THE PRINZ EUGEN FILM The Battle of the Denmark Strait

Film by a news reel crew taken on board the Heavy Cruiser Prinz Eugen during and after the Battle of the Denmark Strait.

[@neanderpaul14]

It always amazes me that an event of this magnitude was captured on film back in that era.

[@aldenunion]

Much of Nazi Germany footage,can thank Eva Braun. That girl was a film maker.

[@ivangenov6782]

@Ahmad Hanifurrohim had to think a bit, i think you're right

[@Ramzi1944]

@@aldenunion *Thank Leni riefenstal

[@aldenunion]

@@Ramzi1944 Was that Eva Brown(Braun's cousin who resembled her?)

[@Digmen1]

Wow - I have never seen this film before. Thanks a lot. My uncle was on the Hood. He was not one of the three survivors.

[@Kharkovkid]

+Digmen1 I heard one of the three was blown over the top of a splinter shield and clear. They gave him the nick name "Lofty"...

[@PrivateMemo]

the only three survivors were the outlooks on the mast above the bridge

[@mr.epicmemerman131]

Good god. I'm sorry man. Good bless him, and god bless you! :)

[@breiter4697]

U should be proud that ur uncle has died fighting for his country and against tyranny. He shall be honoured by everyone watching this vidio

[@davidgolinsky]

That's hard to believe only three survivors. Guess that one round landed right square in the magazine. BOOM!

[@themagicbullet74]

For the full background on The Battle of the Denmark Strait the following should be read; Pursuit by Ludovic Kennedy, Hood by Roger Chesneau, British Battleships 1919-1945, RA Burt and The Grand Fleet by DK Brown. In the film it can be seen that Prinz Eugen leads Bismark. This is because Bismark's forward radar was unserviceable and Admiral Lujtens put the ship with radar ahead for tactical reasons. This actually caused Admiral Holland to call for the left-hand ship (Prinz Eugen) to be targeted in error and Hood's first salvo was aimed at the cruiser. Prince Of Wales realised the error and fired at Bismark throughout. The only really criticism that can made of Holland's conduct of the battle is his failure to order Admiral Wake-Walker to engage with his heavy cruisers and harry the Germans from the rear. Both sides made errors. The Germans believed they were being attacked by cruisers and loaded HE shells until the gun flashes from the British proved they were capital ships. In the film you will note that the Germans are firing abaft the beam as their primary reason was not to seek battle but to disappear and destroy merchant shipping. They are not running away as such but their primary objective is still to evade where possible. Also a change in course during the early hours negated Holland's intention to close the range quickly on his adversaries to avoid the danger of a plunging hit that Hood's inadequate horizontal protection was vulnerable to. Therefore the British were in unfavourable chase position with half their main armament unusable until they could close the range. They were also steaming into head seas that made targeting difficult. In the film itself Bismark is seen firing main (15 inch) and secondary (5.9 inch) salvoes. As Holland closed the range he was able to turn to port and begin to open the angles to get his aft guns into action. Around this time Hood was straddled and a fire started on the shelter deck killing many of the anti aircraft crews. Hood ordered a further turn. Schneider, gunnery officer on Bismark, had ordered a quick salvo after observing the fire. At least one of these shells penetrated Hood's armour. It is unknown exactly in what sequence the explosion happened. The main theory is that a shell touched off the 4 inch magazine and in turn the 15 inch. Stanley Goodall, a man with who would know, felt the torpedo warheads started the catastrophe. Either way there was massive explosion that broke her back and she sank. At 3.32 the camera has suddenly shifted to the port side of Prinz Eugen, the waves now running right to left. Hood has gone with a huge cloud marking her final position. There is a black spot just to the left of the cloud- this is POW. At 3.39 she is straddled with a shell splash to the left and what seems to a be a hit (it could be her guns fire just after). This may be the hit that killed everyone on her bridge apart from Captain Leach. The hit and faults in her newly commissioned guns caused her to break off the battle (shown at 4.02) though not before she scored a hit to Bismark that caused flooding in the bows and the contamination of a good proportion of her fuel oil. This hit caused Lujtens to turn for Brest and led indirectly to her sinking. Arguably neither British ship should have been in action against Bismark that day. POW had not completed her work-up and Hood was simply an outdated design rehashed with too many of the flaws of her ancestors ingrained. A beautiful thing but fragile. Thank you for the film and rest in peace all the unfortunate sailors who died on the ships involved.

[@elswick1542]

Read all of those but survivors story by by Richburg Von Mullenhein is in my opinion the best account,he was the highest ranking Bismark survivor.5th gunnery officer.

