpeople1313 So true
I was a young Royal Marine Bugler in the Vanguard, when scenes for this film were shot. The scenes inside the 15 inch turret was obviously Y Turret, manned by the Royal Marines. Note how everything was highly polished and gleaming, whereas the others were always covered in grease. The Royal Marines turret was always the one shown to visitors that came onboard.
What is the turret man saying as the shells and powder bags are rammed into the breech? Hard to understand him.
@@Swlabr61 Almost sounds like some sort of shorthand or code.
@@BELCAN57 He's reporting each stage of loading: "Right gun: shell!" "Right gun: first half-charge!" "Right gun: second half-charge!"
I always understood that it was 'X' turret that was manned by 'The Royals' - first turret aft of the superstructure/funnels? Saying that, I see after some research, that 'Y' and indeed 'B' for that matter could also be manned by Royal Marines. You learn something new everyday! :-)
@@TraceCoburn Indeed he is. But if you look/listen closely, you'll see that he calls out "Right gun shell!" Twice, before calling out the charges. Didn't know they used grape shot in WWII! LOL
What made the whole scene for me, was the young British sailor at the end who said "what's happened", and someone replied "The Hood's gone". The look of shock and fear but not of panic, made the whole clip feel very real. Hood and her crew were as British as Oak, as was his reaction.
I think 5000 men perished on The Hood
@@daniellinehan63 Hood had a crew of around 1500. The US Iowa's crew is around 2600.
@@daniellinehan63 1415, out of 1418.
I like when he says blimey.
I saw this movie as very young kid with my older brother , I freaked out when the Hood was blown out of the water !
The use of the 15in Guns of the Vanguard added a genuine touch to the film,a pity the Vangaurd was still scrapped in 1960,of all our battleships,she was our last & biggest.
This point of the film always bring a lump to my throat,although they didn't know just how Hood sank, the effect was the same, she just blew up.
My Dad was a Portsmouth lad, & he vividly remembered the shock of the news around Portsmouth, she was a Pompey ship & many of the crew were local lads.
Vanguard actually had 14 inch guns like The POW it was The Hood and The Bismarck that had the 15 inchers also Hood was much longer than the Vanguard at 860 feet (she was bigged up the Navy as she was the last and most advanced they built, but I agree she should have been kept as museum ship not just that tiddly little cruiser Belfast.
Sorry my bad Yes the V did have 15 inch guns and she was heavier at full load than Hood but a good 40 feet shorter.
+ Romans 10:9-10 "That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved." Amen 🙏!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The man in Luke 16:24 cries: ". . .I am tormented in this FLAME."
In Matthew 13:42, Jesus says: "And shall cast them into a FURNACE OF FIRE: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth."
In Matthew 25:41, Jesus says: "Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting FIRE,. . ."
Revelation 20:15 says, " And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the LAKE OF FIRE." And please repent of all of your sins and be baptized by the Holy Spirit before it is too late, you will never know when the time will come 🙏!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Amen 🙏!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You can see when the turrets are trained pre battle that the ship is in a Harbour 😆
@@reclusiarchgrimaldus1269 WTF has this ramble got to do with a WW2 movie?
I come back to this battle for years. It is the best scene in history of cinema.
My greatest respect to the British Royal Navy...we are brothers at arms...greetings from Berlin
A remake of this movie would be awesome, and WG would be the perfect guys to do the animation of the ships
Sinking of HMS Hood is the best feeling ever :) (please take it as offence :"3)
@Brian Shotts Duty. The traditions of the German navy going back through WW I involve ships like the SMS Scharnhorst and SMS Gneisenau going down fighting, and the scuttling of the High Seas Fleet rather than letting the Allies have it. The scuttling of the Graf Spee without a further battle was an embarrassment for the Navy, and after that the standing order was to fight until the last shot that could be fired.
I think it was reasonable for him to head south. The alternative was to run back to Norway or Germany which would defeat the purpose of the mission. Continuing south at best speed gave them a chance of reaching France before the Royal Navy could catch up. If not for the damage to their rudder from the Swordfish attack, they might have made it.
With only engine and steering damage (Bismarck's guns were fully operational) it was premature to just surrender. It is likely Lutjens was killed early in the battle as Bismarck's bridge took a hit from a 16 inch shell about 15 minutes into the battle. So it would have been a more junior officer who gave the order to scuttle the wrecked Bismarck to free the remaining crew of their duty to not leave their posts. Most of the crew didn't make it, and many would have suffered slower more horrible deaths than the crew of the Hood. Being on a burning doomed ship with no one giving the order to surrender as their guns were silenced and their ship reduced to a gunnery practice target.
@Sakkra101 yes pay 4 trillion dollars and i will
@@akashdutta7261 Wow...you're a real douche bag aren't you?
