C.S. Forester was a masterly storyteller and he makes this short (100-page) account extremely readable and, for me, wholly involving. The physical and strategic challenges and the immensely high stakes are very well portrayed, as is the nail-bitingly tight timescale to find and engage the Bismarck, all helpfully illustrated with charts showing the various ships’ positions.
Forester imagines a few characters who epitomise the people involved; the naval ratings, those at British naval HQ, the people affected by the Bismarck’s disastrous destruction of H.M.S. Hood and so on. He also puts words into the mouths of real people, like Admiral Lutjens and Captain Lindemann aboard the Bismarck. He does both very well, although there are moments when characters explain things to each other a little clunkily and which might have been better done by the narrator. Nonetheless, this is a terrific read, I think, and a clear, stark account of one of the decisive events of the Second World War. Warmly recommended.
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