Bismarck

Bismarck-Class Battleships were built for Germany's Kriegsmarine during the years of 1936 to 1941.  Built in response to the French Richelieu-Class Battleships, they were designed with the traditional role of engaging enemy battleships in home waters. There were 2 ships of this class built.

Bismarck-Class Battleships served between the years of 1940 to 1944.

Preceded by:  Scharnhorst class

Succeeded by: H class (Design only)

Bismarck-Class Battleships KMS Bismarck & Tirpitz saw limited, but none the less historic combat in World War II. Bismarck conducted only one operation, Operation Rheinübung, a sortie into the North Atlantic to raid supply convoys sent from North America to Great Britain. During the operation, she destroyed the British battlecruiser HMS Hood and damaged the new battleship Prince of Wales in the Battle of the Denmark Strait. Bismarck was defeated and sunk in a final engagement after a three-day chase by the Royal Navy. Tirpitz's career was less dramatic. She operated in the Baltic Sea briefly in 1941 before being sent to Norwegian waters in 1942, where she acted as a fleet in being, threatening the convoys from Britain to the Soviet Union. She was repeatedly attacked by the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force between 1942 and 1944, but she was not seriously damaged in these attacks. In 1944, Lancaster bombers hit the ship with two Tallboy bombs, which caused extensive internal damage and capsized the battleship.