NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Bismarck class battleship

The Bismarck class battleships were a class of capital ships built by Germany. Image File history File links War_Ensign_of_Germany_1938-1945. ... The 38 cm SKC 34 Naval gun was developed by Germany in the late 1930s. ... A ship class is a group of ships of a similar design. ... The capital ships of a navy are its important warships; the ones with the heaviest firepower and armor. ...

History

The design of the Bismarck class was influenced by the successful World War I Bayern class battleship. Even the arrangement of the turrets and machinery on the Bismarck class was similar to those on its Bayern predecessors. Combatants Allied Powers: Russian Empire France British Empire Italy Empire of Japan United States Central Powers: Austria-Hungary German Empire Ottoman Empire Bulgaria Commanders Nicholas II Aleksei Brusilov Georges Clemenceau Joseph Joffre Ferdinand Foch Herbert Henry Asquith Douglas Haig John Jellicoe Victor Emmanuel III Luigi Cadorna Armando Diaz Woodrow Wilson... The Bayern class of battleships were the last and best German Kaiserliche Marine battleships of World War I. // [edit] Design The class had a displacement of 32,000 tons and mounted eight 15 guns in four twin turrets. ...

The Bismarck and the Tirpitz, the only two ships of this class, were laid down in 1936 and launched three years later, nominally 35,000 tons each in accordance with the 1923 Washington Naval Treaty after the tonnage restriction set in place by the Treaty of Versailles was effectively lifted by the Anglo-German Naval Agreement. In reality, both were considerably heavier weighing in at 43,000 tons. Although Bismarck and Tirpitz were nearly identical insofar as basic configuration and dimensions, Bismarck has become something of a naval legend while Tirpitz led a comparatively unglamorous life. A rough maritime comparison might be made between the White Star Line's sister liners Titanic and Olympic, the former, like the Bismarck, going down on its maiden voyage and into popular mythology, while the latter, like Tirpitz, served much longer but with far less excitement. The German battleship Bismarck is one of the most famous warships of the Second World War. ... Tirpitz was the second Bismarck class battleship of the German Kriegsmarine, sistership of Bismarck. ... The Washington Naval Treaty limited the naval armaments of its five signatories: the United States, the British Empire, the Empire of Japan, the French Third Republic, and Italy. ... The Treaty of Versailles (3010) was the peace treaty which officially ended World War I between the Allied and Central Powers and the German Empire. ... The Anglo-German Naval Agreement (AGNA), was signed between United Kingdom and Germany in of June 18, 1935. ... White Star Line logo and burgee. ... RMS Titanic was an Olympic class passenger liner that collided with an iceberg and sank in 1912. ... RMS Olympic (or SS Olympic) was the first of her class of ocean liners built for the White Star Line, which also included the ill-fated Titanic and Britannic. ...

The Bismarck class embodied much of what made Germany's World War I battleships outstanding combat vessels. It also represented a twenty year gap between German naval technology and advances made in other navies, most notably in the provision of anti-aircraft armament and the location of fire-control systems. Close inspection of the design reveals it to be little more than an enlarged progression of such WWI vessels as Seydlitz. Combatants Allied Powers: Russian Empire France British Empire Italy Empire of Japan United States Central Powers: Austria-Hungary German Empire Ottoman Empire Bulgaria Commanders Nicholas II Aleksei Brusilov Georges Clemenceau Joseph Joffre Ferdinand Foch Herbert Henry Asquith Douglas Haig John Jellicoe Victor Emmanuel III Luigi Cadorna Armando Diaz Woodrow Wilson... American troops man an anti-aircraft gun near the Algerian coastline in 1943 Anti-aircraft, or air defense, is any method of combating military aircraft from the ground. ... A fire-control system is a computer, often mechanical, which is designed to assist a weapon system in hitting its target. ... SMS Seydlitz was a 25,000 ton battlecruiser of the Imperial German Navy, built at Hamburg, Germany, and commissioned in May 1913. ...

The Bismarck class included Krupp steel armour; the side belt armour was nearly 13 inches (330 mm) thick amidships, outstanding centralized fire control systems, almost impregnable turret protection, excellent flash protection for her magazines, great range and an impressive top speed of over thirty knots (56 km/h), comparable to the performance of vessels in the U.S. Navy's "fast battleship" program of a few years later. For the U.S. town, see Krupp, Washington. ... Corbelled corner turrets at Newark Castle, Port Glasgow. ... Magazine is the name for a item or place within which ammunition is stored. ... USN redirects here. ...

