2nd Battle of Jutland, 20th of April
The cards the Germans were to play would fully surprise the Allies, but the result of the two high stages gambles made by the German High Command would prove to give the Allies, and the Royal Navy in particular two decisive sea battles, this was the situation the men at the Admiralty had dreamt of since the Battle of Trafalgar, but they had failed to achieve during the Great War.
These two battles were fought with only weeks between, and the first and also most important of them were fought on the last days of April 1940. Fought in the same waters as the great battle from the Great War this battle was know in history as the 2nd Battle of Jutland.
The Allied fleet leaving Bergen in late April 1940
As the Allied fleets had been patrolling the North Sea ever since the outbreak of war they had gotten used to blockade and patrolling by now, so when news that several German ships had been spotted leaving harbour it was seen as something much more interesting that routine work. Most the Allied fleets in the North Sea were at the time stationed in Bergen, with only smaller detachments all around the sea, but now when word arrive from the scouting aircrafts the Allied fleets immediately left harbour and sailed south. The fleets, when reinforced with all ships dotted around the North Sea, were to gather outside Stavanger and from there head south together. This fleet would be larger than any fleet seen operation together so far in the war, it would have 60 different ships, among them 3 aircraft carriers and several battleships, under joint command, and it would be larger than anything ever seen in Norwegian waters.
Some British ships from the Grand Allied Fleet outside of Jutland in April 1940
The Allied fleet would soon see engagement. Unknown to the Allied admirals the German ships had already sailed so far north that they were now situation just of the far north of Jutland in Denmark. So now the two fleets were on a colliding course, and it was only a question of time before they would probably meet. Early in the morning of the 20th of April Allied planes would then once again spot the Germans, and now the Allies knew they had the advantage.
In overall command of the Allied fleet was the commander of the British Home Fleet, Alfred Ernle Montacute Chatfield, 1st Baron Chatfield, Admiral of the Fleet. Now knowing were to expect to find the Germans Chatfield ordered his ships to sail at full speed south, hoping to catch the Germans off guard and win a decisive victory.
Onboard the German fleet no one was aware of the danger ahead. The German battle fleet had been ordered to sea to clear the sea lanes as to avoid an other humiliating defeat of Germans transports like the one that happened in the Battle of Skagerrak. Therefore the entire German battle fleet now sailed north, right into the waiting Allied fleet.
All three aircraft carriers in the Allied fleet had their planes out on patrol when the German fleet was spotted by one of the Swordfish squadron. Acting on orders to engage all enemies the planes, after sending signals to the fleet and the other squadrons, the planes quickly engage the enemy. The Germans, aware of their past problems with Allied aircrafts, upon seeing the first bombs and torpedoes enter the water, decided that the vanguard ships should not be aided, but that the main parts of the battle fleet was to retreat. Now however the first Allied ships had sailed within range of the huge guns of the German ships Bismarck.
German battleship Bismarck, the largest ship in the German fleet sank the HMS Dorsetshire in the opening of the battle
The Bismarck would immediately fire her guns upon the Allied ships. Although ordered to retreat her captain didn’t want to go back without having fired any shots upon the enemy. Also seeing that his ships were outside of Allied range and that all Allied aircrafts were heavenly engaged with German destroyers, he decided to give the order to open fire. The first shots form the Bismarck could be heard on long range and for the Allied commanders it sounded like all hell had broken lose. HMS Dorsetshire was the Allied ships leading the Allied vanguard and she was to suffer from the Bismarck’s fire. The first shots from the Bismarck would hit her hard, taking out her radio and all her front guns, as well as scoring a hit on the bridge. As the men of the Dorsetshire regained their sight and hearing they could see that their ship wouldn’t last for long if the Bismarck kept her fire up. The second broadside would be even worse.
Quickly reloading and firing again Bismarck sent a new broadside against the Dorsetshire. This time the shots would completely destroy her front. One of the shots pierced through the Dorsetshire’s side, ripping the side open and water started to flood into the Dorsetshire. Onboard the Dorsetshire the order was given to abandon ship.
