Battleship "Bismarck": description, characteristics, history of creation and destruction

At the beginning of the 20th century, prosperous powers competed to build the largest and most advanced ships possible. The cruise liner Titanic became a legend of civilian shipbuilding, and among military ships the battleship Bismarck deserved special honor. It embodied the industrial and engineering power of Germany. Combined with the high moral and volitional qualities of the crew and their equally high training, the ship became a serious problem for the enemy. Today we will get acquainted with the history of the battleship Bismarck and its technical characteristics.

a brief description of

The Bismarck class (a total of two ships were produced: the Bismarck itself and the later Tirpitz) was initially positioned as the successor to the “pocket battleships” and was intended mainly to intercept merchant ships. Its fuel reserve was more typical for battleships of the Pacific Fleet, and its speed of 30.1 knots was perhaps the best indicator in its class. When the French battleship Dunkirk was launched, the design of the Bismarck-class battleship was finalized. The main change was an even greater increase in size. The ship became the first German battleship launched after the First World War. The armament of the battleship Bismarck made it possible to provide worthy resistance to any battleship of those years. During the ship's short service, it was the largest battleship in the world. The Bismarck class remains the third largest to this day, after the Yamato and Iowa.

Power plant and driving performance

Fundamentally, the power plant did not change; it still remained three-shaft, consisting of 12 Wagner steam boilers and 3 TZA (turbogear units). TZA from Blohm + Voss were installed on Bismarck, and from BrownBoweri on Tirpitz.

As with all German ships that used power plants with a couple of high parameters, the power plant was characterized by low reliability and rather high fuel consumption. Thus, on the battleship Tirpitz, actual fuel consumption exceeded the calculated one by 10% at full speed, and by 19% at economical speed. This led to the fact that the cruising range was sharply reduced. During sea trials, Bismarck achieved 30.12 kts. at 150,070 hp, Tirpitz: 30.8 kt. at 163026 hp

The cruising range was 8525 miles for Bismarck, 8870 miles for Tirpitz at a speed of 19 knots. Unlike their foreign counterparts, Bismarck-class battleships were distinguished by their high speed at full speed - 29 knots. Bismarck-class battleships were designed with a turboelectric propulsion system in mind, because... the installation had a number of advantages, for example, it had greater throttle response, due to the fact that the turbine did not have a rigid connection with the propeller, but there were quite large disadvantages; such a power plant had significant dimensions and weight. In the end, the designers settled on a traditional steam turbine.

Construction

The ship's keel was laid on July 1, 1936 at the German shipyard Blohm & Voss. On February 14, 1939, the battleship left the slipways. When the ship was launched, the granddaughter of Prince Bismarck (the ship got its name in his honor) was present, who, according to tradition, “christened” the ship with a bottle of champagne, as well as the current Adolf Hitler. On August 24 of the following year, Ernest Lindemann was appointed captain of the battleship Bismarck. Testing of the vessel and its equipment continued until the beginning of 1941.

Characteristics of the SK/C34 gun:

The guns had 90 right-hand rifling (rifling depth: 4.5 mm; width 7.76 mm); the cutting pitch is variable, from 1/36 to 1/30). The ballistic characteristics were chosen so as to have the most flat flight path of the projectile, and this meant low range dispersion, because it was believed that this gave an advantage in North Sea conditions. The main caliber guns fired with three types of shells, armor-piercing Pz.Spr.Gr. L/4.4 (mllb), semi-armor-piercing Spr.Gr. L/4.5 Bdz (mhb) and high explosive Spr.Gr. L/4,b Kz (mhb).

Specifications

The dimensions of the ship are impressive: length - 251 m, width - 36 m, height from the keel to the first deck amidships - 15 m. The standard displacement of the battleship Bismarck was 41.7 thousand tons, and the total displacement was 50.9 thousand tons. The ship's armor was no less impressive: 70% of its length was covered with a main armor belt with a thickness of 170 to 320 mm. The conning tower and main caliber gun turrets of the battleship Bismarck received even thicker armor – 220-350 and 360 mm, respectively.

The ship's armament was no less serious. It consisted of eight 380 mm main caliber guns, 12 150 mm auxiliary guns and a large number of anti-aircraft artillery. Each of the main caliber towers had its own name: the bow ones were called Anton and Brun, and the stern ones were Caesar and Dora. Despite the fact that the British and American battleships of that time had a slightly larger main gun, the Bismarck's gun posed a serious threat to them. A perfect aiming and fire control system, as well as high quality gunpowder, allowed the Bismarck to penetrate 350 mm armor from 20 kilometers.

The ship's power plant was represented by twelve Wagner steam boilers and four turbo-gear units. Its total power was more than 150 thousand horsepower, which allowed the ship to accelerate to 30 knots. At an economical speed, the ship could travel more than 8.5 thousand nautical miles. Such characteristics of the battleship Bismarck were an outstanding achievement of German engineers. The ship's crew consisted of 2,200 sailors and officers.

Bismarck design

The German engineers who developed the ship decided to make it as armored as possible. Steel sheets covered 70% of the surface area of ​​the ship's hull. Weak spots were covered with thick steel Schiffbaustahi 52 (St. 52).

In places with complex configurations, softer steel grade St.45 and shipbuilding mild steel N-52.KM were used.

The most important areas of the armor were fastened with rivets, in other cases welding was used. The hull was divided into seven decks. Three of them were solid, the other four were essentially platforms under an armored deck. The average distance between decks was 2.40 m.

The length of the battleship Bismarck was 251 m in the underwater part and 241.6 m along the waterline. The width of the hull was 36 m, and the height of the ship was 15 meters. Modeling enthusiasts can look for a model from the Zvezda company in scales of 1:400 and 1:1200. There have not yet been any daredevils found to launch a huge ship on a larger scale.

The new ship was supposed to receive powerful armor capable of protecting against heavy enemy artillery. The cemented armor used for the battleship was produced by Krupp. A special type of armor was called Wotan, in honor of the ancient Germanic god of war, identified with Odin. The thickness of the armor plate varied in different parts of the ship, and was:

• 356 mm, side citadel;
• 150 mm, bow and stern on board;
• 50 mm deck armor;
• 100 mm main armored deck;
• 350 mm main caliber barbettes;
• 150 mm medium caliber barbettes;
• 400 mm conning tower.

The total armor weight was almost 19 thousand tons, and at the time of its creation it was the most armored ship in the world, with the exception of the Japanese Yamato, but the Japanese was larger.

