Search found 141 matches

by Ersatz Yorck
Sat Jun 08, 2013 8:28 am
Forum: Hypothetical Naval Scenarios
Topic: Bismarck vs. Rodney: hand to hand?
Replies: 414
Views: 82202

Re: Bismarck vs. Rodney: hand to hand?

The Germans knew that a battleship would never be able to sink as many merchant ships as the submarines did. But that proposition was never put to trhe test. Put a real battleship against a convoy HX 84 with a morning attack I would imagine by evening the tonnage sunk would approach or exceed 200,0...
by Ersatz Yorck
Fri Jun 07, 2013 2:18 pm
Forum: Hypothetical Naval Scenarios
Topic: Bismarck vs. Rodney: hand to hand?
Replies: 414
Views: 82202

Re: Bismarck vs. Rodney: hand to hand?

However, I think this whole scenario would never have happened. BM and PE together would not have attacked a convoy with a battleship escort. That was not their mission and would have risked unnecessary damage. According to Rheinubung's outline, they were expected to do exactly that. Not as far as ...
by Ersatz Yorck
Fri Jun 07, 2013 5:41 am
Forum: Hypothetical Naval Scenarios
Topic: Bismarck vs. Rodney: hand to hand?
Replies: 414
Views: 82202

Re: Bismarck vs. Rodney: hand to hand?

For instance, if Rheinubung went according to plan, and Rodney was escorting a convoy, Bismarck would sink her in 10 minutes and Prinz Eugen would destroy the convoy in a couple of hours :) Well, if the experience of Scheer attacking a convoy with just one AMC escorting it is anything to go by this...
by Ersatz Yorck
Thu Jun 06, 2013 6:30 am
Forum: Hypothetical Naval Scenarios
Topic: Best WW2 heavy cruiser = Prinz Eugen ?
Replies: 134
Views: 58448

Re: Best WW2 heavy cruiser = Prinz Eugen ?

Thanks for the reply! There is a good account of the action at http://www.naval-history.net/WW2Ships-CharybdisAsr.htm Apparently British bad C&C contributed to the result. The above mentioned account mentions the Germans using "asdic" to locate the British. We do know that German sound...
by Ersatz Yorck
Tue Jun 04, 2013 7:31 pm
Forum: Hypothetical Naval Scenarios
Topic: Best WW2 heavy cruiser = Prinz Eugen ?
Replies: 134
Views: 58448

Re: Best WW2 heavy cruiser = Prinz Eugen ?

Your completely wrong richtea. The German gunnery radar was not even on the same ballpark as the allies,. Actually they were, even late war. PG's FuMO26 had a range accuracy of 25 meters regardless of the range to the target, and a brearing accuracy within 0.10*. The large common mode antenna provi...
by Ersatz Yorck
Tue Jun 04, 2013 8:00 am
Forum: Hypothetical Naval Scenarios
Topic: Bouncing bombs against Tirpitz
Replies: 7
Views: 2129

Re: Bouncing bombs against Tirpitz

Skip bombing was used extensively in the Pacific against ships, and was successful in the battle of Bismarck Sea.
by Ersatz Yorck
Mon Jun 03, 2013 9:45 pm
Forum: Hypothetical Naval Scenarios
Topic: Best WW2 heavy cruiser = Prinz Eugen ?
Replies: 134
Views: 58448

Re: Best WW2 heavy cruiser = Prinz Eugen ?

In the foreword to the ship history of Admiral Hipper, "Eismeer, Atlantik, Ostsee", one of the commanders of the Hipper complains about the unreliable engines and, somewhat abbreviated, says that no nation should send its sailors to war in a ship whith such crappy machinery. Prinz Eugen wa...
by Ersatz Yorck
Sun Jun 02, 2013 9:04 pm
Forum: Hypothetical Naval Scenarios
Topic: Best WW2 heavy cruiser = Prinz Eugen ?
Replies: 134
Views: 58448

Re: Best WW2 heavy cruiser = Prinz Eugen ?

The Hipper class in general seems rather large for their fighting capability. Granted, they had excellent artillery and fire control, but at more than 1.5 times the displacement of a County class, they do seem large and expensive in comparison. The Hipper class also had extremely unreliable machiner...
by Ersatz Yorck
Fri May 17, 2013 8:47 am
Forum: Hypothetical Naval Scenarios
Topic: Yamato Instead of Kirishima 13th Nov 1942
Replies: 22
Views: 17681

Re: Yamato Instead of Kirishima 13th Nov 1942

Did Yamato have radar in 1942? Her Tabular Record of Movement doesn't list a radar installation (Type 21, Mod 3, air and surface search) until July of '43. Of course, she was pretty much serving as a hotel for admirals' staff at the time. If they had intended her to go in harm's way, they might hav...
by Ersatz Yorck
Wed May 15, 2013 9:21 am
Forum: Hypothetical Naval Scenarios
Topic: Red Banner Pacific Fleet vs US 7th Fleet
Replies: 6
Views: 3863

Re: Red Banner Pacific Fleet vs US 7th Fleet

The popular series written by... dharma6?
by Ersatz Yorck
Thu Apr 25, 2013 2:58 pm
Forum: Naval Technology
Topic: Bismarck class turret protection
Replies: 74
Views: 57128

Re: Bismarck class turret protection

On reflection, this discussion is a bit like sex. There is alot of focus on penetration, but in fact there are a lot of other interesting things that can happen :-)
by Ersatz Yorck
Thu Apr 25, 2013 2:25 pm
Forum: Naval Technology
Topic: Bismarck class turret protection
Replies: 74
Views: 57128

Re: Bismarck class turret protection

There were numerous non-penetrating turret hits at Jutland that put the turret out of action in various ways for a shorter or longer time. Conversely, there were quite severe penetrating hits to turrets that only put the turret out of action for a short time, or only knocked out one of the two guns....
by Ersatz Yorck
Sun Mar 31, 2013 12:50 pm
Forum: Hypothetical Naval Scenarios
Topic: Bismarck used as bait
Replies: 19
Views: 4098

Re: Bismarck used as bait

I didn't mean that warships were never hit by submarines, but that it was much harder to torpedo a warship maneuvering at high speed that an merchant ship, and submarines were relatively less effective in that role. So taking submarines off attacking merchant shipping and sending them on an uncertai...
by Ersatz Yorck
Sun Mar 31, 2013 10:25 am
Forum: Hypothetical Naval Scenarios
Topic: Bismarck used as bait
Replies: 19
Views: 4098

Re: Bismarck used as bait

In both world wars, AFAIK no warship was ever hit by a submarine torpedo while in surface action. I'm sorry, but this is completely incorrect. Barham, Wasp, North Carolina, Yorktown, Rodney, Resolution, Yamato, are the first that come to my mind. All of them hit (and a few sunk) by sumbarine-launch...
by Ersatz Yorck
Sun Mar 31, 2013 6:45 am
Forum: Hypothetical Naval Scenarios
Topic: Bismarck used as bait
Replies: 19
Views: 4098

Re: Bismarck used as bait

I think this could have been done at the Denmark Straits, Iceland Faero Passages, and around the Orkney Islands if the seas would have permitted this it could have been a disaster for the British because the focus was on the Bismarck and not the subs so much during the chase of the Bismarck. Nope, ...