Exploring The " Bismarck "

Recreates the sea battle that sank the German battleship Bismarck in World War II and recounts how the shipwreck was discovered in 1989

"Titanic team finds Bismarck" ran the headlines on June 14, 1989, announcing Robert Ballard's discovery of the legendary World War II battleship. Using Argo, the same deep-sea camera sled that had discovered the wreck of the Titanic, Ballard and his team located the Bismarck sitting upright three miles beneath the surface of the Atlantic Ocean. Argo's cameras captured brilliantly clear images of Bismarck's huge guns pointing eerily upward and giant swastikas still defiantly emblazoned on her bow and stern decks. The story of the Bismarck is one of the most compelling sea sagas of World War II. By May of 1941, most of Europe had yielded to Hitler. Great Britain stood alone, kept alive by convoys of merchant ships bringing supplies from North America. Germany's battle strategy was to sever Britain's lifeline by attacking these convoys. On May 24, 1941, the Bismarck attacked the British battle cruiser Hood. Only three of the 1419 men aboard survived. An enraged Winston Churchill gave the memorable command to "sink the Bismarck" - mobilizing the British navy into the greatest sea chase of the war. And finally, on the morning of May 27, after intense shelling, the German battleship capsized and sank, taking the lives of over 2000 men. This book recreates in words and pictures the story of what was perhaps history's last great sea battle. It then gives an account of the thrilling discovery of the Bismarck wreck.