Military -Battleships

BlitzKrieg

Those mighty castles of the oceans WOW now i have a personal thing for battleships so i wanted to take time to talk about their time....

Battleships were considered symbols for nations at the period before the first world war and before the second. They showed a countries strength.


My personal fav Battleship was the Bismarck Damn that was a great ship and the story of its first voyage would make a movie way better then pearl harbour and Titanic.


In case no one really noticed battleships are extinct nowadays air power put them out of service during the second world war. (it was planes weak ones too which really destroyed the bismarck) THE Yamamoto greatest oof ships was defeated by planes not in a grueling battleship warfare.


so wha your views on battleships??

---

People of the Boards

I have a cunning plan

and before u ask how cunning

just trust me its cunning

oooo thats cunning

Pugsley

where do u find out all this stuff

BlitzKrieg

I wrote a history project on it. If i had the webspace i would have posted a link sadly boards only gives 500kb space my project is somthing around 4 mb

BlitzKrieg

Heres it cut and pasted from word...it normally has pics but i cant be arsed loading them up... Its mainly about German battleships with a major area surronding Birmarck have a read if u want A warning though this is running from 3 different sources so u might see a few contradictions, i fixed them in the finished version sadly it aint on my home computer only my school . Enjoy (if u bother reading the 10 000 words)

Introduction
My Memory


In 1991 my father as a birthday present gave to me two World War 2 models to make:

(Painting Of the Hood by Weg Lowe.)

The first was of a Panzer V Tiger tank, which he helped me to build. It was a large-scale model and I was really proud of it. It always stood out in my room as the most well made model I had. The other model was a British battleship The Hood. It wasn’t as big or as impressive as the Tiger tank. I never got interested in building it and it was left to gather dust.
The next year my grandparents came down for a visit and the weather had my friend and me locked indoors. After a long haul through the piles of toys I had, my friend found the model of the Hood. My Tiger Tank had long since been broken (The FCA used it for target practice) and I thought it would be a good idea to finish the Hood. We took it downstairs and set it up on the kitchen table. From there we built the hull and most of its superstructure. It was when I had finished placing the communications tower on the ship that my grandparents came home, what a shock I must have got when my grandmother broke into tears when she saw the model. My grandfather helped her out of the room and my father put the model away.
After that incident my father explained to me the importance of the Hood, how most of its 1400 crew came from Liverpool and that only 3 of them made it off the ship. My grandmother came from Liverpool and she knew men on the ship when it was destroyed. My own interest of ships never went far past the Titanic and the Lusitania I never looked up Battleships because as far as I was concerned they were nothing but ships with guns.



(Bow view of the Bismarck)
It was three years later, when the whole incident was brought up again:

It was April. My dad had been recording a lot of shows of the television. I was still at school. He had recently bought a satellite dish, which gave him access to the Discovery channel. He recorded two shows from the channel on that day and when I came home he was watching one. It was on the American army in the Pacific during the Second World War. I was sat down beside him and watched the show. It was mainly on aircraft carriers and the whole thing quickly confused me. Halfway through it a battleship came into view. It was not the first time I saw a battleship, but it was the first time I saw one fire and feel the force of its massive guns. My dad noticed the interest I had in the ship and offered to show me a video of a proper battleship. He took another cassette from the shelf and played a two-hour documentary on the Bismarck.

I found soon my interest in warships especially the Bismarck, but when I came to my history project this year I decided to look at what Germany had on the waves of the Atlantic, not below them.


(Starboard view of the Bismarck)
My Project is about the Battleships of a nation, which was considered unbeatable on land. In my knowledge of the Second World War I have heard of better German tanks, planes, submarines and guns. But never had I heard of great German Battleships until that day with my father. I have since learned of Jutland and of the Imperial German Navy, which was a proud military force that had faced odds on the sea.
Now I have learned of that navy's descendant the Kriegsmarine, which has a proud history in its short lifespan of the Second World War, and though it was small it proved its worth against the overwhelming British forces.
The Kriegsmarine was not designed to fight the British but to starve them. There were three main types of German Warships all designed to be Merchant Raiders, not to face the entire British navy.
The Proud Battleships Bismarck and Tirpitz, the most powerful in the German navy. They were to be the best merchant raiders who would sink not only the convoys but also any ship, which tried to defend them.
The Lethal Battle-Cruisers Scharnhorst, Gneisenau and Prinz Eugen. These were the ships that were most well known by the British public of World War 2, convoys and the British navy feared them.
The Well-designed Pocket-Battleships Deutschland, Graf Spree, and Admiral Scheer, who were a new step in merchant raiding design, able to give out punishment and run from those who could give out more. They were the perfect Merchant raiders.


(Starboard view of the German Battleship Tirpitz)



The German Navy Of World War 2
“The Kriegsmarine”


(Kriegsmarine flag)

After the First World War the German Navy was disbanded by the terms of the Versailles Treaty. But this did not mean that all her ships and men were gone. They still very much existed for unlike the land forces of Germany they weren’t properly defeated. A Stalemate like had existed (example Jutland). Unlike the land forces the German navy never held any proper victory over the British navy. But the navy was removed for under the treaty of Versailles, the entire German navy was handed over to the Allies. At Scapa Flow the British main naval base, all her ships were scuttled.
Morale was now low in the navy, with only her traditions surviving. One such was displayed in 1919 when any of the remaining German warships not yet scuttled by allies, were sunk by their own captains. This tradition was passed on into the Second World War. Despite the navy being gone the traditions and respect for the old imperial navy was held high and in 1 January 1921 a new navy was planned “The Reichsmarine”. A new flag appeared by 11 April 1921, but this navy had a short life span. By 21 May 1935 it was again replaced with the Nazi Kriegsmarine. This navy, which was founded under the nazi party, bore the swastika on its flag. But despite the short life of the Reichsmarine it did show purpose in the Kriegsmarine’s goal, for the navy became an elite force after the First World War. They did not suffer the tragedy of modern warfare, so the men still had the high hopes and beliefs of a proud and honourable Navy service. During its life the Reichsmarine came to have the best naval officers in Europe.
But the Treaty of Versailles had a restriction of 6 Battleships, 6 cruisers, 24 small ships, a restriction of 10,000 tonnes and no submarines. Though Germany hated these restrictions and was forced to obey them the worst was that any German warship out of a German port during peacetime was immediately under allied control. The navy had one advantage on its side, a well-trained and dedicated force on the ships and in their shipyards. This dedication was shown, when the navy used its restrictions to build one of the finest, most well designed and well-built ships. The first was the Deutschland. This ship was a (Panzerschiff) Pocket Battleship the first of its kind, and really caught the world by surprise. The British had expected small dreadnaughts, but the German design received great praise from most of the world due to the soundness of their design.
The Pocket Battleship Deutschland later named Lutzow.