The power plant is represented by 12 Wagner-designed boilers, with three turbo-gear units from the ship's manufacturer.

In total, the installations produced 138 thousand hp, which made it possible to reach a speed of 30 knots. Three three-blade propellers set the ship's colossus in motion; they were made of a special bronze-manganese alloy.

The fuel tanks contained 7900 m³ of fuel oil, which provided a cruising range without refueling of 8410 nautical miles at 15 knots or 3740 nautical miles at 30 knots.

In total, the ship's staff included 1,962 sailors and foremen and 103 officers, that is, 2,065 people. They were divided into a dozen teams from 122 to 18 each, each serving its own sector on the ship, in the Russian fleet this is called a warhead (warhead):

• I-IV teams of main and medium caliber artillerymen;
• V-VI teams served powder magazines and feeding devices, as well as anti-aircraft artillery on the ship;
• VII "boatswain's" crew, deck sailors, carpenters, painters, as well as clerks, tailors and a crew of ship's cooks;
• VIII Team monitored the mechanisms of the artillery systems;
• IX team radio operators, acoustics, radar, as well as signalmen and helmsmen;
• X-XII command of the main power plant (main power plant) and all power systems.

On average, Bismarck sailors were 22 years old. Before the last trip to sea, 65 staff members of Admiral Lutyens, who was in charge of the operation, boarded the ship, and about the same number of cadets who went on fun practice, as well as a number of workers who “didn’t finish” the battleship on time and were sent to finish the work right on the battlefield.

In total, 2,221 people and 1 ship’s cat took part in the May 1941 campaign.

To feed the crew, four galleys were organized on the ship - two for sailors, and one each for non-commissioned officers and officers. The sailors ate food at the bow and stern, on the armored deck, and there, behind a fence, they fed the non-commissioned officers. Their honorable Kriegsmarine officers deigned to have a meal in the settings, and a wardroom was also organized there.

Interestingly, on the last trip, a thousand 50-liter barrels of beer were brought on board. However, the crew was entitled to it only after payment, 30 pfennigs per 0.5 liter mug. Following the beer, 500 pork and 300 beef carcasses went on board, but most of this went to Atlantic fish.

Out to the Atlantic

According to the plan for Operation Rhineland Exercises, the Bismarck, together with the cruiser Prinz Eugen, was supposed to enter the Atlantic Ocean, passing through the Denmark Strait. The purpose of the campaign was to intercept merchant ships sailing along British sea lanes. It was assumed that the battleship would distract the attention of the convoy so that the Prinz Eugen could approach the merchant ships. The commander of the operation, Admiral Günther Lütjens, asked higher management to postpone the start of the operation and wait for another battleship to join it. Grand Admiral Erich Raeder - Commander-in-Chief of the German Navy - refused Lutyens. On May 18, 1941, the battleship Bismarck and the cruiser Prinz Eugen left Gotenhafen (now the Polish port of Gdynia)

On May 20, the world's largest battleship was spotted by the crew of the Swedish cruiser Gotland. On the same day, the German squadron was identified by members of the Norwegian Resistance. On May 21, information about the presence of two large ships in the Kattegat Strait reached the British Admiralty. The next day, the ships were moored in the fjords near the city of Bergen (Norway), where they were repainted. The Prinz Eugen was refueled there. While stationary, the ships were spotted by a British reconnaissance aircraft. Having received photographs from him, the British leadership accurately identified the Bismarck. Soon the bombers set off for the parking lot, but by the time they arrived the German ships had already sailed. Bismarck and Prinz Eugen managed to pass undetected through the Norwegian Sea and the Arctic Circle.

The commander of the British Home Fleet, Admiral John Tovey, sent the battleship Prince of Wales and the cruiser Hood, as well as accompanying destroyers, to the southwestern Spanish coast. The Denmark Strait was assigned to patrol the cruisers Suffolk and Norfolk, and the strait separating Iceland and the Faroe Islands to the light cruisers Birmingham, Manchester and Arethusa. On the night of May 22-23, Admiral John Tovey, at the head of a flotilla of the battleship King George the Fifth, the aircraft carrier Victoria and an escort, set off towards the Orkney Islands. The flotilla was supposed to wait for German ships in the waters northwest of Scotland.

On the evening of May 23, in the Denmark Strait, which was approximately half covered with ice, in dense fog, the ships Norfolk and Suffolk discovered an enemy flotilla and made visual contact with it. The battleship of the German navy opened fire on the cruiser Norfolk. Having notified the command about this, the British ships disappeared into the fog, but continued to follow the Germans on radar. Due to the fact that the Bismarck's forward radar failed after firing, Admiral Lütjens gave the order to the Prinz Eugen to take command of the flotilla.

Battleship "Bismarck" - the iron chancellor of the seas

The fate of the Bismarck is very indicative. The battle in the Denmark Strait once again showed the futility of developing ships without air cover. The archaic biplanes of the C Wardfish turned out to be a formidable opponent even for the newest and perfectly protected battleship, and the Bismarck remained lying on the seabed, still serving as a reminder: there are no unsinkable ships!

April 1, 2015 will mark the 200th anniversary of the birth of the Prussian military-political leader Otto von Bismarck, the man who changed the face of Germany. In this regard, one cannot help but recall its equally famous “namesake” - the battleship Bismarck, which received its name according to the good tradition of naming ships in honor of great historical personalities.

"Versailles Fleet" of Germany

After the First World War, Germany was publicly humiliated at the Versailles Conference, becoming a “switchman” on a planetary scale. In particular, it was forbidden to have a high seas fleet, the basis of which in those years were battleships. All the main combat units of the German fleet either rested on the seabed or went to the Entente countries. Among the latter were ten dreadnoughts and five battlecruisers. But the years passed, and Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist Workers' Party rose to the political Olympus of the Weimar Republic. For Hitler, the possession of full-fledged battleships was not only a military issue, but also a political one. Germany sought to restore its military presence at sea, which, according to naval theorists of the time, could only be ensured by dreadnoughts.

Birth of a Giant

On March 18, 1935, Germany unilaterally denounced the Treaty of Versailles. There was no harsh reaction from the leading European states - moreover, on June 18 of the same year, the Anglo-German naval agreement was published, according to which the Third Reich received the right to build ships of the 1st rank in the ratio of 100 to 35 (where 100 is the share England, and 35 - Germany).

