Naval History Forums

Welding technology wasn't really secret. It had been developed in the private sector for the most part. The reason the Japanese eschewed the use of extensive welding in warships was because they had had bad experiences with it previously. The main reason for this bad experience was because they used...

The 1914 Inflexible guns probably cannot penetrate PG's vitals at any range, because the shells will breakup when striking any armour at all at 20* or greater obliquity. The 1918 AP shells are better and could be a threat should PG's command be foolish enough to close within 20,000 yards. Both the 1...

The cruiser in such a scenario will likely use HE -at least at first. The German 8" AP had an extra large and extra heavy cap, though. De-capping or not may play a role.

On the other side of the coin, can or is the Inflexible using post Jutland munitions?

Alberto Virtuani wrote:
Please, wait for Dave to explain you how WWII rangefinders work and their reliability.

I consider others more qualified to speak to RN optics than myself.

Alberto Virtuani wrote: as at 05:41 both were closer, 9.5sm for SF and 13.5sm for Norfolk

Still 27,000 yards for Norfolk. What would be the point in opening fire with 8" from that distance?

Hipper hit a destroyer with its first salvo on two different occasions in the dark at ranges as great of about 18km with a cruiser caliber weapon, and with slightly inferior FC equipment. Surely BS has even greater potential. W-W has to deal with the possibilities. He can't know what the performance...

Hi Dave, I'm not. I have just proposed what is my view in terms of probability and what was the actual shooting at DS with the actual conditions (and also on 23, 24 and 26 out of DS battle). Personally, if you ask me, regarding the first shots , I think Hood fired far below expectations and probabi...

Hi Duncan, exceptions (and lucky hits) are not the rule but anyway the hits you mention happened below 10sm . At DS no ship hit over 10,44 sm (PoW :clap: 6th salvo). Germans hit only below 10 sm, with PG scoring a hit at 4th salvo from 9.3 sm and Bismarck "only" at her 6th or 7th salvo from around ...

Addressing the high command's sending a plethora of messages: London was always transmitting anyway and its location is of course known. If you believe your cyphers to be secure, then the risk involved with sending messages from there are minimized. Of course, interfering with on scene command and a...

2) What is your opinion of Adm Tovey not responding to any message from the Admiralty thru that night ( 26th/27th ) and the morning after ( 27th ), ... while the Admiralty War Room members ( Pound, Phillips, Power ) were keep on sending " suggested direction " messages on what to do to him. Any res...

Re: Sleep - One can and must appreciate the serious effect of sleep deprivation on all the officers involved. Grenfell spends a couple of paragraphs discussing this. Decision-making could very easily have been affected - and I do suspect it was. Apparently both WW and Phillips were given benzedrine...

With visibility dropping to 6 miles, either Norfolk and/or POW deployed opposite of Suffolk is of little value in hemming in the Bismarck. Bismarck likely slips by unnoticed anyway. When the Scheer passed back through the Denmark Strait in March 1941, it followed closely in the wake of a radar-less ...

I don't think the night of 23/24 is analogous to the night of 24/25. In the first, in the confines (albeit wide confines) of the strait, the intentions of the enemy and where they were going, were known with a high degree of certainty. In the open Atlantic anything could happen. With visibility dimi...

W-W had to keep Norfolk and POW relatively close behind Suffolk, or risk losing cohesion of his force amid rather dynamic visibility conditions. Ellis reports that visibility following dusk was about 12,000 yards. Norfolk's Type 286 had a max range of about 11,000 yards and could only see ahead. Ell...

Season's Greetings everyone :) I see that Robert J. "Bob" Winklareth, a former prolific contributor to this site, has an article entitled "The Not-So-Mighty Bismarck" in the above publication. Has anyone else seen it and what do people think of his thesis that "The German battleship Bismarck mounte...