As we sailed, we ran into really bad weather, and the destroyers of the Fourth Destroyer Flotilla had to leave us, all their ships were getting bashed and their superstructure was getting badly damaged. This left Renown, Ark Royal and Sheffield headed through the storm. We were then told by our captain that the reason for our hurried departure from Gibraltar was that the German battleship Bismarck and her cruiser escort Prinz Eugen had broken out of Norwegian waters and were threatening to sail out into the Atlantic. The massive German battleship had already engaged HMS Hood and hit Repulse a couple of times as well. One of our ships was shadowing Bismarck, but the Germans were able to escape observation. Finally, on May 26, the German battleship was spotted by a Consolidated PBY Catalina reconnaissance plane, and it became evident that she had parted from her escort. It was anticipated that Bismarck, would make for a French port. The only force that stood in her way was now Force H, which included Sheffield. My ship was detached from the force and ordered to shadow Bismarck.
We stayed so close to the Germans that when the Ark Royal’s planes finally launched their attack, they fired their first torpedoes at us rather than the enemy. Fortunately they missed us, and the remaining planes then went on and successfully hit Bismarck, who knew she was being shadowed, and after being damaged by Ark Royal’s planes, generated a smoke screen to mask her from further attack. She then emerged from the smoke screen firing her 16-inch shells at us. One of the shells hit us and showered the Sheffield’s upper decks and superstructure with shrapnel. Eleven sailors were killed during this attack and 22 were wounded. With other British ships moving in for the kill, Sheffield was ordered to disengage. We now travelled home, on the way burying our dead at sea. The day after returning to port, however, we were ordered out to intercept and sink one of Bismarck’s supply ships – which we did. We picked up 98 survivors from this ship, and we later turned them over to a platoon of Polish soldiers. After the last part of the battle to sink Bismarck, the ship’s company paid off. I had been on Sheffield from September 1937 to April 1942.
After leaving the ship, I reported to the Royal Marine base at Chatham. In December I was posted to HMS Submassive, and it was during a landing exercise that I was present for the disaster at Slapton Sands on April 27, 1944, when hundreds of Americans from the 4th Infantry Division were killed during an unexpected attack. All of us who were present were made to sign the Official Secrets Act preventing us from talking about what we had seen.I brought reinforcements into the invasion beaches on D-plus-2, and in May 1945 I was transferred again and became a recruit instructor, a post in which I remained until the end of the war. Following the war, I stayed in the Royal Marines and served in Malta, Palestine, Egypt, Hong Kong and Malaya. I retired from the Royal Marines in December 1958.
Frank Mustow died on September 1, 1991. This account was provided by his son, David Mustow. ( WWII Magazine – July 2002 )