Naval History Forums

Gentlemen,
I believe that after the twins and Bismarck break outs into the Atlantic the RN did a pretty good job of rounding up the German supply ships, so if Tirpitz had got out at a later date would she have had problems with supplies, mainly in re-oiling?

Bu Anson in 1943/44 is what - 27 kts? By 1945, a fully loaded KGV could not make more then 26 kts (I think from G&D, or Roberts). Tirpitz has less speed advantage then Scharnhorst, but still. And without slowing down, no chance for the British destroyers to catch up and deliver their torpedoes....

It would be very interesting to see a heavy weight boxing match in Dec 1943, between Anson and Tirpitz. IMHO, a fully worked up Tirpitz, with her destroyers, could adequately deal with Norfolk/Sheffield/Belfast (Norfolk and Sheffield badly damaged, Belfast's radar knocked out - Tirpitz moderately d...

Gentlemen,
Please forgive my ignorance in this,but if the KGV's gained several thousand tons over the years since they were built, where did all the extra weight go, was it all on extra armour,and if so what part of the ship was improved?

Gentlemen, Once again, many thanks for your replies, I was watching a program on the ME 109 and they were talking to some of the remaining pilots some of whom claimed that thanks to the 'slats' on the leading edge of a 109 wing they could often out turn a Spitfire in combat. Were these 'slats' that ...

Dave Saxton wrote: ↑Mon Sep 24, 2018 8:21 pm Type 284P would not have altered the circumstances in favor of Anson. Not even Type 274.

Thanks again Dave for your input, poor old KGV class, they don't seem to have many supporters do they?

Thanks again to everyone for their input, I suspect that unless Tirpitz was caught unawares like Scharnhorst, that the presence of a 'heavy unit' either accompanying or close to a convoy would probably be enough for her to not engage unless Hitler or Donitz had specifically ordered her CO that she m...

Gentlemen, We seem to have gone a little off track here, Given that there was not a huge difference in overall weight between the two, (using either Anson or Howe) and Tirpitz my original question was basically if they had gone head to head - both with fully working guns,radar, experienced crew and...

Gentlemen, We seem to have gone a little off track here, Given that there was not a huge difference in overall weight between the two, (using either Anson or Howe) and Tirpitz my original question was basically if they had gone head to head - both with fully working guns,radar, experienced crew and ...

Gentlemen, I have taken a post from Alecsandros in the Bismark & Tirpitz myth and planted it here (hope you don't mind Alecsandros). 'KGV displaced 37500 tons standard and Bismarck 41700 tons standard. Yes, Bismarck was heavier , but not in the proportion usually considered. Tirpitz weighed 4420...

Hello everybody, well, ... we have just learned that the KG V class battleships have never been really completed, ... not having had in their service life the quadruple turrets and relative gun loading mechanisms working at an acceptable reliability level, ... :shock: Neither KGV nor PoW had a chan...

Gentlemen, I’m going to put my hand in the fire here (actually both hands!) and ask a question which may outrage some of you, but here goes! Do you think that ever since the Denmark Strait battle a myth about the power and almost invincibility of both Bismarck and Tirpitz has grown up around these t...

Gentlemen,
As always, many thanks for taking time to answer my questions, as for the rest of the debate, I'm not sure we are going to get any firm conclusions on this one either! But thanks again for your replies.
Paul

Gentlemen, Please forgive my interruption to your debate, but perhaps you could clear up a couple of points for me. First of all, are some people saying that Y turret did not jam at all? If so, how could anyone in the RN get away with saying they did when there were so many witnesses on the ship, no...

Gentlemen, In an earlier post I asked if this 'failure to fire' was common amongst WW2 ships, and apparently it was. What still puzzles me is what is the reason for these failures (PoW we know about) For instance, is it a failure of continuous supply of cordite and shell, a mistake or mishandling by...