My Life As Historian: On The Anniversary of Bismark's Sinking

The Last Redoubt reminded me that today is the anniversary of the sinking of the Bismark. You know, the battleship that Sabaton made a song about.

This was part of a larger narrative regarding World War II, which was the Kriegsmarine contestation for naval supremacy of the Atlantic with the reigning power: the British Navy. Bismark was a notable episode in that it featured one of the final battleship v. battleship engagements in naval history, but as with Imperial Japan's Yamato it too would see an ignoble end.

If you wan to listen to a calm British man explain all about this event to you, here you go.

And if you want one focused on Bismark in particular, here's a YouTube search for them. Plenty to choose from out of that list, and there's likely more elsewhere if you want to find them.

The big takeaway from Bismark is that this was one of the few times when Ol' Adolph was right. He made the call to focus on U-Boats over surface ships, and that turned out to be the right call; shipping was almost totally wrecked in the Atlantic and British resources were stretched to the breaking point. Had it not abaited, the ability--nevermind the will--to continue on the part of the United Kingdom would have collapsed and with it the war in Western Europe would end. Germany would be free to refocus to deal with the Soviets, and the Japanese would be free to wreck the rump presence of European powers in the Pacific.

You want a plausible alt-history? There's your jump-off point: the U-Boats actually finish the job. Figure it out from there.

The story of Bismark is a tragedy on multiple levels, and it served as one of the examples naval institutions made to support rebuilding post-war fleets around carriers and relegating battleships to the role of naval artillery until the cruise missile could feasible replace most uses of that role. Bismark began that argument. Pearl Harbor continued it. Yamato concluded it.

Remember that when the Carrier's time reaches its end.