Well that is not exactly correct, one who certainly was present was Prinz Eugen's gunnery officer who was not exactly backwards in coming forward when it came to his ships shooting performance. Then there is the journalist who was on the bridge of Prinz Eugen during the action.

Several of the articles I have read on the subject have been rather to quick to dismiss the boat deck fire as a cause for ignition of the propellant store for my liking. I often get the feeling that they want the cause so badly to be a hit from Bismarck that they allmost fall over themselves in trying to discredit the other possibilities. A raging fire in fairly close proximity to the store coupled with some good old fashioned flagrant disregard for explosives handling safety ought to have as good a chance as any of the other theories.