[[Battleship]] of the [[Kriegsmarine]] in [[World War II]], named after German statesman [[Otto von Bismarck]]. 

h4. History

The historical Bismarck's best known action was the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Denmark_Strait](Battle of the Denmark Strait) on 25 May 1941, in which her and [i][[Prinz Eugen (cruiser)|]][/i] were engaged by the Royal Navy. However, they managed to fend them off, famously detonating the magazines of [i][[HMS Hood]][/i] in the process. This defeat prompted Royal Navy to launch a manhunt campaign against Bismarck, who had been ordered to head to occupied France due to the damage suffered during the battle. 

On 28 May 1941, 3 days after the sinking of the Hood, Bismarck suffered a hit to her propulsion system from a biplane torpedo bomber [[Fairey Swordfish]] launched from [[hms ark royal (91)|HMS Ark Royal]], which allowed British battleships HMS [i]King George V[/i], HMS [i]Rodney[/i], heavy cruisers HMS [i]Norfolk[/i], HMS [i]Suffolk[/i], and destroyers [i]Cossack, Sikh, Maori, Zulu[/i] and Polish destroyer ORP [i]Piorun[/i] (the latter repeatedly flashing "I AM A POLE" to her via signal light) to catch up with and ultimately sink her. On the morning of May 27, at 0847 hours, HMS [i]Rodney[/i], followed quickly by [i]King George V[/i], opened fire on [i]Bismarck[/i], which had been more or less completely immobilized by this point, by 0931, all of [i]Bismarck's[/i] guns had been silenced and she had been reduced to floating wreck incapable of fighting back. Ultimately [i]Bismarck[/i] started to capsize around 1035 hours and disappeared beneath the waves a few minutes later with few survivors.

In 2019, Swedish power metal band [[sabaton (band)|Sabaton]] released a single titled [i]"Bismarck":[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVWEb-At8yc&vl=en-US][/i] about said battleship, which also happened to coincide with the "announcement of Bismarck being added to Azur Lane":[https://twitter.com/AzurLane_EN/status/1126879577207271424].

h4. See also

* [[Bismarck (Kancolle)]]
* [[Bismarck (Azur Lane)]]
* [[Bismarck (Warship Girls R)]]
* [[Bismarck (Black Surge Night)]]

h4. External links

* Wikipedia: "German battleship Bismarck":http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_battleship_Bismarck
bismarck (battleship)