My grandfather always talked about this movie. May he rest in peace.
my grandfather always tied his own shoes... and wiped clean after he took a dump in the toilet...
may he rest in peace.
The turret scenes were filmed on HMS Vanguard, same 15 guns as HMS Hood. Vanguard was the UKs' last Battleship, all scraped now none saved for future generations.
Mindless bloody politicians. Just one battleship to honour so many brave young men.
At least HMS Warspite should have been preserved.
Scraped, or scrapped?
This is some brilliant film making. Every shot filled with tension. The exterior shots of the warships make me feel like I'm in the middle of a North Atlantic naval battle.
Yeah it's brilliant all right. At 1:03-06 you can see the shore installations in the background, real authentic.
@@antigonish63 Alas for Bismarck's captain, 'looking out to sea' through binoculars whose lenses were covered in condensation. That, and other faux pas . . .
@@antigonish63 Lol where? I only see sky and the turret housing.
@@antigonish63 travel back to the 1960s and remake the film yourself if you think you can do better
My dad's cousin was killed on the Hood, it devastated the whole family.
Sorry for your loss
So sorry for your loss.
@@ISD_Harbinger ft uss belfast bb95
They will never sunk me I'm the super largest ship
@@ijnyamatoijnmushashi5116 Bro its HMS not USS.
@@ISD_Harbinger uss belfast bb95 is fanmade ship
Esmond Knight the actor who played the Captain of the Prince of Wales was an actual officer on her during that battle-he was blinded in that attack and remained so for two years-his sight returned later on.
It is funny how fate can happen-the Prince of Wales fought the Bismarck in May of 1941-she was sunk in Dec of the same year by the Japanese. If he had not been wounded in the 1st battle he might not have survived the 2nd one.
Strange indeed, I had an uncle who was in the RAF he was a crew member in Hampden bombers very early in WW II. His aircraft crash landed returning from a bombing raid and he was severely injured, he was permanently crippled and was retired from flying at the age of nineteen. The rest of his crew were OK and they resumed flying immediately, however none of them survived, they were all killed in subsequent operations. My uncle was the only one to survive.
Keith Grove Because of its narrow fuselage, the Handley Page Hampden twin engine bomber was known as 'The flying suitcase'.
Keith Grove i would say most and all country have a democracy ..its only 2 to fear to start another one..
Here's another twist of fate: Doctor Who actor Jon Pertwee was a crewman on HMS Hood. He was transferred out of the ship just prior to her being sent to her doom in the Denmark Straits.
Excellent Kenneth Moore and others. Told in no nonsense manner.
As someone from the United States, the sinking of the Hood would be akin to us losing Enterprise in the war against Japan. It’s hard to watch footage, even re-enactments of this event, as silly as it may sound.
Eh you lost Lexington, Yorktown, Hornet and Wasp big fleet carriers. Some later kamikazeed ships never went to sea again.
And they came back as newer Essex class carriers
My Scottish next door neighbours Brother was killed on The Hood.. he was 15 years old. When she told me this she was crying and then so did I.She must be in her 80s.God bless her.
Bismark's entire operational life was the most exciting week for any warship in history.
I don't care how you do it--You must sink THE BISMARCK ‼️WINSTON CHURCHILL QUOTES.
The Bismark on its maiden voyage and first combat shake down took its crew on an adventure that stunned the Royal Navy and ended in their deaths. Reminds one of the verse in the Navy hymn, "For those imperil on the sea."
Heh.
It is amazing what chance encounters will produce. Rest in peace to all sailors in Davy Jones' Locker.
The Prince of Wales was fresh out of the shipbuilders and its guns were untried and faulty. HMS Hood was supposed to have had additional armour fitted to its flimsy deck protection but never did... And the sailors on board knew about these huge disadvantages and yet didn't flinch from attacking. Brave men.
Holland was trying to get Hood as close as possible so the shells from Bismark wouldn't be coming vertically into the deck - when she was hit. True bravery.
Hood would have survived a deck hit at that range , More recent analysis shows that the shell most likely went under the belt armour under x turret Due to the Rough seas and wash exposing it , this then allowed a shell to tumble under the armour protection to the main magazine , A lottery Ticket Hit That Saved the bismark From Fighting 2 better designed ships at once.
I love the way they used to film and create the shots of the ships back then. Those scale models were so cool and awesome. It must have been great fun recreating those scenes of ships in a water tank somewhere, maybe Pinewood or one of the other old great studios or movie lots where so many great films were made.
And a film that featured the last British Battleship in service at the time, HMS Vanguard. She was used to shoot the internal gunnery sequences for both the Hood and the Bismarck.
Scrapped prematurely in 1960 before her time.
Wish we still had good movies like this available now days. Too many now days that are all action and no acting.
Bismarck: “... FIRE !...”
Prince of Wales: “...Shoot !...”
