Naval History Forums

The records recording radar performance are quite anecdotal. So far as 'warm-up' is concerned, I don't see that as much of an issue in any case insofar as the entire unit could probably be energized and warmed up without being connected to the antenna, i.e. keeping 'radio silence' would not require ...

For what it's worth, I would strongly agree with Herr Nilsson's commentary about Prince of Wales' gunnery. This sort of problem is so common that it actually has a name -- 'nibbling at the spot', and is usually indicative of an inexperienced or poorly-trained gunnery team. Herr Nilsson explains it i...

In the case of Denmark Strait action were are -- to take a simple metaphor -- confronted with a small collection of LEGO blocks of knowledge, that we know represents a rather small sample taken from a much larger set, and which we know may include a few odd blocks from other sets as well. It is not ...

Attachments are currently posing technical problems. In situations, e.g. the reproduction of graphics, etc., where the usage of attachments is unavoidable, there is of course, little alternative. Purely textual attachments, e.g. scans from books with or without underlining, etc. should be avoided if...

For what it's worth -- and I do have a bit of experience in this area -- I think Prince of Wales' gunnery was not very good at all. It's a very small sample -- on ship, one time, uncontrolled conditions -- but for whatever reasons PoW took, in my opinion, far to long to 'get on' to the target. Bill ...

The level of discussion has deteriorated to the state that I have, with some reluctance, chosen to lock this topic, letting existing commentary remain to stand on its own merit. Should it reopen in another form, which I suspect it will, users continuing to post offensive and inflammatory commentary ...

Although the debate has been heated lately, it remains (barely) within acceptable limits, and I will let it continue in the hopes that at least some progress will be made towards a resolution. As moderator, I must take exception to Mr. Virtuani's commentary that Mr. Bonomi was, in his words ".....

The allegations of court martial threats, etc. are well known in the secondary literature and have been mentioned in a number of places. There is no need to repeat them here as no one doubts their existence or their phrasing. What I am looking for is some prior expression that these were intentional...

To participants: I would be interested in learning if there are any previously published accounts which support the hypotheses of Mssrs. Virtuani and Bonomi, or whether this particular issue -- which I read as revolving around the the alleged timidity of Leach coupled with a subsequent attempt at a ...

This may be a repost, as I put something up about an hour ago which seems to have disappeared into cyber-space. @Mr. Virtuani: I am sorry, but I just don't see the discrepancies in the reports that you do. They both seem to be variants with essentially the same theme, although details and emphasis m...

The diagrams, photographs, and descriptions of the damage as described in the official war damage reports certainly suggests more than 'superficial' damage to me. The point is that one will obtain different assessments of the damage depending upon the circumstance and timing of when the reports were...

I think it important to take into account the times at which various assessments of damage, on either side, were made. We have -- at least in the case of PoW -- one set of assessments made during the action itself, being made in some haste in the heat of battle from incomplete and probably somewhat ...

OK, fellows -- Let's try to dial it down a bit. I will let recent comments stand, but will warn correspondents that some are getting very close to the line, and many are uncomfortable to let pass even as is. Regarding the redaction of bolded statements; I was not aware that this represented some sor...

Both methods were used. In USN trials, pure penetration was measured via the penetration of an inert bomb. When explosive effects were to be tested, a live bomb was inserted into a 'pre-dented' depression or hole in the target and the bomb detonated. Testers were aware that the pre-denting didn't pr...

Good posting.

I guess we (or perhaps only I) got mixed up in phrasing. It's a chain calculation and should work either way...

Bill Jurens