Orders ended Operation Berlin so the ships could divert British forces and then enter Brest ahead of a planned sortie with Bismarck and Prinz Eugen. That schedule underestimated the punishment imposed by two months at sea. The expanding repair estimate for Gneisenau shows how maintenance and machinery endurance constrained the apparent strategic freedom created by the French Atlantic ports. A base at Brest shortened the route home, but it could not make worn machinery ready on the German staff's desired timetable.
Notable Point · 1:31:07-1:32:35
Atlantic wear undermined the planned Bismarck concentration
German planners expected quick repairs at Brest before a combined sortie, but Gneisenau's machinery work grew from an estimated month to roughly three.