The Royal Navy, with its lengthy tradition of wood and sail, had very strong and persistent notions that the word "fire" should be completely unambiguous.
Either way is okay!
Was that actually an officer aboard the ships who loudly shouted "Fire/Shoot" for each salvo?
@@dallasman9892 The shells from the battleships are unguided. Even with a talented gunner the accuracy of the ship's main guns was only about 32 percent at nine miles against a battleship-size target, according to a Naval War College study during World War II. When an officer on the Bridge has determined the range of the enemy ship, the word is given to the gunner crew below deck to “Fire” or “Shoot “!
You will note that there is a similar problem with the word Fire aboard a U-Boat and for that reason the command to launch a torpedo is Torpedo Los or just Los.
Exactly right. All films, documentaries and even books about historical events are approximations. The dialogue between Lutjens and Lindemann for example must be an estimate, because neither of them survived the sinking of Bismark. What the film sets out to do is show the general flow of events, and in that it succeeds brilliantly. The proof is all the people whove been inspired to find out more on the basis of watching the film and can therefore criticise its accuracy!
Admirals don't fight ships.
Of what use is it's Captain?
Lutjens was certainly not a nazi!
My dad was in the RN and was at Portsmouth waiting to join a ship, in the queue of sailors the PO went down the line counting them out and stopped at the man in front and said to my dad "sorry son you just missed the Hood its the Warspite for you", talk about lucky.
HMS Warspite was an amazing pit bull of a ship, having performed brilliantly in the Mediterranean. She still holds the record for the longest ship to ship gun strike - a staggering 26,000 yards!
As an American my life is not that great - but I never had to face a battleship shooting huge shells at me.
I guess it's all in perspective.
War is hell.
To think this happened 75 years ago today.
2:55
They made it very well! 😰
It was like almost entire ship was blown up,
and the effect of that work in this film is AMAZING 😉
Greetings from the bottom of the Denmark Strait! :D
A great movie, will always be a classic, but if ANY movie deserves a remake it's this one. A LOT of historical inaccuracies (i.e. the positioning of the ships during this battle, and obviously the personalities of Lutjens and Lindemann) also the HMS Vanguard footage was pretty fucking awesome 🤘 But seriously we need a remake of this movie.
I love this movie but I would love a remake
I want to see the Greyhound the new one in July
We most certainly do NOT need a remake of this! Can you imagine the travesty modern Hollywierd would make of it?
@@PercyPruneMHDOIFandBars Agreed. And the acting would be NOWHERE as good.
That scene where the British are in the war rooms and have heard that the hood has blown up, shivers and total silence in the room. What a truly awful way to go. They were brave men and always be remembered
I watched this movie the 1st time in late 59' in Brooklyn.
I was in kindergarten at the time.
A great heroic movie.
Very commendable for a 1960 film to try achieving the realism of shell splashes, hits and big guns firing with nothing but wooden models and a water tank! Even by modern standard, it ain't too shabby. Just imagine what grandioso of the battle scenes of the battle of Denmark Strait could be achieved if todays' CG were put to use!!!
will be quite the spectacle as long as they don't overdue it
There are some historical inaccuracies such as when the Bismarck fired it fired from the starboard side. In reality, she fired from the port side. Also, the Bismarck's captain said the Bismarck received one hit. Bismarck received three hits and was listing to port.
As well as the fact that the turrets are from HMS Vanguard the last battleship of the royal navy
This is one of the few times I am in favor of a remake
@@thesparduck117 They would destroy the story in a remake like they do with every other war film. The ships would charging around like speed boats and their would have to be the inevitable lovd story. Just let the movie stand on its own as is. It does the job just fine.
A powerful recount of a serious encounter, War is an ugly Beast this video captures perfectly the brutality of Naval combat from this Era.. I take a moment to remember the brave Sailors involved in this conflict God Bless you and your Family. Rest in Peace.
Superb acting (not overdone), great directing and surprisingly good special effects. Why can't they make movies like this anymore?
5:15 The shell that hit Prince Of Wales on the bridge didn’t explode, but passed right through. It destroyed the compass binnacle and shrapnel from that killed everyone on the bridge except Captain Leach.
Leach later reported that he saw large flames venting from Hood’s engine room air intakes, suggesting that X-turret’s cordite magazine had exploded. This was moments before Hood blew up.
Leach wasn't the only survivor of the compass platform, the Chief Yeoman of Signals Gilbert, Navigating Officer Lt Cdr Rowell and Leading Signalman Willey were all injured.
@@JevansUK Okay. Thanks. Another gap in my knowledge filled in.
@@MarsFKA Rowell remained at post until they disengaged but he was offload to a hospital in Iceland which suggests he was quite badly injured along with Esmond Knight who is playing Leech here. He was also injured by the same shell at his action station at the port air defence position which is just aft of compass platform. Knight lost his left eye and took 2 years to recover some sight in the right.
