On May 24, 1941, the Battle of the Denmark Strait occurs as forces of the British Royal Navy and the German Kriegsmarine engage in combat. The German force, consisting of the battleship Bismarck and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen, was attempting to break out to the North Atlantic to attack Allied merchant shipping. However, the British learned of this attempted deployment and deployed a force consisting of the battleship HMS Prince of Wales, the battlecruiser HMS Hood, heavy cruisers HMS Norfolk and HMS Suffolk, and six destroyers to intercept and destroy the German vessels. Problems arose for the British when they lost contact with the German force, forcing the British to split their own forces. Prince of Walesand Hood changed course to the south-southwest while the remaining vessels continued on their original course. When contact with the Germans was re-established, this meant that British force was split and Prince of Wales and Hood launched their attack alone.

At 05:52, Hood opened fire upon Prinz Eugen, mistaking the ship for Bismarck due to its position. Realizing their error, both British ships then shifted fire onto the Bismarck. Hood ultimately struck the Bismarck three times with one round knocking the ship's seaplane catapult out of action while the other two rounds struck the ships hull, damaging machinery and causing an oil leak.

At 05:55, the German ships began returning fire, causing a fire in one of Hood's ammunition stores. At 06:00, Hood began a turn to bring more guns to bear. It was during this turn that a round fired from Bismarck detonated one of the magazines on the Hood which then spread throughout the ship, completely destroying it. Of the 1,418 aboard Hood, only three survived. This left Prince of Wales alone against the German ships. After sustaining multiple hits from both German ships and loosing much of its firepower due to malfunctions, turned away at 06:04 and had retired from the battle six minutes later. With the captain of Bismarck being ordered to not pursue, the battle was over.

Taking on water and leaking fuel, Bismarck was ordered to sail to the French port of Saint-Nazaire for repairs and resupply. Though farther away than German-controlled ports in Norway, Saint-Nazaire offered more opportunities to lose the pursuing Allied forces and could possibly mean support from two other German battleships. However, the Royal Navy soon caught up with Bismarck and, three days after the Battle of the Denmark Strait, the German battleship Bismarck lay at the bottom of the ocean. Out of a crew of over 2,200 men, only 114 survived.