Bismark Class Battleship
Ship/ Class
Length
Beam
Disp.
Main Arm.
Speed
#
Date
Bismark Class
793’
118’
41,700
8x15â€
29
2
1936
The Story of the Bismark: As much or more than any battleship built, the Bismarck became a legend! The first full-caliber battleship built by the Germans since World War I, the Bismark was the largest warship in the world when it was launched (though it would later be surpassed by the Japanese Yamato and American Iowa class.) The Germans had declared it to be under the 35,000 tons of standard displacement limit required by the treaty restrictions of its day, but the Germans had secretly ignored such concerns and all that extra weight was well spent, from an effectiveness standpoint. Its broad beam made it a steady gun platform and its excellent armor protection and compartmentalization made it VERY hard to sink! Neither did its guns lack for power: the first time its four double turrets carrying a new 15â€/52 gun (38 cm/52 SK C/34 /380 mm/L52 SK C/34) opened up on a true rival, they sent the famed British battlecruiser, the “Mighty Hood†(the largest ship in the world UNTIL the Bismark’s launch) to the bottom within minutes. As the Bismark turned its guns to the next target, Britain’s latest new battleship, the Prince of Wales, went fleeing for cover! This Battle of the Denmark Strait so shocked the British public that Royal Navy, desparate for revenge for the humiliation it had suffered, found itself sending every plane and ship it could muster with only one single goal in mind: “Sink the Bismark!†In the end, it took a lucky torpedo strike jamming its rudder to bring Germany’s wolf to heel and a pounding by myriads of aircraft and two British battleships to beat it into submission. It is still not known for sure if all the combined efforts of the Royal Navy succeeded in sinking her, or if, in the end, she had to be scuttled by her own crew to avoid capture... The debate goes on to this very day!
Usage Notes: Use this piece for “Global 1939†and “Invasion of Italy†Variants as a battleship unit. Other German warships of interest may be: the Hipper class cruiser, & the Graf Zeppelin class aircraft carrier.
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