[@cd040371]

Good summary, but a couple of additional points. Bismarck's main forward radar was unserviceable after she opened fire on Norfolk during initial contact. Norfolk and Suffolk were too far behind and didn't have a significant speed advantage to be able to join the battle, until it was well underway, and too late for Hood. Holland's original plan was to engage Bismarck with Hood and POW, leaving Norfolk and Suffolk to deal with Prince Eugen. He lost an earlier, more favourable opportunity, to intercept Bismarck when Suffolk lost radar contact for a few hours. Hood and POW turned away SSE, which put more distance between the two battle groups, and by the time contact was regained, Holland was at a tactical disadvantage, which exposed Hood (and POW) to longer more dangerous approach to Bismarck, exposing Hood's thinly protected deck to plunging fire. Holland was well aware of this danger, being a naval gunnery expert. Given the disadvantageous position he was in, it is interesting that he chose to engage, rather than shadow and wait for other heavy units of the Home Fleet (such as KGV) to catch up and intercept. Perhaps he felt a critical opportunity would be lost, if he didn't make an immediate attack. The risk of both Bismarck and Prince Eugen reaching the Atlantic and causing carnage amongst the allied convoys, was just too great. We will never know. During the battle, when Bismarck had hit POW's bridge, there were at least two survivors. One being Capt Leach. The other was Esmond Knight, a british actor who was gunnery officer on POW, and lost an eye during the battle. Interestingly enough he played Capt Leach in the 1960 film "Sink The Bismarck!".

[@COLINJELY]

+themagicbullet74 There is conjecture that with the later battle with the Home Fleet one of Rodney's(Nelson's?) torpedoes struck Bismarck, if true, this is the only case of one Battleship torpedoing another??!!

[@cd040371]

***** Interesting point about battleships & battlecruisers not using opportunities to target each other more with torpedoes. Two likely reasons. Firstly these ships used their main guns as their principle armament, which significantly out-ranged the 'effective' range of most torpedoes. For example Bismarck's 15" and Rodney's 16" guns had a maximum range of approx 36kms and would hit a target within seconds of firing. A torpedo on the other hand would take much longer to reach a target at that distance and required the target to travel a steady course. The effective target ranges for torpedoes were normally within 10kms by comparison, although the Japanese Long Lance torpedoes could travel accurately and quickly well beyond this range. Secondly not all battleships and battlecruisers were armed with torpedoes. The British ceased including them in their battleship designs from KV5 onward, as did most other navies. Interestingly enough though while the Bismarck class wasn't armed with torpedoes, her planned successor, the "H" class battleships, reintroduced this feature into their design.

[@cd040371]

***** Not quite correct on Bismarck’s range and no battleship could fire to 49kms. I’ve summarised below the maximum main gun ranges of the ship classes you mention: Bismarck’s 38 cm (15 in) SK C/34 guns had a maximum range of approx 36.5kms based on a maximum 30 degree barrel elevation Yamato’s 46 cm (18.1 in) 45 Type 94 guns had a maximum range of approx 42kms based on a maximum 45 degree barrel elevation KGV’s BL 36 cm (14 in) Mk VII gun had a maximum range of approx 33.4kms based on a maximum 40.7 degree barrel elevation Scharnhorst’s 28 cm (11 in) SK C/34 guns had a maximum range of approx 40.9kms based on a maximum 40 degree barrel elevation Iowa’s 40.6 cm (16 in) /50 caliber Mark 7 gun had a maximum range of approx 38kms based on a maximum 45 degree barrel elevation I found it really interesting that the Scharnhorst class, with a smaller caliber main armament almost had the range of Yamato, which had the biggest caliber guns and the longest range of all. Incidentally Scharnhorst holds the record for the longest range hit using naval gunfire at sea, when she engaged and hit the British carrier Glorious at a distance of 24kms back in 1940. Scharnhorst ended up sending Glorious to the bottom in this encounter.

[@elswick1542]

Continued....Bismarck fought one of the greatest and bravest last stands in all Naval history! As Tovey himself said. On this point I think you and I can agree.

[@heinzdziurowitz]

My dad was there, he was on Prinz Eugen

[@rdoble]

+heinzdziurowitz Wow! Drama indeed.

[@xyz-sh8xx]

My grandfather was also there - he was second gunnery officer on Prinz Eugen - Paul Schmalenbach.

[@shibaplays]

the guy who made all those books? lucky

[@ajay999999]

Why did he want to be a natsi?

[@tbalmer1207]

don't think you under stand most Germans were not Nazis they were just doing there job...

[@z1az285]

The german gunners were something else. Unbelievable accuracy and right on target.

