• Killing the Bismarck

  • Destroying the Pride of Hitler's Fleet
  • By: Iain Ballantyne
  • Narrated by: Traber Burns
  • Length: 11 hrs and 30 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (906 ratings)

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Killing the Bismarck

By: Iain Ballantyne
Narrated by: Traber Burns
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Publisher's summary

In May 1941 the German battleship Bismarck, accompanied by heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen, broke out into the Atlantic to attack Allied shipping. The Royal Navy's pursuit and subsequent destruction of the Bismarck was an epic of naval warfare. In this new account of those dramatic events at the height of the Second World War, Iain Ballantyne draws extensively on the graphic eyewitness testimony of veterans to construct a thrilling story, mainly from the point of view of the British battleships, cruisers, and destroyers involved.

He describes the tense atmosphere as cruisers play a lethal cat-and-mouse game, shadowing the Bismarck in the icy Denmark Strait. We witness the shocking destruction of the British battle cruiser HMS Hood, in which all but three of her ship's complement were killed, an event that fueled pursuing Royal Navy warships, including the battered battleship Prince of Wales, with a thirst for revenge. While Swordfish torpedo bombers try desperately to cripple the Bismarck, we sail in destroyers on their own daring torpedo attacks, battling mountainous seas. Finally the author takes us into the last showdown, as battleships Rodney and King George V, supported by cruisers Norfolk and Dorsetshire, destroy the pride of Hitler's fleet.

This vivid, superbly researched account portrays this epic saga through the eyes of so-called ordinary sailors caught up in extraordinary events. Killing the Bismarck is an outstanding book, conveying the horror and majesty of war at sea in all its cold brutality and awesome power.

©2010 Iain Ballantyne (P)2017 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: History

What listeners say about Killing the Bismarck

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

1960 a young boy became awed

Around 1961 in Junior High, I was required to read a book and right a book report.
I have deslexia and reading was very difficult for me. But this story carried me through to the finish. Not long after I bought a Avalon Hill board game that simulated the history. I have been in love with the story ever since.

This audio book kept my interest even more, please enjoy some fascinating history.

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12 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Good but not Spectacular

I was getting bored even when they were actually sinking the Bismark. Sorry for the spoiler :-) . I am a huge fan of even the stuff that most would consider to be "historic monotony". This writer needs to work on his presentation. Otherwise fine.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Good account, shaky performance.

This is a pretty well researched and sourced account of the Royal Navy's struggle to defeat the Bismarck. Not a lot of new revelations, but well written and engaging.

The narrator - not as good. I understand the difference between the kind of performance demanded by fiction books and that required by non fiction. Even bearing that in mind, this was tough to listen to. Halting at times and generally not smooth, and lacking in much intonation of any kind. At times I seriously thought I was listening to Microsoft Sam.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Horrid pronunciation

Story and information are good, what brings it so low is the narrator. He has a good voice, reminds me of old propaganda or sports announcers. His mispronunciations of names like Scharnhorst, Gneisenau, Taranto and other "foreign" places/vessels however, was like nails on a chalkboard. No effort was made to pronounce the names correctly and it is very jarring.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Fascinating

Nice perspective from the Royal Navy perspective. I enjoyed the last chapters telling what became of the vessels involved. A must-read for any military history enthusiast.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Unique approach: The British Perspective

This is not the complete story of the Bismarck episode because it is principally looked at from the British point of view. This, however, is quite valuable for gathering a broad range of different viewpoints and voices from all over the fleet, including units that were only marginally involved. There are sections on Churchill, but virtually nothing on the Admiralty and Admiral Pound's decisions. The command decisions of the Home Fleet, Force H and other British formations are extensively covered.

At times the author's prose gets a little overheated, but is generally quite good, He mistakenly refers to HMS Malaya as super-dreadnought, which is misleading when viewed in the context of World War II. Readers would receive the wrong impression if they believed that. (Malaya would be considered a WW1 super-dreadnought.). There is extensive coverage of HMS Rodney, which makes this treatment stand out from prior books.

I gave the narrator a courtesy five-star rating, but I listened at a higher speed, so please consult other reviewers for a more accurate assessment.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Detailed and sobering

Narration: The narration is acceptable, although the narrator sounds like he is distant, trying to make himself heard over a downpour.

Detailed recounting is sobering and informative.

Recommended.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Decent narrative

It was a decent narrative but could have been more suspenseful. I know we all know how it turns out so still a sense of suspense might have been sustained.

I liked the inclusion of the epilogue in which the fate of the victorious ships, some of which fate was very heroic and also very sad. I liked the inclusion of details of the action of the destroyers, often overlooked. Good to end the story on the gathering of British and German survivors in 1974.

The narrator should have studied the proper pronunciation, in particular of Prinz Eugen which was repeated many times (it’s not pronounced ‘you gain’.

Also, Heinkel III’s are not “Heinkel 3’s”.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Details

Moving account of human cost in naval warfare during early phase if WW2. Good listen.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great!

Enjoyed this book very much it was a great read and I recommend it.


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