Was Ludovic Kennedy serving in HMS Duke of York during the Bismarck operation?
Short answerNo. Ludovic Kennedy is placed aboard the Tribal-class destroyer HMS Tartar, and his later book is linked to the film Sink the Bismarck!
NotesSink the Bismarck! was heavily shaped by Ludovic Kennedy's book about the pursuit. When a viewer asks whether Kennedy served in Duke of York, he is instead identified with the Tribal-class destroyer HMS Tartar. Kennedy's interest also had a personal context: his father, Edward Coverley Kennedy, was killed while commanding HMS Rawalpindi. Family experience, wartime service, and later historical writing all fed into the popular retelling of the Bismarck operation.