Now the Allied pilots, having finished off a German destroyer who was now sinking, suddenly understood the great danger the Bismarck posed to the fleet, and now changed target. All aircrafts now flew against the Bismarck. Onboard the Bismarck,the officers seeing the danger of the coming Allied planes, and remembering their order to retreat and not wanting to leave the pride of the German navy in an dangerous satiation, now decided to follow the order they had been given, and the Bismarck now turned and sailed away at full speed. Seeing the Bismarck fleet the rest of the German navy panicked and the fleet shatter into several smaller fleets fleeing away from the Allied planes and the Allied ships, which were now arriving in force on the scene and opening fire upon the Germans.
The first engagement between the Allied fleet and the German battle fleet would leave behind one Allied and one German ship at the bottom of the sea
Deciding to push the Germans hard as he could see they were retreating in different directions, Admiral Chatfield, ordered the fleet to split up. He sent Admiral Perry south with the Reserve Fleet along with some French and Norwegian ships, he was to push the Germans hard and not let anyone get back to Germany. Admiral Pound was ordered to sail west while Chatfield himself would sail east.
Admiral Pound seeing that he had a very good chance of catching up with a group of German ships heading west, among them the KMS Prinz Eugen, ordered his ships to sail with full speed westwards. At about 6 PM Pound’s ships managed to catch up with the German ships ahead. Now seeing that it was only three German ships, the KMS Prinz Eugen, KMS Königsberg and a destroyer, Admiral Pound was not a man to hesitate, and order all ships to engage the enemy. With his 23 ships this wasn’t really a problem. While the battleships fired broadside upon broadside on the German ships, the cruisers and the destroyers sailed closer in to fire torpedoes and shots upon the German ships. The destroyer was the first to go down, after suffering several hits from the battleships, and torpedoes hits she leaned over and sank. Having seen that his destroyers would finish off the destroyer with torpedoes, Pound had already ordered his battleships to shift all their firepower upon the German cruisers.
The German commander of the KMS Königsberg fearing for his ships decided now it was every man for himself and instead of aiding the Prinz Eugen, he ordered his ship to flee. The Prinz Eugen on the other side couldn’t flee.
German heavy cruiser KMS Prinz Eugen was sunk by Allied ships in the evening of the 20th of April
The first shots from Allied ships had destroyed the bridge of the Eugen and leaving her crew unable to control the ships, as the rudder had been destroyed. Now the ship was just a sitting duck for the Allied ships. Several more shots were fired and soon the Eugen was on fire, she had her bridge, and most of the officers killed, many men dead, and several guns destroyed and now the smaller Allied vessels closed in to finish her off with torpedoes. While this happened the KMS Königsberg was able to get away, but not without suffering several hits from the Allied fleet, and thus she would need extensive amounts of repair before she would be able to sail to sea again, if she would be able to get to a friendly port she would say in dock for months.
Onboard the Allied ships the crew were very happy, they had just witness the Prinz Eugen blow up after receiving several more hits.
In the west Admiral Pound’s squadron finished off several German ships
In the east Admiral Chatfield was following several German vessels trying to fleet to harbours in German occupied Denmark. Sending out his aircrafts once again Chatfield had great luck when on of the German transports vessel was sunk just about to enter the harbour. She therefore blocked the harbour and safety for the rest of the German vessels and they now fled in all different directions to get away from the Allied aircrafts. An other German transport reacted to slow, and therefore it was sunk by torpedoes from the Swordfish planes just minutes after the first ships had sunken.
German transport suffering from torpedo hits
As the two transports were sinking the KMS Emden was the next ship to suffer from Allied planes, now the Allied ships had sailed within range as well, so the Emden came under fire from both torpedoes from planes as well as shots from the Allied ships. Not really standing any chance of getting away her captain decided the Emden would fight to the end, and he turned his ship and sailed right against the Allied fleet. The captain was determined that he should take at least one Allied vessels with him to the bottom of the sea. He sailed directly against the closest Allied vessel. But the Emden was not to get that far; a torpedo hit would open her side and make seawater flood into her engine rooms, thus halting her engines. Now she was only drifting, and had no chance of coming closer to any Allied vessels, ordering his crew to abandon ship the captain stayed onboard till the end and as the Allies finished of the Emden he went down with the ships, while the rest of the surviving crew were picked up by Allied vessels and taken prisoners of war.
The Allies sank German ships in the east as well
Also in the south the Allies were chasing the Germans, and soon also here the Germans would be the loosing part, but as night fall on the 20th of April the Germans still had a chance to get away, but no matter what the day had been a good one for the Allies. But the 21st would prove even better.
