Naval History Forums

Moral ascendancy is not something I've ever associated with the Nazi military. I think it's "moral" as in "morale" (high spirits), not ethics. Coulda, woulda, shoulda. Might have shortened the crew's misery by a couple days. And they might even have been sunk by PoW and the two ...

Very fine work!

Great!

But what do you think Lindemann would have done?

Hello, @Bgile - You asked how do I think BS could get away if attacked by 4 BBs - I think that, according to mission rules, the BS and PE should make smoke and retreat westwards as long as possible(as PoW did, only in the opposite direction). With BS forced at 30kts, only Hood could get closer (Hood...

“The objective of the battleship Bismarck should not be to defeat, in an all-out engagement, enemies of equal strength, but to tie them down in a delaying action, while preserving her own combat capability as much as possible” You've taken it out of context: what it means is that, when attacking a ...

German and Italian fantasy fleet together, after the Italians make fantasy sortie through Gibralter into the Atlantic. Hmmm... where are they gonna get the gas for the trip? They get scuppered by the RN, with likely assist from the USN. No gas. IIRC, the Italian BBs had realy limited range. Only wi...

That is exactly what one of PoW's hits did. It went under Bismarck's relatively shallow belt and exploded next to the holding bulkhead, causing water to enter and eventually completely flood two compartments, a generator room and a boiler room. This kind of hit becomes much less likely at extremely...

@dunmuro I am also a fan of primary documents - whenever they are accessible. Many thanks for the link with PoW's log. @lwd - You're right - this is the kind of situation where BS bow woudl be vulnerable. But it took take some 2 hours before PoW unjamed the aft turret, and I don't think such a long ...

I understand.
I find it curious though that the Polish authors I mentioned insisted on this detail (half a column) and later on claim that not until 11:00 have 9 of the 10 guns became operational (after mentioning Y turret unjamed at 8:25).

I realy don't know...

PoW had 600t of water in her hull. Very unlikely she had 28.4 kts like that. Yet again, different sources... Different numbers... However, if we are to follow your data, the big question is: - why did PoW retreat with 9 guns blazing (aft turret got jamed after making smoke) and no decrease in speed?

LoL! The link I provided is the official report of PoW's gunnery and it doesn't mention the forward turret ammunition rooms being flooded, because they didn't flood! The turret took in some water, and some of the crew got wet, but they maintained an uninterrupted RoF. Also Y turret jammed at 6:03, ...

According to the data above in penetration the SK 38 gun was around 10% better than the british 14"/45 gun (for the same armor) Really not a substantial difference? You must remember that they are firing at each other, and the British armour reduces the penetration levels of the KM gun, so the...

Shortly after 6:00, PoW reported "max speed 27 kts". Then the speed "dropped".

DO you have any source for PoW mantaining at least 28kts after the battle?

Hello, Dunmuro, No, I haven't. But we are using different sources - I think. In my "Hunting the Bismarck" book, it says "only 2 guns were serviceable until 8:25". See my extended post above. I'm sorry, but any book or source that states that only two guns were serviceable is sim...

NO and NO. While certain parts of Bismarck were not likely to suffer from a penetrating hit that doesn't meen she was invulnerable. Indeed in a tail chase even those sections may be vulnerable due to target geometry. Okun's article is very informative: http://www.kbismarck.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f...