High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Tirpitz was the second of two Bismarck-class battleships built for the German Kriegsmarine during World War II. Named after Grand Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz, the architect of the Imperial Navy, the ship was laid down at the Kriegsmarinewerft in Wilhelmshaven in November 1936 and launched two and a half years later in April 1939. Work was completed in February 1941, when she was commissioned into the German fleet. Like her sistership Bismarck, Tirpitz was armed with a main battery of eight 38-centimeter (15 in) guns in four twin turrets. As a result of a series of wartime modifications she was some 2,000 metric tons (2,000 long tons; 2,200 short tons) heavier than Bismarck.