Historically, Bismarck and Prinz Eugen met Hood and Prince of Wales in an unusually isolated capital-ship action. Diesel endurance could let Germany add a cruiser, a light cruiser, and perhaps half a dozen destroyers to the sortie. Britain would then have reason to commit its shadowing cruisers and destroyers instead of holding them outside the main fight. The result resembles a Mediterranean convoy battle, where screening forces and torpedo attacks shape the engagement as much as battleship gunfire.
Notable Point · 1:21:50-1:23:58
Denmark Strait becomes a task-force battle
Long-range escorts turn the Denmark Strait counterfactual from a four-capital-ship encounter into a larger fleet action involving cruisers and destroyers on both sides.