Despite her excellent qualities, the Bismarck class was not without flaws. The main fire control system was located above the main armour deck of the vessel and more vulnerable to shellfire from large and intermediate calibre guns (most British and American capital ships mounted their main fire control systems underneath the main armour deck.) This meant that it could be damaged more easily.

The Bismarck class also had excellent armour, however its basic layout was questionable in light of lessons learned after the First World War. That conflict had all but destroyed the traditional battlecruiser concept (huge, heavily armed but lightly armoured, fast ships intended to be the "eyes of the fleet"), thanks mostly to the heavy beating Admiral David Beatty's battlecruiser squadron took from the German fleet at the 1916 Battle of Jutland. Plunging shellfire had caused the sinking of three prize battlecruisers in a short engagement. Thereafter, British battlecruisers were either used more cautiously or modified to improve available deck armour. The German battlecruisers that caused the destruction of Beatty's ships were better-armoured, but would have also been vulnerable if struck by plunging fire. Their survival can be traced not only to excellent handling by their commanders but also by superior flash protection in their ammunition handling systems, coupled with the superior initial accuracy of the German gunners compared to their Royal Navy adversaries and poor performance of the British AP shells which burst in front of the armour. The difference afterward between the two fleets was that the British changed their doctrine where as the Germans, for the most part, did not. Image File history File links Tirpitz_early. ... Image File history File links Tirpitz_early. ... Tirpitz was the second Bismarck class battleship of the German Kriegsmarine, sistership of Bismarck. ... Armour or armor (see spelling differences) is protective clothing intended to defend its wearer from intentional harm in combat and military engagements, typically associated with soldiers. ... HMS Hood (left) and the battleship HMS Barham (right), in Malta, 1937. ... David Beatty, 1st Earl Beatty (1871-1936), born in County Wexford, Ireland, was an admiral in the Royal Navy. ... Combatants Royal Navy (Grand Fleet) Kaiserliche Marine (High Seas Fleet) Commanders Sir John Jellicoe, Sir David Beatty Reinhard Scheer, Franz von Hipper Strength 28 battleships, 9 battlecruisers, 8 heavy cruisers, 26 light cruisers, 78 destroyers 16 battleships, 5 battlecruisers, 6 pre-dreadnoughts, 11 light cruisers, 61 torpedo-boats Casualties 6... Plunging fire is gunfire directed upon an enemy from an elevated position or gunfire aimed so as to fall on an enemy from above. ...

The Bismarck class had somewhat thin deck armour and its main armour deck was below some very important areas, such as the fire control system, radio rooms, and officers departments. The Bismarck class rudder has also been criticized as being too small to effectively turn the ship quickly, and is seen by some as being in a "too-vulnerable" configuration compared to the double rudder setup of the American "Iowa" class. These latter criticisms are often considered as being based solely on the freak torpedo hit (described as a "one in a million" shot) scored on Bismarck's rudder by Fairey Swordfish torpedo bombers during the British pursuit of the vessel. Many naval authorities hold that a similar torpedo hit scored on a comparable vessel in any other navy would also have been catastrophic. One minor flaw that is often overlooked is the choice of only 3 screws instead of a more common four as in most American, British, and Japanese battleships of the time. A four screw setup allows greater flexibility and manoverablity. It would have also allowed the Bismarck more effective steering "by propeller revolutions" after her rudder was disabled by a torpedo. The worlds oldest depiction of a rudder. ... Fairey Swordfish The Fairey Swordfish was a torpedo bomber built by the Fairey Aviation Company and used by the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Navy during World War II. Affectionately known as the Stringbag by its crews, it was outdated by 1939, but achieved some spectacular successes during the... A torpedo bomber is a bomber aircraft designed primarily to attack ships with torpedoes, but they could also carry out conventional bombings. ...

Lastly, the armament of the Bismarck class, while devastating, is sometimes criticized as being less devastating than it ought to be for a ship of its size. The Iowa class American battleships had approximately the same standard displacement (45,000 tons) but had more and heavier guns, nine 16 inch (406 mm) cannons in three turrets, to eight 15 inch (381 mm) cannons in four turrets. It could be argued that this is an unfair comparison, because the Iowa class represented a later design than the Bismarck class; the "Iowa" class was the third of the American post-Washington Treaty "fast battleship" designs. The Iowa-class battleships were the biggest, the most powerful, and the last battleships built for the United States Navy. ...

