In establishing the sea state and visibility levels that existed during the Battle of the Denmark Strait, we've been looking closely at the newsreel footage which was taken by a film crew aboard KM Prinz Eugen. Although there are whitecaps on the waves, it certainly seems that it was quite a clear day for that region of the North Atlantic, and the upperworks of the British vessels can be made out reasonably well. It's interesting how early in the approach phase the Germans were able to confirm that HMS Hood was the lead RN ship, although they misidentified HMS Prince of Wales as her sister ship HMS King George V, having been misled by faulty Intelligence information. In these circumstances one might have expected Jurgens to divide the fire of his ships, rather than concentrate on Hood, but doubtless the reputation of the 'Mighty Hood' extended beyond British shores and had something to do with his command decision. In their many pre-war exercises, Hood had often been viewed as the 'primary threat' by the KM, and while the senior officers on the German ships certainly knew of the old battlecruiser's weaknesses, to their crews the Hood inspired only fear.
From our point of view in filming the battle, the lack of mist or fog may reduce the 'atmosphere' of the scene, but it will help the audience to more readily comprehend the flow of the action. As in 'Sink the Bismarck', the British ships will at first be moving from left to right, the 'strong' direction. As she disengages at the end, damaged and alone, HMS Prince of Wales will turn across the screen and then be steaming right to left, psychologically 'weak'. The unwritten rule in movies is 'show, don't tell'.
By not shooting at HMS Prince of Wales for the first half of the Battle, the Bismarck probably helped to seal her own fate. Although affected by many gun malfunctions, PoW was able to correctly identify the KM battleship before Hood did, had superior rangefinding equipment, obviously some highly competent officers and, it must be said, an excellent Captain. Although both British ships were working under the handicap of having crews that were generally not fully battle-trained, it was Prince of Wales that scored the first two crucial blows on Bismarck, essentially causing the failure of the Kriegsmarine mission. Once Hood was gone and PoW came under accurate concentrated fire, she was hit seven times in just a few minutes. If the British battleship had come under such fierce attack from the start of the battle she could well have been sunk, or at least critically disabled, and been unable to cripple Bismarck. If... As Churchill said in another context, "The terrible ifs accumulate"