After the K-21 attack, the German ships continued on their original course for approximately five hours before turning back.
Notes on verification
Confirmed by Wikipedia and corroborated by an independent naval history site with a consistent timeline; minor variance in exact hours (4.5 vs 5) but within reasonable rounding. [tier=unverified indep_score=0.3 clusters=2 claim_tier=notable] [rescored 2026-09-15: curated origin-host map (PR #65); unclassified hosts no longer scored as aggregators]