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Admiral Tovey, whose fleet had got within a hundred miles of the enemy and then lost her, there were a number of urgent questions to try to answer on that morning of May 25.
    Had the Bismarck turned west toward Greenland to meet a German tanker for refueling? Had she turned south for a rendezvous with a tanker near the Azores, or southeast for repairs at Brest or St. Nazaire on the French coast? Or had she perhaps turned back for the Denmark Strait whence she could continue home to bases in Norway and Germany?
    After considering all the possibilities, Sir John chose the first two: that the Bismarck was steering either west for Greenland or south for the Azores in order to refuel. He directed the cruisers Suffolk and Norfolk to cover the west and northwest courses. He ordered the carrier Victorious to send planes on an aerial search in that general direction. Her protecting cruisers were to accompany her. The battle cruiser Repulse was now so short of oil that she was instructed to leave the squadron and proceed to Newfoundland for refueling. On the way, she would be in a position to cover the western search area.
    The battleship Ramillies was some 400 miles to the south and steaming almost due north. She was told to continue on course. She was old and slow and hardly able to stand up to the Bismarck should they meet alone. But she was all the British had at the moment to engage the German battleship if she had veered south toward the Azores.
    Sir John himself turned southwest with what was left of his Home Fleet. Not much was left. His battle cruiser and carrier, as well as his cruisers and destroyers, were gone. His one remaining battleship, the King George V , was scarcely amatch for the more powerful Bismarck , so he ordered her sister ship, the Prince of Wales , to join him. Though crippled, the Prince of Wales had doggedly remained in the search with the Suffolk and Norfolk . She now left them to join Admiral Tovey’s flagship.
    There were other heavy British ships which might play a vital role if the Bismarck were found again. The chief of these was the battleship Rodney . Although the Rodney , as we have seen, was badly in need of repairs, her commander was sure she could put up a good fight if necessary.
    All night long the Rodney had been steaming at full speed to join Admiral Tovey. About 3:00 A.M. on the 25th, when her destroyer escort began to fall behind in the rough seas, Captain Dalrymple-Hamilton pushed his battleship on alone, leaving his destroyers to catch up as best they could.
    When he learned two hours later that the Bismarck had been lost, the Rodney was about 400 miles southeast of the German ship’s last known position. This, the Captain saw at once, was a pretty good place in which to be. He was sure that the Bismarck was now making for a Frenchor Spanish port for repairs. If so, the Rodney was almost directly in her way. The wisest course, therefore, was for Captain Dalrymple-Hamilton to stop and remain just about where he was. And that is what he did.
    Vice-Admiral Somerville’s Force H—including the battle cruiser Renown , the aircraft carrier Ark Royal and the cruiser Sheffield —was still more than a thousand miles to the southeast. All it could do for the moment was to continue at full speed to the northwest. At first it seemed to Somerville that he had left Gibraltar too late to get in on any action. But then it began to occur to him that, if the Bismarck made for a Spanish or French port, he might still join the fight. He pressed on as fast as he could.
    Unlike Somerville and Captain Dalrymple-Hamilton, the Commander in Chief of the Home Fleet did not believe that the lost Bismarck was heading southeast toward Spain or France. All morning long—from 6:30 A.M. until nearly eleven o’clock—Admiral Tovey steered southwestward, searching in vain for the vanished enemy.
    Then the British had a stroke of luck. Admiral Luetjens broke radio silence!
    Early in the morning the Admiral had