Naval History Forums

I think St. Nazaire had a distinct advantage over Norway (Trondheim ?), the dry dock. That combined with the important reasons explained in tommy303's posts could justify Lütjens(?) decision to choose France instead of Norway. I just speculate that it was Lütjens decision (or his direct order) to he...

OK, possible, but why 'a considerable amount of luck' ? At that point the Bismarck was within the range of Bombers and other planers, I think Tovey's forces couldn't stay there for long, or at least not for long enough (more that 35 to 45 minutes) to wait to see the Bismarck sink. IMO if Bismarck co...

This is a VERY hypothetical scenario, borders with mythology/fantasy, but let's explore one more "what if" case: Let's suppose that: 1. despite the jammed rudders the Bismarck somehow manages to reach the 14° West, i.e. the edge of the air coverage. (e.g. the wind direction changed, adjust...

This Bismarck movie thing pops up again and again. I tend to agree with this: I am afraid it is all money driven. Cameron has been successful because he has a grasp of what people want to see, even though it may, when history comes into play, be at odds with facts. Then again, movies have usually be...

It seems that Bismarck had a secret weapon onboard, a revenue generator that still works fine after all these years. One day Bismarck will overtake the Titanic in celebrity ship status. Before one can argue whether the surrender story is true or even believable, could someone please help me to under...

Interesting video, thank you. I thought that Arados had only 2 floats, there are versions. Both seaplanes managed to 'land' safely, the first one gets destroyed in 00:34 at take off. BS had a catapult for the take-off, no need to put the plane to the sea for that. I don't doubt that an Ar could be d...

tommy303: I refer to the evening of the 23 May 1941 only. Of course the weather imposes restrictions on the use of the Ar196. I speculate the weather conditions in the evening of the 23rd of May were good enough for the Ar to fly and enable the crews to collect them from the sea. The sea in the phot...

BS had 4 Arado Ar196 on board. http://www.kbismarck.com/avioni.html How easy (or difficult) it was to launch an Ar196 seaplane? How long would did it take to recover it ? (back on board) Could these seaplanes be of any use to BS and PE on the 23 May? ie. after the failed attempts to shake off Norfol...

The original orders for Rheinubung was that Lutjens had the option to refuel Bismarck from tanker Weissenburg, stationed west of Jan Mayen in the Arctic. That's important information: Jan Mayen island. Sources (L. Kennedy, Baron) mention the position of Weissenburg only in general, eg. Arctic, Arct...

Thanks for the replies. As I understand it now, the situation at 1700 hours 21.05 is: * Wollin may or may not had enough fuel for Bismarck. (anyone agrees/disagrees?) * In case she had: it would take a couple of hours to reach Bismarck. (narrow fjords, low speed, pilots aboard etc.) Then it would ta...

Referring on the 21 May events at Kalvanes Bay and Grimstadfjord: How long does it take to refuel PE from 50% up to 100% of capacity? Refueling started not earlier than 1000 (my guess) and completed at 1700. The 3 destroyers refueled from a local tanker in Bergen. Had Wollin enough fuel (or time) fo...

I am trying to estimate how much fuel lost to the sea because of the hit in the XIV during the Off-Iceland battle. What is the the volume (capacity, m3) of the fuel tanks in the compartment XIV? If unknown, can it be approximated? Were they pumps that could move (ie at least save some) fuel out of t...

To get back to the original thrust of the discussion, steaming at 20 knots in a circle was only going to slightly prolong the inevitible. Inevitable indeed. BS would sink. Nobody claims that Bismarck could be saved on that day by just going faster in circles or other shapes. The word 'slightly' nee...

I don't think any RN fire control team worth its salt would have had all that much problem obtaining hits as the range came down and with Bismarck steaming at 20 knots in a circle. Probably. Perhaps you're right. Other forum members have different views. Perhaps if BS was going in circles fire cont...

maybe he was thinking about the adversve effect it would have on Bismarcks gunnery The Baron's account of the fight with Vian's destroyers is instructive. Bismarck was slewing back and forth so rapidly that 15cm gun mounts could not stay trained on their targets. Indeed: due to Bismarck's erratic m...