GERMANY/USA/UNIDENTIFIED LOCATION: CAPITAIN FRED MCLAREN CLAIMS THE WORLD WAR II GERMAN WARSHIP THE "BISMARCK" WAS NOT SUNK BY BRITISH GUNFIRE

Record ID: 645698

  • Title: GERMANY/USA/UNIDENTIFIED LOCATION: CAPITAIN FRED MCLAREN CLAIMS THE WORLD WAR II GERMAN WARSHIP THE "BISMARCK" WAS NOT SUNK BY BRITISH GUNFIRE
  • Date: 4th December 2002
  • Summary: (W1)UNIDENTIFIED FILM LOCATION (FILE) (REUTERS) NEWSREEL READING "BISMARCK CONQUERORS COME BACK HOME" NARRATION OVER BRITISH SHIP AND SAILORS RETURNING TO BRITAIN AFTER BATTLE WITH BISMARCK PLANE TAKING OFF (SOUNDBITE) (English) BRITISH OFFICER SAYING: "This was the first chance we had of going out and having a crack at the Hun." (SOUNDBITE) (English) ROYAL MARINE SAYING: "By the time we'd finished we left her burning from stem to stern, one of her mags must have blown up, and she was sinking." (SOUNDBITE) (English) ROYAL MARINE SAYING: "And I realised then that although we'd been bismarcked we were quite unmarked." BRITISH SHIPS FIRING ON BISMARCK
  • Embargoed: 19th December 2002 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: HAMBURG, GERMANY / UNIDENTIFIED FILM LOCATION / UNIDENTIFIED LOCATION, OFF S.W COST OF IRELAND / NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES / UNDER WATER
  • City:
  • Country: Germany
  • Topics: Conflict,History
  • Reuters ID: LVAEVGXA2XVUFOOX0D851T82YEQF
  • Story Text: An American explorer is sinking a British naval legend, and causing controversy with it. Captain Fred McLaren claims he has seen first hand how the World War II German warship the "Bismarck" was not sunk by British gunfire, as Brits proudly believe, but instead scuttled by embattled German troops.
    During World War II, the Bismarck was the most feared warship, a Nazi superweapon believed to be unsinkable - a mighty naval legend.
    In 1941, when the Bismarck was debuted, the British attacked it with all they had, but the Bismarck destroyed Britain's "Hood" ship - their pride and joy, killing all but three of the 1415 men onboard.
    "Sink The Bismarck" became the battle cry of Brits determined to overcome the Nazi's - and so when British warships on the morning May 27th 1941 relentlessly fired on the Bismarck, Britain rejoiced. The mighty German vessel sank, killing most of the men onboard, several hundred of those left alive were taken prisoner of war.
    Despite decades of German Bismarck survivors claiming they scuttled the ship themselves, British history books have claimed it was the massive attack by the British ships that in fact caused it to sink.
    Now, six decades on, new evidence appears to be coming to light, with an American explorers deep sea findings. Former U.S naval hero and deep sea explorer, Captain Fred McLaren has taken part in the first manned expedition to the sunken Bismarck, where it lies around 300 nautical miles off the south west coast of Ireland.
    He says the hull of the ship is intact, showing that no British torpedoes ever hit the boat. While the top of the boat shows significant damage, with gun positions showing holes from artillery fire, the rest of the vessel is relatively unharmed, leading McLaren and his team to come to conclusion that, indeed, the Bismarck was scuttled.
    Captain Fred McLaren said, "In my strong opinion, having now made two dives and having seen everything you can see on Bismarck, I am talking now not of the superstructure, the gun mounts, but looking at her hull and her decking, she had to have been - it was a German scuttling of the ship that resulted in her sinking."
    His findings fly in the face of the victorious British newsreels of the 1940's which gleefully proclaimed the Royal Navy's and Royal Airforce's superiority over the German enemy.
    Newsreels featured heroic servicemen telling their country, "This was the first chance we had of going out and having a crack at the Hun" and "Although we'd been bismarcked we were quite unmarked!"
    And McLaren says he has yet more evidence to further anger the sceptical historians. He believes that if the Germans hadn't scuttled the ship, it never would have sunk at all, stating that the damage caused by the British merely scarred the boat, "If the Germans had surrendered, or had decided not to scuttle for some reason, that ship in my opinion could have been towed back to port, I don't think she would have sunk, because all the shell damage was up high."
    McLaren's video footage from his August 2002 expedition shows damaged guns, stationed on top of the deck, but no real other damage. In fact, the teak wood decking is remarkably preserved despite being underwater for more than 60 years.
    McLaren says he, more than anyone, was surprised by the Bismarck's good condition, "I expected to see something resembling Swiss cheese and what struck me was that this was a magnificent, really beautiful formidable ship sitting down there, it almost struck you as if My Goodness, this thing is intact, you could refloat it again and it would still be a threat."
    The famous Bismarck battle has provided the movie industry with much gung-ho heroic fodder, with films like the 1960 "Sink The Bismarck" and a slew of history books detailing the British victory. Perhaps some of those books will now have to be re-written. That is infuriating some British researchers, whom McLaren says accuse him of talking "nonsense".
    But the American explorer says the pursuit of the truth drives him on, "Even though it makes people - might make certain people upset, the biggest mistake I think in the world is just to maintain a fixed opinion, or conclusion on something when it hasn't been thoroughly investigated and solidly proven."
    Although McLaren is convinced he is right in his conclusion the Germans sunk the Bismarck themselves, he says the chapter on this historic battle is not yet closed. He would like to make further deep sea explorations to the resting place of the Bismarck to continue his investigations into the majestic legendary warship.
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