7900 is Iowa's "full load" of fuel oil, but her "emergency" or "overload" configuration is about 9000 tons.
The question is what is Bismarck capacity this seems like it ought to be simple, but I've seen quite a few different numbers given and it seems like Tirpitz had a bit more then her sister adding to the confusion. However the best break down I've seen of the vessels entire displacement is in the book Battleships of the Bismarck Class: Warships of the Kriegsmarine
Once you do the math based on that break down it's basically -Normal maximum capacity was 6400 tonnes that's "full load", this is about 7050 short tons. -A further 1000 tonnes could be crammed in for the equivalent of the USN "emergency" load for 7400 tonnes. I haven't been able to find if the diesel fuel carried by the ship was usable in the boilers (or if it was potentially replaced for more fuel oil in the overload configuration), but assuming it was available for use that would add about 190 tonnes more. That comes out to 8400 short tons.
I'm not sure where the 8700 ton figure quoted here comes from, no reputable technical book on the ships I know of has ever given that figure or one that would convert to that (the closest is if you use Tirpitz with fuel oil only which would round up to 8600 short tons). Regardless this is a quite high fuel fraction for a battleship.
Edit: Another factor to consider is which "tons" is being discussed here the IJN of the time used long tons when talking about displacement, which means you sometimes need to be careful when you see something listed as just "tons".
I'm not sure where the 8700 ton figure quoted here comes from, no reputable technical book on the ships I know of has ever given that figure or one that would convert to that (the closest is if you use Tirpitz with fuel oil only which would round up to 8600 short tons). Regardless this is a quite high fuel fraction for a battleship.
I'm not sure how reputable they may be, but non-technical sources like Clash of Titans: World War II at Sea (1995) and Battleship Bismarck: A Survivor's Story (1980) quote the same figure, so it's understandable the figure exists for Freddy to pick up on. In fact, the translator (me) used a quote from the last one to double check Freddy for the TL note:
[Bismarck's] maximum fuel capacity was 8,700 tons which gave her an operating range of 8,900 nautical miles at a speed of 17 knots, 9,280 nautical miles at at 16 knots. This was remarkable range for a turbine ship of the day, and it shows from the outset, the Bismarck was intended for high seas operations. However it was some 1,000 nautical miles less than the range of the proceeding Scharnhorst class of turbine battleships[...]
I'm not sure how reputable they may be, but non-technical sources like Clash of Titans: World War II at Sea (1995) and Battleship Bismarck: A Survivor's Story (1980) quote the same figure, so it's understandable the figure exists for Freddy to pick up on. In fact, the translator (me) used a quote from the last one to double check Freddy for the TL note:
Garzke/Dulin quote the bunker capacity of Iowa-class as 8765 mt for 1945 Iowa, 8214 mt for 1943 NJ, 8983 mt for 1949 MO, WI, IL and KE. Resulting in endurance of about 15900 nm at 17 kn.
R. A. Burt in WSF German Battleship 1897-1945 (dunno if he's a reliable source) quote Bismarck bunker oil capacity as 7775 tons and Tirpitz as 8641 tons. Resulting in endurance of 9280 nm for Bismarck and 10200 nm for Tirpitz at 16 kn.
Paul Schmalenbach in Warship Profile: KM Bismarck gives bunker oil capacity as about 7460 mt.
Jack Brower in Anatomy of The Ship: The Battleship Bismarck gives a figure of 8294 tonnes (not sure which ton), with 7400 tonnes usable fuel. Resulting in 8600 nm endurance at 15 kn.
*Stretch*Chug, chug, chug, chug, chug...The Naval District's fuel supplies continued to be exhausted today.END7000 tons or so should be plenty...right?*Toss**Splash**Mouth hanging*Bismarck's fuel capacity:
8700 tonsIt seems a rival threatening the pride of CarDiv 1 has appeared!As of December 1, 2015, the highest of any fully implemented ship
The Bismarck-class battleships were designed to operate over an extended range due to the lack of German bases overseasBurpYes, it's a bit lacking.Oh my...