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&nbsp;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&nbsp;km/h; 34.53&nbsp;mph) during trials and had a max distance of 16,430&nbsp;km (10,210&nbsp;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&nbsp;cm (15&nbsp;in) guns, twelve 15&nbsp;cm (5.9&nbsp;in) guns, sixteen 10.5&nbsp;cm (4.1&nbsp;in) guns, sixteen 3.7 (1.5&nbsp;in) guns, and twelve 2&nbsp;cm (0.79&nbsp;in) guns. ''Bismarck's'' main belt had a thickness of 320mm (12.6&nbsp;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&nbsp;in) fronts while the sides were 220mm (8.7&nbsp;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.

## References