The Bismark, Pride Of The Germans During Wwii
...the 19th century German chancellor Otto von Bismarck, Bismarck's fame came during the Battle of the Denmark Strait in which the flagship and pride of the British Royal Navy, the battlecruiser HMS Hood, was sunk in May 1941, and for the subsequent relentless pursuit by the Royal Navy which ended with her loss only three days later.
History
Design of the ship started in the early 1930s, following on from Germany's development of the pocket battleship Deutschland class cruisers and the Gneisenau class "battlecruisers". Construction of the second French Dunkerque class battleship made redesign necessary, and Bismarck's displacement increased to 42,600 tons, although officially her tonnage was still only 35,000 tons to suggest parity with ships built within the limits of the Treaty of Versailles. Fully laden, Bismarck and her sister-ship Tirpitz would displace more than 50,000 tons. The prototype of the proposed battleships envisaged under Plan Z, Bismarck's keel was laid down at the Blohm + Voss shipyard in Hamburg on 1 July 1936. She was launched on 14 February 1939 and commissioned on 24 August 1940 with Kapitän zur See Ernst Lindemann in command.
This formidable ship was intended primarily as a commerce raider, having a broad beam for stability in the rough seas of the North Atlantic and fuel stores as large as those of battleships intended for operations in the Pacific Ocean. Still, with eight 15-inch main guns in four turrets, substantial welded-armour protection and designed for a top speed of not less than 29 knots (she actually achieved a very impressive 30.1 knots in trials in the calmer waters of the Baltic), Bismarck was capable of engaging any enemy warship on at least equal terms. Her range of weaponry could easily decimate any convoy she encountered. Should Bismarck break through into the spacious waters of the North Atlantic, where she could...
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