Ship Builder Namesake Laid down Launched Commissioned Fate Bismarck Blohm & Voss, Hamburg Reichskanzler Otto von Bismarck 1 July 1936 14 February 1939 24 August 1940 Sunk following surface action, 27 May 1941 Tirpitz Kriegsmarinewerft, Wilhelmshaven Großadmiral Alfred von Tirpitz 2 November 1936 1 April 1939 25 February 1941 Sunk in air attack at Tromsø, 12 November 1944