Iain Ballantyne
Autor de Killing the Bismarck: Destroying the Pride of Hitler's Fleet
Sobre El Autor
Series
Obras de Iain Ballantyne
Etiquetado
Conocimiento común
- Fecha de nacimiento
- 1963-09-17
- Género
- male
- Nacionalidad
- UK
Miembros
Reseñas
También Puede Gustarte
Estadísticas
- Obras
- 18
- Miembros
- 309
- Popularidad
- #76,232
- Valoración
- 3.9
- Reseñas
- 6
- ISBNs
- 72
In his 320 pages, author Ballantyne unfolds the story of the Bismarck episode in 24 chapters. Starting with a forward by former First Sea Lord Admiral Sir Jonathon Band, Ballantyne begins the narrative that focuses on HMS Prince of Wales (perceived as a jinxed ship) just prior to the engagement in the Denmark Strait. What follows in the subsequent chapters laid out chronologically, starting with the German battleship's design and construction, a ship seemingly aimed at disputing the Royal Navy's dominance of European waters.
The Bismarck chase really begins in Chapter 3 ("Storm Tossed Sentinels"), which outlines the Royal Navy's activities anticipating Bismarck's foray into the Atlantic. Chapters 4-8 detail the Denmark Strait action, culminating in the loss of HMS Hood. Ballantyne's narrative preserves the anticipation, anxiety, and confidence of the various ships' crews as they position their vessels to engage the German battleship and its cruiser consort. Ballantyne also highlights the concern of the Royal Navy's leadership as its interwar symbol of power, the battlecruiser HMS Hood, moved to engage the Germans with known vulnerabilities in its material condition and armor protection.
After Chapter 8, the tone of the story changes. The shock of Hood's loss after such a brief engagement affected Britons from Prime Minister Winston Churchill to the lowliest ordinary seaman--I don't think even the loss of USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor affected Americans in the same way. So Chapters 9-22 are all about the emotional chase and destruction of the Bismarck at the hands of a frustrated, tired, and emotionally spent group of ships from every source the Royal Navy could muster. Ships that should not have been allowed to leave port (the refit-bound HMS Rodney, for example) or had important missions elsewhere (like Somerville's Force H) gathered to prevent the Bismarck from reaching any port. Ballantyne reminds his readers of the sheer horror of naval combat during the Bismarck's final hours, where the British warships closed to point-blank range in a frustrating effort to sink the German ship before everyone ran out of fuel. The fact that Churchill was willing to let the Home Fleet flagship, HMS King George V, empty her fuel tanks to drift helpless in mid-ocean to complete Bismarck's destruction speaks volumes about the emotions of the moment.
"Killing the Bismarck" is a fast-paced read because of its focus on the people that crew the Royal Navy's ships. He captures accurately the savage and relentless effect of combat between large surface ships--something the vast majority of Ballantyne's readers have no clue about. This book is an important read that provides significant insight into the British perspective of the Bismarck operation. I highly recommend this book to naval historians and those students of war and modern culture.… (más)