Out of Trondheim near week's end slipped the sleek 10,000-ton cruiser Prinz Eugen with four destroyers around her, a hefty flight of Nazi fighters circling overhead. British reconnaissance pilots spotted the force, beep-beeped frantically on their radios for help. They got it quickly. From Britain a heavy air striking force —Beaufighters, Blenheims, Hudsons and Beaufort torpedo carriers—swept out across the North Sea. They found the Nazi force and piled in, while German fighters hacked at them.
While Beaufighters tangled with the Messerschmitts, torpedo carriers bored in on the Eugen. At least one tin...