Naval History Forums

a film about the Tet Offensive

"Full Metal Jacket"

Do we know that Bismarck used RPC at DS?

I hadn't realized the extent of the problems that the KM had with their remote control systems. As in the USN, RPC seemed to look better on paper than in actual use, at least in the 1940-42 time frame. Where did you read it in the document ? I don't remember to have read about it... (I forgot) Page...

alecsandros wrote:See AVKS-700 here http://www.kbismarck.com/AVKS-700.zip

I hadn't realized the extent of the problems that the KM had with their remote control systems. As in the USN, RPC seemed to look better on paper than in actual use, at least in the 1940-42 time frame.

Ciao all, it would have been very interesting to find something similar for HMS Prince of Wales training activities after being commissioned and completed until May 1941. Ciao Antonio :D I have read that PoW had only fired 5 RPG in gunnery practise. Brooks, in Alarm Starboard , states that PoW cond...

alecsandros wrote:See AVKS-700 here http://www.kbismarck.com/AVKS-700.zip

It is a good reference for Bismarck's main battery tests. It shows that the battleship's crew was far from being prepared for 38cm battery firing. Many tests were droped, due to lack of time...

Thanks, that was very interesting.

Additional B never conduct heavy battery firings prior to the DS. The work on the radar-controlled part of fire control lasted shortly until sortie to Bergen. Im sure that some of the recommended work according AVKS report on the fire control equipment was not completed. So the "exercise"...

How long did KGV take to obtain hits on Bismarck? The first hits recorded by KGV occurred at 8:53, about 5 minutes after opening fire. It seems likely that KGV initially spotted on Rodney's shell splashes as the two ships were in open order it was harder for each to distinguish the other's shell sp...

1) PoW turned away around a minute earlier than the German squadron. 2) ( ref. RN Articles of War – 1757 point 12 still active on 1941 during WW2 ) 2a) PoW was firing in a very brilliant and effective way, C. McMullen was at same if not better level of Schneider and Jasper that day. I doubt looking...

Failing that, it's probable that the ship could have been sunk quite quickly by pulling to a range outside her immune zone and waiting for a plunging shell to enter the magazines. The overall expenditure of ammuntion would have been less. On a slowly maneuvering target such as Bismarck, one might a...

German doctrine was usually to have the largest gunned friendly ship engage the enemy's largest gunned ship. The Germans seem to have fairly consistently followed this in their engagements. There is little reason to suppose it would have been any different had KGV been present instead of PoW. In fa...

It was some luck involved, yes. But there were also a series of mistakes done by the British... As it was, Hood had no portion of it armored to withstand Bismarck's guns in normal battle obliquities below 20km. So it was a matter of time before a shell would hit a magazine. Hood fired badly anyway,...

There is a huge amount of detail here that would take a considerable amount of time to read and digest. Some levels of comparison with battleships of other navies I think would have been useful in highlighting the salient points and make it a bit more readable...... Here's some roughly comparable d...

If a shell would pass through KGV's con tower like it did on PoW, I doubt the ship would be in good fighting capability for few minutes or more; also, if the battle is longer than 15-20 minutes, mechanical problems with the quad-14" turret are likely to occur on board KGV. . A shell did not pa...

That is a possibility; but the main element would be "who finds the range first and hits more often"... While the historical facts point towards the British finding the range first (PoW straddled at the 3rd salvo ?), the consistency of the firing solution and the rate of fire are importan...