At that time, Germany had three battlecruisers of the Deutschland type, and in 1935-36 “pocket battleships” with unlucky names for the German fleet - Scharnhorst and Gneisenau - were launched. These ships, being much more powerful and large-tonnage compared to the Deutschland class, were still noticeably inferior to their British classmates. German sailors needed a breakthrough - something that would immediately bring Germany on the same level as the rulers of the oceans - the USA and Great Britain. A year after the fateful year of 1935, work began on the stocks on the construction of the most powerful Bismarck-class battleship in the world at that time.

Battleship Bismarck in the Kiel Strait, 1940 Source – waralbum.ru

Being a direct development of the Scharnhorst, the new super-dreadnought had a third greater displacement (50,900 tons) and a length of over 253 m. The traditionally cautious Germans equipped the ship with extremely advanced armor - the main armor belt extended over 70% of the hull length, and its thickness ranged from 170 to 320 mm.
The additional armor (upper belt, traverses and deck) was also impressive: the thickness of the frontal armor of the main caliber turrets was 360 mm, and the deckhouse - from 220 to 350 mm. Tactical and technical characteristics of the battleship "Bismarck"

Bismarck upon entry into service, 1940 Source – Bundesarchiv, Bild 101II-MN-1361–16A / Winkelmann / CC-BY-SA

At first glance, the artillery armament of the new battleship did not amaze the imagination: the main caliber was 8 380 mm guns in four turrets (the Germans were unable to create three-gun installations, or rather did not consider it necessary). Considering the fact that the Washington Naval Agreement of 1922 limited the caliber to 406 mm (the British and Americans had exactly these guns, installing 9-12 of them per ship), then the Bismarck does not look too intimidating.

380 mm SKC-34 gun as part of a coastal battery Source – Schwerste Deutsche Küstenbatterie in Bereitschaft

However, the caliber of the SKC-34 gun was almost 100 mm larger than the caliber of the Scharnhorst guns (283 mm), and the excellent training of German artillerymen, high quality gunpowder, an advanced fire control system and modern sighting devices turned these gun mounts into world-class weapons. An 800-kg projectile was delivered over a distance of over 36 km with an initial speed of 820 m/s - this was enough to reliably penetrate 350 mm armor from a distance of about 20 km. Thus, in a functional sense, the SKC-34 guns were practically not inferior to the “top” 406 mm artillery.

The Bismarck's auxiliary artillery consisted of twelve 150 mm cannons in six twin turrets, sixteen 105 mm heavy anti-aircraft guns in eight twin turrets, as well as 37 and 20 mm anti-aircraft guns.

The battleship's power plant consisted of three turbo-gear units and twelve Wagner steam boilers. A power of 110 megawatts allowed the ship to reach a full speed of 30 knots.

"Bismarck" rolled off the stocks on February 14, 1939, and its retrofitting and testing continued until the spring of 1941. The first (and last) commander of the ship was Captain 1st Rank Ernst Lindemann.

Launch of the Bismarck Source – history.navy.mil

"Bismarck" during exercises in the Baltic Sea. The photo was taken from the cruiser Prinz Eugen, which will accompany the battleship on its last voyage Source – waralbum.ru

"Bismarck" in service: the role of super-dreadnoughts in the Kriegsmarine battle plans

Almost simultaneously with the Bismarck, on February 24, 1941, the battleship Tirpitz of the same class was commissioned. By that time, the world war was raging for the second year, and the German “High Seas Fleet” had to confront, first of all, the British Navy. Thus, the steel giants Bismarck and Tirpitz found themselves in a very ambiguous position. In a one-on-one “knightly” battle, they could take on any ship in the world with a good chance of success. But such a battle in the conditions of World War II seemed unlikely and could most likely be the result of errors in planning.

Captain 1st Rank Ernst Lindemann Source –Bundesarchiv, Bild 101II-MN-1361–21A / Winkelmann / CC-BY-SA

At the same time, the two German giants and two “pocket” battleships were opposed by 15 British dreadnoughts and battlecruisers (5 more were under construction), among them were such powerful combat units as the battleship Hood with 381 mm artillery , quite comparable to the Bismarck. And, despite the fact that these enormous forces were dispersed over the vast expanses from the Pacific Ocean to the North Sea, the ratio was definitely not in favor of the German fleet.

The Kriegsmarine's combat planning prepared the new battleships for non-core tasks - the colossal dreadnoughts were planned to be used as... raiders. Their targets were not to be enemy warships, but transport convoys, liners and dry cargo ships. The cruising range of the battleships, which exceeded 8,000 nautical miles, was fully consistent with such tasks, and the speed of 30 knots became an outstanding achievement of German designers and shipbuilders.

Battleship Bismarck, modern reconstruction Source – warwall.ru

At first glance, it may seem that targeting dreadnoughts at civilian and transport ships is unjustified - high-power guns should destroy armor, and not the thin sides of dry cargo ships. In addition, much cheaper ships could have been used for cruising war, especially since Germany had an impressive number of submarines and experience in their use. But this is only at first glance. The fact is that in a classic squadron battle, two German supergiants would be guaranteed to meet five or six “British” of comparable size, supported by a whole flock of smaller ships. At the same time, raiding communications, in addition to direct damage to the enemy’s economy, created enormous stress in the combat work of the enemy fleet. As the experience of the only raid of the Bismarck and the “walk” of the Tirpitz showed, the appearance of such a powerful ship on the cargo transportation routes forced the enemy to throw huge resources into its search, being distracted from urgent tasks, consuming scarce fuel and depreciating the vehicles. The indirect effect of such costs outweighed the possible damage that the Bismarck could inflict in open battle.

At the same time, the question remains open: why was it necessary to spend monstrous amounts of money on the construction of one of the most powerful ships in history, if two dozen submarines could do much more in terms of raiding? Today we can only consider the fact that the Bismarck raised her battle standard and went to sea.

Admiral Günther Lütjens, commander of Operation Rhineland Exercise Source – Imperial War Museums

The Hunt for Hitler's Dreadnought

On May 18, 1941, the battleship Bismarck and the cruiser Prinz Eugen left the pier in Gotenhafen (now Gdynia, Poland). On May 20–21, members of the Norwegian Resistance movement radioed about two large ships. On May 22, while stationed near Bergen, where the German ships were being repainted in camouflage and the Prinz Eugen was taking on fuel, they were spotted by an English Spitfire reconnaissance aircraft, and the dreadnought was clearly identified as the Bismarck.

