Pursuit: The Chase and Sinking of the Battleship Bismarck (Classics of Naval Literature)

Rating:
Summary: Eloquent, absorbing and immensely insightful - a "classic"
Review: Written in 1974 ~ in a world before Muellenheim-Rechberg, Ballard, and Mearns became published, familiar names ~ this is a wide-ranging and richly-textured account deserving of the too-loosely bandied term "classic". Sir Ludovic was a serving Lieutenant aboard HMS TARTAR, one of the Tribal-class destroyers present at the climax of this most epic of sea stories. Far from being merely an "I was there..." account, PURSUIT is the result of extensive research into official British, German and other records, coupled with the fruits of an amazing array of interviews and correspondence with many of the key players, at sea and ashore. Esmond Knight, from the PRINCE OF WALES (who also made a cameo appearance in "Sink the Bismarck") was among the sources, as was (surprising to me) Norwegian fisherman Viggo Axelssen, whose sunset sighting of the two German ships outbound past Kristiansand confirmed the first sighting report relayed by Britain's Naval Attache in Stockholm.
Sir Ludovic weaves a wealth of facts and operational insights through his narrative strands, his hallmark prose style at once seductively gripping and colourful: scenes, moods, weather, waves and witness accounts bring this tragic tale to life in a unique way. For example, from the start of Chapter Four (you'll know what's coming!): "And so the two admirals, Luetjens and Holland, riding on their great chargers, came at each other like knights of old, with guns for lances and armoured bridges for visors and pennants streaming in the wind."
The track charts and maps are masterpieces, and set a standard for the genre all too rarely emulated today. One photograph in particular ~ of BISMARCK departing from Grimstad Fjord ~ is a gem I've not seen in any other publication, and the double-page view from the REPULSE of the KGV and VICTORIOUS "standing on towards the enemy in a flurry of spray" captures the lonely desperation of the evening following the Denmark Strait battle.
By any measure, this book is a "must have".