The original

• The Treaty of Versailles permitted Germany to build new ships with a maximum of only 10,000 tons. This made it possible to build only armoured ships of the Germany class (e.g. Graf Spee). Only after the conclusion of the German-British Fleet Agreement of June 1935, was Germany officially allowed to build battleships with a standard displacement of up to 35,000 t. However, these requirements were ignored, so that later on the Bismarck had an operational displacement of about 42,000 t. When it was commissioned in August 1940, it was the largest and most powerful battleship in the world.
• The Bismarck became known in the operation it carried out with the Prinz Eugen (Operation Rhine Exercise). During this operation, the HMS Hood was sunk by a salvo from the Bismarck. During the battle, the Bismarck was damaged. Therefore, Admiral Lütjens decidedto sail back to Brest for repairs. On this voyage, the Bismarck suffered rudder damage from Swordfish torpedo bombers from H.M.S. Ark Royal, which made it impossible for it to escape from other British ships rushing to the scene. On 27 May, it was finally caught in the North Atlantic by two battleships and two heavy cruisers and went down about 550 nautical miles from Brest.