As night fell, the crew upon the stricken ship knew that for most it would be their last night. Captain Lindemann allowed his men a free hand to whatever food and drink they could consume. For others he set the task of building a fake funnel, with the idea that when planted on top of the ship it would alter its silhouette and trick the British into thinking that the ship was not the Bismarck but another vessel. His men must have realised the absurdity of the captain’s plan but, nonetheless, thankful for the distraction, threw themselves into the task with gusto.
From the text it appears the effort was to divert the crew's minds from the fact they had been spotted and were being chased. It was after Lutjen's 'victory or death' speech on May 25, Lindemann and the officers then sought ways to raise morale and keep the crew busy so they devised the dummy funnel scheme. It worked, helped by the realisation that they had broken contact with the British, and the Chief Engineering Officer Lieutenant-Commander Walter Lehmann's order to draw cigars to smoke in the dummy stack was part of this jesting.
*Stroke*TadaaNice ideaThat's it!!And this*Stroke*Will it even work?Hm, you know, to make it look more real we need to get some smoke out of itBeen at it since noon.If we put our minds to it, we can build anything.My fuel...This happened two days before the Bismarck was sunkSo that smoke can rise from our second smoke stackWhat... That's going to be difficultLet's construct one more smoke stack for ourselves as a disguiseIt'd be bad news if they managed to find us...If I recall correctly, the Battleship King George the Fifth has two smoke stacks!!Did I manage to chase off those English bastards?Bu-... But how?Attention to all sailors off duty!This order, made in jest, boosted moraleBismarck sunk the Royal Navy's Hood and heavily damaged Prince of Wales, but took heavy damage in return while being pursued by the Royal Navy.Although it might be a silly scheme, it was better than doing nothing, so the crew started constructing a fake smoke stack using canvas and sheet metal!!The "smoke stack" was painted with gray paint, but because of a lack of experience, it took until sunset. Nevertheless the task was completed!!Please report to the XO's office and start smoking!The finished smokestack was laid on the deck, ready to be installed when the order was given, but it seems that in the end the smokestack was not actually used.