Bismarck conducted only one operation, Operation Rheinübung, a sortie into the North Atlantic to raid supply convoys sent from North America to Great Britain. As such, their design represented strategic confusion that dominated German naval construction in the 1930s.īoth ships had short service careers. The ships were ordered in response to the French Richelieu-class battleships and they were designed with the traditional role of engaging enemy battleships in home waters in mind, though the German naval command envisioned employing the ships as long-range commerce raiders against British shipping in the Atlantic Ocean.
Bismarck was laid down in July 1936 and completed in September 1940, while her sister Tirpitz's keel was laid in October 1936 and work finished in February 1941. The ships were the largest and most powerful warships built for the Kriegsmarine displacing more than 41,000 metric tons (40,000 long tons) normally, they were armed with a battery of eight 38 cm (15 in) guns and were capable of a top speed of 30 knots (56 km/h 35 mph). The Bismarck class was a pair of fast battleships built for Germany's Kriegsmarine shortly before the outbreak of World War II.
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