Most agree the main use of the Bismarck was to join the war and combat the Royal Navy. I suspect that another use for such a grand battleship was to raise the moral of the Germans when it was launched. And possibly, the British might have benefited from propaganda once it was sunk to raise their moral.
Did the Bismarck play a significant role in the raising of moral? for both the British and German soldiers.
I have been looking for some days no to answer this question , and have been having a hard time finding sources which show propaganda made of the launching and/or sinking of the Bismarck. Are there any?
I can no longer edit posts so I just wanted to add this to my previous post .
If one would agree that by saying the Bismarck did not really fulfill the expectations of the Germans and they thought it would have been more successful, one could argue that the Bismarck was more successful as a moral symbol then as a battleship.
Did the German's expect more of the Bismarck when it was launched?
Your posting was very thought-provoking, and I had intended to get back with you as soon as I had taken care of some other matters. At the time of the Bismarck operation, I was still 16 years old and a junior in high school in the New York City area, but I was already deeply interested in international affairs and I followed the events of May 1941 very closely from both sides on short-wave radio.
The launching of the Bismarck in February 1939 was a big boost in the morale of the German people. Spirits were already on the rise as a result of the annexation of Austria, the success of the Munich Conference, and the occupation of the Sudetendland. The launching of the Bismarck was another in a line of the early successes of the Nazi regime in efforts to gradually restore to Germany what had been lost at the end of World War I by the Treaty of Versailles, including a strong Navy.
By May 1941, Germany had achieved further successes in defeating and occupying Poland, Denmark, Norway, Holland, Belgium, France, Greece, and Yugoslavia, and she was still on the move. The sinking of the Bismarck, while disappointing, had little lasting effect on the morale of the German people. The Bismarck had won a great victory, so that somewhat offset her loss. Three weeks later, Germany invaded Russia, and the loss of the Bismarck was all but forgotten by the German people.
On the other hand, the sinking of the Bismarck was a great morale booster for the British. Already suffering grievous shipping losses from U-boats, the additional threat of powerful surface raiders was of very serious concern to the British government and the people. By that time, British morale was probably at its lowest ebb.
Britain was fighting the seemingly invincible German war machine all by herself. She was under constant air attack and threatened with invasion. British-held Crete had been successfully invaded by German paratroopers. Rommel was on the move in North Africa after having taken Tripoli. Britain had just lost the Pride of the Royal Navy and had her newest battleship driven from the scene of battle by the Bismarck.
If the Bismarck had escaped, that would have been a devastating blow to British morale after all of the other reverses she had recently suffered. It might even have led to the downfall of the Churchill government by a vote of lack of confidence in how the war was being conducted. Captain Leach certainly would have been court-martialled for allowing the Bismarck to escape when the Prince of Wales was really not all that seriously damaged.
By the same token, the sinking of the Bismarck restored the confidence of the British people in their government and in the Royal Navy’s ability to get the job done. Captain Leach’s hide was saved for six more months before he went down with the Prince of Wales off Malaya three days after Pearl Harbor. The sinking of the Bismarck heralded a great day in Britain and was worthy of a huge celebration.
Thanks for reading my post and taking your time to help me understand the Bismarck.
It is very exciting to receive a reply from someone who followed the events first-hand.
Your post was informative and the background information of related events was very useful.
Hopefully I will find more time to find and analyse media that was published portraying the Bismarck in a certain light by either side.
The newspaper articles Ulrich sent me have been very interesting.
, and have been having a hard time finding sources which show propaganda made of the launching and/or sinking of the Bismarck. Are there any? 
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, exactly what I was looking for, the information is very interesting. 
