The closing counterfactual imagines the Admiral Hipper class as larger, tougher, and more effective cruisers. A better Prinz Eugen might then have remained beside Bismarck for the final battle instead of separating. That additional German firepower would likely have brought more British cruisers or a battlecruiser into the action as well. Rodney and King George V would still have held the decisive advantage, so the German ships would probably have gone down together. The thought experiment distinguishes improving an individual design from solving the larger strategic and force-balance problem.
Notable Point · 1:15:07-1:16:03
Better German cruisers would not have saved Bismarck
Even a stronger Prinz Eugen alongside Bismarck would probably only have drawn more British heavy ships into the final action rather than changing its outcome.