The Bismarck class was also never intended to be a line of battle ship as British capital ships were designed. A battle line is a naval squadron of at least four heavy ships that act in concert to engage a similar squadron of an opposing navy in an extended gun duel (see Line of battle article). Line of battle fleets involving modern dreadnought-style ships rarely occurred, however, to the displeasure of those who had invested billions in equipping themselves with expensive capital ships. British and Danish ships in line of battle at the Battle of Copenhagen (1801). ... British and Danish ships in line of battle at the Battle of Copenhagen (1801). ... The sixth HMS Dreadnought of the British Royal Navy was the first battleship to have a uniform main battery, rather than having a secondary battery of smaller guns. ...

The Bismarck class was instead intended to use its main guns to attack enemy commerce vessels at long range, using its speed to elude any escorting ships. The Bismarck class' top speed was greater than any opposing British capital ship, including the new King George V class battleships, although only a little faster than some of them. Germany, always in an inferior naval position compared to Britain, could never meet the Royal Navy in a traditional, Trafalgar or Jutland battle, therefore until Raeder's "Plan Z" could be completed (and a navy that could fight the British on equal terms built), the existing battleships, including Bismarck and Tirpitz, would be used for these hit and run raids. The Bismarck class, therefore, and its somewhat obsolete design, were intended merely as an interim ship class that would eventually be supplemented in the German main battle line by larger and even more capable designs. Raeder had in mind ships in the 60,000 ton category, armed with a dozen 16 inch (406 mm) guns, but of course the outbreak of war and the subsequent tertiary status given the navy compared to the army and Luftwaffe prevented any of these grandiose schemes from coming to pass. A Destroyer Escort (DE) is classification for a small, comparatively slower warship designed to be used to escort convoys of merchant marine ships, primarily of the United States Navy in WWII. It is usually employed primarily for anti-submarine warfare, but also some protection against aircraft and smaller attack vessels... Two classes of battleship of the Royal Navy are known as the King George V class: King George V class (1911) of four battleships that served in World War I (King George V, Centurion, Audacious, and Ajax) King George V class (1939) of five battleships that served in World War... Combatants United Kingdom First French Empire, Spain Commanders The Viscount Nelson â€ Pierre Charles Silvestre de Villeneuve Strength 27 ships of the line 33 ships of the line Casualties 449 dead 1,214 wounded 4,480 dead 2,250 wounded 7,000 captured 21 ships captured 1 ship blown up The... The Deutsche Luftwaffe or (German: air force, literally Air Weapon, IPA: ) is the commonly used term for the German air force. ...

The secondary armament of the Bismarck class was also criticized as being in some ways "overkill" and inadequate. While comparable Royal Navy ships typically had three classes of artillery: heavy main battery weapons intended to engage opposing battleships (12 inch (305 mm) or heavier cannons), intermediate secondary battery weapons intended to provide defense against fast cruisers and destroyers (5 to 8 inch (127 to 203 mm) cannons), and light weapons, which included heavy anti-aircraft flak batteries and machine guns dispersed throughout the ship, German ships tended to have more guns than necessary to do an adequate job. FLAK was a punk rock side project of members of the band Machinae Supremacy in 2001. ... A machine gun is a fully-automatic firearm that is capable of firing bullets in rapid succession. ...

For example, Royal Navy ships often removed the dedicated, anti-ship secondary batteries altogether since the problem of rushing cruisers and destroyers never came up. Instead, they were equipped with more dual purpose guns that could be used against aircraft but were also effective against ships if roving cruisers and destroyers ever did become a problem in a heated battle. Therefore, Royal Navy vessels had heavy cannon for engaging heavy vessels, secondary cannon for engaging lighter vessels and aircraft, and light weapons useful mainly against aircraft. The space thus saved added to simplification of supply, increased deck armour coverage, stowage of other equipment, and other needs.

German vessels such as the Bismarck class, by comparison, had extensive secondary anti-ship batteries as well as extensive secondary anti-aircraft batteries. This tended to complicate ammunition supplies and render certain armament useless in some situations. For example, a Royal Navy battleship of the King George V class had sixteen 5.25 inch (132 mm) guns that could engage either enemy ships or high level aircraft as necessary. The Bismarck, by comparison, had a battery of twelve 6 inch (150 mm) cannon that could be used against ships only, as they could not be elevated to fire on high-level targets and another sixteen 4 inch (105 mm) battery was mounted to deal with air threats. One of the KGV battleships, HMS Howe The King George V class battleships were the second to last class of battleships completed by the Royal Navy. ...

