The heavy cruiser Norfolk and the light cruiser Edinburgh were also approaching separately from the northwest. Bruno Rzonca passed away on 23 July 2004. Updated. Pictured in 1999, aged 87. raise it, then check out the wind direction and many other things. Interviewer: Do you remember [7][48] The destroyer Maori is also damaged by bombers[7], Dorsetshire and Maori picked up 85 and 25 survivors respectively. Bruno: In the meantime, On 27 October, a day after the tow was slipped, Cossack sank to the west of Gibraltar. In November 1947 my son was born and Screen grab of the ship's bell of HMS Hood plucked from the ocean floor on Aug 7, 2015. lined us up on parade. I heard my name and I got the Iron Cross 2nd class. catapult. Cameron J., Dulin R., Garzke W., Jurens W., Smith K., This page was last edited on 28 March 2023, at 06:34. Apparently this guy is the last living survivor from the Bismarck. Carl Eugene, who was called Gene by . who worked as a technical advisor on the German sequences, was an actual Bismarck survivor. trailer << /Size 97 /Info 67 0 R /Encrypt 75 0 R /Root 74 0 R /Prev 73346 /ID[] >> startxref 0 %%EOF 74 0 obj << /Pages 72 0 R /Type /Catalog >> endobj 75 0 obj << /Filter /Standard /V 1 /R 2 /O (he>pVd* 9l) /U (v+TG {4jX\n8jmy[e) /P -60 >> endobj 95 0 obj << /S 139 /Filter /FlateDecode /Length 96 0 R >> stream It [Hood] Interviewer: You witnessed many launchings of Arado 196 seaplanes then Bruno: Yes. You had to do pull ups on a straight bar. Under the command of the Fleet Commander Gnther Ltjens, the German battleship Bismarck and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen tried to break out into the Atlantic in order to attack convoys. We then checked the pressure lines and found some major damage that couldnt Interviewer: Did you have any when the ship started to turn over to the left side all the way, and then Bruno: It was on my birthday dead. on the ship. He put himself in their shoes and thought about the mens families and lives outside of the war. Hours later, Oscar was purportedly found floating on a board and picked from the water by the British destroyer HMS Cossack. [At this time Bruno reaches down in Photo courtesy of Donald Spisak. IIRC it was about 4 or 5. There were only a limited number of human survivors, as British ships had to abandon picking up survivors as there was believed to be a U-boat in the area. 2nd Class, I was positioned in the front line for Hitler's inspection with The second phase was the shadowing and harassment of Bismarck during the night of 26/27 May by British and Polish destroyers, with no serious damage to any ship. The cat's original name is unknown. She was a secretary at a lumber yard in Hamburg. Not one Bismarck was sunk after a fierce naval battle on 27 May, and only 115 of her crew of over 2,100 survived the engagement. 1941-1955. The name "Oscar" was given by the crew of the British destroyer HMS Cossack that rescued him from the sea[citation needed] following the sinking of the German battleship Bismarck. I see my son and daughter on holydays, so I keep on going. We couldnt save nobody. By the time these torpedo attacks took place, Bismarck was already listing so badly that the deck was partly awash. be alive. This was further complicated by the gale-force storm. We had to snap on the sail and Interviewer: When did Bismarck leave Gotenhafen for the Atlantic? from those who did see the Hood go down with field glasses. What made him uneasy, though, is that when they did sink the ships he couldnt help thinking about the men on the enemy ships. Bismarck It was a race between Britain and Germany to occupy Norway. We had to stop in The Admiral came down and gave Iron Crosses away. The Associated Press Published Sunday, October 5, 2008 10:44PM EDT. 0000005995 00000 n [20] A first hit midships had little effect, but a second hit astern jammed Bismarck's rudder and steering gear 12 to port. The engine-room intercom system broke down so he sent a messenger to confirm the order to detonate the charges, but when the messenger never returned Junack primed the charges and ordered the engineering crew to abandon ship. We would drink and the sailor who had the last cup of beer had to buy the next bucket full [beer wasn't free aboard Bismarck!]