Lets face it, if that shell had exploded then nobody in the superstructure would have survived.
@@MarsFKA h
love this classic movie!!
A lot of this movie was filmed aboard HMS VANGUARD.
Who's main battery came from WW1 ERA Battlecruisers COURAGEOUS & GLORIOUS. (They were converted to Aircraft Carriers between the Wars. Their guns went into storage for 20 years.)
VANGUARD herself was a 1940's version of HOOD with better armor. Both had 8 X 15" (381mm) 42 caliber main guns & 30 knots of speed. VANGUARD had all the advantages of a 1940's built ship.
Sadly they scrapped her, & KG5, DoY, etc. Especially the latter two! (Every student of Naval History knows why.) ONE of them should have been saved as a memorial-ship to all Battleships & Battlecruisers of WW1 & 2.
Indeed,"The Bismarck",being one of the greatest movie,of its era based on World War ll! Kudos for the grand Post!
As great a naval war movie dramatization as this was. I must confess that, my principal motivating reason for buying it was, the *ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS Miss Dana Wynter!*
Many a young man, (and quite a few 'old' ones, I'm sure), would just look at her, and go, *"RULE! BRTIANNIA!"*
I cant begin to imagine the horrors of the war these men endured
I always think of the men who survived the explosion and couldn't get out, the men in the turrets for example who apparently fired one last shot before going down :(
And it was a one off versus the infantry men
The battle was different than what was shown here. First, the Hood and HMS Prince of Wales were steaming directly towards Bismarck & Prinz Eugen which means only their forward guns were capable of firing but Bismarck & Prinz Eugen had all their guns to bear. Also, the British mistook Prinz Eugen for Bismarck because it was in the lead (considering how closely their designs were that was understandable), and with that, Bismarck's gun crews were able to take better aim and had the range almost immediately. Hood was a mismatch as well because it suffered the same flaw as British battlecruisers since WWI, their thin deck armor. During the battle of Jutland the British lost one battlecruiser after another, Queen Mary, Invincible, Indefatigable, all in the same way, catastrophic explosions with huge loss of life after shells hit them and found their way into the magazine. With the Hood, she was supposed to have had her deck armor strengthened, and it never happened and a shell hit the Hood on her boat deck, went through the armor and it suffered the same fate as other British battlecruisers. Only three men survived. Prince of Wales was also no match, brand new and suffering from at least one or two of its main guns were not functioning, so once the Hood was gone it was a two on one fight with a clearly superior ship, not to mention the Prinz Eugen getting involved. One last note, Admiral Lutjens on Bismarck did not want to fight at all. It was Captain Ernst Lindemann, once Bismarck had already been fired on who said "I will not have my ship shot out from under my ass." and ordered Bismarck to return fire. Lutjens was far from the fanatic the movie made him out to be, he was a fatalist, almost expecting to die on this voyage according to those who survived and were around him.
Lutjens did not wish to fight because his orders were to seek and destroy Atlantic convoys. Even a success against the British Fleet would not seriously affect the balance of naval power in the Atlantic.
As, indeed, proved to be the case.
good response - also evidence on sea bed that the RN had got sloppy in their desire to fire quicker and magazine doors were left open below armour plating. Admiral Holland did have another 2 ships - modern cruisers - on Bismarck's other side - and they could have played a part, at the very least taking on PE. As you say Hood was a 1920s design, and POW was brand new with faults. Also the Germans ignored the W.treaty and built bigger / heavier ships.
Movie shows British ships firing to port and German ships to starboard...in reality it was reversed. Prince of Wales had gun turret issues...Prinz Eugen was not really present in the movie. Only had 8 inch guns and weaker armor so clearly disadvantaged. Now Holland on Hood believed Bismarck to be lead ship so he ordered fire on lead ship. But Prinze Eugen was leading. PoW realized the mistake and fired on Bismarck. German ships both fired on Hood first. Both sides scored more hits then shown. And finally shooting scenes inside Vanguard was best they could do. Only other battleships left at that time were US Navy Iowa class ships. While Vanguard had WW1 leftover guns and turrets this is actually good cause Hood also was built during that time and had similar or identical 15" guns as main battery. For the time of the movie the special effects were good. Not a bad war movie all in all. Not too much propaganda and almost balanced. The torpedo attack on Sheffield and the issues with magnetic fuses....good attention to detail. Of course missing the fact that Bismarck was scuttled. But as we saw with Sydney/Kormoran the German sources turned out to be correct
drachinifel has made a video on the loss of hood, the plunging fire theory has been put to bed, as the engagement range was within 10,000km (so too close for the shell to arc downwards).
ruclips.net/video/CLPeC7LRqIY/видео.html
@AdirondackBuzzard You info is out of date. The loss of the ships at Jutland was due to the RN obsession with rate of fire as charges were stacked in turrets and gangways and the anti-flash doors left open that is was allowed the fire into the magazines not "lucky" shots.
