Naval History Forums

These scenarios mostly assume a straight up technical matchup, but many factors would influence the outcome. Weather, sea state, visibility and the determination of the commanders would all play vital roles. The German war logs for their action with Renown off Norway show that they were very impress...

I recently picked up a 1916 Gewehr 98 rifle in a Maryland gun shop. A friend works there and he pointed out a brass 5.9 inch shell case stamped 1918, which we both figure most likely came from Frankfurt or Ostfriesland, since both of them went to the U.S. as reparations. No price had been set on it ...

Great post Alfonso! I've argued the point for years that the German 11 outranged almost anything else out there, to general disbelief.

Tiornu, that would have been Kurt Caesar Hoffmann of Scharnhorst, who earned the rebuke from Lutjens. Hoffmann is another favorite of mine.

If memory serves me correctly, during the course of Operation Berlin, Salmon and Gluckstien, which you folks seem to call "the twins", encountered Malaya and Ramillies on seperate occasions. Both times Lutjens obeyed his standing order to avoid action with Capital ships and sped off. Assum...

I read of hydrophones in Prinz Eugen many years ago, but have never been able to confirm it. As for having them in Bismarck, I'd not heard of that, but it wouldn't surprise me. Tirpitz carried some "scare" depth charges. Actual SONAR in a Capital ship is not something I've ever read of.

Scharnhorst for me. To even things up let's use a daylight scenario with good visibility. Neither Alaska or Guam was capable of 33 knots as a seagoing speed. 31 was their normal maximum under good conditions. Furthermore, the Alaska's had NO underwater protection...no torpedo bulkhead or blisters, a...

I've seen photos of a 38cm on temporary display in Denmark for some exposition about thirty years ago, along with a shell.

Hi folks, A couple other engagements to look into are the Battle of the Kormandorski Islands, Java Sea, Sunda Strait, and Samar. Oldendorff's battle line opened at 26,000 at Suragao Strait as I recall. Kongo shot very well at Samar. Aerial spotted gunnery practice in the early '30's, I believe by Pe...

Bismarck herself is a myth. The legend was made by the crew.