Why was the Bismarck able to sink the Hood with relative ease?

Question: Why was the Bismarck able to sink the Hood with relative ease!?

Was the Bismarck a superior ship or did it just get 'lucky'!?Www@QuestionHome@Com

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:

The Bismark certainly was a superior ship!.

That said, in 1941 when the Hood was sunk, it was a massive blow to the Royal Navy!. The Hood was the pride of the Royal Navy, and it stood for 200 years of British naval supremacy!.

The Hood weighed in at 45,000 Tons, and was armed with 8, 15 inch guns!. It was laid down in 1916 and completed in 1920!.

The Bismark weighed 51,000 Tons and was armed with 8, 15 inch guns!. It was laid down in 1936 and completed in 1940!.

After the First World War, it was agreed to limit the size of Battleships!. This agreement was known as the Washington Treaty!. Battleships were not supposed to weigh more than 35,000 tons (standard displacement)!. Where as Britain stuck by this policy, the Germans did not!. The Germans claimed the Bismark weighed the agreed 35,000 Tons, but in actual fact it was far heavier!.

Furthermore, the Bismark, had taken into account, changes in Battleship design, which was not afforded to the Hood!. Where as the Hood was designed off 1916 principles, the Bismark has 20 years grace, and was biult in 1936!. This was very important!. Accuracy of fire had improved during this time period, as well as range, and armour protection!. The Bismark was very heavily armoured!.

The Hood on the other hand, had never received a full refit in the inter war period, and lacked sufficient deck armour, to protect itself from armour piercing shells!.

With this knowledge, when the Hood came into contact with the Bismark, it tried to close the range on the Bismark, to protect itself from long range shells which would drop on its deck!. By closing the range, it was hoped any German shells would stike the side of the ship, which had far greater armour than the deck!. Unfortunately for the Hood, as she turned to close the range on the Bismark she was hit by a shell that pierced her deck and struck her in her magazine belt!. She exploded and broke in two!. There was only 3 survivors!.

Some people claim that the Bismark guns were very accurate, and this is why she successfully sank the Hood, But the fact is, this was the first time the Bismark saw action, and scoring a direct hit after such a short space of time, was uncommon at such a range (15,000-20,000 yards)!.

Alternatively, the loss of the Bismark just a few days later, has often been portrayed as a stoke of luck by the British, when aircraft disabled the Bismarks stearing!. In reality, fate was even handed!.

The Bismark was able to sink the Hood, because she was a state of the art ship!. The most powerfull ship at sea at the time!. The super Japanese Battleships had not been built yet, and at 50,000 tons the Bismark was the largest Battleship afloat!. The Hood, was a First World War Battleship that had never been fully modernised, leaving her with weaknesses, that if exploited could be her undoing!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

It wasn't ease, they were two pretty evenly matched Battleships, it was a Very Luck Shot / Hit, a Direct Hit, on the ammunition Storage deck, and blew the Hood up!.!.!.
Mind you the Hood was a WWI ship, and the Bismark was made in 1940, its, (Bismark), Armament was 8 15" guns in 4 twin turrets, 12 5!.9" guns in 6 twin turrets, 16 4!.1 anti-aircraft guns, 16 37mm anti-aircraft guns, and 12 20mm anti-aircraft guns, and was finally sunk by the British, on the 27th may 1941, by the battleships HMS King George V and the HMS Rodney!.!.!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

The hood’s design originated with a pre World war one design for heavy cruiser, heavy cruisers were designed with two purposes in mind: they were to be fast and have large guns!. At the time of design, German ships tended to have smaller guns!. It was therefore envisaged that the heavy cruiser should be able to out gun almost everything on the sea and those ships they could not out gun they could out run!. The big guns would also give them grater gunnery range then the and accuracy German equivalent!. It was felt that the heavy cruisers would be able to stay out of the range of other ships guns while still being able to use their own guns!. however in order to make heavy cruisers fast they had very little in the way of armour!.

During the first world war the British navy found that this idea did not really work and these ships where being taken into engagements with battleships, and their lack of armour made them very vulnerable!.

Further more gunnery accuracy was improving significantly even during the 1st world war gunnery accuracy had improved so much that the heavy cruisers were flawed even before they left the production line!.

At the beginning of the second world war there was a programme to refit the hood and other heavy cursers with better armour!. This programme was only partially completed and the hood had had armour plating added around hull but not to the decking!.

At long distances the shells fired form a battle ship would be fired at an angle and ark through the sky coming down from a high angle!. The commanders of the hood know that shells coming in at this angle risked hitting the unarmed deck!. They therefore intended to use the hoods high speed to get close to the Bismarck where shell would be fired in a more direct line and would strike the armour plating around the hoods hull!. However this plan failed as a shell fired at long distance hit the hoods deck piercing it and igniting the magazine!.

One also has to remember that the bismark was a state of the art battle ship only recently completed!. It represented the panicle of battleship design!.

All that without even having to copy stuff from wikipediaWww@QuestionHome@Com

A lot of long answers!. The Hood was based on WWI technology!. The Bismark was state of the art at the begining of WWII!.

Vertical)

Main Armour Belt:
Length/Height- 562ft X 9ft 6in / 171!.3m X 2!.9m!.
Thickness- 12in/30!.5cm (max), tapering to 5in/12!.7cm forward & 6in/15!.2cm aft
Lower Armour Belt: 7in / 17!.8cm
Bulkheads: 4in & 5in /10!.2cm & 12!.7cm
II!. Decks (Horizontal)

Forecastle: 1? - 2in / 4!.4cm - 5cm
Main: 1 - 3in / 2!.5 - 7!.6cm (averaged 2in / 5!.1cm on the slope)
Upper: ?in - 2in / 1!.9cm - 7!.6cm
Lower: 1 - 3in / 2!.5 - 7!.6cm (3in / 7!.6cm amidships in vicinity of boiler rooms)
III!. Superstructure

Conning Tower: 9 - 11in / 22!.9 - 27!.9cm (vertical), 2in/5cm (decks)
Funnel Uptakes: 1in / 2!.5cm

IV!. Main Guns

Barbettes: 12in / 30!.5cm maximum thickness
Gun Houses:
Face- 15in/38!.1cm
Sides- 11 - 12in / 27!.9 - 30!.5cm
Rear- 11in/27!.9cm
Roof- 5in/12!.7cm

Look at the armour thickness!

Secondly the Hood during the early stages of the sea battle continually fired at the wrong target, The Princde Eugen!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Things happen when they are hit with a 12 inch shell!.

Bismark was the superior warship but it was also a lucky shot!.!.!. just like the British torpedo that jammed the Bismark's rudder and led to it's being sunk!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

The Hood was an old ship which had thin armor and the Bismarck was a modern ship with the latest technology but the shell from the Bismarck was a lucky shot that went straight down a funnel into the ammunition locker which exploded instamtaneouslyWww@QuestionHome@Com

Bigger,better built,excellent Captain,well drilled crew,the guns were more numerous, bigger and more powerful with a greater range!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Tom is right!. It was the same problem as sank a ship in the Battle of Jutland 1916 I think - sparks getting into the magazine!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Hood was lightly armored to increase speed!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

because Hood was old ship and had smal armor on the deck!. and Bismarck had guns 380 mm!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

It was a lucky shot!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

ffWww@QuestionHome@Com

being a fairly decent naval historian, I don't have much to add to Ra1's answer!.!.!.!.give him the pointsWww@QuestionHome@Com