Apart from this display, Germany did not actually openly try to rebuild its ships. Instead the navy went under-hand. In 1922 a secret naval arm of the Reichsmarine was created, this being U-Boats. They appeared in Holland as a “Submarine Development Bureau” and had the cover of a Dutch shipbuilding firm. This Bureau had the cream of the German submarine force of World War 1 in it, and before the Second World War began, was way ahead of any competition.
By the time the Nazis had control of the navy it had become the most advanced and most powerful navy of its size and restriction. It had also developed systems long before any competition such as radar, but these were not put to proper use. Only the major powers had fleets that could crush Germany. Britain and America had the most warships while France had the largest.
During the 1930s the world’s powers were trying to restrict the size of naval powers with treaties like the Washington treaty (1922), which tried to keep a 35,000 tonne limit and 14-inch cannon size.

(The Graf Spree on Patrol)

Hitler saw a great use for the Kriegsmarine and intended to use it against Russia to achieve Germany’s goals. He was also sure of a peace with Britain. This was strengthened when Germany agreed the Anglo-German naval agreement (18th June 1935) with Britain, keeping Germany’s fleet 45% the size of Britain’s fleet. The Kriegsmarine was then ordered to devise a plan for rebuilding of the German fleet. The Plan Z was formed which would give Germany by 1941:

 4 Pocket-Battleships
 5 Battleships
 3 Aircraft carriers
 10 new Destroyers (a large flotilla of destroyers still existed from the first world war).
 10 auxiliary Cruisers

Plan Z also contained a vast U-Boat plan under Karl Doenitz its vast size was never to match the original intended size of 300 U-Boats by the start of the war. The war would be in the Baltic and the eastern states, so Germany did not need to rush their program. This ended in ships not being massed produced but more crafted to withstand the most severe attacks. The Naval Plan was merchant raiding on Russia and naval engagement with other Baltic countries.
There were major faults in Plan Z. Firstly Admiral Raeder of the German Navy was never fully told when War would start. This gave Plan Z a relaxed pace unlike the Luftwaffre or Wehrmacht. Secondly when war came suddenly, Raeder still did not rush for he was confident he could crush the eastern navies. This changed when he was told to engage Britain.
The German naval plan now changed again. Now it involved a war of attrition with Britain.

Pocket-Battleships
(Panzerschiff)


(Port view of Pocket-Battleship Admiral Scheer)
Creation:
The Pocket Battleship was the first Major class Battleship design which did not have the purpose of sinking the battleships of the opposing naval power. It was designed under two major notions, the first was the treaty of Versailles and the later Washington and Anglo-German naval treaties, these treaties all restricted the size of Germany's fleet (in number of ships and of the size of their main battleships). The second was the strategy of the Kriegsmarine; Plan Z (as explained earlier) was aimed at a naval war with Russia, Poland and other eastern states, not the great naval powers of France and Britain. So the majority of the opposing fleets had small naval fleets except for Russia and it was seen that the two major German Battleships (Bismarck and Tirpitz) would be finished by the time a war with Russia began. The Kriegsmarine decided they needed a fast warship which could outrun the other major Battleships of any other nation yet had the power to destroy not only the smaller cruisers and destroyers but also the precious fuel lines known as convoys.

(Bow view of Graf Spree)
The situation had been set and the design put forward for the main naval force of the German surface fleet was presented, the Panzerschiff, (Pocket-Battleship) they had an engine which used a efficient oil supply which gave them the range of 9000 miles, their guns were 11-inch triple turrets which could sink almost any ship under a heavy cruiser with extreme ease and seeing their targets were mainly convoys it was seen the ships were perfect for their purpose.
So by 1937 Hitler had obeyed all the naval treaties put forward to Germany yet had a naval force, which could easily win him the war in the Baltic.


The Fleet:

After the first Pocket Battleship Deutschland, their came three more Pocket Battleships, Lutzow, Admiral Scheer, and Admiral Graf Spree. The Lutzow was sold to Russia before the war (for reasons unknown) and the Deutschland was renamed Lutzow because of Hitler’s paranoia that if a ship named after Germany was sunk then it would mean Germany would be defeated.
This was Germany's Pocket Fleet, it was no match to the massive warships of France and England but to the polish and Russians, they were a serious threat. Little did Germany know that out of the entire second world war Germany would never use their Pocket Battleships against Poland and only the Admiral Scheer would ever fire a shot at a Russian Force.


Their Actions:

Out of the three remaining German Pocket Battleships none was sunk by another warship, one was scuttled (sunk by its own crew) and the other two bombed by planes while in dock. But all 3 caused severe damage to the country they were originally designed not to face, England in the “Battle Of the Atlantic”
The first major player of the three ships was the Admiral Graf Spree, which before the war began was ordered to leave for the south Atlantic until further orders. Under her commander Kpt.z.S. Hans Langsdorff she remained there until the end of September when to his surprise Langsdorff was ordered to attack British and French convoys. This became a disaster for the Britain as the warship found the that merchant ships in the south Atlantic did not take as much precaution against U-Boats or surface raiders as in the North, this resulted in nine sunk merchant ships totalling to 50,000 tonnes.

