The destroyers used to depict the torpedo night attacks were the , representing the flagship of "Captain (D), of the 4th Destroyer Flotilla", (in reality, Captain Vian in ) and the , representing the fictitious which "Bismarck" destroys in the film. Their pennant numbers can be made out quite clearly, although they are reversed because of the film's convention that British ships should move from left to right of the screen and German ships "vice versa". These were the last classes of destroyer built during the war, and the last to have the classic War Emergency Programme destroyers' outline. HMS "Cavalier" remained in service until 1972, the last RN destroyer to have served in the Second World War, and is now preserved at Chatham Dockyard to commemorate all these vessels, but the newer and larger HMS "Hogue" was broken up shortly after the film was completed, following a collision off Ceylon with the Indian cruiser (formerly ).