From that moment began one of the most impressive games in naval history. The Germans launched Operation Rhine Exercises to break through their squadron to Atlantic trade communications. In turn, the British fleet sought to destroy, or at least force the raiders to retreat. This was a fundamental moment for Great Britain - its economy was heavily dependent on sea supplies, to which the Bismarck became a mortal threat.

Admiral John Tovey, Commander of the Home Fleet Source – Imperial War Museums

Admiral John Tovey, commander of the Home Fleet (which was responsible for territorial defense), ordered a search to begin. The battleship Prince of Wales and the battle cruiser Hood moved towards Iceland, and from Scapa Flow in the north of Scotland the battleship King George V with Admiral Tovey on board and the aircraft carrier Victorias set out - this squadron was assigned the task of patrolling to the northwest from Scotland, where the battlecruiser Repulse was to join her. At the same time, the light cruisers Arethusa, Birmingham and Manchester carried out patrols in the area from Iceland to the Faroe Islands, and the cruisers Norfolk and Suffolk took control of the Danish Straits.

On May 22, bombers were sent to Bergen, where the Bismarck was spotted, but they flew empty, not catching the squadron in place - the battleship seemed to have disappeared among the expanses of the sea. A day later, on May 23, Norfolk and Suffolk stumbled upon the German ships and exchanged several salvos with them, after which the British cruisers wisely retreated into the fog, continuing to follow the enemy at the limit of radar contact.

Despite the fact that his squadron was discovered, the commander of the Rhineland Exercises operation, Admiral Günther Lütjens, considered the intermediate task completed - the German ships confidently entered the operational space. However, in fact, the intermediate task was far from being completed, since the Hood and the Prince of Wales, accompanied by six destroyers, rushed towards the Germans from the coast of Iceland.

In the early morning of May 24, at 5:35 am, the Prince of Wales's patrol spotted the Bismarck. Vice Admiral Lancelot Ernest Holland, holding the flag on the Hood, decided not to wait for the battleships of the Home Fleet and gave the order to approach. At 5-52, Hood opened the battle with the first salvos from a distance of 13 miles at sharp heading angles. Thus began the battle in the Denmark Strait.

Battlecruiser Hood Source – history.navy.mil

Lutyens had clear orders not to engage warships unless they were part of a convoy. However, Captain Lindeman categorically stated that he would not allow his battleship to be shot with impunity. According to eyewitnesses, his words sounded quite clear: “I won’t let my own ship be knocked out from under my own ass!”

Prinz Eugen and Bismarck turned their turrets and fired back.

The Prinz Eugen with its 203-mm cannons could boast of the first hit - one of these shells hit the Hood. The British shots had no noticeable effect. At 0555, Holland ordered a 20-degree turn to port to engage the stern guns.

At about 6:00, when the Hood was completing its maneuver, the main battery of the Bismarck made cover from a distance of about 8 miles. Apparently, the 800-kg shell broke through the rather thin deck of the British cruiser, hitting the ammunition depot. A monstrous explosion occurred, tearing the ship's 267-meter hull almost in half, while debris covered the battleship Prince of Wales, sailing half a mile behind. The stern of the Hood went under the water, and the bow remained above the waves for several more minutes, during which one of the towers managed to fire the last salvo. Of the 1,415 crew members, only three people survived, who were picked up by the destroyer Electra.

Sketch by the commander of the battleship "Prince of Wales" John Leach, attached to the protocol of the investigation into the death of the battle cruiser "Hood" Source - wikipedia.org

The "Prince of Wales", which was sailing as a mate of the English squadron, was forced to turn away from its course to avoid a collision with the sinking "Hood" and thus exposed itself to the volleys of two German ships at once. Having received seven hits, the battleship left the battle under the cover of a smoke screen.

"Bismarck" fires Source – waralbum.ru

The end of a short odyssey

Having sent one of Britain's best pennants to the bottom in just eight minutes, the Bismarck escaped with damage to two fuel tanks, and its boiler compartment No. 2 began to flood through a hole in the side. Vice Admiral Lutyens gave the order to go to the French Saint-Nazaire for repairs.

Despite the impressive victory, the situation for Bismarck was difficult. Firstly, due to the trim on the bow and starboard side, the speed decreased. Secondly, the hit to the tank deprived the battleship of 3,000 tons of fuel. Thirdly, the keen radars of the cruiser Suffolk continued to “guide” the Bismarck, which means that the English fleet could gather forces and strike again.

Already on the evening of May 24, nine Swordfish torpedo bombers from the aircraft carrier Victoria attacked the Bismarck, achieving one hit in the main armor belt, which, however, did not cause serious damage. However, active anti-torpedo maneuvering led to the failure of the patches, as a result of which the battleship lost boiler room No. 2, which was completely flooded.

The interception of the Bismarck after the destruction of the Hood, which shocked the entire British nation, became a matter of honor for the fleet. The search efforts, unprecedented in scope, had an effect, and on May 26, the Catalina seaplane found a German battleship 690 miles from Brest. Tactical Force “H” moved to the lead point under the command of Admiral James F. Somerville, the “hero” of the execution of the French fleet in Mers-el-Kebir. In addition, Admiral Tovey's battleships (Rodney and King George V) joined the connection.

Tovey miscalculated the course of the Bismarck, sending his ships to the shores of Norway. It should be noted that due to Tovey’s mistake, the closest pennants capable of giving battle to the Bismarck were 150 miles behind it, and only a miracle could stop the German breakthrough to Brest. And then the aircraft carrier “Ark-Royal” from Compound “N” said its weighty word. On May 26 at 17:40, fifteen Swordfish attacked the Bismarck. Archaic biplanes with a fabric-covered fuselage, an open cockpit and fixed landing gear, were armed with 730 kg torpedoes and had a very low speed. It seemed that this could not be a serious threat to the steel giant.

Torpedo bomber "Fairy Swordfish" - a deadly "wallet" Source - wikipedia.org

“Swordfish,” which the pilots referred to only as “wallets,” had the ability to fly so low over the water that the Bismarck’s anti-aircraft gunners could not aim their guns at their targets. The battleship skillfully maneuvered, but one fatal torpedo still overtook it. A miracle happened.

A 730-kg torpedo in itself did not pose much of a threat to a super-dreadnought with a fantastic unsinkability system and thick armor. But by coincidence, it hit the most vulnerable spot - the steering blade. At one point, the huge ship lost control and could now maneuver only by stopping the screws. This meant an inevitable rendezvous with superior British forces.