.
(Starboard view of the Graf Spree)
After this successful campaign Langsdorff ordered a change of course to South America were he believed a rich picking of merchant ships awaited, on route a report of three unidentified warships came to the bridge. Langsdorff believing the ships to be destroyers thought that a convoy was near and ordered his ship to engage and sink all merchant ships.
This mistake began what is now known as the Battle of the River Plate. On 13th December the Admiral Graf Spree came into contact with a hunting group in search of her, this group consisted of two light cruisers (Achilles and Ajax) and a heavy cruiser called Exeter. This Group under the command of Henry Harwood was sent from Britain to find and sink the Graf Spree.
The Battle began just after six am with the Graf Spree focusing her attention mainly on the Exeter. It was not long until the well-built German range finders found their mark and started severely damaging the Exeter.
After a half a hour the Exeter retreated from Battle with all but one gun destroyed, this left the Graf Spree with two light cruisers to deal with. A pocket Battleship was designed to deal with light cruisers and merchant ships, so before long the Graf Spree had the Ajax rear turrets destroyed leaving only the Achilles undamaged. Henry Harwood saw this as a losing battle so under a smoke screen he withdrew all his ships to a safe distance.
Later Graf Spree still being shadowed by the Achilles as she pulled into a neutral harbour of Montevideo for repairs, this decision is seen by many historians the mistake which lost him the Battle of the River Plate. But Langsdorff had severe damage done to the hull f his ship and he needed to repair it, his forward and aft guns were still intact. But his hull had received over seventy direct hits from the British ships and seawater was flooding in. The Government of Montevideo offered 70 hours before the ship had to leave. The crew, which had suffered an hour of shellfire from three ships, had lost around 100 men and many more wounded.
Later that night while communicating with Berlin Langsdorff was informed of a large British Fleet just outside the harbour in wait for him, and that his ship would never make it past them. This message was not true for Henry Harwood may had lost the fight against the Graf Spree but he knew how to win a war, he used his radio on the Achilles to send false messages of greeting to the most powerful Battleships of the British navy, the German navy intercepted these messages and took them to be true and passed them back to the Graf Spree. This left Langsdorff with the belief that he had no chance of escape and on the following morning he took the ship just outside the harbour and scuttled it, he then committed suicide after bringing his men ashore.
While the Graf Spree went out with a serious fight, the other pocket battleships did roughly the same except not in the same honourable fashion.

The Admiral Scheer had a slower career then the Graf Spree; her command was exchanged between six men. The first Kpt.z.S Hans-Heinriech Wurmbach did little at the start of the war and was after a 1940 refit of the ship replaced by Theodor Krancke who was a more daring yet intelligent commander. The British considered him a vampire for he used his foes supplies to keep himself going. This was seen when the ship successfully captured five out of the nineteen merchant ships she encountered in the North Atlantic. As well as sinking one auxiliary cruiser of Africa. To end this brilliant run she showed one of the many great abilities of a Pocket Battleship, she dodged through a fleet of warships sent to destroy her from England, it was her great speed and manoeuvrability which gave her this chance of escape and it showed the Battleships great strength. In 1941 she was returned to the German harbours for another refit after which she received her third commander Wilhelm Meendsen-Bohlkeen and fourth Ernst Gruber. Both did relatively little, she later served as a training ship under Richard Rothe-Roth, and was finally sent to the Baltic to face the Russian navy. From October 1944 she was under Ernst thienemann who was after a brief whimper of action in the Baltic was sent to carry refugees and wounded from the eastern front, it was in 9th April 1945 that she was bombed in Kiel. She finally capsized on the 10th April.

Deutschland also known, as Lutzow was the unlucky sister of the three. The only one with had no kills in the whole war and was continuously harassed from bombardments in the Norwegian campaign leaving her immobile for months, then an attack by a British submarine, which knocked her two propellers off. After that bad start she saw little action and was also towards the end of the war used for evacuation and six days after Scheer she was also bombed and sunk on the 16th April 1945. But unlike Scheer she did not capsize and was used as a gun platform during the Russian counter-attack, until she caught fire and exploded.



Conclusion:

While in design the Pocket Battleship was sound, their fault was from simple numbers, the German naval arm was not prepared to fight a surface war with Britain and because of this only three of these fine ships were made, while it is seen that one of these ships could take three British cruisers, they couldn’t take on 100 let alone all the air forces that dogged all the modern battleships. It was the air force, which ended the Pocket Battleships out of the three ships only one was not sunk by an air strike, the other two were both struck down in the same situation, in port awaiting orders. This made any ship vulnerable to a half-decent air force. While they both went down after a single strike each it was to be learned that their bigger cousins would need a lot more especially Tirpitz and Bismarck.





(Bismarck’s Route)
Bismarck
Germany's Flagship.

Creation:

Plan Z had designated only 2 major battleships, the first of these was launched on February 14th 1939, but after the start of the Second World War, any mention of Battleships went silent in the German ranks.

(Bismarck during construction)
This Battleship "Bismarck" was commissioned in 1940 and was ready for sea trials. The British views of the German navy was mainly in fear of their effective U-Boats, but Churchill deeply feared the German Warships, his memory of the events of Jutland was still strong and he knew one Bismarck class battleship was more then a match for any of the British ships. The Bismarck was considered unsinkable with proper watertight compartments and a thick well armoured hull.


(Captain Lindemann)
The Actual crew on the Bismarck were mainly fresh but well trained young men and their captain was a Ernst Lindemann a veteran of the first world war and a expert on Naval gunnery, yet his crew commented on his human qualities and how he could keep a crews moral high.


(View of the Bismarck from the Prinz Eugen)
The Bismarck herself was a dream for this captain; she was fast and sleek, with an elegant silhouette and a jaunty flared bow. More then one-sixth of a mile long (820 feet) 118 feet wide and with a displacement of 44,734 tonnes. Her armament was eight 15-inch guns with a support of anti aircraft and secondary armaments. Her guns were the biggest ever mounted on a German Battleship.

(Tirpitz stern cannons firing during Sea Trials)
Her sister ship "Tirpitz" was also already constructed before the war and was in the final stages of being sea-worthy, her crew had not yet arrived and her gun armaments were not finished by the time the Bismarck was ready.

(Raeder onboard a German Battleship 1942)
The German High Naval Command was under Admiral Raeder at the time, he was considered by most historians to have not have gotten on well with Hitler, so he kept most Naval activities quiet within the Reich. His most important decision and one of his last were to come, to send out the Bismarck or to leave her in Germany. In the end he devised Exercise Rhine, this plan was to take the Bismarck and the Heavy Cruiser Prinz Eugen out on a merchant raid into the Atlantic. The action would involve the Bismarck engaging any escorting warships to the convoys while the Prinz Eugen would proceed to sink as much merchant tonnage as possible, his biggest concern was detection, The Bismarck must get through to the Atlantic undetected they were not to engage the enemy as priority, there first goal was Merchant Raiding, Bismarck would not be able to take the whole British navy on.
Meanwhile the actual crew were finishing their sea trials in the Gulf of Danzieg testing every weapon and system the ship had and of course her crew. Captain Lindemann created test battles to see how the ship's crew would react every day and night imaginary British warships would attack the Bismarck and Lindemann would cripple the Bismarck in every way to see how his crew would act. The Crew themselves began to treat the Battle scenarios as if they were facing the real war, with each attack being named after a British Ship. This began a dislike towards certain ships such as the Hood which was the most common ship used in the trials. The crew now had a target that they hated, The Hood the Pride of the British Navy; this ship was the last word in naval power around the world and was considered among the best warships of its time. The Hood was commissioned just after the first world war, she had been used by Britain as a mascot for her empire, the ship would take ambassadors to different countries as a sign of Britain’s naval power, her destruction would surely enrage the British Public. (Little did the crews of both ships knew of what lay ahead)

