'Bismarck' (Ge, 1939)

Scale: 1:200. Full hull model of the 'Bismarck' (1939), a German battleship. The model is decked, equipped and rigged and finished in dazzle paint scheme.Built by Blohm and Voss, Hamburg, 'Bismarck' was laid down in 1936, launched February 1939 and commissioned August 1940. Although nominally built to conform to the 35,000 ton limit set by the Washington Treaty, 'Bismarck' and her sister ship 'Tirpitz' were much larger and thus better protected than most foreign ships. With a displacement of 41,700 tons (52,600 tons fully laden), she measured 823 feet in length by 118 feet in the beam and carried a crew of over 2000.''Bismarck' spent the early months of 1941 undertaking sea trials. In May 'Bismarck' and the heavy cruiser 'Prinz Eugen' left the Baltic en route for the Atlantic in order to attack British convoys. Desperate to prevent this the British begun a massive naval and air operation to intercept 'Bismarck' and on 24 May, west of Iceland, the two German vessels encountered the battle-cruiser 'Hood' and the new battleship 'Prince of Wales' in the Battle of the Denmark Strait. After a direct hit from 'Bismarck', 'Hood' blew up and sunk with the loss of all but three of her crew. 'Prince of Wales' was damaged and 'Bismarck' herself was also struck causing damage to one of her fuel tanks. After separating from 'Prinz Eugen', 'Bismarck' begun to head for France in order to refuel and carry out repairs.From 25-26 May, she was attacked by Swordfish torpedo-bombers from 'Victorious', and then 'Ark Royal' with hits from the latter's planes causing 'Bismarck's' rudder to jam. British battleships and heavy cruisers, among them 'King George V' and 'Rodney', intercepted the crippled ship on the morning of 27 May and sunk her within two hours. The battleship is depicted sinking in an oil painting in the NMM collection by Charles Turner, 'Sinking of the Bismarck' (BHC0679).H.G. Sitford