Bismarck was the first of two Bismarck -class battleships built for Nazi Germany 's Kriegsmarine. Work was completed in August , when she was commissioned into the German fleet. Bismarck and her sister ship Tirpitz were the largest battleships ever built by Germany, and two of the largest built by any European power. The two ships were detected several times off Scandinavia, and British naval units were deployed to block their route. In the ensuing battle Hood was destroyed by the combined fire of Bismarck and Prinz Eugen , which then damaged Prince of Wales and forced her retreat.
Bismarck suffered sufficient damage from three hits by Prince of Wales to force an end to the raiding mission. The destruction of Hood spurred a relentless pursuit by the Royal Navy involving dozens of warships. Two days later, heading for occupied France for repairs, Bismarck was attacked by fifteen Fairey Swordfish torpedo bombers from the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal ; one scored a hit that rendered the battleship's steering gear inoperable.
In her final battle the following morning, the already-crippled Bismarck was engaged by two British battleships and two heavy cruisers, and sustained incapacitating damage and heavy loss of life.
The ship was scuttled to prevent her being boarded by the British, and to allow the ship to be abandoned so as to limit further casualties. Most experts agree that the battle damage would have caused her to sink eventually. The wreck was located in June by Robert Ballard , and has since been further surveyed by several other expeditions. The two Bismarck -class battleships were designed in the mids by the German Kriegsmarine as a counter to French naval expansion, specifically the two Richelieu -class battleships France had started in Laid down after the signing of the Anglo-German Naval Agreement of , Bismarck and her sister Tirpitz were nominally within the 35, long-ton 36, t limit imposed by the Washington Naval Treaty that governed battleship construction in the interwar period.
The ships secretly exceeded the figure by a wide margin, though before either vessel was completed, the international treaty system had fallen apart following Japan's withdrawal in , allowing signatories to invoke an "escalator clause" that permitted displacements as high as 45, long tons 46, t. Bismarck displaced 41, t 41, long tons as built and 50, t 49, long tons fully loaded , with an overall length of m ft 6 in , a beam of 36 m ft 1 in and a maximum draft of 9.
