The Bismarck is perhaps the most famous battleship of World War II. Much of the Allied fleet was diverted to hunting her down during her breakout into the Atlantic in 1941. The Bismarck is an in-depth examination of this classic ship that represented the pinnacle of the Nazi war machine at sea. The book begins by tracing the regrowth of the German navy after World War I, and Hitler's plans for rearmament. After 1935 the German navy is allowed to build capital ships again, and the book then examines every aspect of the Bismarck's development and construction, including detailed sections on her design, armament, powerplant, crew and armour. In addition, there is a chapter devoted to the Bismarck in action, with descriptions of the ship's only voyage in anger, its successful sinking of HMS Hood and the ship's final showdown 300 miles west of Ushant when she was torpedoed and then finished off by the guns of the Royal Navy. The book then briefly describes the building and career of the Tirpitz, the Bismarck's sister ship.

With detailed appendices and artworks, The Bismarck is an exhaustive compendium on a classic German battleship.