British cruiser, the Norfolk closed in. Bismarck fired five salvos, all missing. The vibrations of the shots disabled the Bismarck’s front radar, so the Prinz Eugen and the Bismarck switched places, the Prinz Eugen now in the lead. At 5:00am May 24th, Prinz Eugen detected two turbine powered ships headed in their direction. Thirty-nine minutes later they were informed the Suffolk had sent out their location, and the two ships approaching were the HMS Hood, and the Prince of Wales.After firing six salvos, the Bismarck destroyed the Hood. The Prince of Wales was still shooting at the Bismarck, and they scored 12 hits. The Bismarck decided to break for itChapter TwoFacts of the DisasterThe Bismarck destroyed one ship, but England still had 13 ships left to intercept the Bismarck. So it ran toward a friendly occupied French port. At noon on May 24th, the Bismarck was starting to run low on fuel because they did not refuel at Norway. Having been hit 12 times by the POW(Prince of Wales), they had hit their forward oil tank and were leaking oil. This aided the British ships in following the Bismarck. It was decided that just the Prinz Eugen was going to go into the Atlantic, and not the Bismarck for the time being. The Bismarck would shot at the British ships while the cruiser got away. A first attempt failed, but the second was aided by fog and was successful. The Bismarck was now alone, and on the run.At 23:30, 8 Swordfish Bombers from the British carrier Victorious attacked the Bismarck. All 8 fired torpedoes, one hitting and causing slight damage. Meanwhile, the British ships were getting low on fuel, and had to reduce the speed of the Bismarck to engage it. The British ships started to zig-zag, for fear of German U-boats. The Bismarck used this time to get away, and their success was unknown to them. The Admiral on board then sent out two 30 minute transmissions about the destruction of the Hood, a major error, t...
