Setting the record straight, 59 years later

I'm amazed to read that the pilot who fired the torpedo that crippled the German battleship Bismarck in 1941, leaving her unable to maneuver and at the mercy of the Royal Navy, which sank her the following day, was only informed of his achievement in 2000!




According to the Daily Mail:

Every war veteran has a story to tell. But few could rival John Moffat's extraordinary tale.

Now 89, Mr Moffat had a ringside seat to the sinking of the Bismarck, one of the most dramatic sea battles of the Second World War.

But it was relatively recently that the pilot, who gave up flying only last year, found out just how pivotal his role was.

It was the torpedo he fired that crippled the rudder of the German battleship, leaving it at the mercy of Royal Navy ships which then sank it in the Atlantic off the west coast of France on May 27, 1941.

He was piloting one of three Swordfish open-cockpit biplanes that set off from the aircraft carrier Ark Royal to take vengeance on the Bismarck, which days before had destroyed the British warship Hood with the loss of 1,416 lives.




'What nobody talks about were the conditions - they were unbelievable,' recalled Mr Moffat, who has written a book, I Sank The Bismarck, about his experiences.

'The ship was pitching 60ft, water was running over the decks and the wind was blowing at 70 or 80mph.

'And nobody mentions the deck hands who had to bring the planes up from the hangars - they did something special. After they brought them up they had to open the wings which took ten men for each wing. And then they had to wind a handle to get the starters working.

'I only stopped flying nine months ago and there are no other planes in the world that could have done what the Swordfish planes did that day.

'After take-off we climbed to 6,000 feet to get above the really thick cloud and we knew when we were near because all hell broke loose with Bismarck's fire. We got the order to attack and I went down and saw the enormous bloody ship. I thought the Ark Royal was big, but this one, blimey.

'I must have been under 2,000 yards when I was about to launch the torpedo at the bow, but as I was about to press the button I heard in my ear "not now, not now".

'I turned round and saw the navigator leaning right out of the plane with his backside in the air. Then I realised what he was doing - he was looking at the sea because if I had let the torpedo go and it had hit a wave it could have gone anywhere. I had to put it in a trough.

'Then I heard him say "let it go" and I pressed the button. Then I heard him say "we've got a runner" - and I got out of there.

. . .

He only found out it was his torpedo that crippled the Bismarck when the Fleet Air Arm - the Navy's air force - wrote to him in 2000. He said: 'It gave me a sort of satisfaction.'

There's more at the link, including some great photographs.

The hunt for and sinking of the Bismarck is one of the great tales of naval history, and it's been studied in military academies ever since it took place. I'm pleased that one of the key figures in it has published his reminiscences. This book goes on my 'To Buy' list at once.

Peter