Battleship Bismarck (7 page)

Kapitän zur See Ernst Lindemann, shown here as director of the Ships’ Gunnery School at Kiel, prior to his appointment on the
Bismarck.
The photo was taken at the 1939–40 New Year’s Eve party at the Gunnery School. (Photograph courtesy of Evelyn Martin, sister of Paul Döring, who fell in the
Bismarck
.)

The morning after my arrival in Hamburg Lindemann awaited me in the captain’s cabin aboard ship. I appeared, as was usual in such cases, in “small service dress,” that is, a blue jacket with rank stripes around the cuff, and blue trousers. Lindemann, of medium height and build, with sharply chiseled features, stood, similarly dressed, before his desk and looked at me intently with his blue eyes as I announced, “Kapitänleutnant von Müllenheim reporting aboard for duty, as ordered.”

“I thank you for your report and bid you welcome aboard,” he replied with a friendly smile and gave me his hand. “My objective,” he continued, “is to make this beautiful, powerful ship ready for action as rapidly as possible, and I expect your full cooperation. Because of your training in the fire control of heavy guns, your action station will be the after fire-control station, as you already know. But that won’t be enough to keep you busy before the ship is commissioned and for a while after that, so I’ve decided to make you my personal adjutant; you’ve been an adjutant before and also had an interesting tour in London.” I was surprised—and very pleased—to hear that I was to be adjutant. He went on to explain what he expected of me. “This duty won’t occupy more than your mornings, and in the afternoons you’ll be at the disposal of the first gunnery officer, who’ll tell you just what he wants you to do. This will be your schedule until the maintenance of the combat readiness of the ship requires you to work all day in gunnery. As adjutant, your main job will be to prepare records and reports, supervise correspondence, and carry out whatever orders I might issue.” After a short pause, Lindemann added: “One more thing. In the future, I would prefer to hear people on board use the masculine form when speaking of the
Bismarck.
So powerful a ship as this could only be a
he
, not a
she.
” I resolved to accede to his wish and, although I have had a few slips of the tongue, have done so ever since.
*

The author, adjutant to the
Bismarck’s
commanding officer and fourth gunnery officer, shown here as an Oberleutnant zur See. (Photograph from the author’s collection.)

Then Lindemann gave me his hand again, wished me well in my new assignment, and the interview was at an end. As I closed the door of the cabin behind me, I was certain I had just met a very impressive personality, a man who would carry out his new assignment intelligently and conscientiously. Lindemann’s manner was in all respects professional.

Being an adjutant was good duty under any circumstances, but in this particular case it would also lead me into a close working relationship with an obviously ideal commanding officer.

*
Lieutenant Commander

*
Midshipmen

†
Ensign

‡
Lieutenant

§
Naval High Command

*
According to the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, the Saar was separated from Germany and placed under the administration of the League of Nations for fifteen years, at the end of which period its inhabitants were to choose between continuation of the League government, incorporation into France, or return to Germany. The plebiscite of 13 January 1935 produced an overwhelming vote in favor of the latter.

†
There was a well-nigh universal feeling in Germany that the terms of the peace imposed by the victorious Allies in the Treaty of Versailles had been unduly harsh.

*
On 7 November 1938 a junior German diplomat at the Paris embassy was assassinated by a Jewish youth in protest of the anti-Semitic policies of the Third Reich. Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels seized upon this act as a pretext to order the party’s Storm Troopers (SA) to launch a “spontaneous” assault on Jewish property throughout the Reich on the anniversary of Hitler’s Munich Putsch. The ensuing violence became infamous as
Kristallnacht
—Crystal Night (a term the author firmly rejects, in favor of “murderous pogrom,” since Jews were also murdered)—on account of the number of shop windows shattered. Approximately 7,500 Jewish stores were plundered and 250 synagogues burned.

*
On the evening of 27 February 1933 the Reichstag building was gutted by a fire apparently set single-handedly by a mentally disturbed young Dutchman. Portraying this event as the harbinger of Communist insurrection, the next day the National Socialist government issued an emergency decree (allowed by Article 48 of the Weimar Constitution) suspending habeas corpus, the rights of freedom of assembly and expression, and other civil liberties. The decree was never rescinded.

*
“A Youth in Germany.”

†
“Spotlight 1933.”

‡
“Machine Stormer.”

*
The typhoon that broke over Samoa in March 1889 has entered Pacific history as the “Samoan Hurricane.” Of the ships of various nationalities then anchored in the harbor, only the British corvette
Calliope
was not lost, thanks to her powerful engines. Of the German ships, the cruiser
Adler
and gunboat
Eber
were smashed on coral reefs and the corvette
Olga
was stranded in the mud but could be salvaged. Ninety-three German seamen were lost.

*
Colonel General; an intermediate rank between general and field marshal for which there is no American or English equivalent.

†
Between 30 June and 2 July 1934 the leadership of the Nazi Party’s Storm Troopers and other of Hitler’s past and present opponents were murdered in the so-called Blood Purge. In the speech in which Hitler defended this action as necessary to avert a counterrevolution, he gave the number of dead as seventy-seven, but, in reality, at least twice that many people had been killed.

*
Captain

*
Commander

†
An intermediate rank between commander and captain for which there is no American or English equivalent.

*
Out of respect for the one and only commanding officer of the
Bismarck
, this rule has also been followed in the German edition of this book.

2    The Bismarck Joins the Kriegsmarine

24 August 1940: commissioning day for the
Bismarck
! Beneath a cloudy sky a strong, chilly wind from the east bank of the Elbe was raising whitecaps in the river and sweeping over the stern of the ship, whose port side was still made fast to a wharf of the Blohm & Voss building yard. The sun was not shining but, at least, I thought to myself, with the wind coming from that quarter, the ceremony would not be spoiled by rain, and that was something to be thankful for. The crew, in pea jackets and service caps, was lined up three or four deep on either side of the upper deck, from the quarterdeck to the forecastle, the officers and senior petty officers wearing their ceremonial daggers, and the officers their silver-brocade belts, as well. The division officers drew up their men along the joints in the deck’s planks and reported to the First Officer, Fregattenkapitän Hans Oels, that their divisions had been formed. The ship’s staff officers stood in a body slightly aft of the starboard gangway, opposite which was the honor guard, with a drummer and a bugler. The fleet band was ready on the quarterdeck. Farther forward, under the barrels of the aftermost 38-centimeter turret, representatives of Blohm & Voss added a civilian touch to this otherwise thoroughly military scene.

“Attention! Face to starboard,” barked Oels as a sleek white motor-boat bearing the battle ensign and the commission pennant came into view, and the bugler sounded the appropriate signal. All eyes were fixed on the boat, which slowed down and came alongside the gangway. The honor guard presented arms and the commanding officer was piped aboard by the bosun. “Crew formed for commissioning ceremony,” reported Oels. Followed by Oels and myself as adjutant, Lindemann reviewed the crew, then mounted a podium on the quarterdeck to deliver an address. The men, now standing in ranks eleven or twelve deep, faced their commanding officer and the flagstaff at the stern. Two signal petty officers held the halyards taut, ready to raise the battle ensign.

After being christened by Frau Dorothea von Loewenfeld, granddaughter of Prince Otto von Bismarck, the
Bismarck
begins her slide down the ways. Just as the champagne bottle smashed against her bow, a huge sign was lowered to reveal her name and the family crest on her bow was uncovered. Before the ship was completed, the crest was removed and the straight stem was replaced by a flared “Atlantic” bow. (Photograph courtesy of Württembergische Landesbibliothek, Stuttgart.)