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German battleship Bismarck

Bismarck was the first of two Bismarck-class battleships built for Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine. Named after Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, the ship was laid down at the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg in July 1936 and launched in February 1939. Work was completed in August 1940, when she was commissioned into the German fleet. Bismarck and her sister ship Tirpitz were the largest battleships ever built by Germany, and two of the largest built by any European power.

In the course of the warship's eight-month career, Bismarck conducted only one offensive operation that lasted 8 days in May 1941, codenamed Rheinübung. The ship, along with the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen, was to break into the Atlantic Ocean and raid Allied shipping from North America to Great Britain. The two ships were detected several times off Scandinavia, and British naval units were deployed to block their route. At the Battle of the Denmark Strait, the battlecruiser HMS Hood initially engaged Prinz Eugen, probably by mistake, while HMS Prince of Wales engaged Bismarck. In the ensuing battle Hood was destroyed by the combined fire of Bismarck and Prinz Eugen, which then damaged Prince of Wales and forced her retreat. Bismarck suffered sufficient damage from three hits by Prince of Wales to force an end to the raiding mission.


The destruction of Hood spurred a relentless pursuit by the Royal Navy involving dozens of warships. Two days later, heading for occupied France for repairs, Bismarck was attacked by fifteen Fairey Swordfish torpedo bombers from the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal; one scored a hit that rendered the battleship's steering gear inoperable. In her final battle the following morning, the already-crippled Bismarck was engaged by two British battleships and two heavy cruisers, and sustained incapacitating damage and heavy loss of life. The ship was scuttled to prevent her being boarded by the British, and to allow the ship to be abandoned so as to limit further casualties. Most experts agree that the battle damage would have caused her to sink eventually.


The wreck was located in June 1989 by Robert Ballard, and has since been further surveyed by several other expeditions.

– Cat which is said to have survived the sinking of Bismarck

Unsinkable Sam

– 1959 novel by C. S. Forester

Last Nine Days of the Bismarck

– 1960 film based on the Forester novel

Sink the Bismarck!

"" – 1960 song by Johnny Horton

Sink the Bismark

(1990). Bismarck: Germany's Greatest Battleship Gives Up its Secrets. Toronto: Madison Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7858-2205-9.

Ballard, Robert D.

Ballard, Robert D. (2008). Archaeological Oceanography. Princeton: Princeton University Press.  978-0-691-12940-2.

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Bercuson, David J.; Herwig, Holger H. (2003) [2001]. The Destruction of the Bismarck. New York: The Overlook Press.  978-1-58567-397-1.

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Blair, Clay (1998). Hitler's U-Boat War: The Hunters 1939–1942. Vol. 1. Cassell.  0-304-35260-8.

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; Rahn, Werner; Stumpf, Reinhard & Wegner, Bernd (2001). Germany and the Second World War: Volume 6: The Global War. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-822888-2.

Boog, Horst

Busch, Fritz-Otto (1980). De vernietiging van de Bismarck (in Dutch). Amsterdam: omega boek BV.  90-6057-197-5.

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Campbell, John (1985). Naval Weapons of World War II. London: Conway Maritime Press.  978-0-87021-459-2.

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Campbell, John (1987). "Germany 1906–1922". In Sturton, Ian (ed.). Conway's All the World's Battleships: 1906 to the Present. London: Conway Maritime Press. pp. 28–49.  978-0-85177-448-0.

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Draminski, Stefan (2018). The battleship Bismarck. Osprey Publishing.  978-1472828880.

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Gaack, Malte & Carr, Ward (2011). Schlachtschiff Bismarck – Das wahre Gesicht eines Schiffes – Teil 3 [Battleship Bismarck – The True Face of a Ship – Part 3] (in German). Norderstedt: BoD – Books on Demand GmbH.  978-3-8448-0179-8.

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Gardiner, Robert & Chesneau, Roger, eds. (1992). . London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 978-0-85177-146-5.

Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946

Garzke, William H. & Dulin, Robert O. (1985). Battleships: Axis and Neutral Battleships in World War II. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press.  978-0-87021-101-0.

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Garzke, William H.; Dulin, Robert O. & Jurens, William (2019a). Battleship Bismarck: A Design and Operational History. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press.  978-1-59114-569-1.

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Garzke, William H.; Dulin, Robert O. & Jurens, William (2019b). Battleship Bismarck: A Design and Operational History. Naval Institute Press eBook.  978-1-52675-975-7.

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Gatacre, G.G.O. (1982). A Naval Career: Reports of Proceedings 1921–1964. Sydney: Nautical Press & Publications.  0-949756-02-4.

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(1990). German Warships: 1815–1945. Vol. I: Major Surface Vessels. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-0-87021-790-6.

Gröner, Erich

Grützner, Jens (2010). Kapitän zur See Ernst Lindemann: Der Bismarck-Kommandant – Eine Biographie (in German). Zweibrücken: VDM Heinz Nickel.  978-3-86619-047-4.

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Jackson, Robert (2002). The Bismarck. London: Weapons of War.  978-1-86227-173-9.

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(1991) [1974]. Pursuit: The Sinking of the Bismarck. London: Fontana. ISBN 978-0-00-634014-0.

Kennedy, Ludovic

Konstam, Angus (2019). Hunt the Bismarck: The pursuit of Germany's most famous battleship (pdf ebook ed.). London: Osprey Publishing.  978-1-47283-384-6.

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McGowen, Tom (1999). . Brookfield: Twenty-First Century Books. ISBN 0-7613-1510-1 – via Archive.org.

Sink the Bismarck: Germany's Super-Battleship of World War II

Miller, Nathan (1997). War at Sea: A Naval History of World War II. New York: Oxford University Press.  978-0-19-511038-8.

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Müllenheim-Rechberg, Burkhard von (1980a). Battleship Bismarck, A Survivor's Story. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press.  978-0-87021-096-9.

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Müllenheim-Rechberg, Burkhard von (1980b). De ondergang van de Bismarck (in Dutch). De Boer Maritiem.  90-228-1836-5.

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Rohwer, J. (2005). Chronology of the War at Sea 1939–1945. Naval Institute Press.  978-1-59114-119-8.

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Roskill, Stephen (1954). J. R. M. Butler (ed.). The War at Sea 1939–1945. History of the Second World War. Vol. I: The Defensive. London: HMSO.  978-0-11-630188-8.

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Schmalenbach, Paul (1993). Die Geschichte der deutschen Schiffsartillerie [The history of German naval artillery] (in German) (3rd ed.). Herford: Koehler.  3-7822-0577-4.

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Stehr, Werner F.G.; Breyer, Siegfried (1999). Leichte und mitlere Artillerie auf deutschen Kriegsschiffen. Marine-Arsenal (in German). Vol. Sonderheft band 18. Wölfersheim-Berstadt: Podzun Pallas.  3-7909-0664-6.

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Stephen, Martin (1988). Grove, Eric (ed.). Sea Battles in close-up: World War 2. London: Ian Allan ltd.  0-7110-1596-1.

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Tovey, John (1947). (PDF). Despatches Published in the London Gazette – via ibiblio.org/hyperwar/UN/UK/londongazette.html.

"Despatch on the sinking of the German battleship "Bismarck" 1941 May 27"

Williamson, Gordon (2003). German Battleships 1939–45. New Vanguard No 71. Oxford: Osprey Publishing.  978-1-84176-498-6.

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Zetterling, Niklas & Tamelander, Michael (2009). Bismarck: The Final Days of Germany's Greatest Battleship. Drexel Hill: Casemate.  978-1-935149-04-0.

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Ballard, R. (1990). The Discovery of the Bismarck. New York, NY. Warner Books Inc.  978-0-446-51386-9

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Ballard, Robert D. (November 1989). "The Bismarck Found". . Vol. 176, no. 5. pp. 622–637. ISSN 0027-9358. OCLC 643483454.

National Geographic

Garzke, William H. & Dulin, Robert O. (1994). . Warship International. XXXI (2). International Naval Research Organization. ISSN 0043-0374.

"Bismarck's Final Battle"

Junack, Gerhard (1967). . Purnell's History of the Second World War, Vol.2, No. 5 – via KBismarck.com.

"The Last Hours of the Bismarck"

Koop, Gerhard; Schmolke, Klaus-Peter (2014). Battleships Of The Bismarck Class. UK: Seaforth Publishing.  978-1-84832-197-7.

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48°10′N 16°12′W / 48.167°N 16.200°W / 48.167; -16.200

CB 4051. German battleship Bismarck: Interrogation of survivors, August 1941