Naval History Forums

What would have been far more dangerous situation is if Bismarck's mission had been delayed until the Twins were ready and they had rendezvoused somewhere out in the Atlantic - but that's for hypothetical situations! That was precisely Lutjens advice to Raeder in early May 1941 but with Barbarossa ...

It would be an interesting scenario if VV was available for Operation Berlin, assuming the Regia Marina was prepared to have the ship under Lutjens command. The threat of a 15 inch gun battleship loose in the Atlantic - even if Italian - would have to be taken seriously by the RN, particulary if it ...

paul.mercer wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 12, 2021 10:25 am

Also, if tugs had got to her surely she would have constantly been tying to veer off to one side, putting an enormous strain on one of the tugs which would have also been battling heavy sea conditions?

How big and powerful were the available tugs, is there any info on this?

I believe that the Robert Ballard expedition which found Bismarck established that the rudder was not merely ''jammed'' but had been blown back by the force of the torpedo detonation to the attaching keel plate, and was wrapped around it, which was why it couldn't be freed. I am not a naval engineer...

The title of this thread is the name of a 2020 film recently released, which I saw on Sony movie channel 40 last night.

Has anyone else seen this film, if so what do you think? Is the plot of this film credible, or even understandable?

Can I raise a scenario I don't think has been raised before - what could have happened if the Vittorio Veneto had escaped into the Atlantic during 1940? There are of course a number of problems with this, being first one being how does the VV get through the Straits of Gibraltar unscathed and the ot...

For instance the USN cruisers Minneapolis and New Orleans both had their bows blown off by torpedoes, but with propulsion and rudders almost undamaged would have been prime candidates for sailing 60 or 70 miles or even 300 ?? I know this is going off at a tangent, but can I ask a quick question - H...

The proposal for towing KGV came from Churchill, not the Admiralty, Tovey was furious at the suggestion because KGV would have then been a sitting target for U-boats.

I think that the general opinion in this Forum is that nothing could be done to save the ship, the senior officers were all experienced seamen and no doubt did consider all the available options, but none were practicable in the prevailing weather conditions. We don't really know what was discussed...

Hi RF, You are absolutely correct on this point, the problem was that unlike the RN, once the German ships were far from home they had no safe haven to run to without risking internment which is why they were told not to engage with enemy capital ships in case they got severely damaged and refused ...

Hello Paul, yes, let's agree to disagree: IMHO fate of Bismarck was sealed by the single torpedo that blocked the rudders, not by having been merely located by airplanes. I think this statement does need some qualification. What doomed Bismarck was the lack of any effective support or back up in th...

Hello Mr.Wadinga, reading the Baron, he says different combinations where attempted, but always trying to get the bow pointing to South-East, that resulted impossible. He never mention all engines being put astern together or even a combination of astern and stop. Finally, all engines were put to s...

Consider this situation from another aspect.

Suppose the Bismarck was a US Navy battleship instead of German. What would a US naval crew have done in that situation, cut off from any outside help, the US Navy having a different culture, history and traditions to the KM?

Churchill did have one factor that at that time would make him virtually fireproof - who do you replace him with? The House of Commons censure debate after the fall of Tobruk in early 1942, designed covertly to push Churchill out, failed on that very point, even with by that time the USA in the war ...

The situation on the night of 26-27 May 1941 was a fairly rough sea, making diving operations very difficult if not impossible, and you also have to consider the state of the crew having been at action stations continuously for nearly three days. Add to this the attacks of Vian's destroyers. Neither...