History Film / SinkTheBismarck

* TheDreadedDreadnought:
** ''Bismarck'' fits this to a T. It speaks volumes when virtually the entire Royal Navy is sent to hunt down just ''one'' battleship, [[spoiler: even before she sinks the pride of the Royal Navy.]]
** The ''Hood'' also counts, to a degree, but rather on the "beloved" side than dreaded, at least to the RN sailors.

** The film makes no reference to the signals intelligence that played a vital role in the Royal Navy's hunt for the ''Bismarck'' for the very good reason that said intelligence's very existence was still an official secret.

** When discussing the damage to their rudder, Lutjens makes it clear that concern for the safety of the ship's divers is very much secondary to restoring their ability to maneuver.

* ThoseMagnificentFlyingMachines: The only torpedo bomber the British had at the time was the Fairey Swordfish, a fragile-looking two-seat ''biplane''. Which went up against the biggest battleship in the German fleet [[spoiler:and crippled her enough to allow the surface fleet to finish her off]]. The strangest thing is that the Swordfish were, in fact, ideally suited to their task due to their near-obsolescence: ''Bismarck'''s anti-aircraft guns were designed to take on faster-moving aircraft and had trouble tracking the relatively slow Swordfish, and the fabric skin didn't provide enough resistance to allow AA shells to detonate, passing (usually) harmlessly through the aircraft instead of detonating on contact; on the other hand, each aircraft had only a single torpedo to deploy before needing to return to re-arm, and in one instance a navigator felt obliged to ''hang upside-down out of his cockpit'' trying to gauge the wave patterns below to figure out the optimum moment to release.

* ExcitedShowTitle: Sink the Bismarck!

* TheBigBoard: Well, a big table, over on the British fleet headquarters.

%%* ExcitedShowTitle

* MrExposition: Edward R. Murrow ([[AsHimself himself!]]) provides a general summary of the various threats Great Britain is facing at the beginning of the film. The First Sea Lord provides additional info regarding the naval situation a short time later while going over the Big Board with Captain Shepard.

* TheWarRoom: The Admiralty's Operations Room.

There's a RealLife GargleBlaster from [=BrewDog=] Brewery [[NamesTheSame named after the film]], a 41% quadruple IPA.

* ArtisticLicenseShips: Zig-zagged. The aircraft carriers ''Ark Royal'' and ''Victorious'' are actually portrayed by the latter; however the ''Victorious'' had been modernized to accomodate jet aircraft prior to filming, and these modifications - particularly the angled flight deck - are often visible.

* ThatDreadedDreadnought:
** ''Bismarck'' fits this to a T. It speaks volumes when virtually the entire Royal Navy is sent to hunt down just ''one'' battleship, even before she sinks the pride of the Royal Navy.
** The ''Hood'' also counts, to a degree, but rather on the "beloved" side than dreaded, at least to the RN sailors.

During the Battle of the Atlantic, Britain must fight alone as UsefulNotes/NaziGermany sends out its most powerful battleship, the ''Bismarck'', to hunt the supply convoys that the country needs to survive. In response to intelligence revealing the location of the battleship, the British forces organize a hunt to remove the ''Bismarck'' from the seas. In command of the operation is Captain Jonathan Shepard (Kenneth More), a by-the-book commander and disciplinarian who prosecutes the fight heedless of the feelings of his subordinates. On the opposite side is Fleet Admiral Günther Lütjens, commander of the ''Bismarck'' and her fleet, an embittered World War One veteran determined to ensure both his own recognition and that Germany will be on the winning side of this war.

** The ''Prinz Eugen'', the cruiser accompanying the ''Bismarck'' until shortly after the battle with the ''Hood'', is not mentioned once the two ships part ways. TruthInTelevision, as the Royal Navy was focused on containing the larger threat of the ''Bismarck'', and the cruiser itself played no further part in the battle.[[note]]The ''Prinz Eugen'' would ultimately survive the war, only to be used as a target for US atomic bomb tests.[[/note]]

During the Battle of the Atlantic, Britain must fight alone as UsefulNotes/NaziGermany sends out its most powerful battleship, the ''Bismarck'', to hunt the supply convoys that the country needs to survive. In response to intelligence revealing the location of the battleship, the British forces organize a hunt to remove the ''Bismark'' from the seas. In command of the operation is Captain Jonathan Shepard (Kenneth More), a by-the-book commander and disciplinarian who prosecutes the fight heedless of the feelings of his subordinates. On the opposite side is Fleet Admiral Günther Lütjens, commander of the ''Bismark'' and her fleet, an embittered World War One veteran determined to ensure both his own recognition and that Germany will be on the winning side of this war.

