The German battleship Bismarck was laid down in 1936 and launched on the 14th February, 1939. She was completed on the 24th August, 1940 and proceeded to the Baltic for trials. In May, 1941, the Bismarck was commanded by Kapitan z.S. Ernst Lindemann and was the flagship of Admiral Lutjens. On the 18th May, she sailed from Gotenhafen in the Gulf of Danzig in company with the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen. The escort joined the next day and the fleet sailed with orders to attack any Allied ship, in convoy or otherwise, in the North Atlantic. On the 21st May, the German ships entered Kors Fjord near Bergen, where they were sighted by a reconnaissance aircraft of the R.A.F. That night an attempt to attack was made by the R.A.F. but fog prevented the aircraft reaching the target. On the 22nd May, further reconnaissance found that the battleship had left and an intensive search began. The German ships were spotted by H.M.S. Suffolk and H.M.S. Norfolk on the 23rd May; the Bismarck opened fire but without success and the British ships shadowed Bismarck through the night. At 05.35 on the 24th May, the British Fleet, including the Hood and the Prince of Wales, sighted the Prinz Eugen and at 05.52 Hood opened fire. The German ships returned the fire and at 06.00 the Hood exploded and sank, the Prince of Wales was also hit and forced to break off the action. Bismarck, herself damaged, and Prinz Eugen sailed to the south, still shadowed by the British cruisers. Admiral Lutjens had decided to make for St. Nazaire for repairs and lack of fuel had forced him to take the shortest route. In the meantime, British forces were manoeuvring to head Bismarck off. At midnight a squadron of Swordfish, led by Lt. Commander Esmonde, from H.M.S. Victorious attacked the Bismarck and, despite heavy A.A. fire, at least one torpedo hit her amidships. Bismarck was now on fire, alone and sailing at reduced speed. Norfolk and Prince of Wales had a brief exchange of fire with Bismarck in the early morning of the 25th but by 05.00 contact was lost and Bismarck was not sighted again that day. A Catalina of Coastal Command spotted the Bismarck at 10.30 on the 26th May and she was later attacked by aircraft from H.M.S. Ark Royal, which was also closing on the Bismarck. Two attacks were made, the first mistakenly on H.M.S. Sheffield. On the second attack, Bismarck was hit by at least three torpedoes, one of which damaged her propellers and rudder and wrecked the steering. During the evening destroyers, led by H.M.S. Cossack, sighted the Bismarck and made several attacks throughout the night. On the 27th, three torpedoes fired by the destroyers of the Tribal Class struck the Bismarck, halting her for over an hour. At 08.47 H.M.S. Rodney and H.M.S. King George V sighted her and opened fire. Soon after H.M.S. Dorsetshire joined the action and at 10.35 fired the final torpedo from a range of 2,600 yards. Th Bismarck sank at 10.40, having sustained terrible damage and with all her main turrets out of action. H.M.S. Dorsetshire and H.M.S. Maori picked up 110 survivors and German vessels rescued five more later in the day; this meant that almost 1,900 German sailors had lost their lives. The Bismarck had an overall length of 817 ft, a beam of 118 ft and a draught of 26 ft. Armament consisted of eight 15in guns, twelve 5.9in guns and sixteen 4.1in AA guns, as well as a large number of smaller close range weapons.  Four aircraft were carried. Her complement was 2,000 officers and ratings. She was powered by three Curtis-type turbines with a total of 138,000 h.p., giving a speed of 30 knots. The Bismarck was built by Blohm and Voss at Hamburg.