HMS Prince of Wales honours thousands of lives lost in Bismarck battles

The crew of HMS Prince of Wales have remembered the 3,500 sailors and aircrew who were killed during the various combat actions leading up to the ultimate demise of the Bismarck during the Second World War.

Personnel held a service as the Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carrier floated over the wreck of the German warship in the eastern Atlantic, which was fatally crippled by the Royal Navy in 1941.

Bismarck was responsible for destroying the Royal Navy's flagship HMS Hood, after which Prime Minister Winston Churchill ordered that the German battleship be hunted down and sunk at any cost.

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The crew of HMS Prince of Wales held the ceremony to honour the sailors and airmen who died in battle on both sides of the conflict. She held a similar service above the wreckage of HMS Hood in April last year. 

The modern aircraft carrier has an indirect link with the Bismarck herself, as her Second World War namesake was involved in the Battle of the Denmark Strait.

The then-brand new battleship HMS Prince of Wales engaged the Bismarck and was struck by four shells. Only one shell exploded and the ship survived, however 13 sailors were killed.

Eighty-two years later, the carrier HMS Prince of Wales is transporting the ship's bell back across the Atlantic as she makes her way to the United States as a symbol of the joint history that the two countries share.

She is also carrying a fragment of one of Bismarck's shells which struck her Second World War-era predecessor.

The carrier’s navigator, Lieutenant Commander Chris Poulson, said: "HMS Prince of Wales and 820 Naval Air Squadron have a shared history as we share the same battle honour – Bismarck 1941.

"But this is not just their story, because we are living the HMS Prince of Wales and 820 stories. 

"We are turning the page, we are living and writing the next chapter in the story. 

"This is not their bell that we are taking to America; it’s our bell we’re taking back to America."

During the Second World War, the Bismarck and her sister ship Tirpitz were the Kriegsmarine's largest battleships.

Named after German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, the Bismarck was launched in 1939 and had an impressive armament, including eight 38cm guns.

She was scuttled on 27 May 1941 having been engaged and damaged by Fairey Swordfish torpedo bombers from HMS Victorious and HMS Ark Royal, and being attacked by Royal Navy surface vessels.