Both Bismarck and Tirpitz endured ALOT of damage before sinking. Thus german battleships have the reputation of being extremely resilent and armoured. Is this true or just a popular myth? What made them so resilent?
Not discouraging further answers, but: The Bismarck's design was really quite bad -- you may be interested in this older thread where u/DBHT14 and u/thefourthmaninaboat discuss the ship's design flaws. (Tirpitz spent its career at anchor, so its fighting qualities were never tested.)
Since that thread is archived, feel free to ask follow-up questions here.