Exercise Rhine:

The Bismarck waited after her trials for a green light to the operation; the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen had joined her in dock and the men waited for their first battle at sea. The Prinz Eugen was very similar to the Bismarck in design and it could be easy to mistake her for the Bismarck if you just saw the silhouette. An admiral to oversee the operation had joined Captain Lindemann. Admiral Gunther Lutjens, considered to be a cold merciless man, but had already proven himself as an excellent naval commander by leading the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau on an excellent campaign into the Atlantic like they intend to do with the Bismarck.

(Lutjens)
The Bismarck crew had been at rest for weeks now and were getting restless, but to break the boredom Lindemann arranged to have the ship adopted by a Herbath Wohlfarth a U-Boat commander who asked to have the Bismarck band play at the commissioning of his U-Boat. To honour this he created a humorous certificate showing the U-Boat protecting the Bismarck from all dangers.

(Bismarck leaving for her first and last mission)
It was in May 19th 1941 that the Bismarck left with the Prinz Eugen in secrecy. The plan was to take the two ships through the Denmark straits over the country of Iceland and down into the North Atlantic where fuel ships will wait to reload and refuel them. The intention was to stay for a period of two months sinking as much merchant shipping as possible. The up most important detail of the whole operation was that they were not to be spotted for the entire British fleet on them would lead to a disaster.


Part 1: Spotted:

Admiral Tovey commander in chief of the British home fleet knew very well about the Bismarck and her capabilities, what he didn’t know was if she had sailed or not. Tovey was a popular commander who had confidence in his abilities and was good humoured, very liked by the crews of the British fleet. His flagship was The King George V, and the majority of the British fleet was situated at Scapa-Flow.
It was on May 20th that the Bismarck first stroke of bad luck had hit, she was passing by Norway and Sweden when the Swedish aircraft carrying cruiser Gotland came into contact with the German ships, while Sweden were neutral, they did prefer the British and so within a few hours Admiral Tovey knew where the Bismarck was but he couldn’t tell where she was going.
Before Bismarck had even escaped from the coast of Norway a second stroke of bad luck had hit, they stopped at the protected fjords near Bergen to refuel the Prinz Eugen, and were left in that area for a space of four hours between refuelling and repainting the sides of both ships. This left the Bismarck exposed for air reconnaissance by the British,
This was to great annoyance to Lindemann who now felt that his commanding officer (Lutjens) was incompetent. A Michael Suckling flying a British Spitfire spotted the Bismarck, the Bismarck was caught again.
Once again she set off towards Iceland, and once more Tovey was guessing where she was going. He mobilized the British fleet placing the Hood and the newly commissioned Prince of whales around Iceland. The Norfolk and Suffolk in the Denmark Strait. He himself took the King George V, Renown, and the Aircraft carrier Victorious out of Scapa-flow and towards the Atlantic.


Part 2: Shadowed:
On the Bismarck moral was high in the crew, they had just slipped into the Denmark Strait and were heading towards the North Atlantic.
The Bridge of the Bismarck had a different mood already they had been spotted twice and Lutjens felt that they were being shadowed. His luck had begun to return with his Birthday being was soon and it seems he was going to get through this disaster of a mission. A squall had formed with some fog, giving perfect cover for the two ships; all they needed was for it to last.
On the Norfolk and Suffolk the mood was of an anti-climax, after being moved towards Iceland they had found no trace of the Bismarck. Able Seaman Newell at his spotter position was beginning to tire and couldn’t concentrate on his binoculars anymore. The fog was too thick and the squall made the sea too choppy for decent reading. He was going to take one more scan of the horizon before turning in for bed. It was then the fog cleared and the silhouette of a stern of a ship appeared followed by the bow of a much larger ship. This came as a shock to him as he then called into the bridge. .
Lindemann was in the Bridge when the Suffolk came into view; he wasn’t surprised at all to find the British looking for them and either was Lutjens. The order to increase speed came quickly as the three ships had come quite close and were well within firing range of each other. Lutjens didn’t want to engage any ship and thought he could lose them in the weather. The Norfolk was informed of the Bismarck’s position and raced to support the Suffolk in shadowing the Battleship. But the captain got the positions of the ship wrong and came out of the fog six miles ahead of the Bismarck. A hail of shellfire quickly met her.

(Norfolk)
Before the Norfolk could get back into cover the Bismarck had fired fire salvos at her, the Prinz Eugen had fired none. The Norfolk was straddled by the five salvos, and one shell ricochet of the water and into the bridge, luckily no one was hurt. She was only a light cruiser like the Suffolk and she would have never survived an attack from either of the German ships.
But she had done her job. The Bismarck had been spotted and both ships were shadowing the German ships. On the Bismarck things had gotten worst, Lutjens was being shadowed and now the recoil of the 15-inch cannons had knocked the forward radar offline. The Bismarck was blind to what lay ahead. The order came for the ships to swap positions. The Prinz Eugen at the front and the Bismarck on the rear.
Through that night Lutjens learned of what was waiting for him. The ships communications officer had decoded messages from the two shadowing cruisers to all the major British ships and aircraft carriers. To further irate Lutjens, the Suffolk had new advance radar, which made it impossible for him to catch either of the two British ships Overgaard.
On the other side of Iceland vice-admiral Lancelot Holland aboard the Hood had decided to engage the German warships, by early morning the Hood, Prince of whales, Prinz Eugen and Bismarck would meet in a Battle that will give the Bismarck first blood.



