At the Battle of the Denmark Strait on 24 May 1941, was sunk, probably by "Bismarck". The hydrophones on "Prinz Eugen" detected the sounds of an unknown ship to port at 05:00. The Germans sighted the smoke stacks of two ships at 05:45, which triggered the alarm on "Bismarck". Schneider initially reported them as two heavy cruisers. The first British salvo revealed them as battleships, but not until the British task force turned to port were their precise identities revealed. The British ships started firing at the German force at 05:53. Vice Admiral Lancelot Holland planned on targeting "Bismarck" first, but due to the reversed battle order, "Prince of Wales" and "Hood" opened fire on the "Prinz Eugen" instead. The commander of the "Prince of Wales", Captain John Leach, detected this error and directed his guns to fire on "Bismarck". The German task force was still waiting for the order to commence firing. The commander of the German task force, Admiral Lütjens, did not give this order immediately. Two minutes into the battle and after multiple inquiries by Schneider, "? (Question. Open fire?) an impatient Lindemann responded: "!. (I'm not letting my ship get shot out from under my arse. Open fire!). This Lindemann quotation is cited by Burkard Freiherr von Müllenheim-Rechberg who at the time was in the after gun director keeping a watch out for "Suffolk" and "Norfolk" and listening to Schneider's commands over the gunnery intercom. This conversation most likely was passed down by a surviving crew member who overheard the conversation between Schneider and Lindemann. Von Müllenheim-Rechberg, Lindemann's personnel adjutant, would become the highest-ranking officer to survive the "Bismarck"s last battle on 27 May 1941. A lot of what we know today about the final days of "Bismarck" is attributed to his account as a witness.