Talk:German battleship Bismarck

Failed Luftwaffe and Navy intervention

Should it be added in the "Sinking" section that one of the main reasons the British attack on Bismarck was successful was because the ships had been damaged just beyond the Luftwaffe's maximum range? \
Also, the fact the British thought that the plume of smoke in the distance as they were rescuing Bismarck's crew was from a U-Boat was partly because the German Navy actually had deployed U-Boats to rescue the Bismarck. But due to lack of speed couldn't make it? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Dario DeCasseres (talk • contribs) 00.51, 5 January 2022 (UTC)

Hood sunk by Prince Eugen not the Bismark

I dont have a reference here, but I have read that Ballard's observsation of the wreck of the Hood suggest that it is more likely that it was sunk by the Prince Eugen, not the Bismark. I have further read that both the initial reports and ongoing fiction to the contrary are nothing but propaganda - it would not look good to have a battleship like the Hood sunk by a "mere" cruiser. 2001:8003:E40F:9601:9D79:A255:911C:8514 (talk) 01:24, 23 November 2023 (UTC)

That theory is long-debunked, and you are mistaken that Ballard supports the idea. Parsecboy (talk) 01:43, 23 November 2023 (UTC)

Gender of Bismarck

Bismarck's captain, Lindemann, referred to the ship by masculine pronouns. As such, I believe we should refer to the vessel by masculine pronouns in the article. I'm aware that ships are traditionally called by feminine pronouns, but I feel like the captain has authority over tradition here.

Sources: https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/why-do-ships-have-a-gender#:~:text=This%20is%20less%20common%20in,view%20of%20its%20awesome%20power.

https://www.kbismarck.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=55 SSBelfastFanatic (talk) 16:06, 25 April 2024 (UTC)

No, we won't be propagating Nazi propaganda, thanks. Parsecboy (talk) 16:09, 25 April 2024 (UTC)

Alright, thanks! SSBelfastFanatic (talk) 16:16, 25 April 2024 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 20 May 2024

At around 10:00, a shell from King George V penetrated the upper citadel belt and exploded in the ship's after canteen, killing Oels on the gun deck and about a hundred others.

To

At around 10:00, a shell from King George V penetrated the upper citadel belt and exploded in the ship's aft canteen, killing Oels on the gun deck and about a hundred others.

"after canteen" to "aft canteen" 143.159.69.199 (talk) 07:22, 20 May 2024 (UTC)

 Done Charliehdb (talk) 09:59, 20 May 2024 (UTC)

Ship pronoun proposal

I suggest we use neuter pronouns (it) instead of feminine (she) for ships in this article. This is allowable under WP:SHIPPRONOUNS. The reasoning is that it's a compromise measure given the German use of masculine "he" for ships and widespread use of "he" elsewhere to refer to Bismarck. So doing so might head off future edit conflict. Fangz (talk) 18:46, 27 September 2024 (UTC)

Using "it" won't satisfy the Wheraboos, and I'm not inclined to "compromise" with them when their position is Nazi propaganda. Ships aren't masculine in German; "schiffe" is feminine, and they use the term "schwesterschiff", not "bruderschiff". It's also worth pointing out that the de.wiki article begins "Die Bismarck war ein Schlachtschiff... (emphasis mine). Lastly, the idea that Bismarck is referred to as "he" widely elsewhere seems a rather dubious proposition - I find exactly zero returns for battleship Bismarck "his wreck", while battleshi Bismarck "her wreck" returns quite a few. Parsecboy (talk) 19:09, 27 September 2024 (UTC)

Fair enough. Does wikipedia have an article discussing this? I don't mean internal wikipedia policy, rather the historical aspect. Fangz (talk) 19:38, 1 October 2024 (UTC)

Do you mean the grammatical gender of ships in general? Not that I’m aware of. Parsecboy (talk) 21:00, 1 October 2024 (UTC)

Well that's one thing but I think it would be good to discuss the specifics of this issue wrt WWII propaganda. I see some forum posts about Lindemann proposing this for Bismarck but maybe there's a good reference to be found. Fangz (talk) 14:34, 2 October 2024 (UTC)

Two points: we don't engage with Nazi propaganda anywhere else, I see no reason to here (especially since this is so trivial). And I've seen no reference to the idea in any legitimate source I've read, so we shouldn't cover it either, regardless of what nonsense is spread on forums. Parsecboy (talk) 15:20, 2 October 2024 (UTC)