Fog hampered reconnaissance efforts on both sides. While British flyers struggled to ascertain whether the German ships had left Norway, German scout planes incorrectly reported that all the battleships of the Home Fleet still lay at anchor.

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On the evening of 23rd May, Suffolk sighted Bismarck as the battleship steamed through a clearing between the patches of fog. The cruiser radioed a report to Hood and Prince of Wales, which were then about 300 miles away. They turned to close on the enemy and at dawn on the 24th, they intercepted the German warships.

When the range had closed to about 25,000 yards, Hood and Prince of Wales began firing. Bismarck and Prinz Eugen responded within a few minutes. About eight minutes into the fight, a shell from Bismarck plunged through Hood’s thinly armoured deck and exploded among the ship’s main ammunition stores. A huge cloud of smoke erupted and when it cleared, Hood had vanished. From the vantage point of Prince of Wales, a crewman noticed ‘a great rushing sound which had ominously ceased, and then, as I looked a great spouting explosion issued from the centre of the Hood. I just did not believe what I saw–Hood had literally been blow to pieces.’

Prince of Wales had to steer sharply to avoid hitting wrecked fragments of the battlecruiser, turning directly into the line of fire of both German warships. Greatly outgunned, the British battleship also suffered from mechanical problems with her main armament. First her forward turret jammed, prompting Captain John Leach to turn the ship about and steam away from Bismarck, at the same time laying smoke to confound the German rangefinders. Then the aft turret also failed. By the end of the engagement, only one of Leach’s main guns was functioning properly. Though fighting back doggedly, Prince of Wales took seven hits. None of them were fatal to the ship, but one struck the bridge, killing or wounding everyone there except Captain Leach and a signalman.

Despite her troublesome guns, Prince of Wales succeeded in hitting Bismarck twice in return. Neither hit was immediately serious, but each became increasingly significant as the hunt continued. The first shell to strike Bismarck flooded a generator room and one of the ship’s boilers had to be shut down. The other shell went clear through the bow, flooding two forward compartments of the ship and depriving her of 1,000 tons of fuel stored in tanks forward of the damage.

Unable to remain in the fight any longer, Prince of Wales broke off the action and, with Norfolk and Suffolk, trailed the German ships at a safe distance. The battle had been a shocking German victory. In just eight minutes Bismarck had sunk the pride of the Royal Navy and given a terrible thrashing to its newest battleship. Author Ludovic Kennedy, then serving as a sub-lieutenant on the British destroyer Tartar, recalled that: ‘For most Englishmen the news of the Hood’s death was traumatic, as though Buckingham Palace had been laid flat or the Prime Minister assassinated, so integral a part was she of the fabric of Britain and her empire.’

On Bismarck, however, jubilation was mixed with concern. Prince of Wales’ gallant resistance had damaged Bismarck where she could least afford it. With her range limited by the loss of fuel and her speed reduced by the loss of a boiler, she would soon have to steam for a friendly port.

Admiral Lutjens, the German commander, detached the undamaged Prinz Eugen to operate independently while Bismarck raced towards safety.

The remaining battleships of the Home Fleet–King George V and Repulse–were still far from Bismarck and the prospects of an immediate rematch seemed slim. In an effort to slow Bismarck even further, Admiral Tovey ordered the aircraft carrier Victorious to launch an air strike. Then, to prevent Bismarck from escaping to the south, the Admiralty directed ‘Force H’, consisting of the battle-cruiser Renown, the cruiser Sheffield and the Ark Royal, to set a course north from Gibraltar.

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