As for the Hood yes she was due to have her deck armour upgrade but was kept too busy "Flying the flag" to get time in dock. It was not a hit through her deck armour but a shot that hit the side below the main armour that was exposed, when it was normally underwater, due to her speed. See an excellent video on Drachinifel's channel that draws on new research after the wreck was found and studied
2:29 And 2:33 *You can see at the first scene the Prince Of Wales from behind is firin' it's first salvo. And in the last 2nd scene it's the Prince Of Wales last fire salvo of his main gun. The main turret BL- 14 Inch Gun only fired once, only 2 Turrets are left firing the total of it's turret are 3 Turrets. Prince Of Wales scored first blood, one shell hit the seaplane catapult and put it out of action, the 2nd shell passes through the bow without explodin' and the last shell detonated under the waterline and begin to flood the enemy ship's [BISMARCK] waterline.*
To the men of both ships,Rest easy on your quest for truth. RIP one and all.Rest easy men
One of the best WW2 movies, the director Lewis Gilbert later did 3 james bond movies
4:44 to 6:06 was amazingly accurate. The full on chase was stunning. I must see this whole movie. Looks amazing :)
1legomaster: "Sink the Bismark" has some flaws like any other film, but the cast are wonderful in their roles, and for the time - 1960 - the special effects and maritime footage are stunning. It adds an extra layer of authenticity that many of the cast members had lived through the war, some had even been in the Royal Navy. This one is a favorite of mine from childhood and I never seem to tire of watching it.
You can buy it on DVD.
It's part of my library, and I watch it at least once a year. Usually 24 May.
Same for the Bismarck's crew. They were hit by 400 shells and a large amount of torpedos.
Pay back for the hood the Japanese sank the prince if whales and the king George the fifth who took part in the sinking of the Bismarck was the last British battle ship to fire her main guns during WW2.
But you can't tell by looking at Bismarck on the bottom... Hull looks nearly intact; snd can only see a few large caliber hits... Hull is in amazing shape!
@@mrnegatively5125 Bismarck was only defending herself from Hood. And Duke of York used its gun against scharnhorst.
@@mikearakelian6368
The wreck of Bismarc is missing it's stern, it has never been found, (the missing section came away where the Torpedo that damaged the rudder had hit) when it sank.
The person who played Captain Leach of Prince Of Whales was actually on Prince Of Whales during the actual Battle Of The Denmark Strait and was blinded by the shell from Bismarck that hit Prince Of Wale's bridge killing everyone but the actor himself and Captain Leach sadly Leach went down with his beloved Battleship when she was sunk by Japanese Aircraft along with HMS Repulse
Prince of Wales. Big difference.
It's wales not the Mammal.
From documentaries I've seen over the years, the German crew were just as shocked as the British that the Hood went down so quickly. When the battle began, many of the German crew thought it was just another war drill when it came over the com that they were attacking the Hood. HMS Hood was held in high esteem by the German Navy.
Of course they were. After all the ships were crewed by humans and sailors like them, so even if enemy, they deserved respect.
Prince of Wales and King George V were the same class of ship but Prince of Wales was newer and still had workers on board when she faced Bismarck and her guns jamed during the battle
@frantic1971
She was struck by a 15in shell from Bismarck's aft turrets, which ignighted the ammunition in her 4in anti-air magazine, and the fire quickly spread to the aft 15in magazine which exploded ripping the ship in half and causing her to sink very quickly, while she was going under the forward magazines exploded, blowing the bow off (according to the evidence provided by the wreck) all but 3 of her crew were killed by the explosions or were pulled down as she sank
Actually Hood never exploded. From the testimony of the survivors (3) the cordite actually turned the ship into a giant roman candle that burned the ship in half. Ted Briggs, one the survivors, mentioned that there never was an explosion, just that horrible pillar of flame and superheated gas. The battle footage tends to confirm this also.
@@BOORAGG ehm.. the roman candle was the gunpowder burning to blighty which led to a explosion. If she never exploded the, candle effect would have ceaced as the gunpowder would have burnt out
The Initial hit made on HMS Hood came from Prinz Oyegain. It was Prinz Oyegain whose shell made as it were first contact and made a hit on HMS Hood 4Inch Ammunition stores located rearward. There are opinions as to the actual danger of this strike however the reference of the statements coming from one of three survivors, in Ted Briggs is proving to be an interesting and useful statement.
I have read his memoirs!!!! That man had so much honor in him, he was a true sailor, and gentleman.
My dad, born in 1946 in Portsmouth told me he saw her being towed to her scrapping, sad day to see such beautiful ships go
Very intetesting and rare footage of the loading sequence of the great guns on a battleship. The film was released in 1960 and the guns look like 15" so i am guessing that the sequence was filmed on HMS Vanguard, the last british battleship, decomissioned in 1960.
