Battleship Bismarck, 1941

Lines Plans

The battleship Bismarck's lines plans were recreated from the original German hull offsets recorded on the Bismarck's completed hull in February, 1941. The Tirpitz's commander, Kapitän zur See Karl Topp, requested a hull offset plan for both the Tirpitz and the Bismarck as he was interested in comparing the two ships. Using these original German recorded hull offsets, we modeled the Bismarck's hull in 3D at a 1:1 scale from which we were able to produce the body, half-breadth and sheer plans. We were also able to reproduce the framing plan from an original copy. For the modeler, who is interested in accurately reproducing the Bismarck's hull in scale, these lines plans will be invaluable. Redrawing the Bismarck's hull literally point by point has resulted in what we believe are the most accurate lines plans available to the general market today.

While very similar to the Tirpitz's lines, the Bismarck's lines do vary slightly. The bow shape for the Bismarck is noticeably different than the bow of the Tirpitz, an artifact from the "Atlantic" bow conversion performed after the ship was launched. The stern of the Bismarck may look identical to the Tirpitz's in the sheer plan, but the Bismarck's stern breadth was a bit narrower. The bottom plating for the ships also varied with the Bismarck's flat bottom extending roughly an additional three meters toward the bow whereas the Tirpitz's flat bottom extended 30cm further toward the stern. These changes resulted in slightly different frame curves which are evident around the external docking keel line.

Shown below are the Bismarck's lines plans. Each plan is printed separately and includes salient dimensions, several highlight drawings, plan notes, and an abbreviation table.

Body and Framing Plan

The Bismarck's body plan shows the curvature of the hull at all major stations listed below. The Bismarck's forward and aft framing plans show the lines for the hull armor and the individual decks at the ship's side. Every continuous frame on the Bismarck (90 forward, 89 aft) is accurately drawn on the framing plans. The Bismarck's body plan includes stations 0, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, 1, 1.25, 1.5, 1.75, 2, 2.25, 2.5, 3 through 18, 18.5, 19, 19.25, 19.5, 19.75, and 20.

Sheer Plan

The Bismarck's sheer plan accurately models the ship's buttock curves using molded offsets below the side armor and external hull offsets at and above the hull armor. The change occurs between WL9 and WL10 on the ship. The Bismarck's sheer plan includes the following buttock lines: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16.

Half-Breadth Plan

Just as the original Bismarck recorded waterline offsets, this plan models the Bismarck's waterline curves using molded offsets from WL0 up to the lower edge of the armor (WL9) at which point the waterline curves are drawn using the external hull offsets to WL20. For the modeler, there is an enlargement of the Bismarck's forward and aft external waterlines at the ship's centerline. The Bismarck's half-breadth plan includes waterlines 0, 0.5, 1, 1.5, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20.

Purchasing Plans

The lines plan file sizes for each scale is shown in the tables below, rounded to the nearest 1/8”. We offer three separate plan scales, plus an option for any desired plan size. The smallest plan at 1:300 scale is an excellent size for display while the largest plan at 1:200 scale is perfect for the serious modeler who wants to model the Bismarck hull.

Note that we only sell paper copies of our plans; no pdf files are offered.

Photos

Below are several photos of the Bismarck. Select a thumbnail to view the larger photo.