Vernon Brill's action station was the forward port 4" gun but his cruising station was Captain's lookout on the port side and he got to know the skipper, Captain Martin, the navigating officer and Guns, the gunnery control officer well as personalities, which makes his comments about them more poignant. When the Bismark sneaked out and into the Atlantic, then, chased by ships of her own capability, turned for Brest to refuel, HMS Dorsetshire was escorting a convoy across the Bay of Biscay when she got the news. Despite the difference in fire power, Captain Martin, without permission, according to Ludovic Kennedy's book, Pursuit, took the courageous decision to put Dorsetshire between Bismark and Brest. Chased Bismark was disabled by a torpedo bamber, caught by the big ships, which opened fire at twelve and a half miles. HMS Dorsetshire arrived and opened fire with her 8" armament but the shells bounced off Bismark's steel sides and exploded  twenty yards away in the sea. By now Bismark's decks were a mess of tortured steel but the guns were still firing. Captain Martin decided to make a direct attack. When the Skipper's voice told them ' Hang on, we're going in,' Vernon knew it was going to get rough. Head on, the ship as small a target as possible and the Captain ordered the guns to fire for Bismark's upper works. When the superstructure was hit, Bismark lost central control of the guns and Dorsetshire stood off to make a torpedo attack. When the torpedoes hit, Bismark listed, righted, then turned turtle and slid under the waves, stern first. What happened next lived with Vernon all his life.

www.sullatoberdalton.com/books