'Nightline' to Air Footage of Bismarck Wreck
June 22 -- Even after 60 years in the icy Atlantic, the sight of it still causes some people to tremble.
A team of international researchers announced last month that they had filmed the sunken remains of the battleship Bismarck, pride of the Nazi fleet, some 380 miles southwest of Ireland. The shipwreck was first located 12 years ago by oceanographers. It was sitting upright on the ocean floor.
The underwater footage from the first manned submarine mission to the wreck will air on ABCNEWS Nightline tonight.
The Bismarck terrorized the Allied forces with its first mission in 1941, when it sunk the RMS Hood, killing some 1,400 British sailors with just one shot from its guns. But less than a week later, at what would be a turning point in the war, the Bismarck was sent plummeting to the ocean floor with about 2,000 crew members in its 823-foot hull.
Hulking Vessel, Nazi Jackboots
The new footage reveals the great ship's turrets, the swastika-adorned stern and the jackboots of Nazi soldiers also lying 16,000 feet below the ocean surface. The wreck is about 3,000 feet deeper than the Titanic.
"When I was little, I saw the movie Sink the Bismarck, so I have always been aware of the Bismarck and Bismarck history," says Mike McDowell, an Australian entrepreneur who, along with Russian scientists, mounted the expedition to film the wreckage.
The Bismarck's mission was to cut off the lifeline of food, fuel and weapons from the United States to England. After it wreaked havoc on British forces, Winston Churchill ordered the navy to sink the Bismarck.
The chase that ensued became a legendary battle at sea. Some 16 ships joined the hunt, bombarding the vessel with shells and torpedoes. Although the Bismarck suffered extensive damage, much of the sunken ship remains intact.
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