Despite the approach the Germans took in giving the Bismarck class its firepower, the air threat was still underestimated (as indeed the increasing air threat to capital ships in much naval doctrine of the time was) and even the (for its time) extensive antiaircraft defenses of the Bismarck class were inadequate to meet the technological advances made by World War II. Through a curious oversight in the design of the Bismarck's AA gun directors, obsolescent Fairey Swordfish biplanes were able to penetrate its heavy flak screens and deliver torpedo attacks without casualty. The Bismarck class was, however, certainly as capable of defending itself against air attack as any contemporary British or American battleship; a fact HMS Prince of Wales was to discover to her detriment when dispatched to Singapore in late December 1941, and sunk by Japanese bombers. Combatants Major Allied powers: United Kingdom Soviet Union United States Republic of China and others Major Axis powers: Nazi Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Harry Truman Chiang Kai-Shek Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tojo Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead...

However, despite the flaws of the Bismarck class, Bismarck and Tirpitz were perhaps the finest battleships in the world when they entered service — better than Britain's King George V class, and capable of meeting the Americans' later South Dakota and Iowa class battleships on competitive terms. Limited as they were, the Bismarck class at least had the advantage of being new whereas most of the capital ships of the British fleet were holdovers from World War I and rapidly growing obsolete in armour, armament, and speed, despite modernization attempts. Few British battleships had a chance of catching either Bismarck or Tirpitz — their combination of high speed and heavy armament made them very powerful battleships. Two classes of battleships have been called the South Dakota classâ€”one that was cancelled before launching and one that commissioned and saw action. ...

Ships in class

May 24 is the 144th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (145th in leap years). ...

Bismarck

July 1 is the 182nd day of the year (183rd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 183 days remaining. ... 1936 (MCMXXXVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... February 14 is the 45th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1939 (MCMXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... August 20 is the 232nd day of the year (233rd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... Year 1940 (MCMXL) was a leap year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1940 calendar). ... In World War II, Operation RheinÃ¼bung (Rhine Exercise) was the sortie by the Bismarck and Prinz Eugen, which left Gdynia, Poland on 12 May 1941. ... HMS Hood (pennant number 51) was a battlecruiser of the Royal Navy. ... May 27 is the 147th day (148th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar, with 218 days remaining. ... For the movie, see 1941 (film). ... Image File history File links Tirpitz_altafjord. ... Image File history File links Tirpitz_altafjord. ...

Tirpitz

November 2 is the 306th day of the year (307th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 59 days remaining. ... 1936 (MCMXXXVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... April 1 is the 91st day of the year (92nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 274 days remaining. ... 1939 (MCMXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... February 25 is the 56th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... For the movie, see 1941 (film). ... Operation Sportpalast was the action by Tirpitz and its escorting destroyers against Arctic convoys PQ-12 and QP-8. ... Operation RÃ¶sselsprung (Knights Leap) was a World War II operation by the Germans in April and May 1944, whose goal was to capture Josip Broz Tito and disrupt the leadership of the communist Partisan movement in Yugoslavia. ... Operation Zitronella, also known as Operation Sizilien, was the German raid and temporary occupation of Spitzbergen in September, 1943. ... November 12 is the 316th day of the year (317th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 49 days remaining. ... 1944 (MCMXLIV) was a leap year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1944 calendar). ... County Troms District Municipality NO-1902 Administrative centre TromsÃ¸ Mayor (2004) Herman Kristoffersen (Ap) Official language form Neutral Area - Total - Land - Percentage Ranked 18 2,566 kmÂ² 2,519 kmÂ² 0. ...

See also

The list of battleships includes all battleships, listed alphabetically by ship name. ... The list of Kriegsmarine ships includes all ships commissioned into the Kriegsmarine, the German navy of the Third Reich period, during its existance from 1935 to the conclusion of World War II in 1945. ... The list of naval ship classes of Germany includes all classes of naval ships produced or operated in Germany. ... The list of ship launches in 1939 includes a chronological list of all ships launched in 1939. ... The list of ship commissionings in 1940 includes a chronological list of all ships commissioned in 1940. ... The list of ship commissionings in 1941 includes a chronological list of all ships commissioned in 1941. ... The list of shipwrecks in 1941 includes all ships sunk, floundered, grounded, or otherwise lost during 1941. ... The list of shipwrecks in 1944 includes all ships sunk, floundered, grounded, or otherwise lost during 1944. ...

