In May 1941, the balance of the war at sea shifted on a knife-edge. The German battleship Bismarck, the most powerful warship in Europe, slipped into the North Atlantic with orders to sever the convoy lifelines sustaining the United Kingdom. What followed was one of the most intense naval operations in history, spanning thousands of square miles of ocean.

In this episode, we follow the narrative of the chase from the first sightings in the Baltic to the freezing mists of the Denmark Strait. We examine the shocking destruction of the HMS Hood, the desperate cat-and-mouse game that followed, and the critical role played by the Swordfish biplanes of the HMS Ark Royal. This is the complete story of the hunt, the tactical decisions made by Admirals Lütjens and Tovey, and the final destruction of the German giant.

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