It gives you a very good idea abput what it must have been like in a turret on one of these ships.
Given what had happened at Jutland in 1916 it must have been a pretty nerve wracking ordeal going into a battle between great capital ships in the knowledge that one lucky shot could destroy a 1500 crew ship instantly.
The Hood, of course was a battle cruiser. Battle cruisers were a british concept which other countries copied. Their role was to hunt down enemy cruisers and sink them. They were never designed as ships of the line.. ie to stand toe to toe with armoured battleships and slug it out. Bismark, of course was a battleship and significantly better armoured. However, because battlecuisers looked like battle ships and were armed like them there was a tendency for desk bound bureaucrats to see them as battleships.
Battle cruisers were especially vulnerable on the deck where their armour was half as thin as battleship. After 3 british battlecruisers blew up at Jutland in 1916 construction of the Hood at tbe time was stopped and her plandls changed to armour the front deck. However the stern deck was never armoured despite an intention to do so but ww2 came along before this was possible. Bismarks shell penetrated just behind X turret. It hit the 15" magazine setting fire to the cordite which caused a sheet of flame to shoot down the length of the interior of the ship incinerating everything in its path. The magazine then detonated ripping the ship in two.
There were 3 survivors
Hi Richard
HMS Hood was denied a refit, that would have mitigated a lot of the issues, due to the war breaking out, as she would have been in dry Dock for approx 2 years.... This is not to say that RodNel, 5 QE'S, 4 Revenge class plus Renown, Repulse, KGV & POW could not have concentrated to destroy Bismarck, Tirpitz, Scharnhorst & Gnisenau... The issue was that only Hood, POW & KGV would have the speed to intercept such a sortie. The others woukd have been very much reliant on a concentration of Aircraft Carriers, to slow them down... Actually as happened with Bismarck.
One of my all-time favourite war movies.
Excellent shooting by the Bismarck, three salvos three hits.
Wasn't there some speculation that it was a salvo from the Prinz Eugen and not the Bismarck that caused the Hood to blow up?
So I've heard, but I I haven't seen absolute proof either way...
@@Arbeedubya Yes, there has been, but only from people who either don't know enough, or should have known better. The suggestion has no credibility.
Hmmm... 98 x 15 in rounds expended by Bismarck at Denmark Strait encounter with 3 hits... doesn't sound as impressive though does it?
@@walterkronkitesleftshoe6684 I see your point, but I was referring to the on-screen battle. 😉🤔
When doing a history project at school many years ago, I came across a brilliant 2 volume set of fully illustrated books on the Royal Navy. they must have been published in the mid-late 30s, and I remember a full page colour plate of HMS Hood. The end of the caption read "due for replacement in 1941". That really stuck in my mind. The irony is she was never allowed enough time off from her constant world tours for the refit/ rebuild she so desperately needed: by the outbreak of war, she had so many layers of paint on her it was beginning to affect her displacement; her above-water torpedo tube doors were jammed with paint, her mess decks were a breeding ground for the TB bacillus, and her machinery was almost literally falling apart. The pride of the Navy was, quite literally, shagged out from "flying the flag" for 20 years continuously
The ongoing process of chipping off the hundred or so tons of paint was a continuous process from the beginning of WWII until Hood went out to fight the Bismarck and Prinz Eugen.
Was still unfinished when she hit the bottom of the ocean.
@@stevetheduck1425 I mean, the explosion probably sped up that process significantly.
The SFX showing the destruction of the Hood is an excellent representation of what actually happened to the ship. It matches the written description near perfectly. Only the bow and the stern were said to have been left visible.
These special effects were amazing for the day.
I realize this reply is TWO YEARS LATE, but to be quite honest, "Those special effects are just as amazing" NOW, as they were, THEN.
They call Hoods destruction a lucky shot...in a sense it was, as the Hood was a battle cruiser, not a battleship like Bismark and despite their similar size and armament, Hood had thinner armour and was badly, badly in need of a complete overhaul. Its perhaps not lucky that the Bismark sunk the Hood, as I imagine that may have happened in a one on one fight, but the luck is more the Immediate, catastrophic destruction of the ship in the way it happened, when in reality it would have been a decently long fight, especially with PoW and Eugen there. Who knows what might have happened.
I suspect Holland knew Hoods weaknesses and that's why he was so aggressive. He gambled. Unfortunately when you gamble, you sometimes lose.
Brave men all.
Admiral Holland knew HMS Hood's weaknesses. THAT'S why he rushed in. Her deck armour was too thin but her belt armour (sides) was much more substantial. So, bizarrely, she would actually have stood a better chance closer up! She was, as proven, vulnerable at longer range to plunging shot. HMS Hood was a very powerful ship, despite being old and in need of refit as you so rightly say.
