Ludovic Kennedy’s Pursuit is a well-used favourite for studying the chase and sinking of Bismarck. Kennedy lost his father, a Royal Navy captain commanding an armed merchant cruiser, and later served aboard HMS Tartar during the pursuit. His experience gives the book a participant’s view of destroyer service and the war’s human cost. Kennedy opens with a quotation about war and pity, placing the operation’s ships and manoeuvres within that moral frame.
Chapter · 0:05-2:16
A destroyer officer’s account of the Bismarck hunt
Ludovic Kennedy’s Pursuit combines his first-hand experience aboard HMS Tartar with the loss of his father in Royal Navy service, giving the hunt for Bismarck a personal wartime perspective.