Bismarck[]
Bismarck was the first of two Bismarck-class battleships built for Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine. Named after Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, the primary force behind the unification of Germany in 1871, the ship was laid down at the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg in July 1936 and launched in February 1939. Work was completed in August 1940, 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.
Bismarck sank during her first and only offensive operation, in May 1941. The operation, codenamed Rheinübung, followed eight months of service under its sole commanding officer, Capt. Ernst Lindemann. The ship, along with the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen, was to break into the Atlantic Ocean and raid Allied shipping from North America to Great Britain. The two ships were detected several times off Scandinavia, and British naval units were deployed to block their route. At the Battle of the Denmark Strait, Bismarck engaged and destroyed the battlecruiser HMS Hood, the pride of the Royal Navy, and forced the battleship HMS Prince of Wales to retreat; Bismarck was hit three times and suffered an oil leak from a ruptured tank. The destruction of Hood spurred a relentless pursuit by the Royal Navy involving dozens of warships. Two days later, while heading for the relative safety of occupied France, Bismarck was attacked by obsolescent Fairey Swordfish biplane 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, Bismarck was neutralised by a sustained bombardment from a British fleet, was scuttled by her crew, and sank with heavy loss of life.
Stats[]
- Tier IX BB
- Required XP to unlock: 324.440
- Price: 398.440 credits
- Durability: 96.712 (with upgrade: 104.712)
- Speed: 26.7 knot
- Overheat Duration: 2.9 sec
- Overheat Cooldown: 12.5 sec
- Auto AA Accuracy: 24.4%
- Defence level: 4 (with upgrade: 7)
Equipment
Main battery: (2x 14.96" /52 SK C/34) x4[]
- 2 turret guns front / 2 turret guns back
- Reload time: 13.67 sec (with upgrade: 13.19 sec)
- Range: 2430 m
- Shots: 280
- HE damage: 5167
- AP dmaage: 6201
- Max angle: 44 degrees
Anti aircraft' battery: '(2x 5.9" /60 SK C/28) x6[]
- AA damage: 347
Anti aircraft: (2x 4.1" /65 SK C/33) x8[]
- AA damage: 202
Base Occupation[]
- Damage: 928
- Ships: 222
Aircraft: R
Notes[]
- Against ships you can only rely on one battery, which is very long range and has a 13sec reload time. Unlike the previous KM battleship, Bayern, Bismarck is a huge ship which can shoot only AA shells from "2" and "3" turrent guns. Try to stay at long range!
- Unless you can efficiently use AA guns with auto aiming, I recommend manual aiming on this ship.