"Swordfish" over the aircraft carrier "Ark Royal" Source - history.navy.mil

At 21-45, Bismarck entered into battle with the cruiser Sheffield, driving it away with fire. Following the Sheffield, the destroyers Cossack, Sikh, Maori, Zulu and Thunder approached, also failing to score any effective hits.

On May 27, at 8-00, Rodney, King George V, along with the cruisers Dorsetshire, Norfolk and several destroyers overtook Bismarck. The sea was rough - the sea level was 4-6, and Hitler's German super-dreadnought could only give a small speed of 8 knots and practically lost active maneuver, being an almost ideal target for nine 406-mm Rodney guns and a dozen 356-mm guns "King George" and sixteen 203-mm guns "Norfolk" and "Dorsetshire". The first shots rang out at 8:47 am.

Battleship Rodney Source – Imperial War Museums

The Bismarck concentrated its fire on the Rodney, which kept its distance. The British took the almost motionless German battleship into a classic artillery fork. Having taken aim at the bursts of undershoots and overshoots, the gunners of thirty-five large-caliber guns began to place shell after shell into the hull of the doomed ship. At 09:02, the Norfolk hit the main rangefinder post on the foremast with a 203-mm shell, which sharply reduced the quality of the Bismarck’s guns. Six minutes later, a sixteen-inch shell from the Rodney hit the forward turret B (Bruno), completely putting it out of action. Almost simultaneously with this, the fire control post was destroyed.

Around 09:20, the bow turret “A” was hit, presumably from the King George. Between 9-31 and 9-37 the stern towers “C” and “D” (“Caesar and “Dora”) fell silent, after which the battle finally turned into a beating. In total, the active firefight lasted about 45 minutes, with a predictable result - the Bismarck’s artillery was almost completely out of action.

Main caliber guns of the Bismarck Source – Imperial War Museums

“Rodney” approached and shot the enemy from a distance of 3 km, that is, almost point-blank. However, Bismarck did not lower the flag, continuing to snarl from the few remaining auxiliary caliber guns. One of the shots hit his wheelhouse, killing all the senior officers on the battleship. Apparently, Captain Lindeman also died then, although the surviving sailors claimed that he survived and continued to lead the battle until the very end. However, this no longer mattered - the huge ship turned into flaming ruins, and only its excellent survivability prevented it from immediately sinking to the bottom.

In total, the British fired more than 2,800 shells at the Bismarck, achieving about seven hundred hits of different calibers. For a long time there was an opinion that “Rodney” torpedoed “Bismarck” from a 620-mm apparatus, but modern underwater expeditions do not confirm this fact.

When the helplessness of the Bismarck became obvious to the British command, the battleships withdrew from the battle, leaving the cruisers to finish off with torpedoes. But even several direct hits on the underwater part of the German battleship did not lead to its sinking. The recent expedition of American director James Cameron on the Russian oceanographic ship Mstislav Keldysh clearly proved that enemy fire only significantly damaged the battleship. It was sunk by its own crew, who did not want to surrender the ship to the mercy of the victors.

Why did he drown?

Who exactly gave the order to scuttle the Bismarck, and whether there was such an order at all, is unclear. It is quite possible that there was a “local initiative”. In addition, the possibility cannot be ruled out that the fire from numerous fires led to the detonation of some of the ammunition, which led to the fatal hole. Cameron's research suggests open seams that were most likely torn apart by the bilge crew. Be that as it may, at 10:39 a.m. the Bismarck capsized and sank.

Of the 2,220 people on the Bismarck's crew, 116 survived. Among those rescued was a very remarkable character - the cat Oscar, who continued to serve in the British Navy. He was able to climb onto the floating debris and was pulled out of the water by the crew of the destroyer "Kazak". Subsequently, when the Cossack was sunk by a German torpedo, the cat moved first aboard the destroyer Legion, and then onto the aircraft carrier Ark Royal, whose planes destroyed his first ship (Bismarck). Later, the Ark Royal was lost off Malta, and Oscar found himself back on the destroyer Legion, much to the surprise of the crew. Earning the nickname "Unsinkable Sam", Oscar lived in Belfast after the war, where he died of natural causes in 1955.

The ship's cat Oscar, who survived the death of three war pennants Source – 24.media.tumblr.com

The fate of the Bismarck is very indicative. Firstly, the battle in the Denmark Strait once again showed the futility of developing ships without air cover. The obsolete Swordfish turned out to be a formidable opponent even for the newest and well-protected battleship with trained crews of numerous air defense guns. Secondly, a wave of personnel changes took place in Germany, which also affected the maritime strategy. Grand Admiral Erich Roeder lost his post as commander-in-chief, and was replaced by Karl Dönitz, an enthusiast and prominent theorist of unrestricted submarine warfare. Since then, German submarines have played the “first fiddle” in the raider war, and large ships have found themselves in secondary roles. The Bismarck remained lying on the seabed, still serving as a reminder: there are no unsinkable ships!

Battle of Denmark Strait

The ships "Prince of Wales" and "Hood" established visual contact with enemy ships on the morning of May 24. At about six o'clock they began to attack the German flotilla from a distance of 22 kilometers. Vice Admiral Holland, who led the British group, gave the order to fire on the first ship, as he did not know that the Bismarck had changed places with the Prinz Eugen. For some time the German side did not respond, since it was given orders to engage in battle only after the enemy entered the convoy. After several British attacks, Captain Lindemann, declaring that he would not allow his ship to be attacked with impunity, ordered return fire. Having come under fire from two German ships, Holland realized that he had made a mistake by ordering an attack on the first of them.

The sixth shot from the Prince of Wales produced a result: the shell hit the Bismarck’s fuel tanks, which caused a massive leak of fuel from the tanks and filled them with water. Soon, both German ships hit the cruiser Hood, causing severe fires on board. A few minutes later, two salvos overtook the battleship Bismarck. By that time, the enemy ships were at a distance of about 16-17 km from each other. After another hit on the Hood ship, a strong explosion was heard on it, literally tearing the ship into two halves. In a matter of minutes it was under water. Of the 1,417 crew members, only three managed to escape. The Prince of Wales continued the battle, but unsuccessfully: in order to avoid a collision with the sinking ship, he had to get closer to the enemy. Having received seven hits, the battleship left the battle using a smoke screen.

Captain Lindemann proposed to go in pursuit of the Prince of Wales and sink it, but Admiral Lutyens, due to the severe damage to the Bismarck, decided to continue the voyage to the French port of Saint-Nazaire, where the ship could be repaired and taken out into the Atlantic without hindrance. It was assumed that the ships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau would later join it. Prinz Eugen was ordered to continue shelling the British convoy on her own.

