The objective was to sever the British lifeline, the merchant convoys that were bringing supplies from North America. Their mission was not to directly challenge the Royal Navy, which had numerical if not qualitative superiority. They slipped through the channel between Denmark and Sweden and out of the Baltic, heading for Nazi-controlled Norway on the first leg of their breakout into the North Atlantic. No ship in the Royal Navy was a match for it in single combat, so the British planned to fight the fearsome newcomer with team tactics.īismarck and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen lifted anchor at Gotenhafen Roads near Danzig in Poland on May 18, 1941.
She had a top speed of 31 knots and was more heavily armored than anything else afloat. The Bismarck mounted eight 15?-inch guns and 81 smaller ones. The British knew the Bismarck would soon make its first sortie into the Atlantic and prepared for it as best they could. She was launched to great acclaim in 1939 and finished her sea trials in April 1941. The German battleship Bismarck was the most powerful warship in the world.
Bismarck, pictured, slams HMS Prince of Wales with fearsome artillery during Operation Rheinübung, an attempt to block allied shipping to Europe.
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