[@hashteraksgage3281]

German guns were smaller in caliber, but compensated with faster shells and overall more accuracy

[@graustreifbrombeerkralle1078]

2:30 Holy shit, that gun flash! Incredible footage!

[@Fiddleshtick]

Dich findet man auch überall.

[@asifmahmud6954]

Thats bismarck

[@stephendonnison8045]

Rest in peace Hood and Bismarck

[@metaknight115]

Don’t forgot Prince Of Wales(sunk 1941) and Prinz Eugen(sunk 1946)

[@ElysiumNZ]

Very rare footage of actual Battleship combat. Pretty brave for the camara man to be on the deck filming this.

[@rachelwatts]

I was born in Greenwich from a RN family, but if I had a choice of any capital ship to have shipped on it would have been Prinz Eugen. Perfection of shape and character. The most lucky of KM ships.

[@franknblunt]

Yet, the PE participated in action & survived damage others would have succumbed ... much more to a platform than armor.

[@emphopho]

I'll not directly say which class I favor, but I'll onclude a link, with info on Hipper's encounter with a RN ship. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Berwick_(65) On 25 December 1940, Berwick engaged the German heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper off the Canaries when she formed part of the escort to convoy WS-5A, a troop convoy to the Middle East. Despite being thoroughly ready for combat Berwick got the worst of the encounter. She scored no hits on Admiral Hipper, and sustained a fair amount of damage, being hit by several 8-inch (which for the most part passed right through the ship) and 4.1-inch shells

[@andrewjoseph1785]

at 4:06 it's so eerie to think that the huge column of smoke is where the Hood blew up. Thanks for the upload, it's amazing.

[@Novi107]

Interesting, it seems that the Prince Eugen was in front of and slightly ahead of the Bismarck. And at 3:33 - 3:39 it looks like the smoke on the left is from the explosion of Hood and, to the right, what appears to be Prince of Wales firing. Extraordinary footage!

[@derbbus]

+Jonathon Oday That's right, prinz Eugen was lead ship. This was because her radar system was still intact. Bismarck had knocked out her own radar by the back blast of her main guns. This led to the Hood targeting the wrong ship and wasting precious time. Although this was offset by the Germans admiral initially refusing to engage the enemy as ordered. The Captain eventually gave order to open fire, The battle was a bit topsy turvy.

[@undertakernumberone1]

"ich lasse mir mein Schiff doch nicht unter dem Arsch wegschießen! Feuererlaubnis!" (I wont let my ship get shot away under my arse! Permission to fire!") -Lindemann

[@aldenunion]

Is that what it is? I always try to figure this footage..

[@m1co294]

@@aldenunion its basically footage of the Bismarck from a cameraman onboard the Prinz' perspective, the british ships only appear as puffs of smoke in the horizon as they are 20+ nmi away from the Germans, and because the earth is a sphere

[@GGBundy]

I've been trying to find this footage for several years and haven't been able to find it. Thanks so much for posting this moment in history!! I appreciate it!!

[@rizon72]

The footage of the Bismarck in action is absolutely priceless. You can see both main guns and secondary guns fire and shell splashes from the British warships.

[@lm2530]

GREAT upload! Thanks for sharing! When you see the Bismark firing her guns, you know that probably one of those was the shot that doomed the Hood! Then you see the smoke later in the distance of two ships. (Hood blown up. Prince of Wales limping away.) A very historical film here.

[@zadhusna7978]

What a handsome ship Prince Eugen was.. Sadly.starting in the middle of ww2, Aircraft Carriers reign supreme and rule the sea. ending the buildings of big ships,cruiser and battleships alike..

[@davidgolinsky]

Awesome! Kudo's to the cat holding the camera. Must have been brutal trying to hold that thing steady during the heat of battle. 👍

[@apsarator]

Thanks a lot. Nice upload - this is pure observation and documentation, a clean source, free of conclusions and evaluation.

[@williamtell5365]

True history captured on film. Riveting.

[@MaxxAue]

whoever put this video here made a great job ! thanx !!

[@mqbitsko25]

The Prinz Eugen survived the war. The U.S. took her as a war prize after drawing her name from a hat. (Seriously.) And then the German crew helped sail her to to the U.S. Commissioned as a U.S. Navy ship: the USS Prinz Eugen. (Weird.) She was used as one of the target fleet in atomic tests at Bikini Atoll. She survived both Able and Baker with little damage, but was heavily irradiated. A small leak went unrepaired because of the radiation threat. She eventually capsized and sank. Her stern is sticking out of the water to this day. Tough ship. The Germans don't build junk.

[@roguenoss2482]

didn't scrapping operations start recently?

[@boiledliddo]

Thank you for sharing this historical video. Nice to see what happened during those times.

