The open fire range would depend on the tactical circumstances and local visibility, but a range of ~24km would be likely.Michael L wrote: ↑Mon May 29, 2023 10:42 pm There are always two sides to a story.
The Germans held their fire until 05:55, when both German ships fired on Hood. Lütjens did not immediately give the order to begin firing. Bismarck's first gunnery officer, Korvettenkapitän Adalbert Schneider, asked "Frage Feuererlaubnis?" (Permission to open fire?) several times without receiving a response, until the captain of Bismarck, Kapitän zur See Ernst Lindemann, impatiently responded: "Ich lasse mir doch nicht mein Schiff unter dem Arsch wegschießen. Feuererlaubnis!" (I'm not letting my ship get shot out from under my arse. Open fire!) –
Grützner, Jens (2010) (in German). Kapitän zur See Ernst Lindemann: Der Bismarck-Kommandant – Eine Biographie. VDM Heinz Nickel, page 180, as cited in: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of ... ark_Strait
However, whether the Germans returned fire half a minute afterwards, or three minutes afterwards, is missing the point I was trying to make. Which was that, historically the range for the 'effective' commencement of an engagement between ships was 24,000m after which the ships would close on each other.
In my opinion, it would be unlikely that an engagement between the Alaska and Scharnhorst would be carried out at a range exceeding 24,000m. They would invariably close on each other.
The KM did not hold it's fire until ~0555. PE likely did, but we have multiple eyewitness accounts stating when Bismarck opened fire, and those accounts were recorded at the time the events happened and were made independently on each of the 3 RN ships; They are not and cannot be incorrect.
Even PE's own war diary states that Bismarck opened fire before PE:
(page 36 of the PE war diary)The enemy opened fire even while closing in. Bismarck was the first to answer [their] fire and shorty thereafter Prinz Eugen,
Your quote above was hearsay and was recorded many years after the events and is not supported by the historical record.