Battleship Bismarck Manual 1936-41: An insight into the design, contruction and operation of Nazi Germany's most famous and feared battleship (Owners' Workshop Manual) Hardcover – January 15, 2015

Although Haynes has delivered some exceptionally good books in the "Owners' Workshop Manual" series, their naval and maritime references seem to be the Black Sheep of the line. This book is no different. It's definitely better than their atrocious (and inexplicably highly rated) Type VII U-boat manual, and more focused than their Dreadnought manual. It contains some fairly substantial technical material, and some interesting insights into the operation of the ship, and would probably make a nice first book for anyone just getting interested in the Bismarck. Unfortunately, as other reviewers have already pointed out, much of this book feels like a rehash. If you've already read the better-known works on the ship ("Pursuit," "A Survivor's Story," the "Anatomy of the Ship" book, etc.), this feels like a Cliff Notes edition.As a certified naval geek, that's my main problem with this "manual" - it feels like three or four books mashed together, rather than a serious technical reference. The first 75 pages focuses solely on the ship's design, building, and short but eventful career. The second half focuses largely on technical issues, and is definitely more interesting (or at least, less well known). There are quite a few unique photos of the ship in this part, along with some useful information on the ship's armor, weapons, sensors, and propulsion systems. The section on life on board is also quite interesting, and does a good job explaining the organization of the crew and watch system.For a Haynes title, this one feels rather drab visually. Many of the photographs are rather blurry or washed out, and while the General Arrangement plans are quite useful, they're the only technical diagrams in the entire book. The maps are moderately useful, but don't really really seem to be in scale; the map of the final battle has the King George V sailing 8 nautical miles in three minutes! The editing is a little bit sloppy in places, resulting in the main text, photo captions, and data tables occasionally being out of sync with one another. There are some odd misstatements, such as that the "superstructure's armored belt" (something the ship didn't actually have) was penetrated by 8-inch shells, or that the main armor belt was "virtually impenetrable" by 15-inch shells. In fairness though, there aren't many huge whoppers here, unlike the U-boat manual, which was presumably fact-checked by a third grade gym class.This book isn't a total loss, but at the same time, it's nowhere near as good as many of the books published by Haynes in the last couple years. If you have to own EVERY Bismarck book ever published, you'll like it. If you're looking for a detailed technical examination of the ship, you'll probably be disappointed.

This is an excellent introduction to the design, construction and career of the battleship BISMARCK. It seems to be a digest of several lengthier and more expensive books, and would be an ideal introduction to the subject for a young adult. Mr. Konstam has assembled a large assortment of photographs, illustrations and deck plans, and an informative workmanlike text within a restricted number of pages. Thereasons for not giving it five stars are, first, a complete lack of a bibliography or 'for further reading' section. All the photographs of the ship found in this book and many more in addition are in a larger format in /The Battleship Bismarck: A Documentary in Words and Pictures/ by Ulrich Elfrath and Bodo Herzog. The deck plans and elevation are taken from /Anatomy of the Ship: Battleship Bismarck/ by Jack Brower, with a credit given only to the publisher. The illustrations accompanying the section on the discovery of the wreck of the sunken warship are credited to National Geographic. Presumably they may also be seen in /Search for the Battleship Bismarck/, an episode of National Geographic Explorer. Then I was personally annoyed by the failure to comment in the picture captions on why there are no range finders on the fire control positions in many of the photographs. They were not ready when the ship was commissioned and were only added after several months, and while the installation of the range finders is mentioned in one line of the text, a novice to the subject might be confused because the photographs are not in chronological order

The Germans were amazing engineers and contributed a lot to the science and technology of the day. This book covers the details about the Battleship Bismarck and why the British feared this dreadnought getting out to the open sea and had to sink it at any cost. I found the history of the building of the ship and the details of the fitting out of the ship very interesting. The detailed drawings of each of the deck layouts was very informative. The section of life on board the Bismarck was also very interesting as well. When this ship was launched there was nothing like it in any Navy. It had better armor and better weapons then other ships of the day. It was the Tiger tank of warships. In combination with the U-boats this ship could have made a formidable opponent to the British Naval Supremacy and brought devastating effect on the British merchant shipping lifeline from North America. I felt the section on the final resting place of the Bismarck very respectful to the men who lost their lives fighting for their country.

I have been interested in "Bismarck" since the first time I hear about her. This book is a GREAT study of the Famous ship. covering her Concept, Construction, Sea Trials, First Cruise and Destruction. It even includes a section on the rediscovery of the ship by Dr. Bob Ballard. A GREAT look at a ship that was ahead of it's time.

Would be FIVE star if rigging were depicted! I have the 1/200 Trumpeter model, and Mk 1 Superdetail kit, and would really like to get an accurate description of ALL rigging!

As advertised

Nice book

Very good

Very good but I think a little lacking

I'm building a trumpeter 1/200 model of the Bismarck,this book has a good deal history of the ship,I would have liked to have seen more photos of the ship,to be able, to compare the photos against the model.

Excellent, just what I wanted. A must for any battleship lover. Would love to see this range extended.

Excellent read

nice read ,