Bismarck

In April 1941, German submarines and aircraft sank a total of 687,901 tons of merchant shipping in the Atlantic. In May, these vital convoy routes from America, so essential to the British war effort in Europe, were to come under an even greater threat. The German navy had completed the sea trials of the largest battleship in the world. "Bismarck", displacing more than 53,000 tons was due to sail from Gedynia harbour on May 18th on what was to be her one and only voyage.

The British Admiralty committed the entire home fleet of more than 30 ships, including six battleships, six heavy cruisers and two aircraft carriers to the sole task of finding and sinking the Bismarck.

On the evening of 24th May, HMS Hood, a much loved and the largest ship in the British Navy, took a direct hit in her magazine. Of the 1,415 men aboard, only three escaped with their lives. Bismarck had claimed her first kill.

After two more days of hide and seek in mid-Atlantic, she was attacked by Swordfish aircraft from HMS Ark Royal. Her rudder was damaged beyond repair and she was left a virtual sitting target. At 10.36 on the morning of the 27th, Bismarck was finally sunk some 30 miles west of Brest.

The hunt was over. Now it's your turn.

The Game

In this real simulation, the player can either command the Bismarck and try and escape the pursuing British fleet, or command the British ships in their search for the largest battleship in the world, and sink her before she escapes into the Atlantic to wreak havoc with the convoys. In either case the computer controls the opposition.

Features

1. Full joystick control
2. Icon driven
3. Variable speed game
4. Variable difficulty level
5. "Set Battles" option
6. Save game
7. Real Time action

Getting Started

Once the program has loaded, you will be presented with a sequence of menus via which you set up the style of the game you want to play.

The Spectrum version has one additional menu page where you select either keyboard or joystick control. The other versions assume joystick control.

Spectrum Only

Key 1 highlights keyboard. The keys are as follows:
O - Left, P - Right, Q - Up, A - Down, M - Fire

Key 2 highlights Kempston joystick interface

Key 3 highlights Sinclair joystick interface

Make your choice from 1, 2 or 3 and press (O.K.)

All Versions

Move the highlighted box up or down on each of the menu screens and press fire to toggle between the options.

The combination are as follows:

Fleet Controls

1. Main map screen
2. Air reconnaissance screen
3. Weather forecasting

Ship Controls

1. Visual search from bridge
2. Radar search
3. Control heading, speed, etc.
4. Fire heavy guns
5. Control anti-aircraft guns
6. Allocate damage control via fully detailed plan views
7. Torpedo attacks (destroyers only)
8. Fairey Swordfish flight simulator

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SHIFT-RUN/STOP