So possibly there is some agreement on the position of AK55 at it's center as; 57* 52' N by 35* 02' W and with it's southwestern corner at; 57* 20' by 36* 20'W.
At 0400 on the 26th Bismarck's position was 56* 27' N by 37* 55' W, or ten miles to the northwest of the position at which contact was lost, by Suffolk.
In order to make AK 55 at 0700 Bismarck would have had to steam at 28 knots heading northeast. This heading would show her to be making for the Iceland Faroes. This indicates that Lutjens wished the British to think this was where he was going, so it is likely that as his signal to Group West indicated that he was still under surveillance, he would have maintained this course for a while.
I have struck a rock as far as the diaries kept by the two survivors are concerned. I have tried to plot using the lat' and long' positions they give and it would have been impossible for the ship to have steamed between many of these positions given the times recorded. I suspect they took their information direct from the general chart which was displayed in the wardroom and probably on the main notice boards as well and this will have given only wild approximations as to the ship's true position at the given times. As I believe we now agree, a chart is no substitute for a globe. It is with regret that I suggest we cannot now use those diaries as a guide to accurately plotting the ship. I can now only use the Position Reports from British sources, the signals between Bismarck and Group West and PG's KTB.
Using the position at 0400 and steering northeast towards the Iceland Faroes Passage, Bismarck will have made AK55 at 0700. I suggest that she continued for a further hour before turning to 120 degrees. This heading was about 90 degrees to the track of PG at that time, thus drawing the enemy away from her. I suggest further that as repairs did not begin until the afternoon, that Bismarck maintained this new course at 28 knots until 1200 when may have hove to to effect repairs.
Allowing for 3 hours to complete the repairs - welding plates over the holes - the ship would have been able to move off again at 1500, resuming her heading of 120 degrees. This heading, I believe she maintained at 28 knots until 0030 on the 26th, when she altered to 150 degrees on which she continued until being relocated at 1030 that morning.
The positions and times I have used are as follows;
0400 25th - 56* 20' N by 36* 20' W
0700 25th - 57* 20' N by 35* 20' W
0800 25th - 57* 48' N by 34* 54' W
1200-1500 - 56* 48' N by 31* 59' W
0030 26th - 54* 11' N by 25* 26' W
1030 26th - 49* 38' N by 21* 11' W NB. the positions shown at 0800, 1200-1500 and 0030 are my own.
I have looked at the Grid Square calculator suggested by Tommy, but again that only finds positions on the Mercator Projections and places AK55 about 175 miles away from Bismarck at 0400, twice as far as she could steam in 3 hours. It would also place Bismarck and PG closer together than was healthy. Thanks to Tommy though.
- Bismarck's Speculative Track 0700 25th to 1030 26th,.jpg (97.96 KiB) Viewed 2100 times