Comments by "Steve Valley" (@stevevalley7835) on "The Drydock - Episode 189" video.

wrt to the question of KGV joining PoW and Hood, KGV and Repulse were patrolling together to the south of Iceland. The intention appears to have been to place one strong ship (KGV or PoW) with one weak ship (Hood or Repulse) on each possible route. If they sent KGV and PoW together to Denmark Strait, leaving Hood and Repulse together south of Iceland, and Bismark took the southern route, it could have been an even worse day for the RN. Tovey had hopes of engaging Bismark on the 25th, and ordered Repulse to stay some 5000 yards behind KGV until KGV had engaged Bismark, to avoid Repulse performing a repeat of Hood's destruction.
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@Alex-cw3rz we know the Brits are going to use the same tactics, head straight for the German ships at high speed and wind the range down to about 15-16,000 yards. With that approach, the belt armor doesn't matter, because it isn't facing the enemy. Given the frontal area available to shoot at, vs the deck area, and knowing that the most likely error in aim will be estimating range, I figure the trick for the Germans is to use a reduced charge, fire into a high trajectory and go for a deck hit. Not only could Bismark punch through Hood's deck, Prinz Eugen could easily punch through Repulse's deck. Even if the British ships survived to their "decisive" range of 15-16,000, Bismark could penetrate Hood's 12" belt, and Prinz Eugen could penetrate anything short of the thickest part of Repulse's belt. imho, Tovey was correct, send one strong ship, and one weak one, to each passage.
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