Entering the Second World War, Britain was still the top naval power in the world.

While the British Navy was superior in its entirety, Nazi Germany had created a ship that

terrified the British.

One-on-one, it could take out almost any ship in the British fleet. Eventually

it was sent out into the open ocean of the North Atlantic to disrupt shipping. When the British

found out they dedicated almost all of their fleet in the North Atlantic to its destruction.

Learn more about the sinking of the Bismarck on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. The During the First World War, the German Navy had developed itself to a position where it could almost rival the British Navy, at least in the North Atlantic.

In 1916, during the Battle of Jutland, Navy, at least in the North Atlantic.

In 1916, during the Battle of Jutland,

Germany faced the British in what was the largest naval battle in history

in terms of the gross tonnage of the ships.

The battle was inconclusive, but it showed that Germany had become a serious

naval power. However, with the end of the war, the Treaty of Versailles placed serious restrictions

on the size of the German Navy and the type of ships that they could have. Given the advances

in technology through the 1920s and 30s these restrictions put Germany well

behind the other great powers. When Adolf Hitler came to power he said about rearming the German military.

In the case of the Navy, that would require developing a new type of warship that could

trump anything that the British or the French had.

In particular, the new Richelieu class battleships that the French had. In particular, the new Richelieu class battleships

that the French began building in 1935. In that spirit, the Germans developed a

new class of battleship which would be one of the largest battleships in the world.

This new class of battleship and the name of the very first such ship was named after the

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