It WAS a lucky shot, in my opinion, because of where it landed. It managed to penetrate to one of the magazines with the inevitable result. Had it hit elsewhere, the battle would have continued. Who knows what the result would have been then? That's not taking away anything from KMS Bismarks' gunnery, which you have to admit was pretty exceptional, getting range and target so quickly.
It's interesting to note how luck also played a part in KMS Bismarks' demise too. If it wasn't for the damage caused by a single torpedo dropped by a Fleet Air Arm Swordfish, the Home fleet would never have caught up. After repairs and refueling, Bismark, Scharnhorst, Gniesenau and Prinz Eugen could have all sailed together. Much consternation would ensue!
Actually the shot that sank the Hood hit the magazine. Had nothing too do with it’s armor. If Bismarck was hit the same way. You’d had a same result
An element of luck to a degree was where the salvo hit and entering the magazine. However Bismarck's gunnery was superb, She had found her target within minutes. So had the Prince Eugen with a direct hit on the Prince Of Wales. Prince Of Wales did reply well and was instrumental in Bismarck's fate. In just a few days some three thousand men had lost their lives. A tragedy.
@@georgelewko3416 it is armor??
From an American to Great Britain … Thank you!
Thanks brother
What for? We took an almighty licking here bro
"FIIYAAH...!" That's pretty much what I've taken away from this.
I used to watch this movie on the old WGN Family Classics, Sunday afternoons.
It was a lucky thing for Esmond Knight to be transferred off HMS POW before it went to the Pacific. She was sunk with the loss of most of the crew. Great movie. A few moments of artistic license, but still watchable.
Hardly lucky. He was totally blind for some time, until regaining some sight in one eye following treatment in 1943.
I know it is not pertinent but the sinking of the POW in the Pacific is mentioned a few times so the fact that Repulse was sunk same place same action should at least be mentioned.
Right gun shell! Right gun first half charge! Right gun second half charge!
I know it's a late response but you'll never know how grateful I am for your clarification. Able Seaman, Gun loader A turret was my Granddad's designation in the RN.
@@waynesimpson2074 There is a documentary style post here on YT about the workings of the main turrets on Naval ships during the war. It shows you how it was all done and explains it all and what each mans job was. I can`t remember what it was called, but it might be worth doing a search if you are interested.
Thank you.
@@waynesimpson2074
The gunhouse loading sequence is edited slightly out of kilter; we actually see 2 shells go in one gun before the half-charges.
The traverser sequence - with the suspended shell, then the traverser moving the shell into the cage, is extremely rare. It is known that film was taken of Vanguard's last live firing, but this has failed to materialise and while footage at the IWM is not fully catalogued, I did ask them if they had any large calibre internal footage, but they said that such footage tends to be very short edits on reels of mixed other material shot on the relevant ship.
Some footage exists of turret operations on a PoW-class and RODNEY, and there is some footage of 6-inch turret material. I put together some footage for the EXPLOSION museum at Gosport in exchange for some copies of drill books, but even they had no significant films of 15-inch internals.
This type of engineering is extremely clever and impressive to watch working, but the RN had little interest in preserving it. There was an opportunity to save HMS ROBERTS, as it sat at the trot above Whale Island, but it never amounted to anything. West Battery at the island had multiple large calibre training breaches and scale models, but they all went for scrap. The EXPLOSION museum has the last 15-inch Mark I breach left...and some pretty amazing wooden models of various large calibre turrets, shells, Clarkson Cases, and barrel/breach cutaways.
Whale Island had its own museum and a Quarters Armourer's school with an impressive library of drill books and schematics. I have no idea where that lot went, but I'm sure it is now scattered - and wherever it is, probably poorly catalogued.
Thank you! Always wondered what he was saying!
My grandmother and mother knew a boy sailor on Hood called Kenneth.......my mother still talks about him. #wewillrememberthem 💮
The British know how to make war movies. Hand salute
HMS Hood was a beautiful ship. I have several models and books about the Mighty Hood.
Admiral Holland RIP
The scene of the Hood exploding was just the way the sailors on Prince of Wales described it. The special effects team went by sketches drawn by eyewitnesses of the explosion used during the RN board of inquiry after the battle. How they were able to replicate the explosion so closely is quite remarkable. It looks very real.
The sketches you mentioned, included some details that showed the star-shells and other explosives from the magazine detonating high in the air above the Hood.
It also showed the front turret guns of Hood firing as the ship broke in two. This was confirmed by a surviving officer from the Bismarck.
Neither of these details were included.
Based upon drawings, photos and models of the Hood, the model used to film the ocean effects and the explosion is seriously inaccurate, notably around the place hit and where the explosion erupted from.