(The Hood by Weg Lowe)
Part 3: The First Assault:
It was just after midnight, and in the whole of the Second World War on the night of May 24 1941 only six ships mattered. Two German Battleships are racing to the freedom of the Atlantic. Two British Cruisers follow them keeping track of their every move. Two British Battleships race to intercept the Germans and achieve glory.
At the time of the Bismarck chase Germany had begun their invasion of Crete. But to the British after tonight the Bismarck would be far more important then Crete.
On the ships the moods were mixed. The German crews were exhausted from being chased yet had confidence in their commanders. The British were being filled with adrenaline and anticipation in the coming battle.
The Commanders of the ships were also in different moods. Lutjens on the Bismarck was perplexed by the British radar and was in one of his worst moods, but he hid it from the crew. Admiral Holland on the Hood was enjoying the events, seeing them as a war game. He had devised a plan, which would destroy the German ships with the least possible damage to his own ships. His plan was daring, it consisted of the British ships rushing head on at the German ships so that the Hood's weakly armoured decks would not be exposed for long. The Rush would be made at 2:00am so that the German ships would be silhouetted against the sky. The disadvantage was that both ships would receive a full salvo from the Bismarck during the initial rush, while they could only return fire with their forward guns. At about 12:15 the plan was sent to the four British ships. A signal for battle was given and the crews prepared. It was now that Holland’s plan became in jeopardy. A signal from Suffolk told him that they had lost contact with the Bismarck. She had sneaked into a snow squall, leaving the British ships lost to her whereabouts.
Holland now had to guess where the Germans had gone, and he put his bet that Lutjens continued south to the open Atlantic. So he turned his ships North to intercept. If he was wrong he still could catch them.
The Bismarck had in fact turned west, keeping close to the Greenland coast. At 2:47 A.M the British regained contact. But they were now at a disadvantage, the Hood was now steaming parallel to the Germans and Holland’s original plan was of no use.
He still though decided to go through with it. He will have to approach slowly from the side at a time after dawn. The feeling of the four ships was now like that of the First World War. Waiting, boredom, they had been promised action and all the men had waited for five hours at their positions in the cold. They knew action was soon but it didn’t seem to happen. They were exhausted, keeping awake on adrenaline and coffee. On the Bridge of the Prince of whales Captain Leech faced a problem. His ship had only been out of the shipyard three weeks ago. He still had civilian workers on the ship fixing the last bugs in the guns. Now he has been told that one of the front cannons is defective and can only be used for one salvo. This posed a serious threat to the mission, an untrained crew and an untested ship going up against the two most modern ships with an old British Battleship as its aide.
Just after 5:00 A.M Lindemann received word of two unidentified ships on the side radar of the Prinz Eugen. Alarm bells rang through the Bismarck as men took their positions. The British were 35 miles away and closing. Yet the Germans still had not identified what ships.
At 5:44 A.M The Hood was 14 miles away and the order was to turn towards the Germans to close the gap between them quicker. In case a German shell would penetrate the lightly armoured decks of the Hood. This left the aft guns of both ships useless. The second mistake was of which ship to target. It was seen that both silhouettes were identical in shape and size was hard to determine. But Holland believed the Bismarck would be leading the two ships, so all guns were targeted on the lead ship (which was in fact the Prinz Eugen).
In the Fire Control stations of the Bismarck Mullenheim Rechberg was in control of the aft guns while Adalbert Schnieder was in charge of the forward guns. The Fire Control stations would be one of the most vital stations in battle and the officers in charge would have to be one of the best in the ship. The two officers communicated via headphones and at the moment a hectic conversation between the engine room, gun turrets, bridge and the two fire control stations raged. Schneider was a well-trained officer and apart from Lindemann the most respected officer in the ship. Him and Rechberg agreed the ships were more cruisers come to shadow them.

Part 4: All Hell Breaks Loose:
At 5:52 A.M every question about the two attacking ships was answered. Both ships let loose the hounds of hell as salvo after salvo landed around the Prinz Eugen. Captain Leach had become aware after the third salvo that they were firing on the wrong ship. Without asking permission he changed his target to the Bismarck. The two ships continued to close in on the Bismarck.

(Prince Of Whales)
On the Bismarck, the crew were panicking as calls of “The Hood It’s the Goddamn Hood!” cried down the headphones. Rechberg was also panicking about the situation. The Pride of Britain was on them like a hound ripping at the Bismarck. Yet Schnieder, Lindemann and Lutjens were all deathly calm. No hits had been reported yet, but neither had either of the German ships fired. They were waiting for Lutjens order. Schnieder was the only one now speaking on the Headphones. He was keeping a track of the British ships, their range, and bearing and when they fired. He was confident in his abilities. Tension grew and Lutjens stayed silent. Lindemann was also getting panicky but was calm on his appearance. He was known to say, “I will not let my ship be shot out from under my ass.” Then slowly Lutjens said “permission to fire.”

(The Bismarck returns fire)
What came from the two German ships was a blast of a full salvo; it fell just short of the Hood. After the shot the Bismarck’s computer room calculated everything they needed to make the next salvo more accurate and deadly.
Salvo after salvo came from the four ships. One shot from the Bismarck missed the Hood but damaged the Prince of Whale’s range finders leaving it blind. It was the Prinz Eugen, which found the Hoods range. A shot landed harmlessly at the base of her mainmast. This sent a smoke up from the Hood, which gave the Bismarck a range. The next Salvos firstly straddled her (landed on both sides of the ship yet no direct hit). The net two were direct hits and as she turned to bring her own guns into action something that would make that day one of the worst in British history went wrong.
One of Bismarck’s shells hit through the Hoods deck into her now exposed ammunition storage behind the front turrets. The shell ripped the storage apart, which caused a chain reaction through the ship, ending in a massive explosion ripping the ship in two. Rechberg, while he did not see the initial explosion he describes quite vividly what happens after it:
“At First the Hood was nowhere to be seen; in her place was a colossal pillar of black smoke reaching into the sky. Gradually at the foot of the pillar, I made out the bow of the battle cruiser projecting upwards at an angle, a sure sign that she had broken in two. Then I saw something I could hardly believe: a flash of orange coming from her forward guns! Although her fighting days had ended, the Hood was firing a last salvo.”
Mullenheim Rechberg
Extracted from the Discovery of the Bismarck

As the ship exploded and broke in two German and British sailors alike stopped to watch this giant sink. Schnieder was heard to whisper “my god was that a misfire?” Out of the crew of 1400 only three survived.

(Bismarck rear turrets turn their attention to the Prince of whales)
The Battle though was not yet over; The Prince of whales was still fighting a losing battle. Her guns were malfunctioning and she was receiving salvo after salvo from the Bismarck. Captain Leach had to turn his ship to avoid the Hoods wreckage but was then in a straight firefight with the Bismarck. Captain Leach found revenge in a direct hit on the bow of the Bismarck. It was short lived as the Bismarck hit the bridge of his ship dead on with a shell. Everyone was killed except Leach and two of his men who were wounded. This continued as salvo after salvo ripped the ship apart until Leach retreated. Despite a demand from Lindemann to chase the Prince of whales the Bismarck disengaged. The Prince of whales had only one of ten guns working after the battle. The Battle had been won and Britain was left in dismay.

