As the British units converged on "Bismarck"s location, Tovey instructed the commander of "Rodney" to close to within as quickly as possible, and that while he should in general conform to "King George V"s movements, he was free to manoeuvre independently. The morning of Tuesday 27 May 1941 brought a heavy grey sky, a rising sea and a tearing wind from the northwest. Because of this northwesterly gale, Tovey concluded an attack on "Bismarck" from windward was undesirable. He decided to approach on a northwesterly bearing before deploying. For her part, "Bismarck" was still unmanoeuvrable; her crew made what preparations they could for the inevitable engagement, including pushing her Arado floatplane overboard to reduce the risk of fire.