hem north of the Hebrides during May, 23. About the same time the Bismarck leading the Prinz Eugen they headed south into the Denmark Straits. At 1922 the German ships, using radar made contact with the Suffolk a British cruiser ahead of them. The Suffolk hid in a fog bank and allowed the German ships to pass and then proceeded to follow them. About an hour later the , the Bismarck detected a second ship which was the British cruiser Norfolk. The Bismarck immeditly engaged the Norfolk only barely damaging her, but forcing her to with draw. To the Southeast, the Hood, Prince of Wales, and four destroyers were on an intercepting course, using the information supplied by the Suffolk. At 0515 on May 24 the Prinz Eugen made a sound contact identified as high-speed propellers. A half hour later smoke apeared on the horizon and the masts soon appeared. The ships closed to 26,000 meters and at 0552 the Hood opened fire. The Prince of Wales followed a minute later. The first salvo feel harmlessly in the wake of the Prinz Eugen and the Germans held their fire. Shortly after this a shell fragment landed near the funnel of the German cruiser and was the nearest the Prinz Eugen would come to battle damage the entire engagement. The German ships concentrated on the Hood and within a minute the Prinz Eugen made a hit with a 203-mm high-explosive shell that stuck the Hood at the base of the mainmast. A huge fire flared up on the Hood, but was quickly put out. The Prinz Eugen was ordered by the Bismarck to shift fire from the Hood to The Prince of Wales. And as the Bismarck fired a fifth salvo one or more shells from the fourth salvo that hit the Hood near her aft turrets. The result was a large explosion that accured at 0601. As the ship sank beneath the surface, the forward guns fired one last salvo, like a defiant gesture. The Hood in her second sea battle was hit, blown up, and sunk in only an interval of eight minutes. British de...
