The Sinking of the Bismarck ... with LEGOs ...

[uss frolick]

Ha ha ha ... well, this is actual Naval History ... and nicely done too.

 

"Alarm!"

 

 

[el cid]

Wow, this is better than 95 percent of Hollywood productions (and all of the crap served up by the “History” Channel).

 

Thx for sharing!

[ccoyle]

Very dramatic and well done!

[scrubbyj427]

That was awesome! 

[mtaylor]

That absolutely fantastic.  Thanks for posting it.

[DennisL]

Truly a fantastic production! The German sailors swimming away from the sinking ship was something else.  Thank you for sharing.

[Tossedman]

Brilliant!

 

[Canute]

Superb work. Thanks for sharing.

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

  'Found the following on-line:

 

Of the Bismarck's 2,200-man crew, only 115 survived. British ships picked up 110 survivors but left with hundreds of German sailors still in the icy waters after spotting what might have been a U-boat. German vessels later picked up only five more survivors.

 

 

 

[LEGION 12]

Thought you all would enjoy the behind the scenes . 

 

[ccoyle]

I'm even more impressed now!

[mtaylor]

37 minutes ago, ccoyle said:

I'm even more impressed now!

I am too.  When I first saw this a few days ago, I thought it was team but even more impressive being a one-man operation.

[thibaultron]

As an added note, one of the survivors was the Bismarck's ship cat, who the crew kept, and named Unsinkable Sam. When the cruiser was later torpedoed and sunk, the cat again survived. He then was put on another ship, which was also sunk, and survived again. After that he was sent to an old folks home, where he lived out the rest of his life comforting the patients.

[Ian_Grant]

What a great production!  I really enjoyed it, with a few comedic moments due to limitations of Lego parts.

 

I never knew that about the aborted crew rescue. War is grim.

[Literalman]

Remarkably good.

[Joe100]

I figured this was going to be pretty disrespectful but it wasn’t bad at all. I particularly liked the swordfish scene with Dusty Miller leaning out looking at the waves. Miller was yelling “not yet Jock, not yet!” Once he observed a wave trough, he yelled “let ‘er go Jock”. Jock Moffet dropped the famous torpedo right into the wave trough. Moffet then heard Dusty Miller say “Jock, we got a runner!” One of the most famous quotes of the battle.

 

As for Oskar the cat, this story is now widely believed to be false. Two photos of two different cats are often reported to be Oskar, but in all the very detailed accounts of the survivor recovery, there is no mention of a cat. The fact that most men were recovered drenched in oil Leads one to believe it would be almost impossible for a cat to survive. 
 

The reason the rescue was called off was because a UBoat had been sighted and Māori and Dorsetshire were sitting ducks. Many people believed for a long time this was a phantom sighting, however we now know U-74 (Krvkpt Kentrat) had been dispatched to the area, and was at periscope depth observing the recovery, trying to get a firing solution. Thankfully the weather was too rough, and to avoid being spotted, they went deep until the British ships left the area. They wouldn’t know the sounds they’d heard of a ship breaking up were Bismarck for some hours. The British, in turn, couldn’t take such a risk and had to abandon the recovery of survivors. The capital ships were all bugging out by this point, having lingered far, far beyond their fuel consumption range. There was even serious talk about what they’d have to do if some of these ships would need to be towed into port, having exhausted their burnable fuel. Some captains were reporting single digit fuel reserve percentages. To give you some perspective, at 60% remaining fuel, a British battleship would be considering a tanker or returning to port. 
 

Probably the biggest concern all across Rhine Exercise on both sides was fuel. It was the lynchpin of the whole mission. From Poland, the ominous explosion of Bismarck’s fuel hose, leaving her ~400 tons short, to the decision not to refuel in Norway (often regarded as a tactical error, but those who do rarely understand the positioning of the other tankers and the reason Lütjens decided not to), the hand-wringing by the Germans over Prinz Eugen’s ludicrous fuel consumption , her eventual detachment, Bismarck’s own fuel starvation issues, with her eventual return to France, and not to mention the above fuel crisis the British were facing. Fuel was the basis for almost every decision during Rhine on both sides. I can expand on this greatly if anyone is really interested. 

[flying_dutchman2]

Thanks for posting. It is amazing how this was done and the work that went into this. I like how all the figures were swimming a backstroke when the ship went down.  

Marcus