The claim that Britain knowingly allowed the German ships into the Atlantic fails on operational grounds. If the Admiralty had possessed precise advance knowledge, Nelson and Rodney would have offered a far more decisive interception than Rawalpindi. HMS Clyde likewise tried to sink Gneisenau rather than merely damage her, while battleship escorts were already a normal way to protect critical convoys. The actual dispositions fit a navy reacting under uncertainty better than one executing a controlled trap.
Notable Point · 32:28-37:58
Why Operation Berlin was not a carefully staged British trap
The trap theory fails because a forewarned Royal Navy could have positioned decisive battleships instead of sacrificing weaker patrol forces.