Bismarck (ship)

The German battleship **Bismarck** was built by Nazi Germany. It was one of the most famous and recognized warships of World War II. It sailed for just one mission, known as Operation "Rheinübung". It was named in honor of the German statesman, Otto von Bismarck.

Its construction began on 1 July 1936 in a shipyard in Hamburg, Germany. The ship was launched on 14 February 1940. The _Bismarck_ class battleship was the largest type of battleship built by any European power. Her sister ship _Tirpitz_ was the second in this class.

## Description

The _Bismarck_ and _Tirpitz_ were planned in the mid-1930s by the German Kriegsmarine to counter France and its own naval expansion. Construction began in 1936 and were supposed to fall within the 35,000 long ton limit as imposed by the Washington regime and the Anglo-German Naval Agreement during the Interwar period. Both of them secretly ignored the limits but before it's completion, the agreement and the treaty fell apart due to Japan's withdrawal in 1937. _Bismarck_ weighed 41,700t (long tons) and 50,300 t (49,500 long tons) when fully loaded and had a overall length of 251m (823 ft 6in) which was the largest built than any other European power until HMS Vanguard after the war. _Bismarck_ had a top speed of 30.01 knots (55.58 km/h; 34.53 mph) during trials and had a max distance of 16,430 km (10,210 mi) without refuels. Bismarck had a crew of 2000-2200 and had them divided into twelve divisions of 180-200 per division and half of them were assigned to main and secondary weaponry while the other half were support crew. (Cooks, Radio Operators) The _Bismarck_ had an armament of eight 38 cm (15 in) guns, twelve 15 cm (5.9 in) guns, sixteen 10.5 cm (4.1 in) guns, sixteen 3.7 (1.5 in) guns, and twelve 2 cm (0.79 in) guns. _Bismarck's_ main belt had a thickness of 320mm (12.6 in) and was additionally covered with upper and main armor deck ranging from 50mm to 120mm ( 2in to 4.7in ) while the turret faces were protected by 360mm (14.2 in) fronts while the sides were 220mm (8.7 in) thick.

## Operation "Rheinübung"

On 5th May 1941 Hitler started Operation Rheinübung to sever Britain's lifeline which consisted of merchant ships bringing vital supplies such as food and raw materials. If this lifeline was cut  Britain would be forced to either sue for peace, negotiate an armistice or leave the British Isles. The goal of Rheinübung was to break into the Atlantic Ocean and attack allied merchant ships transporting essential goods. German Naval Command (OKM) established a network of tankers and supply ships around the area _Bismarck_ and _Prinz Eugen_ sailed. Britain knew Nazi Germany was going to attack these supply lines and stationed multiple battlecruisers, aircraft carriers, and battleships.

## Battle of Denmark Strait

At 05:45 24th of May, German lookouts spotted smoke in the distance which turned out to be from two of the Royal Navy's ships called HMS Hood and HMS Prince of Wales. At 05:52 _Hood_ opened fire at what they thought was _Bismarck_ but instead of _Prinz Eugen_ while _Prince of Wales_ fired on _Bismarck_. Both _Prince of Wales_ and _Hood_ attacked _Bismarck_ and _Prinz Eugen_ head on only allowing them to use their front guns while _Bismarck_ and _Prinz Eugen_ could fire with all their weaponry. After several minutes of shelling, _Hood_ turned 20° left to use its rear turrets and after a minute of firing, _Prinz Eugen_ scored a hit on _Hood_ causing an ammunition fire which was quickly extinguished. _Bismarck_ fired three salvos which caused it to find the range to _Hood_ and the order to rapid-fire was given. _Hood_ turned 20° to the left again to make itself parallel with _Bismarck_ and _Prinz Eugen. Prinz Eugen_ shifted its fire towards _Prince of Wales_ to keep both British ships under fire and scored a couple of hits on _Wales._ _Prinz Eugen_ was ordered to move behind _Bismarck_ to keep track of _Norfolk_ and _Suffolk._ At 06:00 _Hood_ was completing her second turn to the left when _Bismarck's_ salvo hit. Two of the shells landed short while one of the shells struck _Hood's_ thin deck armor and caused 112 t ( 110 long tons ) of  ammo to explode causing _Hood_ to split in half in only eight minutes and only three out of 1149 crew survived. After the sinking of _Hood, Bismarck_ redirected its fire towards _Prince of Wales_ and hit _Wales_ directly in the bridge killing all but 3 officers and was still being fired upon and guns were malfunctioning on the new battleship and after scoring a bunch of ineffective hits on _Bismarck_, the order was given to retreat at 06:13

### Chase

After the engagement, _Bismarck’s_ commander reported that _Hood_ sunk and another battleship thinking it was _King George V_ or _Renown_ escaped but was damaged and transmitted a damage report along with his intentions to let _Prinz Eugen_ detach and head to Saint-Nazaire for repairs. _Prinz Eugen_ reported that _Bismarck_ was leaking oil and an hour later a British plane reported the oil slick to _Suffolk_ and _Norfolk_ which was joined by a damaged _Prince of Wales_. Winston Churchill ordered all ships in the area to join in the pursuit against _Prinz Eugen_ and _Bismarck_ which resulted in six battleships, two battlecruisers, two aircraft carriers, thirteen cruisers, and twenty one destroyers were ordered to hunt down _Bismarck_ and _Prinz Eugen_. With weather worsening _Bismarck’s_ commander attempted to detach _Prinz Eugen_ but the squall wasn't heavy enough to hide her withdrawal from _Norfolk_ and _Suffolk_ which continued to maintain radar contact. _Prinz Eugen_ was successfully detached and _Bismarck_ turned to face _Suffolk_ which forced _Suffolk_ to turn away at high speeds while _Prince of Wales_ fired at _Bismarck_ and received fire back. Although _Bismarck_ had been damaged earlier she was still able to achieve 27-28 knots and was still able to reach Saint-Nazaire unless slowed down. The British sent aircraft carrier Victorious and an additional four light cruisers to have Swordfish torpedo bombers find and engage _Bismarck_ but due to the inexperience of the pilots, they nearly attacked _Norfolk_ and a US Coast Guard USCGC _Modoc_ and alerted Bismarck’s anti-aircraft gunners.