The Bismarck's major conquest, as you recall, was the HOOD. The HOOD was NOT a battleship, but a WWI anachronism known as a BATTLE-CRUISER...which type failed miserabley at JUTLAND, because ...although armed like a BB, had much lighter armor protection...making them very vulnerable to BB sized projectiles.
Yes, but you forget that during that same encounter, the Bismark also spanked the HMS Prince of Wales, a modern, heavily armored battleship. The Bismark only broke off the engagement (without finishing off the Prince of Wales) because of the necessity of getting back to safe waters before it was caught by the rest of the Royal Navy; one-on-one, German battleships acquited themselves very well, but due to the fact that they were severely outnumbered by the British, they could not risk major engagments because (as the Swordfish torpedo proved) even a minor hit could doom them.
BTW, if I were to compare hit ratios, I would say that German fire control was superior to that of the British, who were certainly no slouches; the American Iowa class battleships were more modern than the Bismark, but their fire control was not necessarily superior; the Germans had fire control computers, advanced optical sights, and radar, too. I don't really see any American superiority in technology and training; and the slight advantage in size and firepower for the Iowas would not necessarily have been decisive; as per usual, it would have probably come down to who had the superior commander and crew, and the better luck.
As to the question of scuttling: it would have been very suprising had the Germans not scuttled the Bismark. They had plenty of time, once they lost control of their rudder, to realize that they were doomed, allowing them to set the charges. Once honor had been appeased by going down fighting with guns blazing, it would have been a court martial offense for the German captain not to make sure that the scuttling charges were set off. The Germans could not risk the humiliation of having one of their capital ships captured; not to mention the intelligence risk of exposing their most advanced naval weapon to enemy inspection.