Categories: Battleship classes | Bismarck class battleships The list of Kriegsmarine ships includes all ships commissioned into the Kriegsmarine, the German navy of the Third Reich period, during its existance from 1935 to the conclusion of World War II in 1945. ... HMS Victory in 1884 Battleship was the name given to the most powerfully gun-armed and most heavily armored classes of warships built from the mid-16th through the mid-20th centuries. ... HMS Hood (left) and the battleship HMS Barham (right), in Malta, 1937. ... The Gneisenau class were two large heavy-gun warships of the World War II German navy, the Kriegsmarine. ... Four aircraft carriers, Principe-de-Asturias, USS Wasp, USS Forrestal and HMS Invincible (front-to-back), showing the difference in size between a supercarrier, light V/STOL carriers, and an amphibious carrier. ... Stern view of a Graf Zeppelin model Bow view Graf Zeppelin was an aircraft carrier of the Kriegsmarine, named in honor of Graf (Count) Ferdinand von Zeppelin. ... A light cruiser is a warship that is not so large and powerful as a regular (or heavy) cruiser, but still larger than ships like destroyers. ... The term heavy cruiser is used to refer to large cruisers, a form of warship. ... The German light cruiser DKM Emden was the only ship of its class. ... The K class was a class of light cruisers of the German Kriegsmarine, consisting of three ships named after german cities starting with the letter K: KÃ¶nigsberg, Karlsruhe, KÃ¶ln. ... The Leipzig class was a class of light cruisers of the German Kriegsmarine, consisting of two ships named after German cities, Leipzig and NÃ¼rnberg. ... The Deutschland class was a series of three panzerschiffs, a form of heavily armed cruiser, built by German Reichsmarine in accordance with restrictions imposed by the Treaty of Versailles. ... The Admiral Hipper class was a series of five heavy cruisers of which three served with the Kriegsmarine of Germany in World War II, one was sold unfinished to the Soviet Union in 1939, and one was converted to an aircraft carrier but never completed. ... USS Lassen, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet or battle group and defend them against smaller, short-range attackers (originally torpedo boats, later submarines and aircraft). ... The ZerstÃ¶rer 1936A class destroyers, or Narvik class destroyers as they were known to the Allies were a class of German destroyers of the Second World War. ... A torpedo boat is a relatively small and fast naval ship designed to launch torpedoes at larger surface ships. ... The Type 35 and Type 37 Torpedo boats were small destroyers or Flottentorpedoboot built for the Kriegsmarine between 1939 and 1942. ... The Type 35 and Type 37 Torpedo boats were small destroyers or Flottentorpedoboot built for the Kriegsmarine between 1939 and 1942. ... The Elbing class torpedo boats (or Flottentorpedoboot 1939) were a class of fifteen small warships that served in the Kriegsmarine in World War II. Although classed as Flottentorpedoboot by the Germans, in most respects - displacement, weaponry, usage - they were comparable to contemporary British destroyers. ... U-boat is also a nickname for some diesel locomotives built by GE; see List of GE locomotives October 1939. ... German UC-1 class World War I submarine A model of GÃ¼nther Priens Unterseeboot 47 (U-47), German WWII Type VII diesel-electric hunter-killer (SSK) submarine Inside of the Argonaute, showing the typical obstructed, tiny space of a post-WWII diesel attack submarine. ... The Type I U-boat was a 1936 attempt by the German Kriegsmarine to produce an oceangoing U-boat. ... The Type II U-boat was designed by Germany as a coastal submarine, modeled after the Finnish CV-707. ... Type VII U-boats were the workhorses of the German World War II U-boot-waffe, and appeared in several sub-types. ... The Type IX U-boat was designed by Germany in 1935 and 1936 as a large ocean-going submarine for sustained operations far from the home support facilities. ... Type X (XB) U-boats were a special type of German submarine (U-boat). ... -1... Type XXI U-boat U 3008, postwar photo Type XXI U-boats, also known as the Elektroboote, were the first submarines designed to operate entirely submerged, rather than as surface ships that could submerge as a temporary means to escape detection or launch an attack. ... German Type XXIII submarines were designed to operate in the shallows of the North Sea, Black Sea and Mediterranean Sea where larger Type XXI Elektro boats were at risk in World War II. They were so small they could carry only two torpedoes, which had to be loaded externally. ... Armed Merchantmen were merchant ships taken over by their nations navies, equipped with guns, and then used for military purposes. ...

Contents

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Ships in class

Bismarck

Tirpitz

See also

History