Ship            Builder                         Laid Down           Launched      Completed            Fate

Bismarck     Blohm & Voss Hamburg        1 July 36                  14 Feb 39               24 Aug 40                Lost 27 May 41 

Tirpitz          Wilhelmshaven Navy Yard    20 Oct 36                1 April 39                25 Feb 41                Lost 12 Nov 44

Specification KMS BISMARCK

Displacement: 41, 676 tons standard, 50,153 tons full load

Dimensions: length 251.0 m (823 ft 6 in) overall; beam 36.0 m ( 118 ft); draught 9.3 m (30 ft 7 in) mean

Machinery: 3-shaft geared steam turbines delivering 138,000 shp

( 102907 kW) Speed: 29 kts

Armour: belt 320 mm ( 12.6 in); decks 50-120 mm (2-4. 7 in); turrets and barbettes 230-355 mm (9-14 in)

  Armament: eight 380-mm ( 15-in), 12 150-mm (5.9-in), 16 105-mm (4.1-in) AA, 16 37-mm X~ and 12 20-mm AA guns

 Aircraft: two Arado floatplanes

 Complement: 2,192 officer and men

SPECIFICATIONS    KMS Tirpitz

Displacement: 42,900 tons standard,52, 600 tons full load

Dimensions: length 250.5 m (821 ft10 in) overall; beam 36.0 m ( 118 ft 1 in)

 draught 11.0 m (36 ft 1 in) maximum

 Machinery: 3-shaft geared steam turbines delivering 138,000 shp (102907 kW)

Speed: 29 kts

Armour: belt 320 mm ( 12.6 in); decks 50-120 mm (2-4.7 in); turrets and barbettes 230-355 mm (9-14 in) 

Armament: eight 380-mm ( 15-in), 12. 150-mm (5.9-in), 16 105-mm (4. 1-in) AA, 16 3'1-mm AA and 70 20-mm AA guns, and eight 533-mm (21-in) torpedo tubes

Aircraft: four Arado floatplanes Complement: 2, 530 officers and men

The first full-scale battleships built for Germany's new Kriegsmarine after Hitler abrogated the Versailles Treaty were two 35,000-ton ships. As with the battle-cruisers, the design followed closely the final designs of the previous war, but with considerably higher installed power. The first of this pair was launched and christened KMS Bismarck on 14 February 1939. She was in fact 6,000 tons heavier than the international treaty limits allowed, but much of the extra tonnage went into additional fuel stowage.

The Bismarck was commissioned in August 1940 but underwent a further eight months of training in the Baltic before she was considered ready for a breakout into the Atlantic. In May 1941 she and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen left the Baltic bound for Bergen, but their passage had been detected by pro-British Swedes and the Admiralty

had been alerted by analysis of radio traffic. As a result the heavy cruiser HMS Suffolk was already on station in the Denmark Strait on 23 May, and detected the two German ships on radar.

On the next morning the British Battle-Cruiser Squadron tried to intercept the German ships, but the German ships got the range quickly. Prinz Eugen's shells started a fire aboard HMS Hood, and shortly afterwards she blew up, while the Bismarck hit HMS Prince of Wales in the bridge. The British ship was then ordered to break off the action and to retire, leaving the German ships to continue their foray into the Atlantic.

Examination soon showed that a large quantity of fuel had been contaminated by underwater damage, and Admiral Lutjens decided to head for Brest. That night Fairey Swordfish torpedo-bombers from HMS Victorious

attacked with torpedoes, but the single hit inflicted only minor damage. For a while the Bismarck eluded her pursuers, but after unwisely transmitting a long radio signal she was detected on 26 May, and that night more Swordfish from HMS Ark Royal hit her with two torpedoes, wrecking her steering gear. Further attacks by destroyers followed, although without success, but the Bismarck was doomed, unable to manoeuvre and steaming at only 5 kts. On the next morning HMS King George V and HMS Rodney came over the northern horizon, opening fire at 08.4'1. The British fire was deadly, and by 09.20 the Bismarck was silenced. During that time she had scored only one 'straddle' on the Rodney and hit her with a few splinters. In the final stages the range came down to only 3660 m (4,000 yards), and the Bismarck was battered into a water

logged wreck. She was finally torpedoed by the cruiser HMS Dorsetshire and sank at 10.40.

KMS Tirpitz was laid down in October 1936 as Schlachtschiff G, launched on 1 April 1939 and started sea trials in late February 1941. She was in most respects identical to her sister Bismarck but incorporated minor improvements, notably the addition of two sets of quadruple torpedo-tubes and improved aircraft-handling arrangements.

After a lengthy work-up in the Baltic the Tirpitz was ready for operational service towards the end of September 1941, and her first operation was a cruise in the Gulf of Finland to prevent any breakout by the Soviet Baltic Fleet. She was then sent to Trondheim in Norway to disrupt Allied convoys to Murmansk, but on her first sortie she failed to find the convoy and narrowly escaped damage from Fairey Albacore torpedo-bombers from HMS Victorious on 9 March. Her next move was much more successful, but inadvertent, for shift of berth led the British to think that she was putting to sea. As a result the convoy PQ-1'1 was ordered to scatter, allowing U-boats and bombers to sink 24 merchant ships.

Although the Tirpitz never made another sortie her presence could not be ignored, and the Royal Navy was forced to keep two capital ships and a fleet carrier in home waters in case the Tirpitz should break out. The first of a long series of attempts to neutralize her was an attack by 'Chariot' human torpedoes in October 1942, but this achieved nothing as the Chariots were lost by accident. In September 1943 the Tirpitz put to sea once more, but only to bombard Spitzbergen. Late that month two British X-craft or midget submarines penetrated the defences of Alten Fjord and laid 2-ton charges under the Tirpitz keel, causing extensive shock damage to the 380-mm (15in) turrets and the main machinery.

Repairs lasted until the spring of 1944 but just as the battleship was getting under way on 3 April she was attacked by 40 Fairey Barracuda dive bombers from British carriers. This Fleet Air Arm attack inflicted serious damage, but two later attacks in July and August did very little damage, for the steep sides of the fjord made accurate bombing almost impossible. Finally, on 15 September, RAF Avro Lancaster's managed to hit the Tirptiz with 5443-kg (12,000-lb) bombs, causing severe damage. The Tupitz then had to be moved south to Trondheim

for repairs, where two more attacks by Lancasters achieved her destruction. On 12 November she was hit by three 5443-kg (12,000-lb) 'Tallboy' bombs and capsized with the loss of 1,000 crewmen.