Until the message traveled to London at 16:15 the squadron joined the 5th fleet of minesweepers Kriegsmarine, commanded by Lieutenant-Commander Rudolf Lello. Task fleet was clearing minefields in the path of 'Bismarck' and 'Prince Eugen' through the Kattegat. May 20, at sunset, 'Bismarck' and 'Prinz Eugen' in the squadron were already at the exit of the Skagerrak, at the time of the passage near Kristiansand They were spotted Norwegian partisan Vigo Akselsenom. Akselsen was able to report what they saw in the British Skagerakke ships. On the night of 20 to 21 May the ships headed north and followed in Norway to wait time in fjord near Bergen. At 9:00 am the squadron had reached the coast of Norway. 'Bismarck' gave anchor Grimstadtforde and 'Prinz Eugen' was followed by further and cast anchor in the bay Kalvanes.
Supply vessels cast anchor along the sides of battleships and cruisers – human shield in case of a torpedo attack from the air. Once only the British received a message from and the Norwegian guerrillas, the British Admiralty immediately ordered the strengthening of air reconnaissance in the prescribed area of possible appearance of German warships. At 11:00 British command of coastal defense from an airfield in Scotland during a reconnaissance mission was sent to a fighter-reconnaissance-type 'Spitfire', which was piloted Lieutenant Michael Zacklin. At 13:15, flying over Bergen at a height of 8000 m, Zacklin discovered the German ships at anchor. Upon returning to the base of the scout, the first data were immediately transferred to the command of the British fleet.