Battle of the Denmark Strait

Battle of the Denmark Strait
Part of World War II
Bismarck firing at HMS Prince of Wales on 24 May 1941
Date 24 May 1941 Location Denmark Strait Result German tactical victory British operational victory Bismarck forced to suspend Atlantic campaign after sustaining damages Hood sunk after magazine explosion
Belligerents
Germany	United Kingdom
Commanders and leaders
Günther Lütjens Ernst Lindemann Helmuth Brinkmann	Lancelot Holland † John Leach Ralph Kerr † Frederic Wake-Walker
Strength
1 battleship 1 heavy cruiser	1 battleship 1 battlecruiser 2 heavy cruisers Did not participate in combat: 6 destroyers (on approach detached evening before battle)
Casualties and losses
1 battleship damaged 5 wounded	1 battlecruiser sunk 1 battleship damaged 1,428 dead 9 wounded

The Battle of the Denmark Strait was a Second World War naval battle between ships of the Royal Navy and the German Kriegsmarine, fought on 24 May 1941. The British battleship HMS Prince of Wales and the battlecruiser HMS Hood fought the German battleship Bismarck and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen, both of which were attempting to break out into the North Atlantic to attack Allied merchant shipping (Operation Rheinübung).

Less than 10 minutes after the British opened fire, a shell from Bismarck struck Hood near her aft ammunition magazines. Soon afterward, Hood exploded, and sank within three minutes with the loss of all but three of her crew. Prince of Wales continued to exchange fire with Bismarck but suffered serious malfunctions in her main armament as the British battleship had not fully worked up after only being completed in late March 1941 and soon broke off the engagement. The battle was considered a major tactical victory for the Germans, but its impact was short-lived; the damage done to Bismarck's forward fuel tanks forced the abandonment of her Atlantic breakout mission and necessitated an attempt to escape to safe dry dock facilities in occupied France, producing an operational victory for the British. Incensed by the loss of Hood, a large British force pursued and sank Bismarck three days later.

The two German ships were expected to sail westward and break through the Greenland-Iceland-UK (GIUK) gap. While passing neutral Sweden in the Baltic Sea, the ships were spotted and reported by the Swedish cruiser Gotland and patrol planes; these reports were intercepted by the British embassy, allowing Royal Navy ships to watch their probable route. Due to cloud and rain, aircraft scheduled to assist in the search could not do so when the German ships attempted their breakout.

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