***The two ships were the Prince of Wales and Repulse.***
Weren’t these two ships in the flotilla that bottled up the GRAF SPEE in South America?
The Prince of Wales was in the hunt for the Bismark. It was damaged in the same action in which the Hood exploded.
Repulse looked for the Bismark, but, had to withdraw due to low fuel.
Exeter. Ajax and Achilles were fighting Graf Spee.
Going back to the Bismark, it’s escort, the Prinz Eugen, survived the war, was captured by the Brits, given to the Americans (thus becoming the USS Prinz Eugen) and was taken to Bikini Atoll.
It was in TWO nuke tests at Bikini, survived and taken to Kwajalein where it turned turtle and is still sticking up out of the lagoon.
I hope to sail our sailboat there one day and take photos of it.
You’re thinking of HMS Exeter which the Japanese sank in the Java Sea a few months later.
The Graf Spee was contained by a British cruiser squadron consisting of CA Exeter, CL Ajax, and CL Achilles.