[@SmokeyBCN]

stunning footage, a day of destiny for Hood and Bismarck

[@shaun4787]

3:38 the moment Hood blew up? I could see a bright flash. This moment was missing from a lot of Denmark Strait footages. Incredible capture.

[@phe318]

probably the secondary explosion which destroyed the bow as it was sinking. though it could’ve been the final salvo from the forward turret. actually it looks like they no longer believe there was a final salvo from turret A, so what we’re seeing must be the forward magazine exploding.

[@zzturk1]

The Prinz Eugen actually survived WWII - that's right. It was captured at the end of the war and given to the U.S. to use at the Bikini Atoll A-Bomb test, and it survived that too! But it was horribly radioactive, so it was towed to the Eastern Pacific and sunk there. (Tremendous German workmanship - and their subs had more than double the crush depth of any of our subs in WWII.) True story.

[@Elthenar]

It's still visible on google maps too.

[@lostthe80s]

one can only watch this staggered amazement - the real deal Battleships at their zenith doing exactly what they were designed to do, no damp eyed nancy-boy planes as in the pacific. Of course it remains beautiful and utterly tragic so see such beautiful ships lost

[@herbertmische8660]

Great, fantastic and immortal Bismarck!!! Respect forever!!!

[@notsureyou]

From what I have read yes. Bismarck after receiving a hit from POW ordered the secondary armament to fire on POW (as well as for PE for shift fire from Hood to POW). Maximum range of Bismarck's secondary guns was 23km

[@robinhood48]

Correct. Also visible the tremendous speed of PE at this time. POW is good visible against the bright sky, Lindemann was not allowed by Lütjens to continue fire. Seems the Admirals of both sides caused damage with their interferings- Lütjens by hesitating and blindly following his orders and his British adversary by fighting without complete broadside.

[@faheem65asss]

Prince of Wales scored three hits on Bismarck in the engagement. The first struck her in the forecastle above the waterline, but low enough to allow the crashing waves to enter the hull. The second shell struck below the armoured belt and exploded on contact with the torpedo bulkhead, inflicting minimal damage. The third shell passed through one of the boats carried aboard the ship and then went through the float plane catapult without exploding.

[@brian47k]

elswick1542 thanks for posting this ! VERY INTERESTING footage , never knew such film of battle from German side was around.

[@flfar3445]

this is just gold!

[@robinhood48]

Admiral Lütjens was a quite successful commander until the Bismarck disaster. We should not forget his famous raids with Scharnhorst and Gneisenau in Atlantic sinking some 30 merchants and interrupting Western Approaches. He in vain demanded to Operation Rheinübung to be delayed until repairs of Gneisenau were finished, but Reader ordered him to take action in spite of his concerns. In addition to his sinister presentiments he also knew that his mission, to destroy merchants and convoys...

[@divisioneight]

Looked like a happy ship in the war. She was sure fast - the footage of after her refueling with the tanker in the Atlantic after being detached from the Bismarck is fascinating watching her cut through the seas at that speed. While that footage was being shot, her original consort, the Bismarck was being blasted to bits north of her as Prince Eugen sneaked all the way back to France with engine issues.

[@1912fld]

wonderful footage - thank you for sharing!

[@_lime.]

For those wondering the ship at 2:30 is the Bizmarck. She has a single funnel which you can see between her bridge/front mast and rear mast. Hood has dual funnels and it's masts are more spread out, same for the Prince of Wales. Also as per German records, the Bizmarck was firing her 4 forward guns, followed by her rear 4, in 4 shell bursts, which you can see.

[@ToonandBBfan]

Great footage mate - Thanks

[@XxJay71xX]

4:03 if someone need explaining on that sequence : the pillar of smoke on the right is where HMS Hood was moment before it exploded and blew up, The pillar of smoke on the left is the badly damaged HMS Prince of Wales currently disengaging from the fight.

[@rivco5008]

Amazing. Whenever I see this, the only footage in existence showing Bismarck in battle, I think of the film crew that was apparently aboard the battleship & may have captured the exact instant when Hood detonated. But they, and the film, were lost with the ship.

[@cooljackster7390]

Californian if you watch the video "After the Bismarck British Pathe there is footage of it under attack in the final battle

[@jigglediggle29]

The cameramen of the "Deutsche Wochenschau" wanted to bring one guy with the whole footage off the Bismarck - with the Airplane Arado. But the catapult didn't work anymore, they couldn't fix it - so he had to stay.

