Plans were then made for Lütjens to command Operation Rheinübung, taking all four modern German battleships and battlecruisers—"Bismarck", , "Scharnhorst" and "Gneisenau"—on a raid into the Atlantic. For various reasons, "Tirpitz" and the two battlecruisers could not be made ready for the operation, so it proceeded with only "Bismarck" and the heavy cruiser , under the command of Helmuth Brinkmann. The preparation and operational directives had been prepared by "Marinegruppenkommando West", under the command of "Generaladmiral" Saalwächter and "Marinegruppenkommando Ost", under the command of "Generaladmiral" Rolf Carls. On 8 April 1941, Lütjens met with Admiral Dönitz in Paris. Dönitz made the following assessment of the plan: