The ship, along with the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen, was to break into theĪtlantic Ocean and raid Allied shipping from North America to Great Britain. Operation in May 1941, codenamed Rheinübung. Ernst Lindemann, Bismarck conducted only one offensive In the course of the warship's eight-month career under its sole commanding officer, Capt.

Bismarck and her sister ship Tirpitz were the largest battleships ever built by Germany, and two of the largest built by any European power. Work was completed in August 1940, when she was commissioned into the German fleet. The ship was laid down at the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg in July 1936 and launched two and a half years later in February 1939. Thye were named after Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, the primary force behind the unification of Germany inġ871. System where a large number of small, well armed, autonomous vessels (disposableĪt no risk to human life) might attack aircraft carriers and submarines inĪdvance of any major offensive, to neutralize any counter-offensive.īismarck was the first of two Bismarck-class battleships built for the This is the same principle proposed in the Seawolf-pack Pride of the German Navy was taken out by a number of smaller vessels, each attackingįrom different position until the very much larger and more powerful Bismarck was finally sunk.

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