While the following drawings don`t necessarily belong in the "Real Designs" forum, I thought they`d belong in this thread:
Initial discussions about a new German battleship dated back as far as spring 1934.
The battleship was intended to be a replacement for the old pre-dreadnought (SMS) "Hannover". Following German naval tradition the ship`s name was not known until it`s launch and christening ceremony. Until then the ship was only reffered to under her contract name Schlachtschiff "F" (battleship "F") followed by the name of the ship it was to replace: "Ersatz Hannover" ("Hannover replacement").
My drawing depicts one of the preliminary plans of Schlachtschiff "F":
(Please note that I took a little "artistic license" here and there, though the general apperance matches the rather crude references I had!)
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Due to wartime needs, "Bismarck" was rushed into service and was commissioned on 24th August 1940.
The battleship was still missing parts of her intended equipment (rangefinders, heavy AA-guns) on this date.
Some of it was installed in the following months, while other parts were never fitted (SL-8 AA-Rangefinders, 10,5cm LC/37 FLAK).
A contemporary shipyard model built by Blohm & Voss shows "Bismarck" in her intended "final" appearance.
Oddly some of the light AA-guns which were eventually installed on the real "Bismarck" are missing here. Also no FuMO 23 was mounted on the models' 7m rangefinder.
The model is still displayed at the shipyard`s Hamburg headquarters.
I have updated the first post with the new drawings:
http://www.shipbucket.com/forums/viewto ... 09#p116509