Three miles beneath the Atlantic Ocean a Nazi Warship once feared and revered now rots silently in its watery grave. The Bismarck was found by Dr Robert D. Ballard. Ballard and his team had taken two years to discover the wreck of the Bismarck. It was the same Dr Robert Ballard who discovered the wreck of the Titanic in 1985. The first expedition to find the wreck on July 1988 ended in failure.
A second expedition was staged in late May 1989, and on 8 June, 1989, after covering hundreds of square miles of ocean sea floor Dr Robert Ballard and his team finally found the wreck, some 600 miles west of Brest at a depth of 4.790 meters (15.700 feet). Standing on the side on an underwater mountain range, at the bottom of a vast landslide that occurred exactly 50 years ago, (at the time of writing this) when the 50,000 ton Battleship hit the seabed. Most of the secondary battery gun emplacements still point defiantly to the skies and the Nazi Swastika’s still adorn the decks.
Location of the Bismarck
The wreck of the Bismarck is standing upright on the sea bed embedded in mud and silt. Remembering that the ship received heavy damage from British shell fire and torpedo attacks the Bismarck’s remains are in surprisingly good condition and we must remember too that the ship hit the sea bed with some considerable force, similar to a speeding train running into a mountain side. Click on thumbnail to view the sequence of how the Bismarck actually sank.
Most shipwrecks around the world are badly deteriorated but the Bismarck has stood the test of time quite well. Except for a piece of the stern that broke away the hull is intact. All of the main turrets fell of when the ship capsized as it sunk ( they were held in by gravity) and some other parts of the superstructure such as the foremast and the funnel are missing too. But the secondary battery turrets and most anti-aircraft guns are still there. The forward conning tower and bridge, though heavily damaged are still there too.
There is still a surprising amount of woodwork and paint still adorning the wreck and it is likely that the wreck will remain in a solid condition for several hundred years to come.
Picture gallery
Please click on the thumbnails below to view some excellent images of the wreck. Ken Marschall is the artist who has with high accuracy, depicted how the wreck looks today from photographs that were taken on the expedition.
A war grave
According to the international law, the wreck of the Bismarck that is resting in international waters is still the property of Germany, and is considered as a war grave. After the discovery of the wreck, the German government gave the following statement regarding future diving expeditions to the wreck site:
“The Federal Republic of Germany considers itself the owner of the former sovereign Battleship Bismarck. Diving excursions to the interior of the wreck as well as recovery attempts require consent of the Federal Government. This has been categorically denied in other cases of sunken ships of the World Wars, because one must expect to find remains of the dead in the wreck. The Federal Republic feels it is its duty to protect the seamen who went to their death in the sinking of the ship. Following international customs, we view the wreck of the Bismarck as a seamen’s burial site that must be accorded proper respect.”