Search found 14 matches

by simonharley
Sat Mar 16, 2013 9:31 pm
Forum: The Dreadnought Era (1906-1921)
Topic: Royal Navy Super Battleships and Battlecruisers
Replies: 123
Views: 94895

Re: Royal Navy Super Battleships and Battlecruisers

Lion is an appalling example to use, because there was at least eight, probably nine, full charges of cordite (32 or 36 cartridges) exposed outside the magazines. What undoubtedly saved Lion is that all that cordite didn't go up at once and that the magazine doors were shut AFTER the hit. Anything ...
by simonharley
Fri Feb 15, 2013 8:01 pm
Forum: The Dreadnought Era (1906-1921)
Topic: Adm Troubridge-right/wrong-in the GOEBEN AFFAIR
Replies: 67
Views: 31047

Re: Adm Troubridge-right/wrong-in the GOEBEN AFFAIR

I think you'll find that Churchill essentially asked for Battenberg's resignation. Which for all intents and purposes is a sacking. Troubridge wasn't appointed as head of the Serbian Mission, an active service appointment, until 21 January, 1915, nearly three months after Battenberg's resignation. I...
by simonharley
Fri Feb 15, 2013 5:37 pm
Forum: The Dreadnought Era (1906-1921)
Topic: Adm Troubridge-right/wrong-in the GOEBEN AFFAIR
Replies: 67
Views: 31047

Re: Adm Troubridge-right/wrong-in the GOEBEN AFFAIR

For the record Battenberg had nothing to do with Troubridge going to Serbia. He himself had been sacked by that point.

Simon
by simonharley
Fri Feb 01, 2013 6:39 pm
Forum: The Dreadnought Era (1906-1921)
Topic: HMS Hercules
Replies: 28
Views: 24882

Re: HMS Hercules

Byron, does the person in question specifically state that the director gear wasn't operational? I'm rather loath to trust Fawcett & Hooper after I discovered a number of discrepancies in the account of Lion's gunnery officer. One of the battle cruisers didn't use director firing at Jutland beca...
by simonharley
Tue Jan 29, 2013 11:27 am
Forum: Naval History (1922-1945)
Topic: WASHINGTON NAVAL CONFERENCE OF 1922
Replies: 22
Views: 9682

Re: WASHINGTON NAVAL CONFERENCE OF 1922

Never trust Wikipedia, even if it's referenced (which the Grand Fleet article most definitely isn't.) At the end of the Great War the Grand Fleet alone was composed of a nominal 31 dreadnought battleships, nine battle cruisers, 2 large light cruisers, four armoured cruisers, six aircraft carrying ve...
by simonharley
Sat Jan 19, 2013 2:29 pm
Forum: The Dreadnought Era (1906-1921)
Topic: HMS Hercules
Replies: 28
Views: 24882

Re: HMS Hercules

culverin wrote:Fire control was moving rapidly onwards and it was their half sister Neptune where it was first fitted in the fore top.
What fire control was that?
by simonharley
Sat Jun 30, 2012 6:59 pm
Forum: The Dreadnought Era (1906-1921)
Topic: Jutland Myths
Replies: 15
Views: 26438

Re: Jutland Myths

But did he say the phrase about "something wrong with our ships today..."? :think: Good question. As Byron states Beatty allegedly said something after the battle which was overheard by Lion's assistant navigator. But after the loss of Queen Mary , right at the start, he supposedly turned...
by simonharley
Fri Nov 11, 2011 10:01 am
Forum: The Dreadnought Era (1906-1921)
Topic: Jutland recurrent themes
Replies: 51
Views: 44271

Re: Jutland recurrent themes

All that needs to be said about Tarrant is that he quotes, without quotation marks or attribution, a whole portion of Marder's conclusion about Jutland from "From the Dreadnought to Scapa Flow" Volume III Second Edition. Not very original. I'll stick with the stuff in English from the arch...
by simonharley
Wed Nov 02, 2011 9:47 am
Forum: The Dreadnought Era (1906-1921)
Topic: Jutland
Replies: 50
Views: 32446

Re: Jutland

RF, Jellicoe had been knighted nearly a decade earlier, in 1907.

He was appointed to the Order of Merit in September, 1916, so he probably would have received that anyway. He would have been guaranteed a peerage I should think.

Simon
by simonharley
Sat Sep 24, 2011 9:07 am
Forum: The Dreadnought Era (1906-1921)
Topic: Jutland
Replies: 50
Views: 32446

Re: Jutland

Scheer never entailed his full thoughts to his flag officers or to written evidence as far as we know. We do have some second-hand evidence, however scanty, to hand. Von Weizsäcker later claiming that Scheer told a group of admirals, including von Holtzendorff, "My idea? I had no idea. I wante...
by simonharley
Wed Aug 24, 2011 10:38 am
Forum: The Dreadnought Era (1906-1921)
Topic: Happy Birthday HMS Hood!
Replies: 3
Views: 8787

Re: Happy Birthday HMS Hood!

....and at the moment she touched the water, a roiling pool somewhere in the North Sea gurgled and bubbled, unseen, emitting a strange sound much like human voices crying out...."not again, not again, not again!" :wink: I doubt it. The only reason "Hood" was classified as a batt...
by simonharley
Sat Jul 16, 2011 9:31 am
Forum: Books and Reference
Topic: Jackie Fisher
Replies: 3
Views: 10143

Re: Jackie Fisher

A somewhat belated response to this but if you want to know as much as possible about Fisher, then you're best off getting and reading the three main biographies. Bacon, The Life of Lord Fisher of Kilverstone (II volumes). Hough, First Sea Lord. Mackay, Fisher of Kilverstone. Then there are the thre...
by simonharley
Tue Jun 07, 2011 12:17 pm
Forum: The Dreadnought Era (1906-1921)
Topic: Beatty or Scheer? Who Would You Want to Serve Under?
Replies: 14
Views: 14944

Re: Beatty or Scheer? Who Would You Want to Serve Under?

If it is a question of serving under one or the other in a naval battle, it is Hipper without a moment's hesitation. For all his personal charisma and physical courage, Beatty was a poor tactician on his best day. The battlecruiser force was IIRC his very first multi-ship command and it showed. B T...
by simonharley
Wed May 11, 2011 12:13 pm
Forum: The Dreadnought Era (1906-1921)
Topic: SMS Nurnberg & SMS Leipzig
Replies: 4
Views: 10635

Re: SMS Nurnberg & SMS Leipzig

it's not unlikely that the German ships had cruised in the Gulf of California. In 1911, the British sloop "Shearwater" had cruised from Guaymas to La Paz before sailing up to San Quintín on the west Baja coast, where she acquired some notoriety by landing a party of sailors and marines to ...