[@aldenunion]

@@jigglediggle29 Knowing Nazi Germany,they sure had a propaganda officer there just to film. That man aboard Bismarck,should of found a manner to preserve the footage,even if in a bottle to toss. Back in 1940's,film was stored within tin sealed containers. Somewhere on the bottom this film could be setting,maybe even preserved and air tight.

[@barrypfost2963]

My gma was danish working in france,she got out ,to usa love gma your the best .rip 1996

[@FREDOGISFUUN]

At the battleship peak of power, most powerful, ever! Almost ever (1980`s tomahawk cruse missiles to the Iowa`s) and always most beautiful weapons of war, a shame that they could not had slugged it out without that pest of air power. Battle of Jutland may have proved me wrong anyways. Historic footage, and tragic on both sides for human life. Vets still alive but not many, must get their stories on the record on both sides that have not recorded yet after all these years, on all WWII naval battles. We can not take them for granted! Fighting to kill what is killing your home, intense!

[@metaknight115]

You do know the Iowa and Yamato were stronger, right?

[@Lukusprime]

Just based on context, I think the scene at 4:02 must be Hood’s explosion, and the smoke from Prince of Wales’ funnel. Or, it could be a shot of the two ships’ funnel smoke before Hood’s explosion.

[@tomcloss9764]

The Prinz Eugen nailed the P of W a couple of times before the Bismarck trained its gun's on it after the Hood blew up.

[@mikeelektra]

The motorboat speed of that monsters of steel was incredible.

[@notsureyou]

(part 4) At 19:30, Scharnhorst was only sailing at less than 5 knots, the ship was heavily listed to starboard side and slowly running in circle, Captain Hintze ordered the crew to abandon ship. Meanwhile 36th Division destroyers were arriving to the area as well, and Belfast was delivering her last torpedo from port side.

[@motfcu]

If I remember well, the Bismarck had a radar but they didn't use it for aiming purposes. The german's optical aiming was known for being one of the best of WWII.

[@HARMstudio6]

The Bismarck’s optical radar wasn’t properly tested before the operation and it was destroyed by the blast of her own guns in the first salvo

[@alandowney5851]

HARMstudio6 They had radar but it was disabled after shooting at HMS Norfolk. They used zeiss stereoscopic optical rangefinders with a 30ft base telescope at the foretop. Hood had a Barr and Stroud 30 ft coincidental scope but it was mounted lower on top of the conning tower. The integrated fire control system on the newer ship was a huge advantage.

[@Riazor1370]

They still now, one of the best optical for teles and glasses.

[@MihaiVH]

@@Riazor1370 photo camera ,camcorders etc

[@Chartdoc62]

It's a salvo from PoW fired from all three of her turrets. That footage was actually spliced into the footage of Bismarck firing since the latter was filmed after Hood was sunk. The two single shell splashes seen near Biamarck are actually the last two single-gun salvos fired from PoW's after turret in local control as she retreated. Bismarck & the Prinz are steaming parallel to each other, having just altered away because of PE's mistaken "torpedo alarm". They fired at PoW for 5 more minutes.

[@CimontryGaming]

Pride of a Nation, a beast made of Steel...

[@garywietstruck2706]

What's truly amazing about naval combat back then. Your ship is moving 25-30 knots, pitching and rolling on the seas and tuning, so is your target yet they still managed to get hits.

[@neurofiedyamato8763]

+Gary Wietstruck Most ships back then don't turn when aiming since it throws their aim off. Some more advanced ships like the US fast battleships do or at least in theory, they can. 1930s destroyers also can since they fight at closer ranges and their turrets generally traverse faster to keep up with turns.

[@elswick1542]

+Gary Wietstruck Even before the start of WW1 both the UK and Germany had developed helm free fire control by linking the gyro compass to the rate of change calculator.an Austrian called Von Petrovic developed a gyro that fired the guns automatically at the correct point in the roll or pitch. Incredible by the standards of the day.

[@jers59]

+elswick1542 How many hits were scored by battleships against other ships in WW1? I would say not much same with WW2. Maybe that's why the last serious naval gun battle was in October 1944. In closing if you want to sink ship torpedo it. not many ships survived being hit by Type 95 Long Lance.

[@elswick1542]

Best shooting in WW1 that I can think of is 10 hits 100 shots.Overall hit rate at Jutland was roughly 2% for both sides. Agree a torpedo is a better weapon.

[@jers59]

+elswick1542 The 2 super battleships Yamato and Musashi both sunk by aerial torpedoes granted a lot of them and it was massive overkill. I think the Musashi would have sunk with lot less then 21 torpedoes. Curse on Halsey for screwing up at Leyte Gulf and taking his BB,s to chase carriers with no aircraft robbing naval history of one last massive battleship dual. It was only in 1980,s with modern radar that battleships main battery became effective at hitting targets with few rounds.

