Uncovering the Story of the German Battleship Bismarck: A Comprehensive Look at Its Design and Operational History

Supermotoracer: The Bible on the Bismark, all 8-9lbs of it, written by men who were on it and rescued from the sea..

United States on Oct 25, 2023

K.B. Hallmark: You had better be a really hard core techie to enjoy this book. The info presented is really deep. If you are easily bored with in depth info, don't bother with this book. If you like really deep marine science, then get ready to enjoy.

United States on Jul 20, 2023

William: This is a fantastic book on the German Battleship Bismarck. That said the extremely poor packaging caused the book to arrive damaged. The book was left loose in a box three times the size of the book, and another item was in the box with it. No care was taken to keep the items secure and separate from each other. The fact that only the dust cover was torn is a miracle. You many say that isn’t a reason to get upset, but this was an expensive book and it will become a collectors item. The torn dust cover diminishes the value of the book!!!! I take very good care of my books. Even my paperbacks look like new after having been read twice or more. Not a happy camper from that standpoint!!!!

United States on Apr 17, 2023

Intrepid 67: Did I need another Bismarck book? Possibly not, but if you only get one book, get this one. This one provides the story of the ship and its crew. You may get more pictures and technical details in other books, anatomy of the ship springs to mind. What you get here is a stark reminder of what fighting a ship and escaping her sinking entails. Other more 'technical' accounts tell us that the crew abandoned a burning, sinking wreck. This book, with its many survivors accounts brings to light what that actually meant. Quite harrowing in places, I am former Royal Navy, my sympathies to the crews of all dying warships no matter what their nationality. Many of the questions I had from other accounts were answered here. I was always intrigued by the poor showing of Bismarck's gunnery even before the foretop was hit. Now answered, along with why her dated armour plan provided so much protection at the end. In all a fascinating read. I would have liked to have seen more on the relationship between Lutjens and Lindemann, perhaps this information does not exist? maybe some questions will forever remain unanswered. Worth the money, if you only get one Bismarck book buy this one.

United Kingdom on Jan 25, 2020

Military History Buff: As a long-time Bismarck enthusiast. I had been waiting to get this book at a good price since it as released. This opportunity materialized, so I bought this book at a very fair considering its size. Talking about the book itself,it is large, on good quality paper. The photos are ok, with some very useful technical drawings and helpful diagrams.
As far as the book itself is concerned, the strong points and exceedingly detailed technical descriptions on how, for example, the explosion on the Hood occured or how the damage control teams on the Bismarck patched up the damage after the Battle of the Denmark Strait .
On the other hand, the strategic narrative, is no different to that which has been written in dozens of other books, and holds no suprises or new insights.
So, in short, this book is a very in-depth look at the Bismarck chase, with very detailed descriptions of technical aspects of this naval episode. The actually narrative of what happened has been covered to death in many books.
If you are a Bismarck fan, you definitely want this book in your library.

Germany on Dec 22, 2019

Malcolm Swift: This book quite clearly was meant to represent the 'definitive' book, by a distinguished panel of authors, on the subject of the battleship Bismarck; and it is sized and priced accordingly.

That it fails to achieve its goal is largely down to a simply abysmal standard of editing - perhaps the worst I've ever seen in a book of this type and scope. It really does read in parts as though each of the authors has written their own separate version of the text and then someone unfamiliar with the subject has "cut and pasted" sections together to make the final narrative, but not dared (perhaps overawed by the writers' reputations?) to amalgamate the duplicated key points into a single cohesive whole. The result is that some matters - in particular, but by no means solely, details of the gunnery actions - are covered twice or even three times in different words, and sometimes with other material intervening. This makes it unnecessarily difficult and frustrating to get your head around the timescales and exact sequence of events.

There are other flaws too. I will not list these in detail, but for another example the late chapter entitled 'Reflections' takes a number of...

United Kingdom on Oct 28, 2019

ratkins: “Battleship Bismarck” is a comprehensive account of the Bismarck, with an emphasis on its May 1941 (and sole) operational voyage. The first five chapters provide a background to the build-up of the Kriegsmarine and the design and building of Bismarck, as well as the state of the Royal Navy as of the beginning of 1941. I found these chapters to be well written and to have few instances of needless repetition (the repetition present allowed the chapters to be read without having to go back to earlier chapters for clarification). The bulk of the book then deals with the operational voyage in detail. I give the book 4 stars, rounded up from the 3.5 stars I would have opted for. My reasons for less than 5 stars are as follows.

There are many (and I mean many!) instances of repetition. As noted above, some of this helps the reader by making chapters or sections readable without searching back for clarification. However, from approximately page 150 onwards there is much needless repetition. To take just two examples: the same photograph of Scharnhorst is shown on pages 22 and 113; the paragraph at the end of page 253 and top of page 255 (photographs are on the intervening...

United States on Aug 17, 2019

Bibliophile: This is by far the best single volume on the subject of the German battleship, covering all aspects from initial design philosophy and construction through its operational history to detailed analysis of the wreck on the floor of the Atlantic Ocean.
Included are numerous diagrams and photographs, interviews with surviving crew members, assessment of her Royal Navy opponents, and astonishingly detailed investigation into the actions against HMS Hood & Prince of Wales and against Rodney and King George V. The book provides very strong arguments for the precise cause of the Hood's destruction and demonstrates convincingly that Bismarck was surely sinking even before scuttling efforts were applied.
The assessment of Bismarck's final combat and sinking in particular is breathtakingly thorough. Based on interviews with both British and German witnesses as well as detailed analysis of the wreck, it provides a salvo-by-salvo review of the entire action. Every hit is mapped out on a diagram of the ship, with photographs of the wreck confirming various penetrations. The book explains precisely why Bismarck proved to be so very difficult to sink by gunfire. The combination of...

United States on Jul 30, 2019

R. Stewart: This might at first glance seem to be "another book" on a much-written about subject - (Bismarck), whilst detailing the chase the book does take things a bit further looking at other less mentioned aspects of the forces and personalities involved.
The book is a heft size and no it is not " a coffee table book" one which looks good for decoration etc - it is a good work in its own right but the format it has to be said is befitting to the presentation of the subject in both text, photographs and diagrams.
Much material is presented on the wreck of the ship and it has to be said how / who sank her, a subject which quite frankly is prone to becoming a series of daft prejudiced opinions more than any chance of a serious exchange of views, thankfully the authors do make a sensible judgment on the final battle and sinking of the ship.
The book is well written it ( to me at least) appears to fair the examination of "Rhine Exercise" and conclusions drawn seem to be balanced and fair to all concerned.
Worth the cover price, yes I would say so but then ask yourself if you need another book on Bismarck, I asked myself the same question but do not consider this one to have been a...

United Kingdom on Jul 20, 2019

John Collins: The most interesting part of this book is the highly detailed battle damage assessment of Bismarck's final battle and the fine forensic study of the wreck in this regard. Its a bit light on line drawings and illustrations but this would be a fine companion volume to Stefan Draminski's 'Anatomy of the Ship Bismarck.( I have both and they compliment each other wonderfully !) The underwater images from the James Cameron expedition in 2002 are haunting and the catastrophic damage sustained is plain to see ( including the killer torpedo hit above the rudders ). I never understood why Bismarck failed to hit Rodney in her final battle after her success against Hood. This explains the circumstances of why that failed to happen in detail. There is some excellent coverage of the building processes, design philosophy and the politics of battleship building for Germany in the 1930s. Why this doesn't get 5 stars from me is the lack of line drawings and ship appearance and configuration changes between 1940 and her demise

United Kingdom on Jun 23, 2019