The German battleship Bismarck is one of the most famous warships of the Second World War. The lead ship of her class, she was named after the 19th-century German chancellor Otto von Bismarck. Bismarck's fame came from the Battle of the Denmark Strait in May 1941 (in which the battle cruiser HMS Hood, flagship and pride of the British Royal Navy, was sunk), from Churchill's subsequent order to "Sink the Bismarck" and from the relentless pursuit by the Royal Navy that ended with her loss only three days later.