Technology and Culture

The authors of this comprehensive work contextually explain the design, construction, and operation of complex systems. The topic is military technology, specifically naval construction and warfare, and the general lessons for many technological systems. The authors, recognized field experts, are naval architects, marine engineers, a graphic engineer, and chairs or members of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers (SNAME) Marine Forensics Committee.

Lifelong study precedes such a magisterial work. Readers interested in nautical technology are familiar with authors Garzke and Dulin, co-writers [End Page 971] of Naval Institute Press’s Battleship Trilogy (published 1976–95). With author Jurens, Battleship Bismarck contextually analyzes interwar and World War II warship design, construction, and operations. With professional precision, it determines who and what sank Germany’s Bismarck. The book is a treasure trove of sources, photographs, schematics, tables, and figures. While the discussion is heavily detailed, the text is brisk, and the extensive notes and index possess great value. The chapter on research and five appendices provide an unusually complete discussion on methods and provide topic closure.

Unlike earlier works examining classes of American, Allied, and Axis ships, this book’s topic is singular, the Bismarck. The 600-page, double-columned volume draws upon primary German, British, and American sources, including survivor accounts and builder Blohm and Voss records. Unlike most topics, technology permitted the authors to investigate their subject’s remains. The authors effectively utilized James Cameron’s 2001 in-situ expedition data (among others, but Mr. Cameron was notably generous), to study forensically Bismarck’s battle damage. This enabled them to synthesize survivor accounts with contemporary modelling and thus explain how Bismarck’s design, construction, operations, and enemy actions contributed to her sinking. The authors conclude that British fire was sufficient to sink Bismarck, but her own crew accelerated the grim work via scuttling charges.

As in Battleship Trilogy, the authors first explain contextual influences on ship design and construction. This takes up roughly the book’s first quarter, providing interwar background, lessons learned from World War I, effects of the Washington Naval Treaties, Weimar Republic, Nazi, and military-political influences on the German Navy. The authors apply this context to evolving shipbuilding technologies and techniques, including steel, paint, welding, riveting, draft, armor, armament, propulsion, fire control, ammunition handling, damage control, crew support, safety, and the like. They also discuss similar topics for Allied warships.

Next, 300-plus pages analyze Bismarck’s operational life. Painstaking source examination reveals the complex interactions of ship design and capabilities (and resultant tradeoffs) with operations. The authors also supply a case study in war theorist Carl von Clausewitz’s trinity of warfare, illustrating how the forces of reason, passion, and chance interacted with the design and operational decisions that shaped Bismarck. The remaining pages provide reflective commentary and fascinating survivor accounts that research confirmed.

The book’s bulk considers Bismarck’s combat career and sinking, and the events of May 1941 require additional words. Historian Melvin Kranzberg considered technology a very human activity, and here the authors’ Clausewitzian perspectives apply. Reason, passion, and chance subsumed human actions before and when shells fired. German and British citizens [End Page 972] saw Bismarck and Hood similarly to how modern Americans see their aircraft carriers. The Hood was the pride of Britain’s Royal Navy, but she was an obsolete 1910s battlecruiser fighting a modern, fast, World War II battleship. Technology, operational conditions, and tactical decisions favored Bismarck. For all of Hood’s two decades of service, she fired precious few shells (none at Bismarck) before long-delayed upgrades exposed weaknesses. Bismarck’s gunnery sank her in minutes, killing 1,415 of the 1,418 crew. Days later, British naval air and surface units sank Bismarck. Only 114 of 2,221 men survived. The authors demonstrate how Clausewitzian forces contributed to survival or destruction. The narrative is riveting and tragic.

Battleship Bismarck illustrates history of...