Plot summary

In 1939, the Nazi Germany's largest and most powerful battleship, Bismarck, is launched in a ceremony at Hamburg with Adolf Hitler attending. The launching of the hull is seen as the beginning of an era of German sea power. Two years later, in 1941, British convoys are being ravaged by U-boats and surface raider attacks which cut off supplies which Britain needs to continue the war. In May, British intelligence discovers the Bismarck, and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen are about to break into the North Atlantic to attack convoys.The man assigned to coordinate the hunt is the Admiralty's chief of operations, Captain Jonathan Shepard (Kenneth More), who has been distraught over the death of his wife in an air raid and the sinking of his ship by German ships commanded by Admiral Günther Lutjens (Karel Stepanek). Upon receiving his new post, Shepard discovers Lutjens is the fleet commander on the Bismarck. Shepard's experience of conflict with the German Navy and his understanding of Lutjens allows him to predict the Bismarck's movements. Shepard is aggressive to his staff but comes increasingly to rely on the coolness and skill of his assistant, WREN Second Officer Anne Davis (Dana Wynter).Lutjens is also bitter. After World War I, he considered he had no recognition for his efforts in the war. Lutjens promises the captain of the Bismarck, Ernst Lindemann (Carl Mohner), that this time, he and Germany will be remembered in greatness.The two German warships encounter HMS Hood and HMS Prince of Wales in the Denmark Strait, and the four warships engage in a deadly gun duel. The battle results in the annihilation and violent disintegration of the Hood, shocking combatants on both sides. Prince of Wales is alone and is fired on by the two German ships. She manages to inflict damage on Bismarck's bow, but Bismarck returns fire, destroying the Prince of Wales' bridge. Prince of Wales emits a smoke screen behind which to retreat. Bismarck and Prinz Eugen also retreat, but they are shadowed by the cruisers HMS Suffolk and HMS Norfolk using radar. Later, Prinz Eugen breaks away and heads towards the port of Brest, in occupied France, while Bismarck turns and fires at the British cruisers to provide cover as she escapes. The attack forces the cruisers to retreat. An air assault from the carrier HMS Victorious damages Bismarck's fuel tanks, but the vessel is otherwise largely undamaged.The battleship's escape is shadowed by smaller British ships. Shepard, obsessed with Bismarck, must endure the likely death of his son as an air-gunner on a Fairey Swordfish torpedo bomber from HMS Ark Royal, one of the British ships deployed to the hunt. He gambles that Lutjens is returning to friendly waters where U-boats and air cover will make it impossible to attack.Shepard commits large forces stripped from convoy escort and uses Catalina flying boats to search for the battleship. His hunch proves correct, and Bismarck is located, apparently steaming towards the German-occupied French coast. British forces have a narrow window to destroy or slow their prey before German support and their own diminishing fuel supplies prevent further attack. Swordfish torpedo planes from HMS Ark Royal have two chances. The first fails: they misidentify HMS Sheffield as Bismarck; the new magnetic torpedo detonators are faulty and most explode as they hit the water. Returning to the carrier and changing to conventional contact explodes, their second attack, this time on the Bismarck, is successful. One torpedo causes only minor damage; but a catastrophic second hit near the stern jams the German battleship's rudder.Unable to repair the rudder, the German battleship steams in circles. A night attack by British destroyer's torpedoes Bismarck but the battleship returns fire, destroying one of the pursuing destroyers. The main force of British ships (including battleships HMS Rodney and HMS King George V) finds Bismarck the next day, raining gunfire on her. Lutjens in his final moments insists to Lindemann that German forces will arrive to save them, but he dies when a shell destroys Bismarck's bridge.On board King George V, Admiral John Tovey orders the newly joined cruiser HMS Dorsetshire to finish Bismarck off. The cruiser fires torpedoes at the German battleship, causing the vessel to sink faster than her crew can escape.After the sinking of the Bismarck and having been told that his son has been rescued, Shepard asks Davis out to dinner, believing it to be nine o'clock at night, only to realize it is nine in the morning. Davis suggests breakfast, and they walk off together.