Admiral Toveys plan, was for the Rodney to take the lead and draw the Bismarck's fire while the King George would keep her distance and fire plunging shots onto Bismarck's decks, Ones the Bismarck was fully engaged the heavy cruisers would come in rang and add their fire power to the battle. Because Rodney had the thickest armour it was felt that she was best placed to withstand the Bismarck's fire power.

at 0843, the Bismarck was sighted coming out of a rain squall. The Rodney opened fire first, followed by the King George V, one minute later. At a distance of 20,000 metres the Bismarck returned fire with here 2 forward turrets against the Rodney. Here rear turrets could not be trained on target for a while due to here inability to maneuver. A few minutes later the heavy cruiser Norfolk joined the battle with here eight inch guns.

The Rodney had been firing for about 16 minutes when she Finally got the range, the Bismarck was hit by several shells. At five past nine, the heavy cruiser Dorsetshire arrived on the seine to add here fire power. At 0908, the Bismarck was hit by a devastating salvo from the Rodney which hit the roof of B turret towards the back. This destroyed B turret and cut the hydraulic power to A turret. The explosion blasted into the bridge killing or wounding every one there and put the forward range finder out of action. Bismarck's fire control was, therefore, shifted to the rear range finder. But at 0913 this was also put out of action by a 14-inch shell. The rear turrets then proceeded to fire under less effective local control. Noting the sporadic, ineffective fire being directed towards her, the Rodney closed the distance, bringing her secondary armaments into play while also increasing her accuracy. At 0931 Bismarck fired her last 15 inch salvo. Only a few secondary guns were still in action, but these were soon silenced, by the enormous avalanche of British fire.
Once the Bismarck's guns had gone silent, Rodney moved in for the kill. From a distance of 3,000 metres, Rodney, battered the Bismarck at point blank rang with her nine 16-inch guns. Ones the port side had been wrecked and on fire from stem to stern, the Rodney maneuverd to the Bismarck starboard side to continue the carnage. The two ships where so close that British sailors could see what was happening on bard the Bismarck
At 0956, the Rodney launched here last two torpedoes from a distance of 2,700 metres, the previous six, fired from a greater distance having all missed, one hit the armoured belt which gave the Rodney the distinction of being the only battleship in history to have successfully torpedoed another battleship. Despite the appalling destruction inflicted on her superstructure, only two shells penetrated the armoured belt. The Bismarck's thick armour combined with a honeycomb of armoured bulkheads gave her excellent flotation characteristics.
On board the King George, Admiral Tovey observing the devastation on board the Bismarck, had seen enough. At 1016 he ordered a ceased fire, being short on fuel, he directed the Dorsetshire to finish her off with torpedoes, while the home fleet would make its way back to port. Despite being ablaze from head to stern the Bismarck refused to sink. The senior officer still alive made the decision to abandon ship and put her out of her misery by ordering the scuttling of the Bismarck. The Dorsetshire closed the range and fired two torpedoes at Bismarck's starboard side which due to Bismarck's list to port, acted as counter flooding. So the Dorsetshire moved over to the Bismarck's port side to launch her remaining torpedoes. By the time Dorsetshire launched her last torpedoes, the Bismarck's list to port was so sever that the torpedoes hit her decks. With the blood making the decks slippery and the increasing list to port, it was becoming increasingly difficult to move. Steadily listing due to having been hit by six torpedoes and over four hundred shells, the scuttling by her crew considerably hastened her demise. Finally, at 1039 the Bismarck capsized and began to sink. Of the 2249 crew, less than a thousand made it into the water alive.
As the Bismarck began her 3 mile journey to the bottom of the ocean, the armoured bulk heads which had protected the hundreds still on board from the inferno on deck, now became their tomb.

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