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The Bismarck class battleships were a class of extremely powerful capital ships intended by German Erich Raeder to constitute a major part of the battleship component of Germany's failed "Plan Z." The aim of this plan was to create a surface fleet able to compete against the British Royal Navy for supremacy over the world's oceans, or at least over the Atlantic and possibly -- with the help of the Italians, who were also in the midst of a battleship-building program -- the Mediterranean Sea.
Bismarck and Tirpitz, the only ships of this class, were laid down in 1936 and launched three years later, nominally 35,000 tonnes each in accordance with the 1923 Washington Naval Treaty. In reality, each was considerably heftier weighing in at 43,000 tonnes. 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 the Tirpitz, served much longer but with far less excitement.
Originally, a third battleship in the Bismarck class was planned, but it was decided in 1940, when it was already partially completed, that it should be converted to an aircraft carrier instead. A costly and time-consuming conversion then took place. Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighter aircraft and Junkers Ju 87 dive bombers were given slight modifications to serve on this new German aircraft carrier. Some of these modifications included strenghtened landing gear and arrester hooks. More pressing war needs and changing priorities caused the German military to abandon this new vessel when it was over two thirds complete. Its redundant hull was broken up later in the war and the material used for other military needs.
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 SMS Seydlitz.
Some interesting qualities of the Bismark class included, the superb Krupp steel that provided its side belt armor (nearly thirteen inches thick amidships), outstanding centralized fire control systems, almost impregnable turret protection, excellent flash protection for her magazines, great range and an impressive top speed (over thirty knots, which is comparable to the performance of vessels in the U.S. Navy's "fast battleship" program of a few years later, although at that time battleships were already displaced by aircraft carriers as the principal offensive power in the major navies).
Despite her excellent qualities, the Bismarck class was not without her flaws. The main fire control system, was located above the main armor deck of the vessel and thus subject to direct or plunging fire. Most British and American capital ships mounted their main fire control systems underneath the main armor deck. The advantage of the German system was that it was mounted higher and advantage could be taken of their superior optical targeting equipment. The disadvantage was that it could be damaged more easily (in fact, the Bismarck's main fire control system was purportedly destroyed by an 8 inch shell hit from the HMS Prince of Wales). Another disadvantage of the German system is that it relied heavily on optical excellence to compensate for crude radar technology. The British capital ships, though lacking the Zeiss lenses that characterized German range finding equipment, were equipped with better radar and thus better equipped to engage enemy vessels in less than optimal conditions (i.e., night, bad weather, in the smoke and din of battle).
The Bismarck class also had excellent armor, 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 armored, 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 armor. The German battlecruisers that caused the destruction of Beatty's ships were better-armored, 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 the superior flash protection in their turrets, coupled with the superior initial accuracy of the German gunners compared to their British adversaries. The difference afterward between the two fleets was that the British changed their doctrine where as the Germans, for the most part, did not.
The Bismarck class, therefore, had relatively thin deck armor and its main armor deck was mounted below some very important areas, such as the fire control system, radio rooms, officers departments, etc. Although it protected the engines and magazines (which is one of the reasons why the ship was well nye unsinkable despite being turned into a floating hulk, until the crew scuttled her), many of the areas necessary to keep the batteries in operation were eventually destroyed by overwhelming Royal Navy firepower. The Bismarck class rudder has also been criticized as being too small in mass to effectively turn the ship quickly, and is seen by some as being in a "too-vulnerable" configuration. These latter criticisms are often considered as being based solely on the freak torpedo hit (a "one in a million" shot) scored on the 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 be catastrophic.
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. Consider that the USS Missouri (BB-63), an Iowa class American fast battlship, had approximately the same displacement (45,000 tonnes) but had more and heaver guns (nine sixteen inch cannons in three turrets, versus eight fifteen inch cannons in four turrets for Bismarck). To be fair, the Missouri represented a later technology than the Bismarck class, and despite this, it has been predicted that the Missouri would have gone down had she suffered similar damage to the Bismarck, where as Bismarck only went down when her crew scuttled her.
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.
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. Indeed, the Bismarck class top speed was greater than any opposing British capital ship, including the new King George V class battleships. Germany, always in an inferior naval position compared to Britain, could never meet the Royal Navy in a traditional, Trafalgar-like battle, therefore until Raeder's "Plan Z" could be completed (and thus a navy that could fight the British on equal terms), 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 tonne category, armed with a dozen sixteen inch guns, but of course the outbreak of war and the subsequent tertiary status given the navy compared to the Wehrmacht and Luftwaffe prevented any of these grandiose schemes from coming to pass.
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 (twelve inch or heavier cannons), intermediate secondary battery weapons intended to provide defense against fast cruisers and destroyers (five to eight inch 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.
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 anti-aircraft flak cannon that could, when necessary, also have an anti-ship role 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 armor coverage, stowage of other equipment, and other needs.
German vessels such as the Bismarck class, by comparison, had extensive secondary anti-ship batteries AND extensive secondary anti-aircraft batteries. This tended to complicate ammunition supplies and render certain armament useless in some situations. For example, A Royal Navy battlship might have twelve five inch guns that could engage either enemy ships or high level aircraft when necessary. The Bismarck, by comparison, had a battery of 5 inch cannon that could be used against ships only, as they could not be elevated to fire on high-level targets. Another 5 inch battery was mounted to deal with air threats.
Despite the "overkill" approach the Germans took in giving the Bismarck class its firepower. The air threat was still underestimated and even the Bismarck classes extensive aircraft defenses were inadequate to meet the technological advances made by World War II. Indeed, obsolete Fairey Swordfish biplanes were able to penetrate its heavy flak screens and deliver torpedo attacks without a single casualty. The Bismarck class was, however, certainly more capable of defending itself against air attack than any 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.
However, despite all the flaws of the Bismarck class, Bismarck and Turpitz were perhaps the finest battleships in the world when they entered service in late 1939 -- 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 heavy units of the British fleet were holdovers from World War I and rapidly growing obsolete, especially in terms of speed. None of the battleships in British service had a chance of catching either Bismarck or Tirpitz -- their combination of high speed and heavy armament could have made them invincible to all but air attack, which is what eventually "did them in."