[@enteuschung4946]

I love the Prinz Eugen

[@elswick1542]

@ToonandBBfan Have tried for years to find this film finally succeeded.

[@elswick1542]

Bismarck 50000t, Hood 48000t KGV POW 44000t, Rodney 37000t.USS Arizona 32000t.Bismarck was the largest Battleship in the world at the time.Hood was the largest Battlecruiser ever built.Pocket battleship was a British name for the German Deutschland class cruiser,none were involved in this action.

[@robinhood48]

Yes. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year for you too!

[@664chrisman]

Also how brave or insane do you have to be to be on deck filming during a battleship duel?

[@NorceCodine]

I just commented on this on another upload of this film, the crew had to be inside a compartment and filming through a window. Just no way that you can stand when Prinz Eugen's 10 inch guns are firing. And your eardrums would be ripped out instantly.

[@cougar231000]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y2akhYyGp7-hibM In this video, at 3:25 minute mark, you can see that the filming crew is outside on the deck filming nearby while those huge 16 inch have been fired multiple shots, how can this be explained???

[@cougar231000]

they seems to be like 50 meters away from it, that's kinda explain it but....

[@doh1976]

Ear protection.

[@WashuHakubi4]

First of all, the filming was done onboard the cruiser Prinz Eugen, which "only" had eight-inch main armament. Bismarck and Hood had fifteen-inch main armament, Prince of wales had fourteen-inch. Obviously with any of these weapons you could not be too close to where the guns were firing. I believe there were casualties and fatalities to on-deck crewmen when Yamato was test-firing her eighteen-inch guns. Remember that many light anti-aircraft gunners, among others, would have been in exposed positions in battle situations on all of these ships. And if you look at the Bismarck wreck, every main battery or secondary battery gun turret or barbette was penetrated by individual shells. There really was no truly safe place.

[@charlesmccain]

Curiously, the USNavy seized the Prinz Eugen as a prize of war. The ship had put into Copenhagan several days before the war ended. We wanted to study the ship which had an unusual propulsion system and we asked for volunteers among the crew to bring it back to the US with USN officers and US Marines and US Navy sailors. However many we needed, we got. 120 men of the Kriegsmarine I think. At that time if you were going to be paid in US dollars and had a free trip to the US it was a great deal. Unfortunately, the ship broke down halfway across the Atlantic and got towed the rest of the way. PE was used at the Bimini atomic tests and eventually rolled over. Her propellers are sticking out of the water. If you google around you'll see the images

[@bv141a]

Lutjens is a personal villan of mine,got one of my childhoods favorite ships blown up,and I'm still not so sure that with the sloppy ammo settup on Hood that PE scored the fatal hit.Not topping off his tanks,slow to open fire,not shaking off and sinking the RN CA's covering him,allowing the POW to escape!Neglect the AA drill!Bloody good English spy.But worse in my mind,is manning a defenseless ship,with battleflags flying.You can't hold the helm,unless you get alongside your target,..sht more

[@WashuHakubi4]

Incredible video. Every time I see video of battleship guns firing, my first reaction is almost to giggle. There is something ridiculous about SO MUCH firepower in such a small space and such a brief time. Of course, it wouldn't be so amusing to be on the receiving end.

[@WashuHakubi4]

@@GeorgiaBoy1961 Well, we know that when the Bismarck was firing earlier at the British patrol cruisers the concussion knocked out her own forward radar. Which is why Prinz Eugen was sailing in the lead going into the Denmark Strait Battle, to reduce the chances of being surprised.

[@Guitfiddlejase]

It's funny to read the comments-bitch and moan...my ship was better than yours! LOL! ...when what we should be saying is thank you for posting this very interesting bit of film. Thank God for youtube and elswick1542 for posting this.

[@robinhood48]

You hit it bang.

[@ElysiumNZ]

At 4:01 it should show where the HMS Hood blew up and HMS Prince OF Wales position. The Hood was where the smoke is to the right and Prince Of Wales is the left/centre after recieving damage.

[@elswick1542]

Very interesting but largely forgotten TV program from 2001 IIR.Norwegian navy surveyed Scharnhorst with an RPV again this is from memory its about 900ft covered in fishing net,inverted.Stern intact,hull heavy damage to hull.From roughly the area of the bridge to bow its totally destroyed just a junk yard,not detached exploded,area is littered with blown out brass 11" main charges.

[@PotatoGunsRule]

The video guy had to stand on the deck, where a hit could blow him to pieces or a near miss cut him to shreds with shrapnel....amazing! The blast from their own guns must be ear-splitting....