The story of the destruction of the German flagship

The Germans were quite capable of catching up and finishing off the Prince of Wales, but the commander of the German formation, Admiral Lutyens, had priority orders to avoid direct battles with the British fleet. At the same time, it also turned out to be impossible to continue the raid after assessing the only damage received from the Prince of Wales due to the leakage of more than a third of the fuel supply into the sea. Lutyens decided to head to Saint-Nazaire for repairs.

By this time, almost all the available forces of the English fleet near the metropolis (47 ships and 6 submarines) were sent to search and destroy the Bismarck, extremely enraged by the loss of the Hood, which for many years symbolized its power. But naval aviation played a decisive role in the hunt for the German super-battleship, although the first air attack from the British aircraft carrier Ark Royal did not lead to any serious damage. The Bismarck, taking advantage of the fog, was initially able to elude its pursuers.

But one of the British torpedo bombers by the end of May 26, when the pursuit of the Bismarck had almost stopped, was able to detect and hit the German flagship, taking advantage of the opportunity to descend to the very surface of the sea, into the “dead zone” of German anti-aircraft gunners. Unfortunately for the Germans, the torpedo damaged the rudders, and the ship was practically immobilized.

On the morning of May 27, the Bismarck was overtaken by large forces of the English fleet. After another unsuccessful torpedo attack, the British battleships Rodney and King George V, with the support of 2 cruisers, fired at the immobilized German battleship. The Bismarck stopped firing, having consumed all of its main caliber ammunition, and stayed afloat, although it was hit by several shells and two torpedoes.

The British squadron, having used fuel to a minimum, after unsuccessful attempts to sink the German battleship, was ordered to retreat. As the British later calculated, they spent 8 torpedoes and over 2,800 shells of main and medium caliber to finish off the Bismarck. By that time, the German command had ordered the Bismarck to be abandoned and scuttled.

At the time of its death, the Bismarck was in the range of German aircraft, which could try to drive away the British ships. Submarines could have helped the battleship, but the command sent them to the battle area too late. However, the Germans themselves discovered the kingstons, and Admiral Lutyens and many sailors chose to perish with the ship. The battleship Bismarck sank without lowering her flag and without exhausting her survivability reserve. Of the more than 2,200 crew members, almost no one was left alive: 111 sailors were saved by the British and three more by a German submarine.

"Bismarck" at the bottom

A search for the sunken battleship led by American oceanographer Robert Ballard in 1989 led to the discovery of the remains of the battleship at a depth of 4,790 meters. They landed on the slope of an extinct underwater volcano. As the subsequent reconstruction of events showed, the Bismarck sank, capsizing on board, then (already under water) turned over with a full rotation around the keel and then slid down the slope of the volcano. Part of the aft end was destroyed or separated.

Chase

The Prince of Wales, together with the ships Norfolk and Suffolk that approached it, continued to pursue the German flotilla. The death of the Hood was taken extremely painfully by the British Admiralty. Later, a special commission was established to investigate her circumstances. Soon, most of the British navy based in the Atlantic, including convoy guard ships, were involved in the hunt for the battleship Bismarck.

On May 24, at the beginning of seven in the evening, in thick fog, the Bismarck turned towards its pursuers. There were no hits during the short exchange of salvos, but the British had to dodge. As a result, the Prinz Eugen vessel successfully broke contact. Ten days later it arrived in Brest, France. On May 24, at 10 p.m., Admiral Lutyens informed the command that due to a lack of fuel, his battleship could not continue trying to fight off the enemy's pursuit and was forced to go straight to Saint-Nazaire. Meanwhile, Admiral Tovey gave the order to the aircraft carrier Victories to close the distance. At the beginning of the eleventh hour, 9 torpedo bombers of the Swordfish model took off from the ship. Despite massive resistance, they still managed to accurately hit the side of the enemy ship once. In this case, the impressive size of the battleship Bismarck played a cruel joke on him.

By 2:30 all aircraft had returned to the aircraft carrier. "Bismarck" practically did not suffer from this raid, since the only accurate hit was directly on the main armored belt. However, the German crew still lost one person. This was the first loss of the Nazis during the entire campaign. To protect against torpedo bombers, the crew of the battleship Bismarck had to use all anti-aircraft weapons and some large-caliber guns. To make it more difficult for the torpedo bombers to aim, the ship increased its speed and tried in every possible way to evade the fire. Although the British attack did not affect the condition of the ship, the sudden maneuvers aggravated some of the problems remaining from previous attacks. Thus, the patches-sails placed over the hole in the bow of the ship came off, as a result of which the leak intensified, and with it the trim on the bow intensified.

On the night of May 25, Bismarck's pursuers began zigzagging, apparently wary of the prospect of falling prey to German submarines. Taking advantage of this, the battleship accelerated and broke contact. At 4 o'clock in the morning this was officially reported by the ship "Suffolk".

Mine-torpedo and aviation weapons

Initially, Bismarck-class battleships were designed without torpedo tubes, but in 1942 two four-tube torpedo tubes with a caliber of 533 mm were installed on Tirpitz. They were previously installed on destroyers that were sunk in 1940 at Narvik. The torpedo tubes fired standard G7a steam-gas torpedoes. In total, the battleship carried 24 torpedoes on board.

The aviation group consisted of 6 Ar-196 seaplanes, two aircraft were on catapults, the other four were in hangars. All aircraft belonged to the 196th airborne air group (Bordfliegergruppe 196). The pilots and maintenance personnel belonged not to the navy, but to the Luftwaffe, and therefore wore aviation uniforms. The aircraft's armament consisted of two 20-mm MG FF cannons in the wings, one MG 17 machine gun, and a coaxial MG 15 machine gun in the turret. Also, two 50-kg aerial bombs could be suspended under the wings.

Detection

The German battleship Bismarck apparently continued to receive Suffolk radar signals, and already at 7 a.m. on May 25, Admiral Lutyens informed the command that the pursuit was continuing. In the evening of the same day, the command demanded from the Bismarck data on its location and speed and indicated that the British most likely had lost sight of the German ship. Lutyens did not send a response radiogram, but thanks to the interception of morning messages, the enemy was still able to determine his approximate course. Mistakenly assuming that the battleship was headed for the strait separating Iceland and the Faroe Islands, Admiral Tovey set off at the head of his formation to the northeast.

