The Bismarck on the 24th May 1941

After sinking the HMS Hood 'The figurehead' of the British fleet in the battle off Iceland in the early hours of the morning of the 24^th the Bismarck headed east into the vastness of the North Atlantic. However she was tracked visually, when weather permitted, and on radar, later in the day the Prince of Wales fired on the German Panzershiff. The Bismarck sustained 3 hits from the British ship's 14" guns. Two of the shells failed to explode: the third passed clear through the hull on the waterline, just aft of the bow, floading the forecastle below the waterline. The present lot shows the doomed Bismarck, with 2000 tons of water in her bow. She would never see her home port of Brest again.