Operation Rheinübung

Operation Rheinübung
Part of the Battle of the Atlantic
Type	Commerce Raid
Location	The Atlantic Ocean
Date	18–27 May 1941
Executed by	Battleship Bismarck Heavy crusier Prinz Eugen
Outcome	HMS Hood sunk, Prince of Wales damaged, Bismarck sunk

Operation Rheinübung ("Exercise Rhine") was the sortie into the Atlantic by the new German battleship Bismarck and heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen on 18–27 May 1941, during World War II. This operation to block Allied shipping to the United Kingdom culminated with the sinking of Bismarck.

During both World Wars, the island of Britain was dependent upon huge numbers of merchant ships to bring in food and essential raw materials, and protecting this lifeline was one of the highest priorities for British forces. If this lifeline could be severed, the British Empire in Europe would have to either sue for peace; negotiate an armistice; or abandon the British Isles as a base of operations to blockade the sea approaches to Western Europe; giving Germany in effect, complete mastery of Western Europe, with no tactical base in Europe to oppose that control.

Germany’s naval leadership (under Admiral Erich Johann Albert Raeder) at the time firmly believed that defeat by blockade was achievable. However, they also believed that the primary method to achieve this objective was to use traditional commerce raiding tactics, founded upon surface combatants (cruisers, battle-cruisers, fast battleships) that were only supported by, submarines. Regardless of the method or manner, Raeder convinced the High Command (OKW) and Hitler that if this lifeline were severed, Britain would be defeated, regardless of any other factors.

Operation Rheinübung was the latest in a series of raids on Allied shipping carried out by surface units of the Kriegsmarine. It was preceded by Operation Berlin, a highly successful sortie by Scharnhorst and Gneisenau which ended in March 1941.

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