By 10 a.m. on May 26, the American-British Catalina flying boat, which took off from Lough Erne (Northern Ireland) to search for the German ship, discovered its exact location. At that time, Bismarck had only 700 miles left to the French Brest, where he could count on the support of Luftwaffe bombers. Due to this circumstance, only one British formation had a chance of slowing down the battleship - the Gibraltar-based formation "H", commanded by Admiral Sommerville. The main trump card of this flotilla was the aircraft carrier ArkRoyal, from which a detachment of torpedo bombers took off at 14:50 on the same day. At that time, the cruiser Sheffield was in the area of ​​their attack, which separated from the formation to establish contact with the enemy. The pilots were not notified of this, so they attacked their own ship. Fortunately for the British fleet, none of the 11 torpedoes fired hit the ship. Subsequently, it was decided to replace the magnetic torpedo detonators that performed poorly with contact ones.

At 17:40, the cruiser Sheffield made contact with the battleship Bismarck and began to pursue it. At 20:47, 15 torpedo bombers took off from the aircraft carrier Ark Royal for the second attack. They managed to deliver two (according to some sources, three) accurate strikes, one of which became fatal for the German ship. In an attempt to evade the torpedo, the battleship received a powerful blow to the stern, as a result of which its rudders jammed. Having lost the ability to maneuver, the ship began to describe circulation. All attempts to restore control were in vain, and the battleship began moving to the northwest. About an hour after the torpedo bombers began attacking, the battleship began shelling Sheffield and wounded 12 of her crew. At night there was a battle between the battleship Bismarck and five British torpedo bombers. Both sides were never able to land an accurate strike.

Crew and habitability

The battleships had a crew of 1,927 people and could increase to 2,016 people when the ship acted as a flagship. The living quarters could additionally accommodate up to 2,500 people, but for only one day, of these 2,500 people, only 1,600 people would be provided with sleeping places.

When commissioned, Bismarck's crew consisted of 103 officers and 1,962 sailors. During Operation Exercise on the Rhine (German: Rheinübung), there were 2,221 people on board the Bismarck, of which 65 officers formed the headquarters of Admiral Lutyens. In 1943, Tirpitz had a staff of 108 officers and 2,500 sailors. The entire crew was divided into 12 divisions, 150-200 people in each. The divisions themselves were divided into “naval” (from the 1st to the 9th) and “technical” (from the 10th to the 12th), in turn, each division was divided into sections of 10-12 people, headed by Each squad had a non-commissioned officer.

Sinking

On May 27, at about 9 o’clock in the morning, from a distance of 22 km, the German battleship was attacked by heavy ships from Admiral Tovey’s formation, the battleships King George the Fifth and Rodney, as well as two cruisers, Norfolk and Dorsetshire. "Bismarck" returned fire, but the pressure of the British was too massive. Half an hour later, the ship's gun turrets were badly damaged and the superstructure destroyed. It had a strong list, but stayed on the water. At 9:31 the last tower was put out of action, after which, as the surviving crew members testify, Captain Lindeman gave the order to scuttle the ship. Since the Bismarck, despite the fact that its fate was sealed, did not lower its flag, the battleship Rodney approached it at a distance of several kilometers and began to fire directly. Due to the fact that the British battleships were running low on fuel, Admiral Tovey, realizing that the Bismarck could not escape, ordered them to return to base. At approximately 10:30, the cruiser Dorsetshire fired three torpedoes at the German ship, each of which hit the target. On May 27, 1941, at 10:39, the battleship Bismarck went on board and began to sink.

Answering the question of who sank the battleship Bismarck, many recall the three decisive hits of the cruiser Dorsetshire. In fact, the ship’s fate was sealed by a hit from a torpedo bomber, which deprived it of the ability to maneuver.

The ships "Dorsetshire" and "Maori" picked up 110 people from the crew of the sunken ship. When the alarm sounded about the approach of German submarines, they hastened to leave the sinking site. In the evening, after the ships had retreated to a safe distance, the submarine U-74 rescued three more people. The next day, the hydrometeorological vessel Sachsenwald picked up two more sailors. The remaining 2,100 people died. The forces of the English fleet, which had a clear superiority at the last stage of the battle, deliberately did not save its crew when the battleship Bismarck was destroyed. In this way they avenged those killed in the sinking of the Hood.

Ship's armament

The Germans rightly decided that their ship should sink anyone who challenged the Bismarck. To ensure this, 4 turrets were installed, each of which housed two 380 mm SK/C34 guns. Each tower had its own name, Anton, Bruno, Cesar and Dora, the name starting with the nose.

It is noteworthy that the guns were considered rapid-fire, the firing cycle was only 26 seconds.

The auxiliary caliber was represented by a dozen 150 mm guns. They were also located in barbettes in pairs. The barbettes were installed in the middle part of the vessel, and instead of proper names they had numbers starting from the bow.

Due to the close location to the settings, the angles were insufficient for full-fledged shooting in their sectors, but this was not a tragedy for the engineers, because everything had to be decided by the main caliber guns.

The anti-aircraft guns on the ship were of different calibers and for different purposes. The most serious guns in this class were the 105 mm SKC/33. 12 barrels were installed in several stages, the designs changed depending on the new speeds of rapidly developing aviation. 105-mm anti-aircraft guns were also placed two per turret. The middle class was represented by twin 37 mm SK.C/30 guns, a total of 16, in 8 turrets.

The rate of fire of these guns in theory was 80 rounds per minute, but almost every crew fired more than 30 shots. This was explained by manual loading of clips with shells. According to tradition, these particular installations had no armor at all. The operators of heavy anti-aircraft machine guns MG.C/30 with a 20-mm caliber were not protected in any way.

There were also 12 of them, and these machine guns also had problems with the theoretical and practical rate of fire. This time it was about stores of a more convenient shape, but less spacious. Also in Danzig, the Bismarck was equipped with quadruple MG.C/38s, which gave a greater density of fire due to firing from four barrels.

Already in the 1930s, the German leadership understood the importance of aviation in the navy, but for the new battleship this weaponry provided reconnaissance rather than attacking enemy ships.

The Bismarck had 4 seaplanes; if necessary, they could add 2 more. They were stored folded in the area of ​​the mainsail and chimney. The system of using aviation is interesting.

The launch required an unusually brave pilot and a telescopic catapult. They installed the plane into the catapult, the pilot into the plane, and launched it into free flight.

