Frederic Wake-Walker

With no better option other than to guess, they altered their course west and began steaming until daybreak.

When no contact was made, Rear Admiral Wake Walker on board HMS Norfolk ordered the three ships to break off and do a daylight search for Bismarck.

They all went in the wrong direction.

The tension on Bismarck must have been unbearable at this point because they've lost radar contact.

But everything depended on the continued excellent performance of the two British cruisers, the Suffolk and the Norfolk.

And in fact, Admiral Wake Walker was given a direct order that nothing should prevent him from staying with the Bismarck.

This included the fact that he should not abandon his pursuit even if it meant that his ships would run out of fuel before reaching port.

This was kind of an exclamation point on how important the Admiralty felt finding the sinking that Bismarck really was.

The battleship would emerge from a squall about 16,700 meters from the Suffolk.

The distance had only gotten this close because at the same time that the Bismarck had started its turn, the British ships had been closing in to try and execute an attack with the goal of slowing the Bismarck further.

This attack had been prompted by some messages from London that seemed to call into question Wake Walker and Captain Leach's aggression, or lack thereof.

Churchill at one point even wanted to court-martial Captain Leach for having broken off the action with the Bismarck, which is a wild thing to be throwing at commanders from the luxurious offices in London.

Two battleships and a battlecruiser would be even more formidable than the first battlecruiser squadron had been, well, before the Hood had been hit.

As the Prince of Wales pulled away from the fight, it would begin tailing the German ships much like the Suffolk and the Norfolk had been, and in fact the Prince of Wales would come under the command of Admiral Wake Walker of the Suffolk.

Wake Walker believed that Captain Leach's plan was the correct one, and that breaking off action was the correct move, and so the three ships settled into a following formation while waiting for reinforcements.

Obviously, none of this mattered to the men that had been aboard the Hood.

There had been 1,418 officers and men on board the Hood at the start of the battle, and precisely three would survive.

The most urgent need was to spot the ships because their exact locations were needed before Admiral Tovey could commit his capital ships to a chase due to the possibility of fuel and range limitations, making it difficult to keep up with the German ships.

When it came to finding the Bismarck, the most pivotal role would be played by the cruisers that were positioned along possible routes into the Atlantic, including the two under the command of Admiral Wake-Walker, the Suffolk and the Norfolk.

These cruisers and the radar that they had mounted on them were assigned to watch the Denmark Strait.

Their goal was not to engage the Bismarck.

While the German ships worked together to position themselves to best utilize the strengths of their ships and cover for their weaknesses, the two British cruisers would do the same.

They would meet up at 10:00 AM on May 23rd as they continued their shadowing, and they would begin to coordinate their efforts through orders sent back and forth through signal lamps.

The two ships were under the command of Rear Admiral Wake-Walker, and he understood the limitations of the radar on both ships, which would make it challenging to do what they were trying to do.

The biggest issue is that the two cruisers could not risk coming within engagement range of the Bismarck.