Naval History Forums

My thanks to those who have submitted comments on the so-called 'forward magazine explosion' hypothesis. The original formulation of this, was even more bizarre than the version(s) still in circulation, i.e. they claimed -- believe it or not -- that the forward magazine explosion not only took place...

It appears that someone is still flogging that old ITN Channel 4 "documentary" on the loss of Hood, or something very similar. I noticed one recently, i.e. about five years ago, where a search team rediscovered -- with apparently some surprise -- that the rudder was actually over on the st...

Thank you Jose: As I hardly ever read my own work, I frankly didn't notice. Using that information, I may be able to find out a bit more about precisely where that image was taken. The white material may -- and I have to emphasis the MAY -- be some sort of mold. There is a lot of that scattered at v...

It's almost impossible to decipher these sorts of things from a single image. (I can tell you from experience that it's often quite difficult even in real time to determine anything with a high degree of certainty. Do you have any other images in the sequence? Often, if you take two closely-spaced i...

I would concur. The most mechanically meticulous effort I've ever seen was embodied in the Maneuver and Fire Rules. But they are very difficult to work through by hand -- although it IS possible to do so -- and, although there have been attempts to computerize them, at the time this was done, contem...

My own opinion is 'no'. There is some damage on the portside forward which appears as though some material might have been welded in place, and there are a few holes and damaged areas on the starboard side which may (or may not) correspond with an exit hole (or holes) close to what would have been t...

I just did a bit more photogrammetric work on the photo in question. If you take the horizon to be horizontal (a reasonable assumption given the sea conditions), you will find that the masts come out to all intents and purposes dead vertical, which would suggest the ship is hardly trimming at all. A...

I suspect that you are essentially correct. My feeling has always been that the photographer 'snapped' the photo when the ship was in one of its most extreme positions, i.e. one that was visually the most interesting, and that photos taken at random would not show nearly so much apparent trim by the...

Trying to synchronize propeller thrusts, rudder forces (which were probably uncertain and variable depending upon how much rudder was actually there, etc.), wind forces, sea forces, and paravane thrusts (which would seem to be difficult to regulate with precision) would probably be impossible, espec...

I haven't done any calculations, but my suspicion is that paravanes even if streamed at speed would not be able to exert enough transverse force to make any significant difference. They were, after all, only intended to move minesweeping wires outboard and to support a fairly light cable to cut the ...

The tug idea is interesting, but I doubt very much if even big salvage tugs could have made much difference. Towing speeds would be too slow. Most tug-work took place in still-water harbors at very slow speeds. Pushing on the bow of the Queen Mary at three-knots in harbor is very very different than...

Actually, now that I think about it more, there was one set of cases where ships were expected (rarely) to operate astern. Some early U.S. Navy aircraft carriers were, for a brief time, equipped with arresting gear forward as well as aft, the idea being that if damage to the flight deck occurred aft...

As a general rule, ships of that era were simply not designed to steam astern at any significant speed at for any significant time, so it's simply not a 'design case'. Basically, why would anybody want to do that? Even tugs, which spent a lot of time under astern power, never used that as any sort o...

deleted duplicate post from myself

Bill Jurens

I corresponded with the Baron, who lived here in Toronto, Canada, several times, and talked to him on the phone once regarding gunnery aspects and big-gun dispersion. A very nice gentleman indeed, but -- one must remember -- quite literally a professional diplomat who chose his words very carefully ...