Bismarck

On the 19th May 1941, the battleships Bismarck and Prinz Eugen set sail from Gotenhafen on the Baltic coast on a mission to cut the British supply route across the Atlantic Ocean.

Once in the Baltic, they turned to the north. They were spotted by an Royal Air Force photo reconnaissance flight, lying in a Norwegian fjord, but by the time the RAF could attack them, the warships had left.

The British Home Fleet brought a large number of ships into action to cover all the routes into the Atlantic. But it wasn't until the 23th May that the Royal Navy cruiser Norfolk reported that Bismarck had been sighted in the Denmark Straits, where the battle cruiser Hood, the new battleship Prince of Wales, and six destroyers were waiting.

The following morning Prince of Wales sighted Bismarck 17 miles away and both ships moved towards the German warship. At that range, Hood was vulnerable to plunging shell fire. The British ship tried to close up on Bismarck so that any fire would hit her well-protected sides rather than her thinly-protected decks.

HMS Hood opened fire first, but her speed and the water spray made accuracy difficult. The Germans, though, shot well using their stereoscopic rangefinders. A shell from Prinz Eugen hit Hood on the boat deck, causing a fierce fire.

As the two British ships turned round, a salvo from Bismarck hit Hood. There was an enormous explosion and the ship broke in half and then sank within minutes. Only three of the crew of 1,419 survived.

Prince of Wales was damaged but managed to escape. Bismarck also sustained damage that was serious enough for her to be ordered to St Nazaire in Brittany for repair.

The loss of The Hood sent shockwaves around the Empire and dealt a cruel blow to Britain's confidence in winning the war. Churchill responded by issuing his now famous command, "sink the Bismarck". Her demise was sought, not purely for a military reason, but to secure the revenge and morale of the British people.

For a time the battleship disappeared from view but on the afternoon of 26 May, a patrol aircraft found Bismarck and 15 tiny, fragile Swordfish torpedo bombers from the aircraft carrier Ark Royal hit her three times. One of those hits jammed her twin rudders. The ship could no longer be steered.

The Germany Navy knew there was no hope for Bismarck and the U-boats they sent arrived too late to help her. The British Home Fleet's Norfolk was the first to make contact with her again, then King George V and Rodney started an attack that lasted two hours.

Despite this pummelling, she still didn't sink until torpedoes from Dorsetshire finally sent Hitler's most fearsome ship to the bottom of the sea - though some people think she was scuttled by her own crew. Her swastika ensign was still flying and her captain standing on the deck, saluting, as she went down.

Only 115 of the men on board were rescued.