Rodney's contact showed how narrow the raiders' margin had become

The German ships sank and captured merchants operating near the boundary between convoy protection and American waters. While Gneisenau was recovering survivors, HMS Rodney appeared and pursued, with accounts differing over how clearly each ship identified the other. The episode demonstrated that even a slow British battleship could become dangerous if it arrived before the raider had room to accelerate away. Survivor recovery and machinery condition narrowed the margin that nominal maximum speed appeared to provide.