* AbandonShip: What the still-living crew of the ''Bismarck'' do in the end. Also an example of KnowWhenToFoldEm-with the Bismarck falling apart from the cannon impacts, rudder stuck in one direction, no support coming, and the bridge crew completely dead, there was just no reason to stay on the ship any more.

* GoryDiscretionShot: When the Bismarck is getting torn apart, there's a shot of a German sailor making his way across the deck. A torpedo hits; there is a flash of light, and all that's left of the sailor is a splattering of blood across the hull.

* LethallyExpensive: One early scene shows an Allied spy trying to warn that the Bismarck had taken off from its pier even when a Nazi patrol barges into his home and machine-guns him to death while he's telegraphing. The message ends up incomplete, but British Intelligence is still capable of figuring out what the spy meant.

** Shepard, who ''finally'' shows some [[InelegantBlubbering human emotion]] when [[spoiler: he breaks down weeping after getting the news that his son was found alive after being reported MIA.]] A positive example of this trope, as the superior who reported the news was disturbed by Shepard's lack of response over the phone; when Davis goes to his office and spots him weeping in the back, she exits again with a look of profound relief.
** A previous scene, in which Shepard finds out his son is missing and relates to Second Officer Davis the circumstances of his wife's death - his reason for becoming TheStoic'' - also counts. He noticeably winces when first receiving the news, and comes close to breaking down multiple times in the course of the scene.

* ThoseMagnificentFlyingMachines: The only torpedo bomber the British had at the time was the Fairey Swordfish, a fragile looking two-seat ''biplane''. Which went up against the biggest battleship in the German fleet [[spoiler: and crippled her enough to allow the surface fleet to finish her off.]] The strangest thing is that the Swordfish were, in fact, ideally suited to their task due to their near-obsolescence: Bismarck's anti-aircraft guns were designed to take on faster-moving aircraft and had trouble tracking the relatively slow Swordfish, and the fabric skin didn't provide enough resistance to allow AA shells to detonate, passing (usually) harmlessly through the aircraft instead of detonating on contact; on the other hand, each aircraft had only a single torpedo to deploy before needing to return to re-arm, and in one instance a navigator felt obliged to ''hang upside-down out of his cockpit'' trying to gauge the wave patterns below to figure out the optimum moment to release.
* VillainousBreakdown: The German fleet commander (Admiral Lutjens) gets a REALLY big one during the final battle, having been given reassurance (false as it ended up being) that Germany will send support to the crippled Bismarck, and thus is muttering about having been promised support by Hitler himself and how the Bismark is unsinkable [[spoiler:right up to the moment a lucky British shot blows up the Bismarck's bridge, killing him and the rest of the crew]].

** Similarly, British ships are present in the story only until their part in the battle is finished. One particularly notable example is the ''Prince of Wales'', last seen heavily damaged and withdrawing from battle.[[note]]The ship was repaired, but was sunk by the Japanese in December.[[/note]] Other examples include the aircraft carriers ''Ark Royal''[[note]]sunk by a U-boat in November.[[/note]] and ''Victorious''.[[note]]Survived the war; actually used in the film to represent both carriers.[[/note]]

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: The ''Prinz Eugen'', the cruiser accompanying the ''Bismarck'' until shortly after the battle with the ''Hood'', is not mentioned once the two ships part ways. TruthInTelevision, as the Royal Navy was focused on containing the larger threat of the ''Bismarck'', and the cruiser itself played no further part in the battle.[[note]]The ''Prinz Eugen'' would ultimately survive the war, only to be used as a target for US atomic bomb tests.[[/note]]

During the Battle of the Atlantic, Britain must fight alone as UsefulNotes/NaziGermany sends out its most powerful battleship, the ''Bismarck'', to hunt the supply convoys that the country needs to survive. In command of the operation is Captain Jonathan Shepard (Kenneth More), a by-the-book commander and disciplinarian who prosecutes the fight heedless of the feelings of his subordinates.