WWII naval telegrams detailing the sinking of Hitler’s most powerful battleship emerge
13th August 2020
An archive of 22 Royal Nay telegram messages describing the sinking of the German battleship Bismarck is up for auction in the U.K.
The Bismarck has been described as the largest and most powerful ship in Hitler’s navy and its sinking on May 27, 1941, is one of the most famous naval engagements of World War II.
Auction house Henry Aldridge & Son explains that the telegrams are sold via a descendant of Harold Benson Key, the yeoman of signals onboard Royal Navy destroyer HMS Cossack, which participated in the pursuit and destruction of Bismarck. They include communications between HMS Cossack and HMS Dorsetshire, which was also involved in the engagement.
"I torpedoed German battleship Bismarck both sides before she sank," reads one telegram. “Enemy had abandoned ship cannot get her to sink with gunfire,” reads another.