@@stevetheduck1425 Not according to the witness descriptions on board the Prince of Wales. The fact that they were able to get an actual (non-CGI) explosion that close is exceptional. So you're missing the point. And you're a nitpick.
I have seen footage of The Hood's guns blazing away 10 miles away....then exploding.
RIP brave sailors
No it wasn’t, the witnesses saw a bunch of small brown cordite smoke plumes blowing vertically out of the deck from the machinery space vents and then a narrow big single flame shooting straight up aft of the main mast just before Hood exploded and everything was obscured.
The deflagrating cordite low explosive’s gasses had to fill the turbine and boiler rooms before the pressure and temperature built up enough for instantaneous detonation.
I have had the opportunity to touch the bell from HMS Hood in the museum at HM Dockyard Portsmouth. Like reaching back in time and touching history.
I did the same with 'Warspite's' deckplate at the same museum a few years ago. For a brief moment, I stood in the same place as ABC!
Remember my father taking me and my older brother to see this movie when we were young kids; also remember singing The Sink the Bismarck song by Johnny Horton at summer camp.
Well now that you grew out of the propaganda camp you now know it ain't just sink the Bismarck but sink yer DEBGUM HOOD AS WELL!
R.I.P. too all that served...
Respect,
I'm surprised, the film shows the situation close to facts on the Bismarck after sinking the Hood. As I have seen in a documentary with a survivor of the Bismarck, there was no cheering after the sinking.That was also shown in this picture. As a German, I dont feel enthusiastic as well, realizing there were only 3 survivors from the Hood. What a tragedy. I pay my deepesest respect to the British navy-men and the high discipline of the crew on that Battle-cruiser.
Sadly, none of the movies or documentaries ever mentioned what actions were (not) taken to rescue the castaways from the Bismarck, and on another theatre - the Scharnhorst. After taking a handfull of sailors aboard, the ships left the rest in the sea. Official reason: U-Boat alert. (An U-Boat not taking action in such a battle?).
+gosuc
I stand by you in your sentiment.
+gosuc If it's any consolation there were numerous occasions during convoy battles when British ships could not pick up British and allied survivors from the water for fear of becoming the next victim.Can you imagine the scorn and approbation that would have been heaped on Admiral Tovey if he had lost a Battleship to U Boats while rescuing German survivors?It was a terrible war.
+gosuc Like all war, the war at sea was brutal and, no doubt many times, barbaric! To leave helpless sailors to drown is against everything that seamen believe in, but with the very real threat of U-Boat attack and without the modern SONAR/Satellite systems to disprove it, I guess it was inevitable that the ships had to come first. RIP to ALL those lost in ALL wars - only the fat-cat politicians and munitions/manufacturers profit from them.......
+factnotfictionpeople
Yeah, I must admit you are right. Although interested, I must also admit I am no expert of naval warfare, but to me, war-documentaries of BBC are one of the best I know. It was one of their documentaries where a foto of the surviving sailors of the Bismarck in the water was presented, it must have been hundreds of them. Impossible that they would show this in a German documentary.
Thanks for your explanation - I have learned something.
+gosuc I seem to remember the U-boats weren't too hot on picking up survivors from their victims either. They killed 60,000 British seamen, most of them civilians.
Love watching them load those huge guns!
What I love about this movie is that the ship models are pretty much exact replicas of the actual ships involved. The final battle scene even shows the HMS Rodney in the distance behind the HMS King George V, with that very unique build.
Bit of trivia
The actor who played the captain of the Prince of Wales was actually an officer on the Prince of Wales at the time. He received temprary blindness in the action.
True= The movie actor playing the Captain of the damaged HMS Prince of Wales was injured on that ship during the actual WWII Naval Battle. His name is Esmond Knight. He utters "Make Smoke" as the Prince of Wales leaves the battle.
Cool,Thanks for the info
My Grandfather Stanley Geran served on HMS Hood after WW1, he fought in Battle of Jutland on HMS Princess Royal.
I love technical shots of the gun turret.
My Dad was in the Navy and was one of the turret men in this film.
I would have loved to see a "Making of :"Sink The Bismarck"" to see how they did the battle scenes with practical effects.
Really, really BIG miniatures. Convincing miniature ships was one of the hardest effects to pull off.
I love b/w war films the acting is just so much better.
"Sight of power, show of force! Raise the anchor battleship plotting it course." Bismarck by Sabaton
I SAW this movie when I was about 8 years old.I was ready to join the Navy.& I thought the Bismarck the Mightiest Battleship. I wanted them to sink the Price of Wales to,but my Dad said that the Getmans where the Bad guys. I now know that good & bad are only said by the winners in War.The sailors on these great ships are Fighting for their country ,their Families,their way of Life.& their cultures,& beliefs. We should Honor all the Warriors who fight for their People &their Families. Two Great ships, Two Great Navies!!