(Bismarck after the battle, Note: she is low at the Bow)


Part 5: Damage Report

The Bismarck had won a tremendous victory of Britain. But damage reports were ringing in from all around the ship. She had been hurt and now it was clear she was not unsinkable. Lutjens listened to a report of a hit port, which had severely damaged the torpedo bulkhead and boiler rooms. More serious was the final hit from the Prince of whales, which had gone clean through the ship. The shell did not go below the waterline but did go close enough to let the waves pour in. The Bismarck was cut off, by the flooding to her forward fuel compartments. The flooding was contained but they couldn’t gain access to the fuel. Her speed had also been reduced due to the damage; she now had a maximum speed of 28 knots unlike her previous 30.8 knots. Lutjens had to now think of what to do next, continue merchant raiding or return home.
He was still being followed by the Norfolk and Suffolk, so he couldn’t try turning back up by Greenland. He could steam towards Africa. But he saw his best option to be a course for St. Nazaire in France.
The British on the other hand had a more shocking mood. For the public the loss of the Hood was traumatic. It had the same affect as the attack on Pearl Harbour had on the Americans. It was devastating; the simple one message was sent out across Britain “Sink The Bismarck!”
By the time of the Hoods loss more then 80% of the British fleet in the Atlantic was looking for the Bismarck and while they were too far to engage the ship, Lutjens could feel the pressure building.
It was decided to let the Prinz Eugen go, it was no use keeping the ship with the Bismarck and maybe it could get lucky and find a convoy. A plan was formed to use the Bismarck as a distraction for the Prinz Eugen’s escape. When the signal “operation Hood” was to be given Bismarck would attack the followers while the Prinz Eugen turned to the south and escaped into the Atlantic.
Shortly after 6.p.m the signal was given and Bismarck violently turned and fired on the followers. Prinz Eugen then changed course and disappeared into the night never to see the Bismarck again.
The British were caught offgaurd by the attack. In the coming battle they fired many salvos at the Bismarck but no hits were recorded. The Bismarck after firing at the British quickly returned to its normal course. It was not for many hours later did any of the British notice that the Prinz Eugen had escaped.
The pieces were now set as one German ship being chased by two aircraft carriers over twenty destroyers, four capitol ships, and four heavy cruisers. Tovey had the advantage on knowing where the Bismarck was, and he had more pieces. But that was about to change.


Part 6: Lost

The Bismarck was now sailing into the Atlantic, still wit the British ships following. Tovey had no major ship close enough to engage the Bismarck and the only aircraft carrier in range was the Victorious. The Victorious had a new crew of swordfish pilots with only nine of these old torpedo-bombing planes. The crew were just out of training and the weather had descended into a storm. Tovey was unsure about sending them out, but with Churchill demanding the Bismarck be stopped he had no choice.
Captain Bovell of Victorious was 120 miles away from the Bismarck at 10 P.M. His aircraft crew were inexperienced, and he feared sending them out into the storm, not only that but the pilots would have to land at night, an immense task for such raw pilots.
The Swordfish were old bi-planes, veterans from the First World War. They carried a load of one “kipper” a conventional torpedo, they were slow yet very manoeuvrable. Eight of these planes took off to find the Bismarck. One hour later they had found her moving through the rough sea in a southern direction (Tovey still had no idea on her destination.) They dived and soon found what awaited them. The 37-mm antiaircraft guns of the Bismarck exploded into life as these British planes dived for their target. Sadly the German guns were designed to shoot down Hurricanes and Spitfires, faster planes yet not as manoeuvrable. The flak exploded in front of the British giving them an easier chance of dropping their “kippers”. But the torpedoes, they exploded on impact with the water and the few that did get in the water the Bismarck swerved to avoid. One shot did get in though, it hit towards the rear. The torpedo struck above the waterline where the armour was thick so no damage was done. The mission had failed. Luckily none of the planes were lost and made it back to the Victorious.
May 25th Lutjens Birthday, and he intended it to be the day of his greatest success, to escape the British radar. He found that the ships following him were all on his port side (left) and he also found that they were zigzagging due to a U-Boat threat. This left the Suffolk radar with a blind spot every forty-five minutes the Bismarck would disappear for fifteen minutes on their radar. Shortly after 3 A.M Lutjens ordered the helms man to pull hard to starboard (right) which sung the Bismarck around in a big loop behind her followers, to end this he turn to a westerly course for France. The Suffolk radar operators didn’t panic when the Bismarck didn’t reshow at 3.30 A.M. They assumed she had slightly changed course.
At 5 A.M this changed they reluctantly sent a signal to admiral Tovey. “Target lost”. The mood for the British navy was now glooming. They had lost the Bismarck and Churchill was putting pressure on to find it. Interest in the Bismarck was massive even President Roosevelt in America was fearing the ship would appear in U.S waters and that he would have to sink it. HE asked his advisors “Do you think people would demand to have me impeached?” (Discovery of the Bismarck p103) The reply was only if the American navy fired and missed.
Tovey had decided tat his job relied on his sinking of the Bismarck. He had sent ships to every corner of the Atlantic hunting the Bismarck. Sadly he sent them to everywhere the Bismarck wasn’t.
Lutjens didn’t believe he’d escaped and despite what Lindemann told him of the signals from Berlin saying they escaped, he broke radio contact. This gave the British is location. The admiralty in London passed the message on to Tovey but he miscalculated the co-ordinates and placed the Bismarck 100 miles north of its real location. So no one knew where the Bismarck was and the only ships close enough to challenge her was the ageing Rodney, the carrier Ark Royal and Force H from Gibraltar.


