Naval History Forums

In May 1943, General Kammhuber, the commander of German night fighters, and Germany's radar air warning and tracking systems, presented a paper to Goering that predicted how American aircraft production would influence the course of the war. Kammhuber was particularly concerned that American strateg...

I believe Green and Price are in error here. 303 mph is attributed to an A1 prototype, though. Aircraft speed is going to be dependent on aircraft mass and ordnance etc. The engine power figures are difficult since they change with altitude. So speed figures should include altitude mass & load ...

I believe Green and Price are in error here. 303 mph is attributed to an A1 prototype, though.

@ Alex The shell had to explode against the bulkhead at or near the bottom in order to yield the type of damage it did historically. If it exploded some distance away from the bulkhead it could not have caused the perforations it did nor rip up the double bottom structures, as the splinters would be...

Dave saxton wrote; "No, the belt just extended deeper down and was not tapered. The main armoured deck remained 1 meter above the water line." Hi Dave, thanks again for the info. Therefore, if I understand correctly, compared to Bismarck, the H class would have had a "longer" sl...

Hi Dave, my thinking is thatt, in order to explode against the 45mm bulkhead, the 356mm shell first passed just beneath Bismarck's 170mm lower belt, and approx 20 deg angle, pierced the outher skin of st52, and then exploded somewhere near the bulkhead. In the case of H39, there is a strong probabi...

Dave Saxton wrote: "....the belt belt extended farther below the waterline on the H class than it did on the Bismarcks and the Scharnhorsts. " Hi Dave, thanks. Does this means that the belt would have extended below the slope or just that the slope and the deck were placed lower in the hu...

Yes, the belt belt extended farther below the waterline on the H class than it did on the Bismarcks and the Scharnhorsts. However, the historical hit was very deep. It was deep enough that it ripped up double bottom compartments. Hits that far down would likely still pass below the belt. Hits that d...

, but the main Luftwaffe role was to help the army capture territory, not engage in long range bomber war. Strategic bombing was to be used on those who couldn't strike back eg Warsaw, Rotterdam etc because they didn't have a bomber force. From 1939 essentially the role of the Luftwaffe was one of ...

Hi all, I apologize for my absence. I have been very busy of late. Authoritative sources, including Groehler, list the HE-177A-5 as having a level flight top speed of 351-355 mph (mph not knots, the error was mine as I'm used to using knots in modern aviation). A 303 mph figure is correct for some o...

The HE177 was a four engine bomber that had a long agonizing development beginning in 1938 and ultimately failed to become the operational weapon, that the Germans were counting on it to be. Its failed development meant that the Luftwaffe never had the strategic bomber it needed to successfully pros...

Lee comment: ...our battleships are neither designed nor armed for close range night actions with enemy light forces. A few minutes intense fire, at short range, from secondary battery guns, can and did, render one of our battleships deaf, dumb, blind, and impotent, through destruction of radar, ra...

Years ago I read that South Dakota's sailors, at least some of them, blamed Washington for one hit. This blue-on-blue hasn't been confirmed that I know of so I'm just wondering if the legend carried on? While I have never heard of a friendly fire incident between BB56 and BB57 during this battle, f...

SOUTH DAKOTA sustained at least 26 projectile hits. It is estimated that one hit was 5-inch, six were 6-inch, eighteen were 8-inch and one was 14-inch. The calibre of these hits was estimated from the damage produced and fragments recovered of one projectile. In many cases the size of the entry hol...

The one that is often referred to as the weather deck.