Search found 113 matches

by paul mercer
Wed Apr 11, 2007 7:49 am
Forum: Naval History (1922-1945)
Topic: Single events in Kriegsmarine history
Replies: 38
Views: 12680

Long range hits

Just another thought on the long range hits by Scharnhorst & Warspite. If you takes a senario where you are on a beach and you see a tin can floating out to sea so you grab a few pebbles and try and hit it. Most of your pebbles fall short, but one perhaps because it's lighter or smoother or you ...
by paul mercer
Wed Apr 11, 2007 7:21 am
Forum: Naval History (1922-1945)
Topic: The end of Scharnhorst
Replies: 46
Views: 16426

The end of Scharnhorst

On page 208 in Jacobsen's book 'Scharnhorst' it states 'In the course of the next 27 minutes the DOY pumped more than 200 heavy shells at the Scharnhorst from distances as short as 4000m'. 'Strangely only seven or eight of them appear to have scored hits' Quite apart from the rate of fire which woul...
by paul mercer
Tue Apr 10, 2007 2:21 pm
Forum: Naval History (1922-1945)
Topic: Single events in Kriegsmarine history
Replies: 38
Views: 12680

Admiral Marchall was far from happy with the gunnery of the Scharnhorst during the sinking of the Glorious Kind of Ironic that despite all that, she managed to hole Glorious's flight deck from a whopping 26,465 yards True, but this, (and Warspite's hit at the same great range) must be counted as 'f...
by paul mercer
Tue Apr 10, 2007 7:46 am
Forum: Naval Weapons
Topic: Shell spread
Replies: 21
Views: 9794

When we say 'shell spashes' is this just the shell hitting the water or does the shell explode?
by paul mercer
Tue Apr 03, 2007 11:41 am
Forum: Naval Weapons
Topic: Shell interchangability
Replies: 11
Views: 5530

Shell interchangability

Would shells manufactured in different countries interchange i.e. would a 14/15/16" British shell fit and fire in the equivalent gun made in the US/France/Germany/Italy and vice versa?
by paul mercer
Tue Apr 03, 2007 11:36 am
Forum: Naval Technology
Topic: Loss of sterns on German ships
Replies: 22
Views: 22465

Is there any evidence that the stern broke away on the surface? I would have thought that as she hit the underwater mountain or whatever it was, the bow would have hit first then the stern would hit with an almighty wallop, possibly causing the stern to snap off. Alternatively the stern could have h...
by paul mercer
Wed Mar 21, 2007 4:32 pm
Forum: Naval Technology
Topic: Loss of sterns on German ships
Replies: 22
Views: 22465

Loss of sterns on German ships

I'm sorry if this has been asked before, but I am almost finished reading 'Scharnhorst' by Alf.R Jacobsen and in it he describes the wreck as having lost her stern (I think the bow section was blown off by a magazine explosion). As Bismarck and I believe another large German warship, (Blucher or Pri...
by paul mercer
Wed Mar 21, 2007 8:34 am
Forum: Naval History (1922-1945)
Topic: German Mistakes in WWII
Replies: 50
Views: 15613

The wreck of the Bismarck appears to be buried up to or above her her waterline in mud, so how can one tell the real extent of the torpedo damage - or for that matter whether there is shell penetration below the mud that cannot be seen? I do find it difficult to believe that a 16" or even a 14&...
by paul mercer
Tue Mar 20, 2007 4:10 pm
Forum: Hypothetical Naval Scenarios
Topic: Denmark Strait Hypotesis
Replies: 29
Views: 11387

Re: KG V class 14 in performances

Ciao RF and all, I have not forgot to respond to you on this,..but I was really busy lately and I needed to find teh book and the infos to do it. So here it is an outlook from Peter Hodges : '' The BIG guns - the battleship main armament 1860 - 1945 ' edited by Conway Maritime Press in London on 19...
by paul mercer
Tue Mar 20, 2007 9:01 am
Forum: Naval History (1922-1945)
Topic: German Mistakes in WWII
Replies: 50
Views: 15613

I think the biggest mistake the Germans made was to build large battleships. A few more smaller ships of the Graff Spee type would have been far more effective for raiding purposes, after all, as Langsdorf is supposed to have said, they were fast enough to get away from any heavy ship barring the Ho...
by paul mercer
Wed Mar 14, 2007 4:59 pm
Forum: Bismarck General Discussion
Topic: German loss of initiative
Replies: 58
Views: 21568

Just a thought, all the talk about who would or could have sunk what. Surely in real life it does not really matter whether or not one battleship was capable of sinking another in a ship to ship fight. Most Battleships had a substantial Cruiser or Destroyer escort and while it might be desirable for...
by paul mercer
Mon Mar 12, 2007 9:26 am
Forum: Bismarck General Discussion
Topic: German loss of initiative
Replies: 58
Views: 21568

Lutjens didn't know he was fighting a ship with serious gunnery problems. He did know it was one of the newest British battleships. Suppose he continues to fight and PoW cripples Bismarck, or they both end up seriously damaged with reduction in speed? Now he is helpless as other British units close...
by paul mercer
Wed Mar 07, 2007 4:36 pm
Forum: Naval Technology
Topic: Hood explosion
Replies: 10
Views: 6076

Be aware that the water pressure is 1 bar (or 1kg/cm2) for every ten metres. So a ship sunk at 2000 mt will receive a pressure of 200 bars (or 200 kg/cm2). A plate 1 m2 will receive a weight of 2000 tons. Only a structure designed for the deep will resist it. Wow, that a lot of pressure, it's not s...
by paul mercer
Wed Mar 07, 2007 3:05 pm
Forum: Naval History (1922-1945)
Topic: Book on Scharnhorst
Replies: 5
Views: 2237

Hi Antonio,
You're right it is a good book, I''ve only got to Chapter 12 so far.
One interesting point,on P 94 it said that the hospital ship 'Posen' arrived carrying torpedoes for the submarine depot ship in Hammerfest.
Surely this was illegal?
by paul mercer
Wed Mar 07, 2007 2:55 pm
Forum: Naval Technology
Topic: Hood explosion
Replies: 10
Views: 6076

Thanks for your replies chaps. I'm surprised that Hood suffered from implosion as she would have been much more heavily constructed than 'Titanic' and isn't as deep. As for the passageways, from what you say there was not any method of transfering shells from one end of the ship to the other, except...