Bismarck

Type

Battleship

Period

20th Century

Nation

Germany

Overview: Bismarck was the lead ship of the two-vessel Bismarck-class, the largest battleships built by Nazi Germany and among the largest ever built by a European power. She is one of the most famous warships in history due to her destruction of HMS Hood and the massive Royal Navy pursuit that ended her career after only one operational sortie. Specifications: Standard displacement was around 41,700 tonnes (about 50,300 tonnes full load), with a waterline length of 241.6 m and beam of 36 m. Main armament comprised eight 380 mm guns in four twin turrets, backed by a secondary battery of 150 mm guns, and the ship could make just over 30 knots on trials, making her a fast, heavily armored subject with a distinctive two-tone camouflage scheme worn during Rheinübung. Service History: Commissioned in August 1940, Bismarck's only combat operation was Rheinübung in May 1941, an attempted Atlantic commerce raid alongside the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen. At the Battle of the Denmark Strait she and Prinz Eugen sank HMS Hood and damaged HMS Prince of Wales, but Bismarck herself took damaging hits that forced her toward occupied France for repairs; a torpedo strike from Swordfish biplanes off Ark Royal jammed her rudder, and she was finally overwhelmed the next morning by British battleships and cruisers before being scuttled. Notable Facts: The wreck was discovered in June 1989 by Robert Ballard and has been surveyed multiple times since, including a detailed 2002 study. That survey found the armored deck largely intact and the sustained shelling and torpedo hits from the final battle to have been surprisingly ineffective at actually sinking the ship, lending support to the view that scuttling caused her loss. For modelers, her boxy superstructure, extensive secondary and flak battery arrangement, and camouflage schemes (both the "Baltic" stripes and operational grey) are key identifying features.