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The Battle of the Denmark Strait was a Second World War naval battle between ships of the Royal Navy and the German ''Kriegsmarine'', fought on 24 May 1941. The British battleship and the battlecruiser fought the German battleship and the heavy cruiser , both of which were attempting to break out into the North Atlantic to attack Allied merchant shipping (Operation Rheinübung). Less than 10 minutes after the British opened fire, a shell from ''Bismarck'' struck ''Hood'' near her aft ammunition magazines. Soon afterward, ''Hood'' exploded, and sank within three minutes with the loss of all but three of her crew. ''Prince of Wales'' continued to exchange fire with ''Bismarck'' but suffered serious malfunctions in her main armament as the British battleship had not fully worked up after only being completed in late March 1941 and soon broke off the engagement. The battle was considered a major tactical victory for the Germans, but its impact was short-lived; the damage done to ''Bismarck's'' forward fuel tanks forced the abandonment of her Atlantic breakout mission and necessitated an escape to safe dry dock facilities in occupied France, producing an operational victory for the British.〔 Incensed by the loss of ''Hood'', a large British force pursued and sank ''Bismarck'' three days later. ==Background== The two German ships were expected to sail westward and break through the Greenland-Iceland-UK (GIUK) gap. While passing neutral Sweden in the Baltic Sea, the ships were spotted and reported by the Swedish cruiser and patrol planes;〔Dr. Mann, Chris (2008). ''Great Battles of World War II''. Bath: Parragon Books Ltd. P60〕 these reports were intercepted by the British embassy, allowing Royal Navy ships to watch their probable route. Due to cloud and rain, aircraft scheduled to assist in the search could not do so when the German ships attempted their breakout.〔Barnett 1991, p. 288.〕 On the evening of 23 May, despite the advantage of inclement weather to cloak the German's presence, the two ships were spotted steaming at , by the British heavy cruisers and . These cruisers—each carrying eight 8-inch guns—were patrolling the Denmark Strait under the command of Rear-Admiral Frederic Wake-Walker. With the help of ''Suffolk''s newly installed radar the cruisers shadowed the German ships, reporting on their movements throughout the night. The next morning, at the exit to the Strait between Iceland and Greenland a force of eight British ships was in place, to intercept the Germans. The British fleet included the battleship ''Prince of Wales'', the battlecruiser and a screen of six destroyers, under the command of Vice-Admiral Lancelot Holland in ''Hood''. ''Prince of Wales'' was a newly commissioned ''King George V''-class battleship, similar to ''Bismarck'' in size and power. ''Prince of Wales'' had not yet been properly "shaken down", and her crew was inexperienced. She still had mechanical problems, especially with her main armament. The ship had sailed with shipyard workers still aboard working on her. For 20 years after her commissioning in 1920, ''Hood'' was the largest and heaviest warship in the world. Combining eight massive BL 15 inch Mk I naval guns with a top speed greater than any battleship on the sea, ''Hood'' was the pride of Great Britain's navy, and embodied the world dominance of British naval power. Despite this, ''Hood'' had one conspicuous flaw as compared to the super-dreadnought battleships she served alongside: as a battlecruiser, much of her bulk was dedicated to extra engine power instead of comprehensive armour coverage.This was in accordance with the prevailing theory originally propounded by First Sea Lord Jackie Fisher that "speed is armour". While her 12-inch belt armour was considered sufficient against most capital ships she was likely to encounter, her 3 inches of deck armour was only rated against shell splinters, leaving her badly unprotected against plunging fire at long range. At the time of her commissioning in World War I, naval gunnery was severely inaccurate at the ranges necessary to produce plunging fire, and ''Hood's'' greater speed and maneuverability were rightly seen as an acceptable trade-off. However, as the accuracy of naval gunfire increased in the inter-war period, ''Hood'' was eventually scheduled to receive an upgrade in 1939 that would have doubled her deck armour to 6 inches, but the outbreak of World War II meant the upgrade never took place. She thus sortied to war at a marked disadvantage against the new capital ships of the Axis. Aware of ''Hoods inadequate protective armour, distant to the southeast of where the battle took place, Vice-Admiral Holland's superior (Admiral Sir John Tovey) deliberated on ordering Vice-Admiral Holland to have ''Prince of Wales'' sail ahead of ''Hood''. With the ships in this position, Admiral Tovey concluded the better-protected ''Prince of Wales'' could draw the German battleships' large-shell gunfire. Ultimately, Admiral Tovey did not give the order, later saying "I did not feel such interference with such a senior officer justified."〔Kennedy 1974, p. 66.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Battle of the Denmark Strait」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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