Germany - light shell, high velocity, more accurate at shorter ranges
Britain - heavy shell, medium velocity, more accurate at longer ranges
The KM (regardless if the K stood for Kaiserliche or Kriegs) was
certain that it will be fighting its battles in poor visibility in the North Sea.
Because it never has good visibility and the British will always fight on German terms. Both guns and the armour scheme were tailored to short range fights.
Setting itself up as a one trick pony ...
The British were more flexible.
Still, until the RN spams QE's and then 4x2x18" ships the Bismarck is the most powerful ship afloat.
BTW - was the Kiel Canal expanded between 1914 and 1940? The Bismarck barely fitted in 1941. She certainly does will not fit in 1912, as the Kanal is undergoing dredging/expansion, a project will be concluded in 1914.
Any dredging needed in e.g. Wilhelmshaven? The Bismarck doubtlessly cannot enter (or exit) the base at low tide (see slaughter of German light cruisers in 1914) at present, the approaches need to be deepened.
I might had asked about this before - sorry for sclerosis
The Bismarck could, if barely, enter Wilhelmshaven even without using the so called Raeder lock (which was IIRC not complete in 1941). Also the Kiel Canal was not widened after 1914, so Bismarck could pass the Canal and the locks.
@ShadowArxxy :
Also the Bismarck was quite good at relative great ranges. At about 16.650 m HMS Hood was sunk with the fifth salvo; and there are, IIRC, only two incidents, where ships were hit at a range of over 20 km, once by HMS Warspite, the other by Gneisenau.
The 38 cm SK C/34 of Bismarck could fire up to 3 800 kg (AP) shells per minute. A shell could hit, at least theoretical, a target up to 36.650 m away. At 18.000 m it could penetrate 419 mm belt armour or 75 mm deck armour. She had a belt armour of 22 to 32 cm and a deck armour of 5 to 12 cm. As for all battleships she was not built to cope with heavy bombs.
The British 15" Mk. I could fire a 871 kg shell (AP) up to twice a minute at a maximum range of about 26.500 m. As noted before the advantage of the German gun in range is de facto not given. Anyway, at about 18.000 m 279 mm belt armour could be penetrated. The QE had a maximum belt of 330 cm and a deck armour of up to 76 mm.
Sources: navweaps.com, Wikipedia
The farther away the opponents fight, the more the deck armour is threatened, the nearer the belt armour.
Starting the battle at about 22 km Bismarck could penetrate 393 mm belt and 104 mm deck armour, the QEs a little less than 229 mm belt armour. A QE needed to be near as about 13.000 m to endanger the main belt armour protecting the vital areas. Bismarck did so since over 25.000 m!
Also, there was no real arms race, that was more a British admiralty propaganda to get more toys, err, ships. The Germans built to have a fleet strong enough to deter Britain, but not to reach the numbers. By 1912 the Germans had not given this up, as the German plan 2/3 of the British fleet was considered as sufficient, wanted this quota. And guess what, the British even accepted! That the deal didn't succeeded, was the British fault, as they didn't want to give a mutual pact of non aggression in the case of an Entente attack. Even if France attacked Germany, they didn't want to guarantee the neutrality. Therefore the deal was useless.
But indeed, the British will now build more BBs (as will do many other nations) and therefore neglect other important arms investments. The Germans will build only SOME BBs but concentrate on cruisers, destroyers and uboats. And indeed, the real treasure is not the ship, but the plans and the knowledge.
