Why a Free German Navy built around Bismarck is unlikely

Could Bismarck and Prinz Eugen have formed a Free German Navy if their officers turned against Hitler?

The defecting officers would need to supply a political leadership as well as ships. Their willingness is strongly doubted, although the scenario explicitly assumes they choose to defect.

The first objection to a Free German Navy is the absence of a Free German government. The reply proposes that Lütjens, or the senior surviving officer after a rebellion, could form that government. Churchill's willingness to cooperate with Stalin is offered as a reason he could also deal with such a German leadership. The participants then dispute whether Bismarck's officers would choose to defect and challenge simple portrayals of their Nazi sympathies. Lütjens's last signal is treated as conventional last-stand language that cannot by itself establish his ideological commitment.