Kriegsmarine biggest mistake here was not to refuel while they are still in port.Despite the losses, the Royal Navy manages to puncture Bismarck's fuel tank. Had she refueled, she could limped closer to France's coast. She still can't reach port, but at least she can put herself within Luftwaffe operating range where the fighters and bombers can provide air support.
Kriegsmarine biggest mistake here was not to refuel while they are still in port.Despite the losses, the Royal Navy manages to puncture Bismarck's fuel tank. Had she refueled, she could limped closer to France's coast. She still can't reach port, but at least she can put herself within Luftwaffe operating range where the fighters and bombers can provide air support.
Bismarck was never in any danger of running out of fuel, but speed was limited to a fast cruise of 20 knots to conserve for a possible further surface action and likely also to try and limit worsening of the underwater damage.It's questionable if more fuel would have mattered much, since it seems like if available it would have been used it attempts to drive shadowing ships west into U-boats or for more radical evasive maneuvers rather then a higher speed dash to the coast based on things bandied about at the time. If a higher speed would have even been advisable is also questionable, as it was the evasive maneuvering at high speeds during the air attacks caused significant worsening of the damage and new flooding of previous dry areas.
The fuel leak's chief impact was making it obvious a return to port was required and the raid would be cancelled. Though really the level of flooding and damage should have ruled that out anyway, it would have been extremely unwise to continue for days if not weeks in quite possibly heavy Atlantic weather with holes in the hull below the waterline that had already caused permanent flooding and bow trim. Despite the myth that's grown up of Bismarck sailing away nearly unscathed the underwater hits inflicted by PoW were not superficial, even without the fuel tanks involvement their placement on the bow noticeably hampered the ship's seaworthiness and would really demand a return to port under all but the most pressing of conditions.
It's true that the fuel situation did dictate a reasonably direct course for France, but at the same time messing around too much in the open ocean invited repeated attacks by converging carriers. Getting to the cover of land based fighters was her best option regardless, so a reasonably direct course was probably wise anyway. Once that course was selected though she had ample fuel to make the trip at 20 knots with a reverse for full power maneuvering in the event of further contact with heavy surface units. As it was she slowed a few times to allow damage control parties to work.
Another thing that also must be considered when people sometimes talk about it being "foolish" to not load every bit of fuel possible is that this is not like a tank of gas in a car. Fuel comprises a considerable portion of a loaded warships displacement with the expected result of putting it deeper in the water at full or overload, and in many cases with capital ships the maximum theoretical fuel load often involved filling void spaces that would be better left empty from the perspective of both stability and protection. The reality is that in an ideal world you'd want to take only enough fuel to reach the objective, fight at a modest displacement thus improving performance and stability if damaged, and then return to base while with a modest reserve as this maximizes the ships performance where it matters most.
This also has the advantage of making that fuel available for other units, rather then sitting unused in bunkers. 25% of the bunkers of a battleship would basically fill the tanks of a destroyer division for instance.
Another thing that also must be considered when people sometimes talk about it being "foolish" to not load every bit of fuel possible is that this is not like a tank of gas in a car. Fuel comprises a considerable portion of a loaded warships displacement with the expected result of putting it deeper in the water at full or overload, and in many cases with capital ships the maximum theoretical fuel load often involved filling void spaces that would be better left empty from the perspective of both stability and protection. The reality is that in an ideal world you'd want to take only enough fuel to reach the objective, fight at a modest displacement thus improving performance and stability if damaged, and then return to base while with a modest reserve as this maximizes the ships performance where it matters most.
This also has the advantage of making that fuel available for other units, rather then sitting unused in bunkers. 25% of the bunkers of a battleship would basically fill the tanks of a destroyer division for instance.
FWIW the Americans did exactly that because of their expected war in the pacific. They designed their ships with huge fuel tanks and filled them up to the brim whenever they got the chance, especially for the battleships, which had absurd fuel capacities for displacement. South Dakota carried about the same amount of fuel as Yamato despite displacing half as much. The battleships had enough fuel that they could often refuel their destroyer escorts to reduce the need for dedicated refuelers.
FWIW the Americans did exactly that because of their expected war in the pacific. They designed their ships with huge fuel tanks and filled them up to the brim whenever they got the chance, especially for the battleships, which had absurd fuel capacities for displacement. South Dakota carried about the same amount of fuel as Yamato despite displacing half as much. The battleships had enough fuel that they could often refuel their destroyer escorts to reduce the need for dedicated refuelers.
To be fair the Americans were the world's largest supplier of oil in 1940. They were the only country were oil was not really that strategic of a resource that civilians had cars and lots of gas.
Yes!Yes!This isn't a fatal injury, butOk, let's head inside that squall and then go our separate waysThe flooding's pretty badI'm going to head for France at onceYou will proceed with the operation as per our ordersAmidst the calm sea, the squall was like a heavy curtain that covered up nee-sama...That was the last time I ever saw Bismarck nee-sama...Bye now, let's meet againContinue to engage the commerce raiding missionRebuild a new strike plan as soon as possibleUnderstoodUnder German occupation at that time
