After almost ten minutes of pointless manoeuvring, Lütjens finally, grudgingly gave up his optimistic attempt to outsail the commanders of the most well-trained navy on the planet, and fell back into formation in preparation for firing. It was therefore the British Home Fleet that won the initial moral ‘high ground’ and fired the opening salvo of the battle at a range of 15,000 metres. With five ships now operating in tight, well-drilled line ahead formation, the battlecruisers Hood and Renown and battleships Nelson, Warspite and Queen Elizabeth would make every effort to capitalise on their one-ship numerical advantage. The obvious size and danger presented by the two leading German warships was clearly apparent to Tovey and his captains, and orders were given for the first two ships in the line –Hood and Renown — to engage Bismarck simultaneously with their 15-inch armament. Nelson, next in the British line, would fire on Tirpitz with her 16-inch guns, while Warspite and Queen Elizabeth were free to engage Scharnhorst and Gneisenau respectively.
Although the sky was as overcast and visibility was moderate at best, as it had been throughout the trip south, the surface of the water of the Dogger Bank had calmed enough to provide no great hindrance to stable gunnery for either side. The British ships fired almost in unison, the flame and smoke of their broadsides simultaneously terrifying and inspiring as their guns reached out for the distant invaders. The crew in their turrets went through their thirty-second reloading cycles as the first of the enemy shells began to fall about them, and although the British ships were inferior in weight of shell in comparison to Bismarck and Tirpitz, they were able to offset that disadvantage to some extent by a higher rate of fire, made even faster by well-drilled and experienced crews.
The German battleships had none of the advantages their cruisers had exploited earlier: all the RN capital ships on the firing line were equipped with gunnery radar and, more to the point, were well-trained in its use against moving targets. Last in line, Queen Elizabeth landed a glancing blow on Gneisenau with just her second salvo, and was immediately able to change her gun status from ‘acquiring’ to ‘on target’. Her next shots were fired for effect with a full broadside of eight 15-inch guns on narrow dispersion, and she fairly bracketed her target with her next three barrages, in the process landing no less than five direct hits. Queen Elizabeth was the only British ship not currently under returned fire, and as such was able to concentrate on her opponent unhindered.
Gneisenau had managed to land two ineffective hits on Warspite, her target in the line, but was in serious danger of losing her part in the duel due to the undivided attention of Queen Elizabeth, with each of the shell strikes against her causing serious damage. Her main directors were quickly put out of action, her three turrets left firing under their own local control with a resultant loss of general accuracy, while one hit on her funnel had fouled her exhaust, cutting her speed and making her an even easier target for Queen Elizabeth’s ceaseless broadsides. Within just ten minutes she was already pulling out of the rear of the German line, taking on water and so badly damaged that she was unable to continue. As Gneisenau ceased firing entirely and her change in course was noted, Queen Elizabeth’s captain rightly dismissed her as hors-de-combat and was able to turn his ship’s attention the next ship in the enemy formation.
Warspite had by that stage already also managed to inflict some severe damage on Scharnhorst, particularly as fire from the stricken Gneisenau had fallen away entirely. With just her third salvo, she’d landed a direct hit against Scharnhorst’s superstructure forward of turret ‘Caesar’ — her single main turret aft. German turret ‘naming’ practice was to accord names in alphabetical order, working backwards. As such, all four of the Kriegsmarine battleships present that day carried the titles of ‘Anton’, ‘Bruno’ and ‘Caesar’ for their three main gun turrets.
The hit in Scharnhorst caused little real damage, but did send debris skyward and started fires that poured a trail of smoke into the air. Her next two ‘on target’ salvoes landed three palpable hits on the battlecruiser as Queen Elizabeth behind landed her own devastating hits on Gneisenau. The two British sister ships, both veterans of the First World War, were quickly gaining the better of their two newer opponents, whose returned broadsides of 15-inch shells were still mostly falling long on their own targets.
Warspite landed hit after hit on Scharnhorst with relentless efficiency as the minutes passed, putting the ship’s two forward turrets out of action and forcing her to also pull out of the battle line with thick clouds of smoke rising into the grey sky as great fires burned along her decks. Queen Elizabeth fired her first ranging salvo on Scharnhorst as Warspite’s next broadside resulted in more devastating hits, one penetrating her engine room and shattering the battlecruiser’s boilers. The resulting savage explosion tore deep rents along the rear of the ship’s hull, above and below the waterline, and Scharnhorst instantly began to settle by the stern as the North Sea poured into her. Her captain gave the order to abandon ship.
As quickly as the battle had turned against the Kriegsmarine at the rear of the battle line, it turned back to their favour at the formation’s head. Bismarck had found Hood’s range quickly and unleashed the full power of her devastating arsenal against the smaller battlecruiser without mercy. Her first ‘on target’ barrage gained one direct hit as a huge, armour-piercing shell tore through the ship’s hull like paper between her fore and aft superstructure and vaporised her seaplane crane, catapult and the decks beneath, leaving serious internal damage.
The very next salvo from the German behemoth landed two more hits on Hood, the first of which punched through her deck at a sharp angle and blew a large hole in her bow that flooded the ship with thousands of tonnes of seawater. The second of the strikes slammed into the battlecruiser’s hull in line with her B-turret, the steel armour belt more than thirty centimetres thick at the point of impact but still not enough to stop the tonne-and-a-half shell. It tore its way deep into the hull before finally detonating within one of the ship’s main magazines, and the resulting explosion vaporised several hundred tonnes of cordite and dozens of 15-inch shells in an instant. The massive blast threw water and debris high into the air as it broke poor Hood’s back and blew her completely in half, sinking her in less than a minute and leaving just three survivors.
Tirpitz also made relatively short work of her target in the battlecruiser Renown, the power of her nine guns quickly battering the lighter armed and armoured ship into submission within just a few minutes and a few savage, direct hits. A lucky first hit hammered through her quarterdeck and shattered the vessel’s steering gear, causing her to veering sharply out of line to starboard with a jammed rudder. Renown initially continued to fire on Bismarck, although she was unable to find much accuracy as her course continued to change dramatically, but Tirpitz’s next salvo slammed into her again with no less than three hits, two of which breached her hull below the waterline and flooded her badly.