(The ageing Rodney)


Part 7: “Kippers Away”

Destiny was now toying with the events sprawled in front of it. One German ship running from an enraged British navy, which would stop at nothing to sink it. Yet the German ship Bismarck was escaping, out of luck and skill, the ship had evaded its pursuers and was now on the home stretch to France.
On the Bismarck Lutjens still did not fully believe he had escaped; he decided to announce a message to the crew to explain the current state of the chase.
“Seamen of the Battleship Bismarck! You have covered yourselves in Glory! The sinking of the Hood has not only been military, but also psychological value, for she was the pride of England. Henceforth, the enemy will try to concentrate his forces and bring them into action against us. I therefore released Prinz Eugen at noon yesterday so that she could conduct commerce warfare on her own. She has managed to evade the enemy. We, on the other hand, because of the hits we received, have been ordered to a French port. On our way there, the enemy will gather and give us battle. The German people are with you, and we will fight until our gun barrels glow red-hot and the last shell has left the barrels. For us seaman, the question is victory or death!”
Admiral Lutjens (P104 Discovery of the Bismarck)
Lutjens may have given in, but most of the crew hadn’t. But there moral was severely weakened by this and despite what Lindemann tried to improve it the crew were convinced they weren’t going to make it.
Elsewhere in Northern Ireland a Catalina flying boat had taken off on a routine patrol. On board was the American pilot Leonard B. “Tuck” Smith, a secret between the American congress and the British navy. If it were ever found out he was on this plane havoc would have broken over the USA’s neutrality.
The plane flew from 3am that night till early the next morning. Spirits rose as Breakfast was being cooked. Some men still slept in their bunks while Smith was at the controls. No one expected to find the Bismarck but when a large ship appeared on the horizon hopes rose. Smith took the plane back into the clouds to come around behind the ship. The shock came to the crew as Smith took the plane down too early and exposed the plane to the ships AA guns.
Flak exploded around the plane with a few direct hits putting holes in it. One appeared the ****pit between smith’s legs while others awoke sleeping crewmen very nastily. Smith escaped the flak and soon the Bismarck was back on the map to every British ship. But Tovey saw that all his major ships were too far away from the ship. Only Rodney Ark Royal and Force H could stop her and even Rodney was over 100 miles away. He now must rely on his swordfish planes once more.

(Ark Royal)

Te planes took off from Ark Royal and set upon locating the Bismarck.
They found a ship in the dark rough seas and dived to attack, it was only after the torpedoes were dropped did they see their mistake in bombing a British ship Renown. They were lucky no damage was done.
Lieutenant Herbert Wohlfarth, the U-Boat commander who had adopted the Bismarck was also on his way to France along the way he encountered an aircraft carrier, which loomed out on his starboard. He quickly dived and cursed as the easy target escaped. He had no torpedoes left and he knew the ship was one of the many ships hunting the Bismarck.
The swordfish were also cursing their luck as three had been separated from the group. They were lost from the Ark Royal and had no idea were their target was. Then it loomed out in front of them, The Bismarck, alone in the rough ocean trying to escape. They dived and were less then 100 feet off the ground too low for the German guns. Even though some desperate attempts with the ships big guns were used to destroy the three planes. When they got close enough they dropped their “Kippers”. One went for the rear of the Bismarck, hitting her just off her rudder. She was crippled. The swordfish escaped with minor damage to return to a hero’s welcome, and the crew of the Bismarck to accept their fate.


Part 8: “The Final Salvo”:


To understand the severity of the Bismarck’s injury you must understand that the Achilles heel of the German navy had been hit straight on. All the German ships had a weak stern, this was seen in many of her ships (Prinz Eugen included) had been almost sunk by a collapsing stern. The Rudders were needed to steer the ship and one of them had now been jammed to port during a high-speed turn trying to avoid the torpedoes. The effect is simple; the Bismarck will continue to turn in a large arc to starboard right back into the chasing British ships.
Tovey was in a state of perplexed joy, he didn’t know how the world war one relics did it, but all he cared was that the Bismarck had turned around and was coming back right at him.
Lutjens had given up all hope and Lindemann was left in charge of the ship. During the night duty was slacked and the mess hall was opened to anyone interested in smoking and food. Very few came. Te call came for the ship to stop and after a brief fifteen minutes of stillness, the engine room called for orders. The reply was very unlike Captain Lindemann, “Ach Do as you like.”
So the Bismarck slowly sulked through the stormy night to meet her destiny. Her opposition had dropped greatly to fuel shortages, as most of her followers gave up. Only King George V, Rodney, Norfolk and five destroyers were left to finish her off. Dorsetshrie a heavy cruiser escorting convoys broke away to join the chase without permission, her captain was bored of convoys and eager to finish the Bismarck.
Herbert on the U-Boat was in dismay as a distress call to pick up the Bismarck’s war diary was called out to any nearby U-boats. His fuel shortage made it that he could not even help his adopted ship with this tiny task before she was cruelly cut down.
Lutjens sat in his room, two telegrams had come from Germany, one was from Raeder who wished him a warm happy birthday, the other from Hitler also saying happy Birthday but colder. Lutjens was like most of his crew, only a minority were full out Nazi’s. Lutjens himself believed in Germany the High seas fleet and in his duty to protect and serve his home. A shock came to him when the ships turrets started firing wildly.
British destroyers had tried to attack the Bismarck in the rough seas; they were trying to shoot off torpedoes at her sides. But the German guns kept at bay. This continued the whole night keeping the crew on edge.
Towards the early morning Tovey had come to where the ship was, Norfolk was shadowing the Bismarck again and now Tovey could see her. Bismarck was crippled but that didn’t mean she wasn’t going to be an easy target. The weather was terrible and visibility was poor. He was a simple commander and saw this as a firefight, was if the fire were concentrated the battle would be won.
On the Bismarck the crew were tired and the whole mood was of surrender, but Hitler had given Lutjens strict orders not to surrender.
It was with this air of “Victory or Death” did the Bismarck appear a silent ghost out of the squalls, not the fire raged demon the British saw her as from the Hood incident. Tovey was impressed by the ship, as with may others, but war was war and the order was given to sink at all costs.
Shells fired from the two ships Rodney and King George V. 14-inch and 16-inch shells landed all around the Bismarck, as the two ships grew closer. Then from the Bismarck the guns roared as she returned fire. But he tired crew and continuous turn to starboard made her inaccurate. Shortly after 9.A.M Dorsetshrie joined into the battle galloping up on the other side of the Bismarck.
Blood now poured from the German ship, as Rodney hit a direct shot between her foreword turrets Anton and Bruno. Both were out of action. Minutes later the front fire-control station was taken with them killing the best gunnery officer Schneider. Who had received a knights cross for sinking the Hood. Now the Bismarck’s rear guns were the only ones left fighting the battle. As British after British shell ripped the German ship apart their fire became weaker and weaker. Until one shot cracked the range finder leaving the Bismarck blind. The turrets continued the fight, without being able to find their target. At 9:20 A.M Bismarck’s turret Caesar was destroyed and an internal explosion in Dora pt her out of action, the Bismarck was silent.


