On the 14th February 1939 the hull of the Bismarck slid down the slipway of Blohm and Voss shipyard Hamburg, and at that time she was the largest Battleship afloat. Hitler was present and gleefully watched the treaty-smashing ship become a reality.

Under international law Battleships were not to exceed 35,000 tons, but Bismarck when completed weighed over 50,000 tons. This allowed the designers to make her armour incredibly thick and therefore create a very resilient ship. Forty percent of her weight was armoured plating and coupled with the traditional toughness of German ship design made her a very strong ship.

She was one sixth of a mile long and 120 feet wide, making her an incredibly good gun platform. Her main armament were eight 15 inch guns, which were equal or better than the majority of guns carried by British warships. Only the British Nelson class Battleships carrying 16 inch guns were better, but with a speed of only 23 knots at the very best they had little chance of engaging the 29-30 knot Bismarck.