[@brianmoore1820]

I can only guess it's a shell fragment from near hit. I found this quote in an article -> [ Hood's first salvo fell near Prinz Eugen but did not actually hit. .]

[@davemiller1963]

I am speechless. My father's uncle, Walter Graham Andrews, a signalman died on the Prince of Wales during this battle. I understand from the video description this is at 3.39.

[@davidnelson7149]

They where all brave men, and believed in their own dreams and wishes. It's easy to condemn when you weren't there, but it was always a battle to the death and no quarter was given or received.

[@bbd468]

Amazing Footage!!!

[@robinhood48]

In practice Soviet Whiskeys were late XXI class. They just added two extra E- engines for silent cruise. Being unable to build a silent transmission the used V- belts to operate the shafts. Yes , our soviet friends were not very clean!

[@manilajohn0182]

Fun (and historical) fact: Captain Leach of Prince of Wales- probably the best eyewitness to Hood's demise- was personally of the opinion that Hood was sunk by exploding UP ammunition, whose flash and flames likely penetrated the flash proofing of X turret.

[@CptFlasheart]

utterly brilliant battleship, respect to all those who sailed aboard her from the uk.....

[@jerryli1454]

Can u pls tell me where u get this film?

[@notsureyou]

My book said 2 torps, wiki says one. With Scharnhorst, its near identicle to Bismarck, but it slopes outwards towards the belt, but like Bismarck it connects to the sloped portion of the turtle back armoured deck. It however because it is sloped outwards meets it 80-90% near the top (of the highest point of the turtle back slope) instead of at the top like Bismarck.

[@bv141a]

What a great film,thanks Elswick,never seen a seabattle "live" before,cameraman has stones.No bullwarks on Prinz E,no railings either?[folded away]They do things different in Germany.Sailors don't have much protection from waves on the main deck

[@mr.epicmemerman131]

3:30 HMS Hood in the distance.

[@rizon72]

I'm not actually aware of another video where you see real footage of a battleship in combat against another battleship.

[@frankeimer3906]

great video,thanks, shame waste of human life and for what?.Nothing reality changed.From a Canadian

[@SuperAncientmariner]

Yes, they would have neede to be flooded but her submerged tubes (abreast "A" turret) were removed in Malta in 1937. The upper TTs would not have needed flooding. Rodney/Nelson only had 2. TTs were also standard on our cruisers.

[@notsureyou]

(part 3) British ships now were attacking in shifts, the area was very crowded and to avoid damages fire was ceased from long distance to allow the torpedoes to be launched from closed distance safely. At 19:28, Duke of York ceased fire after having fired 80 broadsides on Scharnhorst 446 rounds. Jamaica closed in as well after having fired 22 salvos to attack with torpedoes too, at 19:25 she launched 2 torpedoes from port side from 3.200 meters, then fired 36 rounds with her 152 mm guns.

[@notsureyou]

(part 3) The Scharnhorst system looks more like a hybridised of the US armour layout (sloped internal belt), and the traditional external belt. So the torp bulkhead is kind of where the internal belt would be below the waterline (in terms of stepped in), but the actual belt is external. The site "kbismarck" used to have a side by side comparrison of the two designs.

[@ScuddyGuitarsThings]

3:15 these guys are really moving!

[@notsureyou]

Scharnhorst took circa 11 destroyer launched british torps (larger warheads than the aircraft launched torps), plus numerous large, medium and small caliber canon hits before succumbing. Which is pretty good since she had a slightly inferior torp protectio compared to Bismarck.

[@notsureyou]

true, I think the biggest part is whether the ship is able to disengage from the battle (the threat) and concentrate on repairs/getting the flooding under control. Most countries ships had competent damage control parties, and battleships that could survive numerous torp hits. But the truth is in the pudding. I would like to see an extensive examination of the wreck of the Scharnhorst.

[@Cristianoefc]

That was Bismarck opening fire from 2:30 to 4:00! Amazing!

[@CannTankerous]

No, I was not discussing battles. I was just pointing out that Hood and Bismarck, that you describe as smaller than Arizona, were in fact much larger than her, or any of our WWl BBs. Leyte Gulf was the largest naval battle in history, I was only discussing the comparative ship sizes of the 3 in your post. And yes, the IJN was a far stronger fleet than the KMS as far as surface combatants are concerned. Also, the Bismarck was much larger than the KMS pocket battleships.

[@drmorane]

For years i have seen this film on youtube in full length, ca. one hour. Possible with material filmed from the bismarck. With sound. I never had found him here.

[@Candycoatedlies147]

Prinz eugen is such a sexiest CA

[@elswick1542]

Yes you are right at 3.39 POW fires a salvo must have been just after Hood exploded.

