National Geographic: The Search For the Battleship Bismark Page #3

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Although the sled performs flawlessly,

the first week ends without

Ballard finding any trace

of the Bismarck.

Well, the good news is the area we

were o terrified of last year

to the east isn't so bad.

The bad news is we haven't found it.

We've covered over 40 miles

now along the bottom

in an area of 30 square miles

and we haven't picked up any other

than mud and rocks.

I mean it's an interesting

geologic feature,

but that's not why I'm here.

You guys are really

milking this one, huh?

Why don't you guys find this thing?

Nothing yet.

Todd? See anything?

Naw. Nothing...

You almost want to throw a trash over

just to have something to look at.

Anything that's more

fruitful than this.

This is boring.

A little mud watching.

I don't think the world realizes

that most of the planet is mud.

And I think I've looked at more

mud than anyone else.

Yeah, I think that's the worst part

of any search is just the boredom.

And hours and hours and hours of mud.

And that's what I'm worried about is

fatigue setting in and people

just going right by it

and not seeing it.

The watch is maintained day and night

by shifts that change every four hours.

So far, there's been nothing

of interest to report.

Ready for some mud crawling?

Good. Well, we saw nothing?

Right.

You want to be 200 meters south...

...South of that position.

Program 12?

Program 12.

I'll relieve you.

I'm relieved. Thank you. Have fun.

The area we're searching is quickly

exceeding the size of the

area we searched for the Titanic.

So they were really evidently

very busy shooting at one another

and not very busy at being navigators.

Because the positions

that have been issued so far,

there's nothing there.

Saturday, May 24th, 1941.

One hour after sinking the Hood,

the Bismarck's commanders decide to

return the ship to occupied France to

repair damage suffered in the battle.

But Bismarck is being shadowed by

three British warships,

while another battle group moves

into position for an ambush.

Aboard the Bismarck the

officers decide the time

is ripe to lose their pursuers.

And then came this dramatic event

in the middle of the night

when the captain of the Bismarck

put the wheel hard to starboard

and did a tremendous loop right out

to the west and right back,

crossed his own track,

crossed the track of the Prince of

Whales and the cruisers

that were following him

and disappeared.

Bismarck's maneuver takes the

British completely by surprise.

While they search a hundred miles

to the north,

the Bismarck sails closer

and closer to safety.

Thirty one hours pass as the

distance between Bismarck

and the ships frantically

looking for her widens.

Then, on Monday morning,

there is a sudden change

in the fortunes of war.

A Catalina flying boat,

cruising just below the

low-hanging clouds,

spots a dull black shape

on the choppy seas.

It is the Bismarck.

She is less than a day's sail

from the protection of

Luftwaffe bombers stationed in France.

Most of the British ships are well

to the northwest,

while others lie south all too far

away to catch up.

Only one ship has a chance to slow

the Bismarck down before

she reaches port the aircraft

carrier Ark Royal.

But the Ark Royal

is less than an ideal weapon

to pit against the Bismarck.

Her aging Swordfish torpedo planes

have wings made of fabric,

an attack speed of less than

a hundred miles an hour,

and carry only one torpedo apiece.

Yet they are the only weapon

the British have left.

If the Swordfish can't

slow the Bismarck down,

she'll be in friendly

waters by morning.

With night closing in,

the tiny Swordfish race

across the darkening skies.

At 8:
53 PM they spot

the Bismarck, and attack.

They came in the evening,

in the twilight.

The sea was rough when we opened fire.

We shot and shot,

but what good did it do?

We fired so much our gun barrels

had to be cooled down.

One of the Swordfish torpedoes hits

Bismarck amidships,

causing minor damage.

But another strikes the battleship in

the only place she is

vulnerable her rudders.

Bismarck's steering gear jams.

Now she can only move in one direction

northwest directly toward the

onrushing British fleet.

We couldn't understand it

when we got a signal from

the Ark Royal and the

chef who was saying:

"Course of Bismarck is due north",

when up to that point it had been

due south, or at least southeast.

And we thought:
"They made a mistake".

It's very easy when you see a

ship in the distance,

in the haze awfully uncertain

whether it's going from

left to right or right to left.

And we thought:

"Oh, they made a mistake.

Silly ol' thing.

They should know better than that".

And when it was repeated two or

three times,

we suddenly realize that the Bismarck

had been delivered into our hands.

Summer, 1989.

the Star Hercules has been

criss-crossing the seabed

for over 200 hours without

finding a trace of wreckage.

On the ninth day of the hunt,

that begins to change.

This whole area is like someone

really disrupted it

We're just getting little snippets.

There's some little stuff.

Forward, Oops, look at that.

Look at that right there. Forward.

That's obviously man-made.

No doubt about that.

Light stuff. What did that one off

to the right look like, on the?

It wasn't...

Yeah, but it could be an impact crater

Could be.

We came in on the

debris about 17 hours ago

and we found a big section of wreckage

And we got burnt last year

and we don't want to repeat that.

We want a definitive,

you know, Bismarck, okay?

We're not getting that

and it's frustrating.

It takes hours and hours and hours.

And I haven't slept for 17 hours

and I'm getting tired.

The trail of clues on the

ocean floor is tantalizingly human...

A boot... a lantern... torn

from a sinking ship.

But was it the Bismarck?

G' morning.

G' morning.

Just junk... ready? Fire.

Each hour brings new discoveries,

and a renewed sense that they're

closing in on the quarry.

There's a circles.

Go down.

Yet nothing they have found can

positively be linked to the Bismarck

until just before midnight,

when Argo passes over what appears to

be part of a turret

that once housed

Bismarck's 15 inch guns.

There, back up. No, no... reverse it.

Back, back, back. Right there!

All right. Now!

that's it. You got it... No,

they did not have those

on 18th century sailing ships...

it's decisive.

Ballard knows he's getting closer.

But he's not there yet.

We haven't found the ship.

I don't think it was buried.

I don't think it slid down that hill.

I don't think it's there.

I think it's somewhere else,

but nearby.

Here's more debris coming up.

And it's that debris the debris trail

is going to lead us to the ship.

We just have to pick up

the scent again.

Tuesday, May 27th,

between midnight and dawn.

Over a dozen British warships close on

the crippled Bismarck,

waiting for first light to

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