After "Bismarck" sank the battlecruiser during the Battle of Denmark Strait on the morning of 24 May, "Rodney" was ordered by the Admiralty to join in the pursuit of the German ship, leaving the destroyer to escort "Britannic" and taking , and with her in the search. After the heavy cruiser radioed that she had lost radar contact with the "Bismarck" at 04:01 on the morning of 25 May, Dalrymple-Hamilton, after consulting his senior officers and the American attaché, decided that the German ship was probably heading for Brest and so set course to the east to head her off, at some stages reaching twenty-two knots which exceeded her then theoretical maximum speed by , although this caused several mechanical failures. Later that morning Admiral Sir John Tovey in the battleship ordered all ship to head north west due to a misinterpreted signal from the Admiralty, but Dalrymple-Hamilton knew that his ship was too slow to catch up to "Bismarck" if she was headed in that direction and disregarded Tovey's order. The Admiralty informed Dalrymple-Hamilton that they believed that "Bismarck" was probably headed to Brest or Saint Nazaire at 11:40. The captain subsequently altered course further south east to cover the approaches to Spanish ports where the German ship might intern herself, but this was countermanded by an Admiralty order to turn north east at 14:30. Dalrymple-Hamilton continued south east for several more hours before he decided to obey the order at 16:20; during this time "Bismarck" passed his position just under the horizon, about away. Not having spotted the German ship by 21:00, Dalrymple-Hamilton decided to turn south-east again, heading directly for Brest.