Sink the B again

I wondered why a Yank C&W singer would hymn an encounter that happened before the US entered the war, and there is in fact a reason:

"Sink the Bismark" (later "Sink the Bismarck") is a novelty song, written by country music singer Johnny Horton and Tillman Franks, based on the pursuit and eventual sinking of the German battleship Bismarck in May 1941, during World War II. Horton released this song in 1960, where it reached #3 on the charts. As originally released the record label used the common misspelling "Bismark", this was corrected for later releases of the song. It was inspired by the 1960 movie Sink the Bismarck! and was in fact (with the English producer John Brabourne's approval) commissioned from Johnny Horton by 20th Century Fox who were worried about the subject's relative obscurity. While the song was used in U.S. theater trailers for the film, it was not used in the film itself.