May 27:

1941 : Bismarck sunk by Royal Navy

On May 27, 1941, the British navy sinks the German battleship Bismarck
in the North Atlantic near France. The German death toll was more than
2,000.

On February 14, 1939, the 823-foot Bismarck was launched at Hamburg.
Nazi leader Adolf Hitler hoped that the state-of-the-art battleship
would herald the rebirth of the German surface battle fleet. However,
after the outbreak of war, Britain closely guarded ocean routes from
Germany to the Atlantic Ocean, and only U-boats moved freely through
the war zone.

In May 1941, the order was given for the Bismarck to break out into
the Atlantic. Once in the safety of the open ocean, the battleship
would be almost impossible to track down, all the while wreaking havoc
on Allied convoys to Britain. Learning of its movement, Britain sent
almost the entire British Home Fleet in pursuit. On May 24, the
British battle cruiser Hood and battleship Prince of Wales intercepted
it near Iceland. In a ferocious battle, the Hood exploded and sank,
and all but three of the 1,421 crewmen were killed. The Bismarck
escaped, but because it was leaking fuel it fled for occupied France.
On May 26, it was sighted and crippled by British aircraft, and on May
27 three British warships descended on the Bismarck and finished it
off.

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