Was the battleship Bismarck really the best of its time?

Discussions about the history of the ship, technical details, etc.

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AngusDalemon
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Was the battleship Bismarck really the best of its time?

Post by AngusDalemon »

Often times, I hear people (Probably fans of the ship) praise it so much for its reputation of sinking the Hood and taking a lot of punishment during its final battle.

Some people even go as far as to say it was *the* best battleship of its time. But is the Bismarck really that good? Was it deserving of its reputation? How did it compare to other similar ships and what were its major flaws?
paul.mercer
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Re: Was the battleship Bismarck really the best of its time?

Post by paul.mercer »

Hi Angus,thanks for your post.
We have discussed this in the past on this Forum, its a bit of a tricky question, Bismarck was undoubtedly a very powerful ship, but some have questioned whether or not she was actually as 'up to date' as has been made out compared with some of the others being built in the US and perhaps one or two other countries. I would have thought that Bismarck was probably comparable with, but perhaps better armoured than anything else in the early 1940's, but would have eventually been outclassed by the 'super battleships' of the US and Japanese navies.
We are very fortunate to have a number of expert analysts on this Forum including our Moderator Bill Jurens, so if you look back on past topics in this Forum you will read pretty well anything you want to know about Bismarck, including battle comparisons with ships from almost other navy that had battleships.
Happy reading!!
Thorsten Wahl
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Re: Was the battleship Bismarck really the best of its time?

Post by Thorsten Wahl »

From own post
Warships are complex machines. There are numerous variables and relationships that may affect the outcome of a battle. Influence of random events is far too great, to predict the outcome of one particular battle. And in realtiy it appears possible that even a weaker appearing ship may win two battles or more in a row.

Only with a sufficent number of battles you will receive a expectation, wich shows a tendency of certain vessel beeing better.

With a "strictly rational" assessments, we usually almost completely ignore chance.
Meine Herren, es kann ein siebenjähriger, es kann ein dreißigjähriger Krieg werden – und wehe dem, der zuerst die Lunte in das Pulverfaß schleudert!
HMSVF
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Re: Was the battleship Bismarck really the best of its time?

Post by HMSVF »

AngusDalemon wrote: Wed Mar 31, 2021 7:00 am Often times, I hear people (Probably fans of the ship) praise it so much for its reputation of sinking the Hood and taking a lot of punishment during its final battle.

Some people even go as far as to say it was *the* best battleship of its time. But is the Bismarck really that good? Was it deserving of its reputation? How did it compare to other similar ships and what were its major flaws?
It was as good as anything else at the time of its the construction. Probably superior in some respects, inferior to others. All battleships have what some would call flaws ,but in the end its probably fairer to call them compromises. Its a delicate balancing act between firepower, armour and speed with each nation putting the best technology they have at the time to fulfill their brief.

As Paul mentioned there has been many a debate on this!


Best wishes HMSVF
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José M. Rico
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Re: Was the battleship Bismarck really the best of its time?

Post by José M. Rico »

There is another thread in the forum asking the very same question, therefore I am closing this.
You may continue the discussion in the following link:

http://www.kbismarck.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=8995
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