A flashlight in the darkness was the only warning to a trespasser. # **5.1** _**The Death of a Child**_ The _Bismarck_ made a turn that was almost to the south—as if it were trying to keep out of the glare of a searchlight—as it came on a northerly course. Once or twice the searchlight came in its direction, though usually a little to one side. But sometimes the light appeared to move and then was suddenly extinguished; it seemed to be coming nearer, but then, just as it would begin to come in range, the sound of it was lost in the throbbing roar of the propellers. When the _Bismarck_ was well on its way, the young officer turned on his torch. What he saw shocked him. He had expected to see a smooth, steel-colored surface of metal, but there were small objects everywhere; some were large, but many were tiny and seemed to be moving, bouncing up and down, in great numbers. There was no doubt now, they were mines; the sea of mines was the _Bismarck_. "Hard aport! Hard aport!" said the chief officer. The _Bismarck_ turned sharply and began to zigzag as it approached the convoy. At the first sound of gunfire the gun crews stood by their weapons and the men of other branches of the ship's company took their places behind the shields that protected the gun barrels. It had been a very long time since the gun crews had had to stand at their posts in earnest, though everyone who had been on a German warship had heard tales of how gun crews came to stand to on many occasions. One group of men from this ship and another from another were among the many men who were to take part in history's last ship to be sunk by gunfire. Even if the _Bismarck_ was not to sink—and it was not—no one could doubt that she had inflicted a great injury on the British. It would be many years before the story was forgotten. The _Bismarck_ continued to zigzag as the convoy, with the three destroyers and the escort, approached, steering south-west. One destroyer was on the port bow and another on the starboard bow; the _Dorsetshire_ was on the port beam of the _Suffolk_ and the _Norfolk_ was on the starboard beam of the _Suffolk_. There were only occasional flashes in the night and then the roar of a gun or two followed by a shell that screeched across the water and burst harmlessly into the sea. Then there was a long silence. A moment later there was a short, sharp report that came from astern. The _Suffolk_ had been damaged by a shell—it had struck her in the waterline and exploded with a roar that seemed to shake the whole ship. There was a series of smaller explosions, and soon afterward a gout of fire and then the sound of falling debris and men screaming came from the _Suffolk_. Men on the _Suffolk_ were fighting fire. There was an intense, roaring sound of flames, but the ship did not capsize. Within minutes the fire was out, and the firemen were cutting away the heavy, blackened steel that had been the side of a bulkhead. "Clear water ahead!" A shell had struck the _Norfolk_ , on the starboard side. Two guns were in action, one trained aft and the other forward. Then the destroyer's stern was lifted high in the air, there was a violent explosion in her boiler room, and there was nothing to be seen above the waterline. A huge column of smoke towered into the sky; for a moment it seemed that the _Norfolk_ had broken in two, but then the ship righted herself and a few small fires burned out of control. The guns still swung up and down, then another shell struck the _Norfolk_ and blew her completely in two. A column of smoke rose vertically into the night. The _Norfolk_ capsized and sank, and with her went a part of the convoy's escort. "Fire alarm, sir," said the officer at the compass. "Gun's crews take over the guns." The gun crews from the destroyed destroyers were to board and man the guns of their own ships. They set to work with energy, stripping the guns' crews of their ammunition before continuing with their work, to load new guns, to turn the turrets and fire in sequence. Gun crews fired at intervals, but there were no longer targets; the _Bismarck_ continued to zigzag, but there was no evidence that she was zigzagging to avoid a torpedo from the escorting destroyers. The gunners kept their eyes open, though, since torpedoes had been launched at the convoy's ships before. Now that they were in action, the gun crews could tell what was happening on board the _Suffolk_. She was sinking, and she was on fire. The crew on board the _Dorsetshire_ had been alerted, but she was not sinking yet, though she had been hit. She still looked formidable, but there was a growing fear in every man on board the _Bismarck_. He knew what was happening to other ships, he could hear the gunners' reports of damage to other ships, and he knew that there were now only two or three other ships that would be able to go on with the convoy. The gun that had been firing sporadically burst its breech and a crew of men had to take over. A new gun had to be brought forward. The ship was now listing slightly, and she gave every impression of being ready to sink at any moment. It was impossible to avoid the suspicion that the ship had to be abandoned, but it seemed a matter of pride to the crew of the _Dorsetshire_ that she should at least try to go on with the convoy. This was probably true, but it may not have been the principal motive of most of the men on the ship, especially those who were in action stations. To the seaman on a ship it was all part of his training to believe that everything must be done to keep going and to make a safe conclusion. The German crew on the _Bismarck_ was less concerned with a sense of honor. There was no reason to believe that the action would stop until the ship was sunk or disabled. The two or three other ships that would probably escape could be dealt with later, if at all, but the _Bismarck_ could be sunk. The men of the _Bismarck_ did not anticipate that the ship would be able to fight her way to safety, and they did not expect that anyone would be able to persuade the Admiralty to order the ship to a British port. They saw their ship as already lost. After the _Suffolk_ capsized, the men on the _Dorsetshire_ continued to load shells, not simply on the two guns that had been working before the _Suffolk_ went down but also on those that would now come into action. It was the only possible thing to do. As soon as the _Suffolk_ sank, the ships' whistles began to blow continuously; signal flags came up from the masts of the ships. "They are firing on the _Dorsetshire_!" The ships were sailing without lights in order to avoid attracting attention, and now the flashes from a ship came toward them, followed by the sound of gunfire. The _Dorsetshire_ and the _Norfolk_ had fought their way through the convoy, leaving it without escort. The _Suffolk_ was sinking and the _Bismarck_ was turning its guns on the remaining ships. When a destroyer turned on her destroyer screen, the battleship had ample reason for turning on it, but there would be no purpose in giving the _Bismarck_ reason to think that she had been beaten. It would be a very long time before the Admiralty could reach the point of deciding that the _Bismarck_ should be sunk. It was possible that a direct hit from a big caliber gun would have enough effect on the _Bismarck_ to knock out her steering. That would have been a very welcome result. The _Dorsetshire_ moved in the direction of the _Bismarck_ , apparently going to the assistance of the _Bismarck_. Other ships moved, too. Two of the escorting destroyers moved away and the _Norfolk_ came up on the _Dorsetshire's_ starboard side. There was an interval of quiet. The _Dorsetshire_ fired another round of star shells. But it was the _Bismarck_ that was to take the first blow, followed by the _Norfolk_. The _Suffolk_ went down before anyone in the German ship had an opportunity to fire a single gun. The ships that had been following on the convoy's port side were in closer range, but they had already taken evasive action and were firing with full power. The _Suffolk_ was in action, but it was obvious that her crew had few prospects of escape. The _Dorsetshire_ was ready, but her captain held back from firing for a time.