[@klfreelance9064]

great ship. unfortunately the war in sea is decide by aircraft carrier

[@GeorgiaBoy1961]

Ironic that the fate of Bismarck was decided by an antiquated aircraft nicknamed "the string bang" - i.e., the Fairey Swordfish torpedo bomber. "The Stringbag" was so slow that when the aircraft attacked Bismarck, her AAA batteries had difficulty compensating for their low velocity. Still, those old crates got the job done!

[@GeorgiaBoy1961]

"bang" should read "bag".... one of these years, I ought to learn to type!

[@ronaldderooij1774]

Aircraft carriers are great in peacetime for gunboat diplomacy. In war, the only effective weapon system at sea is the submarine. Any surface ship has zero chance against a well maintained and well driven submarine.

[@joshlower1]

Ronald de Rooij not true at all. That’s what destroyers are for

[@faheem65asss]

In June 2001, Deep Ocean Expeditions, conducted another investigation of the wreck. William N. Lange, a Woods Hole expert, stated, "You see a large number of shell holes in the superstructure and deck, but not that many along the side, and none below the waterline."[142] The expedition found no penetrations in the main armoured belt, above or below the waterline. The examiners noted several long gashes in the hull, but attributed these to impact on the sea floor. The gashes were due to torpedoes

[@m1co294]

The Prinz Eugen survived two nuclear bomb tests during Operation Crossroads, and only sank cause it had a leak, you can still visit the wreck at the Kwajelein Atoll

[@CannTankerous]

For heaven's sake, man. The Hood was 860 feet long and the Arizona was 608. For twenty years the Hood was the largest warship in the world. The Bismarck was 823 feet long and both she and Hood were wider, heavier and mounted a larger main armament-though with a lesser number of guns.

[@SuperAncientmariner]

cont...German witnesses (especially on PE) say they heard a massive detonation. The witnesses on the P.O.W. say there was no noise ( apart from the venting which is described by many as sounding like a gigantic blowtorch). The thing we can be thankful for is that those below decks would have known very little about it.

[@elswick1542]

@jers59 Different era to the Cruisers above but the Greeks have an Italian built armoured cruiser called Georgios Averof looks in good condition,very like an RN pre-Dreadnought.

[@elswick1542]

@bv141a Seem to remember the IJN shell was filled with incendiary tubes USN pilots said it was spectacular but not effective RN idea used standard HE shore bombardment shells with a time fuse it definitely worked mainly agaist SM-79 even if not shot down the formation was disrupted Nelson fired 16" at Japanise aircraft,special type of radar was developed that triggered the barrage automatically these were fitted on 6" cruisers and probably others.

[@notsureyou]

(part 2) In regards to the torp bulkhead setup: "The underwater hull formed the vast bulk of the internal armoured raft, and it was protected from torpedo and mine damage by 45 mm Ww port and starboard longitudinal bulkheads. These bulkheads were vertical instead of sloped as in the Scharnhorst Class, and were backed by 8 mm thick ductile plates that served as further protection against flooding"

[@robinhood48]

PE left Bismarck before the Gloster Gladiator attack. At this time Bismarck was nearly ready for combat, although suffering shortage of ammo and reduced speed due to flooded bow fuel tank and counter flooded compartment in stern section. Anyway, seems you might be right- PE´s AA guns could have helped to fight the attacking planes. The AA artillery of PE was much better trained than Bismarck´s.

[@AusNav09]

R.I.P fine men of the sea.

[@SCPCommunityDrMars]

OHH GREAT!! I LIKE THIS!!

[@divisioneight]

I presume at 4:04 we're seeing the Prince of Wales to the left making smoke, and large cloud to the right was were the Hood was moments before. Amazing footage!

[@SuperAncientmariner]

The reason i think the 4" mag played a pgreat part is that before the "main explosion", you had that venting coming up through the vents for No1 engine room,. That compartment shared a common bulkhead with the 4" magazine which sat between the Engine room and 15" Mags. Had the hit been directly into the 15" mag, you would not have had the venting, just the big bang. Thats another interesting point....cont

[@peace-now]

Remember that these were not large ships. The Hood was only a battle cruiser, not like the might battleships that the US had like the USS Arizona. The Bismark was also a small ship or pocket battleship.

[@iroscoe]

@jers59 I can think of three occasions Ardent and Acasta versus Scharnhorst and Gneisenau,Glowworm versus Admiral Hipper, though i would concur with the overall thrust of your point the scale and intensity of the naval conflict in the Pacific was generally greater than the Atlantic and Med .

[@AchimReinhardt1]

Vielen Dank!