1939 BISMARCK. Launched on 14 February 1939 at the Hamburg shipyard Blohm & Voss and commissioned on 24 August 1940, the Bismarck required the concentrated fire of half the British Home Fleet to sink her on 27 May 1941. In her day the worlds largest battleship, Bismarck was in service for 277 days.
THE TASK: OCEANIC WAR AT SEA
By the AngloGerman naval agreement of 1935, the relative fleet strengths of Germany and Britain were fixed at a ratio of 35:100. In order to exploit these new upper limits, Germany laid down the battleships Bismarck and Tirpitz in 1936. Their immense operational radius of 9280 miles (17,185km) and their heavy armament, their high speed and their massive armour plating show that these ships were designed primarily to attack supply convoys and units of the British fleet in the North Atlantic.
TRIUMPH AND FALL
The limited size of the German fleet and the inadequate cruising range of its heavy cruisers and destroyers meant that the Bismarck would, to a great extent, be on her own. Therefore, to ensure that she could combat hostile destroyers and other escort ships, her heavy artillery was supplemented by medium artillery that was unusually extensive for a battleship. Since she had to operate in the North Atlantic outside the umbrella of the German air force, the Bismarck was equipped with massive anti-aircraft armament. But all her firepower was to no avail. Two days after she had sunk the British battle-cruiser Hood, the Bismarck was attacked by the British Home Fleet. Fairey Swordfish aircraft from HMS Ark Royal delivered a decisive hit on her steering gear and she sank on 27 May 1941 after direct hits from the l4in (356mm) and l6in (406mm) guns of the King George V and the Rodney respectively.
TECHNICAL DATA
Type: Battleship
Machinery: 3-shaft geared turbines giving 138,000shp
Dimensions: Length, 248m (813.6ft); beam 36m (1l8ft)
Displacement: 52,600t (full load)
Draught: 1 0.6m (34.75ft) (max)
