Search found 53 matches

by Steve-M
Sun Jul 29, 2018 12:43 am
Forum: Hypothetical Naval Scenarios
Topic: Battleship for Freedonia
Replies: 26
Views: 13785

Re: Battleship for Freedonia

However, notice that the long citadel of the German scheme may reduce the threat of torpedoes at Darwin Depends on how committed the Japanese are to sinking you. Withstanding sustained aerial attacks from four carriers is a pretty tall order, regardless of how tough your ship is. and that my fortun...
by Steve-M
Sat Jul 28, 2018 4:26 pm
Forum: Hypothetical Naval Scenarios
Topic: Battleship for Freedonia
Replies: 26
Views: 13785

Re: Battleship for Freedonia

This seems to miss that the German scheme and the alternative USN/RN/IJN scheme protects roughly the same citadel volume. The difference is that the German armoured raft is lower and longer. Thus a semi-armour piercing bomb that just misses the armoured raft of South Dakota forward or aft may explo...
by Steve-M
Sat Jul 28, 2018 3:14 pm
Forum: Hypothetical Naval Scenarios
Topic: Battleship for Freedonia
Replies: 26
Views: 13785

Re: Battleship for Freedonia

rewriting...
by Steve-M
Fri Jul 27, 2018 4:15 pm
Forum: Hypothetical Naval Scenarios
Topic: Battleship for Freedonia
Replies: 26
Views: 13785

Re: Battleship for Freedonia

The bomb damages inflicted on Tirpitz showed that it was not particularly vulnerable to bombs compared to contemporary designs. Yes and no. The combination of the 50mm weather deck plus two decks worth of spacing to reach the panzerdeck makes penetration to the vitals unlikely. OTOH, given how low ...
by Steve-M
Fri Jul 27, 2018 5:26 am
Forum: Hypothetical Naval Scenarios
Topic: King George V vs. Rodney
Replies: 33
Views: 17020

Re: King George V vs. Rodney

Have we not had a similar debate re Rodney v Bismarck and the general impression was almost the same as this, especially re Bismarck/KGV being faster and with the end result of both ships beating hell out of each other and retiring without a clear winner? There was, but one should keep in mind Bism...
by Steve-M
Thu Jul 26, 2018 8:28 pm
Forum: Hypothetical Naval Scenarios
Topic: Scharnhorst w/ 38cm's and other improvements
Replies: 37
Views: 14725

Re: Scharnhorst w/ 38cm's and other improvements

its my opinion that decapping was a new feature to the Kriegsmarine in 1935/36 but well established in about 1938/39. I don't know that they needed to understand it as a decapping plate per se. Even discounting the decapping effect, a heavier upper belt would still provide clear advantages for the ...
by Steve-M
Thu Jul 26, 2018 3:51 pm
Forum: Hypothetical Naval Scenarios
Topic: Scharnhorst w/ 38cm's and other improvements
Replies: 37
Views: 14725

Re: Scharnhorst w/ 38cm's and other improvements

Another possible solution could be to increase the upper belt thickness just enough to insure de-capping. It would need to be at least 70mm. The use of WHnA heat treated to higher hardness instead of KCnA could be used this way. That's largely what I had in mind. I figured that shaving off 30mm off...
by Steve-M
Thu Jul 26, 2018 2:59 pm
Forum: Hypothetical Naval Scenarios
Topic: King George V vs. Rodney
Replies: 33
Views: 17020

Re: King George V vs. Rodney

Yes, Rodney can steer to try to maintain the desired angle, but battles are fluid and I think it is unlikely that the desired angle will be exactly maintained for the whole action as the KGV moves and Rodney has to counter move to correct. Most real world battles have a variety of tactical factors ...
by Steve-M
Wed Jul 25, 2018 11:03 pm
Forum: Hypothetical Naval Scenarios
Topic: Scharnhorst w/ 38cm's and other improvements
Replies: 37
Views: 14725

Re: Scharnhorst w/ 38cm's and other improvements

Simply wrong sorry http://www.kbismarck.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=8257 http://forum-marinearchiv.de/coppermine/albums/userpics/11899/Unterlagen%20und%20Richtlinien%20zur%20Bestimmung%20der%20Hauptkampfentfernung%20und%20der%20Gescho%C3%9Fwahl%20Heft%20g%20Schlachtschiffe%20Gn%20Sch.PDF I b...
by Steve-M
Wed Jul 25, 2018 10:11 pm
Forum: Hypothetical Naval Scenarios
Topic: Scharnhorst w/ 38cm's and other improvements
Replies: 37
Views: 14725

Re: Scharnhorst w/ 38cm's and other improvements

Thorsten Wahl wrote: Wed Jul 25, 2018 9:48 pmScharnhorst had 320 mm belt.
I've got a couple sources that indicate 350mm, including this site very:
http://www.kbismarck.com/scharnhorst.html
Wikipedia (not that I trust them greatly)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scharnhor ... battleship
etc...
by Steve-M
Wed Jul 25, 2018 1:49 pm
Forum: Hypothetical Naval Scenarios
Topic: King George V vs. Rodney
Replies: 33
Views: 17020

Re: King George V vs. Rodney

This really depends on the angle, which won't stay fixed as KGV is the faster ship. Correct me if I'm wrong, but KGV's speed doesn't have much bearing ( :D ) so long as Rodney can steer; she needs only to maintain a particular bearing relative to KGV's position. Of course, given the thickness and s...
by Steve-M
Tue Jul 24, 2018 7:01 pm
Forum: Hypothetical Naval Scenarios
Topic: Scharnhorst w/ 38cm's and other improvements
Replies: 37
Views: 14725

Scharnhorst w/ 38cm's and other improvements

Suppose for a moment Scharnhorst had been completed with 3x2 of the vaunted 38cm/52 guns. Let's also suppose armor was distributed a little more like Bismarck, shaving a bit of thickness off the main belt to thicken the upper belt, and figure out a way to get rid of that boiler hump (even if it mean...
by Steve-M
Tue Jul 24, 2018 6:43 pm
Forum: Hypothetical Naval Scenarios
Topic: King George V vs. Rodney
Replies: 33
Views: 17020

Re: King George V vs. Rodney

Thread necro alert :D

One thing that I've seen missed in this match up is the obvious benefit of Rodney's unique turret arrangement: she can bring all her big guns to bear while presenting a terrifically unfavorable target angle against both her belt and forward transverse bulkhead to KGV.
by Steve-M
Wed Apr 20, 2016 4:48 pm
Forum: World Navies Today
Topic: What is needed to replace the Battleship?
Replies: 29
Views: 24769

Re: What is needed to replace the Battleship?

IMHO, the BB concept of old is pretty well dead. OTOH, a large surface combatant may again become a significant factor in force projection as things like railguns and high-powered lasers for CIWS continue to develop. I envision a ship more akin to an enlarged, futuristic Zumwalt class, i.e. a stealt...
by Steve-M
Fri Apr 15, 2016 4:59 pm
Forum: Naval History in General
Topic: Battlecruisers: Flawed or not?
Replies: 38
Views: 24769

Re: Battlecruisers: Flawed or not?

One question I have: is why those three? Was the ammunition and the handling fundamentally different from the other British capital ships at the time? Ammo/powder handling practices are reputed to have been aimed at higher rate of fire at the expense of safety in Beatty's squadron, though I don't k...