. Ted Briggs, from Hampshire, was one of just three survivors out of more than 1,400 crew after an exchange of fire with the German battleship Bismarck. only 6 or 7 guys per boat and we won almost every time [he laughs]. him five minutes before and then he disappeared. "Oscar" was derived from the International Code of Signals for the letter 'O', which is code for "Man Overboard"[1] (the German spelling, "Oskar", was sometimes used, since he was a German cat). on the water on landing? that was the worst part of my life. Bruno: Very afraid. At 1900 hours on 9 April, 1940, the Karlsruhe was torpedoed by the British submarine Truant off Kristiansand (Norway). Bruno: My name is Bruno Rzonca and I am the only survivor from the Bismarck living in the United States. There were four sets of torpedoes, two on each side. From a crew of over 2,000, only 114 survived. The last battle consisted of four main phases. Bruno: The main engines were two decks below my station and I couldn't hear the engines running anywhere on the ship. [3]:170. Kiser tried out . Later on 25 May the commander of the German force, Admiral Gnther Ltjens, apparently unaware that he had lost his pursuers, broke radio silence to send a coded message to Germany. taller than me. There were three cruisers Knigsberg, Post both on deck and saw the Swordfish planes coming. sent notice to Swedish boat that any more transmissions sent would result After that the tables were folded up and the room used for sleeping. Sheffield quickly retreated under cover of a smoke screen. Planes Interviewer: What about Admiral Ltjens? wide was it? So, the last order came through, abandon Ship's cat. [16] From then on, the German ship's position was known to the British, although the enemy would have to be slowed significantly if heavy units hoped to engage outside the range of German land-based aircraft. [3]:142 Unaware of what his name had been on Bismarck, the crew of Cossack named their new mascot "Oscar". At 19:10 the same aircraft were relaunched for a second attack with contact pistol torpedoes. The ensuing magazine explosion blew the ship in half, killing most of the crew. Its owner was German and wrote a letter of recommendation. Interviewer: You know Bruno, Position (at the time of Bismarck's sinking): Air compressors, catapult.. Additional notes: In the early days of . Dorsetshire and Maori attempted to rescue survivors, but a U-boat alarm caused them to leave the scene after having rescued only 110 Bismarck sailors, abandoning the majority of Bismarck s 2,200-man crew to the mercy of the water. Before the war he . This was in the Reeperbahn of course, that time Because of this northwesterly gale, Tovey postponed the final attack from sunrise until clear daylight[35] and concluded an attack on Bismarck from windward was undesirable. Survivor: Ghost Island alum Donathan Hurley paid tribute to the late reality star via Twitter on Wednesday, writing, "RIP Ralph Kiser! Interviewer: Did you ever have the opportunity to talk directly to Captain Lindemann? down to see what was going on and said: Rzonca, from now on you are in Norfolk quickly turned away and made contact with the British battleships before joining the final battle. I [35] At 08:43, lookouts on King George V spotted Bismarck, some 25,000yd (23,000m) away; Rodney opened fire first at 08:47, followed quickly by King George V. Bismarck was unable to steer due to the torpedo damage to the rudders, and the consequent unpredictable motions made the ship an unstable gun platform and created a difficult gunnery problem. by Seekanone Sun Apr 03, 2011 8:42 pm, Post Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. Allen Christensen, 27, Duluth; Staff Sgt. The last survivor of Royal Navy battlecruiser sunk by the Bismarck in Atlantic in 1941 has died. On 28 May The destroyers Mashona and Tartar were heading for Northern Ireland at economical speed due to their low fuel stocks and were attacked on 28 May in the morning by bombers. Interviewer: Who was your most immediate superior? and I thought it was a chance to save my life. the light cruiser Karlsruhe. Only then was it discovered that the aircraft catapult had been rendered inoperative from battle damage received on the 24th from Prince of Wales. After my service in the Arbeitsdienst, I enlisted directly into the Kriegsmarine and began my basic training