When the pilot decided to return to the ship, he would land the seaplane alongside the Bismarck, after which he would be taken on board. While the pilot was drying out in the wardroom, his AradoAr 196 was put away until next time. It is not surprising that Bismarck did not make very active use of its aircraft during its campaign.

Submarine operations

The German submarines, which were hunting enemy convoys in the Atlantic as part of the “wolf packs,” were notified that the Bismarck and the Prinz Eugen were leaving for the campaign.

On May 24, the submarine received a radio message about the battleship’s victory over the Hood, as well as instructions to continue to be guided by orders taking into account the position of the Bismarck.

On May 25, the submarine U-557, several hundred miles from the battleship, discovered and attacked a large convoy. The next day, she was ordered to share her coordinates with other submarines for a joint strike.

Early on the morning of May 27, all submarines that had a supply of torpedoes remaining were ordered to head to the Bismarck at maximum speed. The submarines received the order 8 hours late: it was signed at 10 pm the previous day. At the time of signing, most of the boats took part in the attack on the convoy, were hiding from the escorts and, for technical reasons, could not receive the order. In addition, at this moment, the submarines pursuing the convoy pulled away from the Bismarck to the north. On May 27 at 11:25, headquarters informed the submarines that the battleship had become the victim of a massive enemy attack. All nearby submarines were ordered to go to rescue the ship's crew members.

Arriving at the scene of death, the submarines discovered a huge amount of debris and a thick layer of oil on the surface. After a day of searching, they returned to their patrol areas.

Mine artillery

In terms of the composition of their anti-mine artillery, the new battleships repeated the composition of their predecessors Scharnhorst, carrying 12 SK/C28 guns, but unlike Scharnhorst, they were placed in twin turrets. Taking into account the experience of the First World War, the placement of the towers was chosen, three on each side, with the bow towers being pressed as close as possible to the superstructure, so that the central towers could fire directly along the ship's heading. The designation of the towers was carried out from bow to stern, separately for each side, left BI, BII, BII, right - SI, SII, SIII. Each tower I weighed 110 tons, tower II 116.25 tons, tower installations III - 108 tons.

Turrets I had 5 working levels, of which the gun platform was located inside the turret. Inside the barbette there was a mechanism platform, a turret rotation platform and an intermediate platform; under the armored deck there was a reloading platform for shells and their charges. Towers II and III did not have an intermediate platform, and the reloading platform was located inside the barbette. The guns were loaded manually; after firing, the cartridge case was thrown under the turret. The main and auxiliary turret rotation motors were electric, and the gun vertical guidance mechanisms were hydraulic with the possibility of manual drive. A characteristic feature of the installations is the presence of a single rammer for both turret guns.

The middle turrets were equipped with 6.5 m rangefinders, the remaining turrets were equipped with C/4 periscopes with the ability to rotate 90° from the axis of the guns. The horizontal aiming angles for the bow turrets are 135°, for the rest from 150° to 158°, the vertical aiming angles of guns for all turrets are from -10° to +40°. The ammunition according to the project was 105 shells per gun, a total of 1288 high-explosive shells were accepted (of which 622 with a bottom fuse, and 666 with a head fuse), and a certain number of lighting shells, the total capacity of the magazines was 1800 shells. At the stern, between the Caesar and Dora turrets, two training rigs for 150 and 105 mm guns were installed to train loading and unloading skills.

Result

The last battle of the Bismarck illustrated how difficult it is to hit a battleship even with numerical superiority and the presence of equipment with similar characteristics. On the other hand, the decisive blow to the huge ship was dealt by one torpedo from a small aircraft. Therefore, the main conclusion that the military drew from the death of the battleship Bismarck was that battleships had ceded their dominant position in the fleet to aircraft carriers.

Soon the German naval command abandoned the raider operations of the surface fleet in favor of unrestricted submarine warfare. The second battleship of the Bismarck class, the battleship Tirpitz, did not launch a single salvo attack on enemy ships during all the years of the war. However, the British had to tie up an impressive force of sea and air fleet in case the battleship based in Norway did go to sea.

Steering gear

The maneuverability of the battleships was ensured by two balancing rudders. They had the shape of a truncated trapezoid measuring 6480×4490 mm, with a maximum thickness of 900 mm and a longitudinal sectional area of ​​24.2 m; anti-corrosion zinc plates were attached to their surfaces.

The lower edges of the rudders were on the horizontal axis of the central shaft, midway between the middle and side propellers. The axes of rotation of the steering wheels were inclined inward at an angle of 8° and connected to the steering gears by a transverse shaft and a pair of drives. Each steering machine could control both rudders in the event of failure of the second machine. The steering gear consisted of a left and right axle attached to a central shaft controlled by an electrical Ward-Leonard system. The design of the steering control in the wheelhouse was decided in an original way: the rational Germans abandoned the traditional steering wheel, replacing it with two buttons, by pressing which the helmsman shifted the rudders to the right or left.

Memory

The warships Bismarck and Tirpitz are often compared to the civilian liners Titanic and Olympic. In both cases, the ship that died on its first voyage gained worldwide fame, while the ship that served much longer remained in the shadows. In 1960, director Lewis Gilbert shot the film “Sinking the Bismarck.”

The place where the history of the battleship Bismarck ended was discovered only on June 8, 1989, thanks to the efforts of Robert Ballard, who had previously found the same Titanic. According to international law, this place is considered a war grave. From the moment of the sinking to this day, six expeditions have been organized there. Also in 1989, Patrick Prentice shot another documentary about the secrets of the battleship Bismarck. In 2002, the director of the film “Titanic” James Cameron also made his contribution to the memory of the ship. Using the Russian Mir submersibles, he carried out underwater filming for the film “The Bismarck Expedition.”

Weapon

In terms of firepower, the battleship was significantly superior to most of its world counterparts. Main caliber guns (380 mm) were mounted in pairs on four turrets located at the bow and stern. In addition to them, the artillery was represented by auxiliary firing points: six 150 mm guns, eight 105 mm, and the same number of anti-aircraft guns (37 mm). The armament was changed several times, this was facilitated by a significant degree of unification of mounting dimensions.

The battleship Tirpitz also had an air wing, represented by six seaplanes launched from a twin ejection platform. The planes carried out maritime reconnaissance, searched for enemy submarines, and, if necessary, could attack them with depth charges and heavy machine guns (if the submarine was on the surface).

In terms of its armament, the ship could compete with any ship of the anti-Hitler coalition. But the fate of the battleship Tirpitz was such that it had very little opportunity to fire from its main caliber and only at coastal targets.