Search found 904 matches

by Vic Dale
Tue Jul 23, 2013 11:35 am
Forum: Off Topic
Topic: Are the bad guys on the move again?
Replies: 87
Views: 58262

Re: Are the bad guys on the move again?

Yes, the Red Terror started a decade before the outbreak of WWII. Now my understanding of the word decade might differ from yours. I use ten years. That takes us back to 1929. Lenin was dead by 1924 and Trotsky having fought long and hard, had lost the battle against Stalin and was exiled in 1927. T...
by Vic Dale
Tue Jul 23, 2013 10:31 am
Forum: Off Topic
Topic: Fumbling Bumbling Bungling...
Replies: 23
Views: 16784

Re: Fumbling Bumbling Bungling...

They were supposed to winter in Moscow, but could not that is why they froze.
by Vic Dale
Tue Jul 23, 2013 10:25 am
Forum: Hypothetical Naval Scenarios
Topic: Were battleships actualy usefull in WW 2 ?
Replies: 81
Views: 13939

Re: Were battleships actualy usefull in WW 2 ?

The battleship was a sacred cow, which rarely came up to expectation. They were prestige weapons and everybody who was anybody had to have them. A bit like nukes. No one is going to use nukes as long as everyone has them. That is why proliferation is a good thing. The same was true of the battleship...
by Vic Dale
Tue Jul 23, 2013 9:24 am
Forum: Hypothetical Naval Scenarios
Topic: Bismarck vs. Rodney: hand to hand?
Replies: 414
Views: 82198

Re: Bismarck vs. Rodney: hand to hand?

The gunnery teams in PoW did have green hands among them, but the majority were first rate gunnery NCOs and ratings, with many years experience between them. Some of the key ratings and NCOs will have come from KGV and a good many will have been able to visit the Flagship and participate in gunnery ...
by Vic Dale
Tue Jul 23, 2013 9:01 am
Forum: Hypothetical Naval Scenarios
Topic: Bouncing bombs against Tirpitz
Replies: 7
Views: 2129

Re: Bouncing bombs against Tirpitz

They were doing all sorts with bouncing bombs. Trials against the battleship Malaya showed that against side armour they would bounce back and away from the ship, but remain intact and on contact with the softer shell plate would enter the ship. I personally think from what I have observed in trials...
by Vic Dale
Tue Jul 23, 2013 8:16 am
Forum: Bismarck General Discussion
Topic: Lutjens' Intentions
Replies: 138
Views: 26140

Re: Lutjens' Intentions

So it seems there is no difference between the globe on which we live and on which ships sail and the Mercator's projection which is the basis of naval charts. The Mercator's projection is a cylindrical representation of the globe which is true more or less at the equator, but which has increasing e...
by Vic Dale
Tue Jul 23, 2013 7:18 am
Forum: Bismarck General Discussion
Topic: should have the prinz eugen stayed with the bismarck ?
Replies: 201
Views: 24493

Re: should have the prinz eugen stayed with the bismarck ?

Ah Vic, if you do not mind the question again ( and I asked already) what about the 14 inch hit out board the port boiler room exploding inside the t.p.s. and reported inability to maintain maximum speed due to extra forces been applied to repaired damage?. And on to another question arising from t...
by Vic Dale
Sat Jul 20, 2013 6:39 pm
Forum: Bismarck General Discussion
Topic: Lutjens' Intentions
Replies: 138
Views: 26140

Re: Lutjens' Intentions

Thanks for that Duncan. I didn't know what the upper limit was. So perhaps her burn rate was slightly lower than I had thought. I noticed that Group West's figures gave her a better endurance than that I had. I may redraft that graph using the figures provided by Group West. Btw is that long tons, m...
by Vic Dale
Fri Jul 19, 2013 11:30 pm
Forum: Off Topic
Topic: Are the bad guys on the move again?
Replies: 87
Views: 58262

Re: Are the bad guys on the move again?

I think you have the time line muddled I have photos of the execution sheds used by the white terror in 1919. One of the great tactics which Lenin employed during the months following the overthrow of the Czar was to make solidarity appeals to the troops sent by the Generals to halt the revolution. ...
by Vic Dale
Fri Jul 19, 2013 10:44 pm
Forum: Bismarck General Discussion
Topic: should have the prinz eugen stayed with the bismarck ?
Replies: 201
Views: 24493

Re: should have the prinz eugen stayed with the bismarck ?

The movements of the ship between loss of contact at 0306 and relocation at 1030 on the 26th do have some very strict limitations on what could and what could not be done. The new discovery of the global location of AK55 tightens those limits even more. What becomes clear is that Bismarck was not sh...
by Vic Dale
Fri Jul 19, 2013 9:23 pm
Forum: Bismarck General Discussion
Topic: Lutjens' Intentions
Replies: 138
Views: 26140

Re: Lutjens' Intentions

The top left corner of AK55 as plotted using the Grid Square finder is; 55°30'00"N, 034°00'00"W That is 145 miles away from Bismarck's plotted position at 0400. This corner is the nearest to that position and could not have been reached until the ship had steamed for five hours at 28 knots...
by Vic Dale
Fri Jul 19, 2013 9:00 pm
Forum: Off Topic
Topic: Are the bad guys on the move again?
Replies: 87
Views: 58262

Re: Are the bad guys on the move again?

Aww come on. Look at how they eulogised Marx and Lenin after their deaths, yet when alive they were the most dangerous people on the planet - as far as capitalism goes anyway - hated and vilified, hunted too. I have to wonder why Trotsky was never rehabilitated. After all he is good and dead, yet he...
by Vic Dale
Fri Jul 19, 2013 8:48 pm
Forum: Off Topic
Topic: Fumbling Bumbling Bungling...
Replies: 23
Views: 16784

Re: Fumbling Bumbling Bungling...

It makes no difference whether or not the Red Force commander was US military. The fact remains that he showed the flaws in the whole system and the top echelons didn't like it. Proof of this particular pudding comes in the form of consistent examples where the US military machine has ignored the le...
by Vic Dale
Fri Jul 19, 2013 7:47 pm
Forum: Bismarck General Discussion
Topic: Lutjens' Intentions
Replies: 138
Views: 26140

Re: Lutjens' Intentions

So possibly there is some agreement on the position of AK55 at it's center as; 57* 52' N by 35* 02' W and with it's southwestern corner at; 57* 20' by 36* 20'W. At 0400 on the 26th Bismarck's position was 56* 27' N by 37* 55' W, or ten miles to the northwest of the position at which contact was lost...
by Vic Dale
Fri Jul 19, 2013 4:17 pm
Forum: Bismarck General Discussion
Topic: should have the prinz eugen stayed with the bismarck ?
Replies: 201
Views: 24493

Re: should have the prinz eugen stayed with the bismarck ?

The Diaries of Bismarck's survivors were not lost. Nor were the sighting reports from British Warships and Aircraft. The positional signals transmitted between Bismarck and Group West were not lost and neither was the war Diary of Prinz Eugen. These are the only documents I am using and am ignoring ...