Naval History Forums

Hi Ulrich. It couldnt be as bad as the fuel tax we British have to pay. The British government has a fetish for taxing fuel But its not for the RN though is it? No, shame about that, we'd have our new aircraft carriers in no time if it did! Still, I suppose they could slap an extra tax on Plymouth ...

A few questions, if one has a misfire in a gun that uses cordite for it's charge (as oppose to a complete shell and case) doesn't there have to be a certain lenght of time before the breech can be opened to avoid the danger of a flashback? If so, would this time be shortened if it happened in the mi...

Given that range finding was not as sophisticated as it was later on, I would have thought that it would have been ill advised for AGS to indulge in long range fire because of the inevitable high ammunition expenditure per hit, bearing in mind that she could not easily replenish her stock. I would h...

Anyone know if Cameron's films of Bismarck have been released in British DVD format yet - and if so where cane one buy them?

Actually, it was probably a screenwriter for Tora Tora Tora who said that. Tiornu, you're quite right of course, it was said in the film, but Yamamoto was a professional naval officer who had travelled to a number of countries including, I believe, the US, so he could have been under no illusions a...

Whatever the Japanese did, the end result wa never in doubt, was it not Admiral Yamamoto (sorry about the spelling) who was supposed tom have said after Pearl harbour, 'I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant'?

One more thing, please, please, do not let the crews on the British ships have American accents!!

An interesting topic, although not the one that started! Just re-read part of Peter Smiths book on Renown 'Hit First, Hit Hard', it would appear that apart from being a 'Happy' ship, she had a fully worked up crew of 'Regulars' on board. She had also been fitted with the latest gunnery gadgets, so w...

Glad he did, my stepfather was a young leiutenent or captain in the marine turret on Cumberland at the time! I've still got a piece of wood panelling taken from the wardroom when they cleared all the flamable bits out when they expected to go into action at the river Plate. My stepfather told me tha...

Am I right in assuming that 14" & 16" shells fired at 4000 yds or under will penetrate any part of Bismarcks armour?

Think you are all right in some respects! Scharnhorst, Gneisneau and PE the most beautiful, Bismarck/Tirpitz for sheer awsomeness, but a close up head on view of a QE class like Warspite punching her way through the sea, for the most pugnacious look! The later British ships like KGV are undoubtably ...

I kind of agree that what makes the US ships less pleasing visually is the huge amount of AAA, which breaks up their fine lines. Also the aircraft on the stern and the many electronic antennas. It makes them look cluttered. Kind of ironic. The very things which made them ultimately survivable and u...

Given exactly the same circumstances the end result would probably have been the same, but perhaps might have taken a bit longer because of POW's gun problems. However, at the start of the battle with Bismarck, all POW's guns were working and that would have made the difference at the start of a bat...

According to Ballard, the stern broke off at the surface, but in his drawings of how he thinks she sank, BS left the surface stern first and upside down, then rolled back upright after the turrets had fallen out and went down with the bow slightly higher than the stern. He then shows the ship hittin...

Well, The twins couldn´t beat the Hms Renown when they fought, that proved that a singel british Battleship (Battlecrusier) could indeed stand up against Gneisenau and Scharnhorst together, naturally the outcome has very much to do with circumstances therefore you can not draw to big conclusions, b...