(The Final moments)

Part 9: “ Escape”:

The ship was silent but the Bismarck wouldn’t give up, the bridge and Lutjens were both gone. Command was lost and anarchy was spreading across her decks. Yet no matter how much the British fired she wouldn’t sink. Over 2000 shots were fired at Bismarck and yet she stayed afloat. Tovey demanded that his playing darts be brought to him maybe they could sink it.
In the Bismarck the German crew found escape impossible as long as the British guns continued to fire at the ship. The call came down from the rear fire control were the highest ranking officer remained Mullenheim-Rechberg. The range finders were broken but the room was still in one piece. Power was going though and Rechberg knew that they could only escape if the British ceased fire and that would only be if the ship were sinking. He sent orders to scuttle the ship and then prepared his men to abandon ship.
Tovey saw this firing range as a failure and turned his attention to sinking her from below. He ordered cease-fire and that the Dorsetshrie would move in sink her with torpedoes and pick up any survivors.
The Dorsetshrie moved in lunched her torpedoes and struck the ship on its side. It was then that the ships scuttling charges went off and that she began to sink by the stern. Her stern broke off and the ship turned on its side and began to sink. Men ran from their points on the ship and dived into the freezing water. Many stories of human courage as men trying to save each other and themselves are recorded from survivors of the ship. But they’re far too many to be told. One does interest me. Captain Lindemann, it was unsure when or how he died but one survivor recalled seeing him walk along the bow of the ship as it sank and stand firmly there at the end till the ship sank. He gave one final navy salute before going down with his ship.
The Dorsetshrie started picking up survivors but a U-Boat warning made her leave the area after only picking up less then a hundred survivors. Other smaller amounts of survivors were rescued but in all only roughly 110 made it out of the ship alive.
One survivor had made it out of the ship with no arms or legs and even to the Dorsetshrie but couldn’t get on because of there only being ropes to pull people up. One British officer stepped over the ships railing to try and help him but was arrested and court marshalled for leaving the ship.
Men were left in the water for hours and almost all died. A German U-Boat saved three men, while the destroyer Maori (British) saved 25. In total out of a crew from over 2,200 only 110 survived.
The British did not escape the battle without wounds. So much firing from both sides that the Rodney was actually flooding. This was not from any direct hits from Bismarck but from continuous firing from the ship and the near misses from the Bismarck. The British though went hysterical over the victory and Churchill proudly announced later that morning that the Bismarck had been sunk. This was a welcome sign of good news to the British, they had lost Crete during the Bismarck chase and Rommel was chasing them around Africa.
The Bismarck itself now rested at the bottom of the Atlantic and the pride of the German navy had been crushed. Hitler’s reaction to the chase was of fury. He didn’t give permission for the ship to leave and he was shamed by the loss of the ship.
Admiral Raeder actually didn’t see the events as badly as the others. One German ship had held off the entire British navy for in the whole Bismarck campaign over 100 British ships were called into duty. For two ships.
Prinz Eugen made it home safely and had little success in surface raiding. The crew of the Bismarck only three men were ably to return to Germany before the end of the war. The others spent the remaining years of the war in P.O.W camps.


Conclusion:

The whole Bismarck event showed us the essence of the naval war of the Second World War. The obsolete were exposed while the new forms of naval warfare were exposed.
The Story is also full of luck on both sides, courage drama and sheer power in the events that unfolded. The battleship was obsolete before it was launched. Radar and air supremacy destroyed her in the end. For it was the radar and airplanes that chased her and sunk her. The importance of battleships on the society was shown in how the British reacted to the loss of the Hood. This ship also threatened the Neutrality of the USA and the story caught the imagination of thousands.
To the Germans, this was a dark hour, it showed that the days of the proud German high seas fleet were gone and would never return. The battleship was dying and Bismarck was the one of the last to fight to her final gun.
The Bismarck was one of the final great battleships of the world and her story was one that told of everything a ship stood for. But it was also a human story, where commanders led crews of over 2000 against others and the pain felt by all when they know very few of them will return home safely.
My personal love of the ship and its story helped me a lot in this project and after finishing the story I feel guilty that so many people died for so many different causes. I also felt the power of a Battleship once more, the sheer psychological power of these hulks of metal. They told us they were invincible but they weren’t they could sink and the best of them did. The tale I have told of these German steel warriors has told us the tale of David and Goliath. The small planes are David and these mighty ships Goliath, and it is David who wins. Killing even the largest of ships.


Bibliography


Sources:
Books: The Discovery of the Bismarck by Robert D. Ballard (own copy)
The German Navy of World War 2 by ____________________(own copy)
Battleships by __________________(own copy)

Internet sites:
The German naval History. http://www.german-navy.de/marine_main.htm#history.
The Battleship Bismarck. http://idd007xs.eresmas.net/.


Special Thanks to:
My Father for lending me the books, which had the information on it.
My classmates for the encouragements.
My History teacher for the support, guidelines and corrections.
Tyler Winters for helping build the Replica model.
Runar O Moore for the humour relief.
Philip Black for helping me in the computer room.
William Archer for making feel bad for doing too much.


Most importantly of all:

To all the men on Ships of war in both of the World Wars who had put their life’s on the front for their country and ideals. Especially those on the Bismarck and Hood who faced each other in one of the final naval battles of the modern era. May we have no more bloodshed on the seas in the new millennium.


This Project was written and produced by Connla Lyons of BlitzKrieg studios.

Blitzkrieger

I've half expecting battleships to make a come-back as artillery. Big 21 inch guns can ruin anybody's day. Plus, with new technology added, they became almost totally accurate. Destroyers and cruisers don't like using their guns because it screws up the electronics, so a designated ship like a battleship should be used.

The main reason they're not used is because of cost. The US spent god knows how many millions re-fitting (I can't remember if it was one or two) a battleship (the Idaho?) for use in the gulf war. In terms of manpower, cost of the battleship and cost of ammo, it would usually make more sense to use a bomber or a cruise missile, but I still think the battleship would have a role in a modern military.

The sheer amount of firepower it can bring to the battlefield gives it an advantage over cruise missiles. While a battleship is itself vulnerable to air (and submarine) attack, using bombers for attack puts pilots at risk. The battleship also has longevity. It can anchor miles away from the target and pound it hour after hour. Tom Clancy's Red Storm Rising gives a semi-realistic view of a battleship used as artillery support.