Naval History Forums

Were there any plans to convert the Bismarck or Tirpitz into aircraft Carriers? The Kriegsmarine had plans for six carriers: Flugzeugtrager ''A'' - later named as Graf Zeppelin; Flugzeugtrager ''B'' - not formally named, some have suggested Peter Strasser as the intended name; Four cruise liners, i...

Assuming the Germans had discovered Harwoods's true position while Graf Spee was in Montevideo and as a result Hitler forbade scuttling as well as internment, what were Langsdorf's chances of fighting his way past the three British cruisers and escaping to the open Atlantic?

marcelo_malara wrote:What do you mean by "blanks"?

Blanks are shells with no explosive charge, ie they can't explode when they hit the target.

Foeth wrote: Perhaps we can make a list of post WW II US victories? Korea, Vietnam, Somalia , Iraq.... No, to easy and unfair?! The US political leaders have the ability to lose wars their military had won. In Korea the US Army fought two different wars: one against the North Korea Commie Army whic...

Referring to the US Civil War I haven't heard of the CSA Florida either. I had thought that CSA Shanandoah was the next successful after CSA Alabama though most of her operations took place in ignorance of the war ending.

Is there any info anywhere on the CSA Florida?

Hi all: The carrier had been out of service after Malvinas/Falklands war by trouble with the steam turbines, and her destiny was dubious. Finally it was sold for scrap, leaving Argentina out of the club of carrier possesing navies. Thanks for the info Marcelo. As Argentina has substantial naval fac...

I believe that after the plot to kill Hitler a senior officer´s life was in quite danger if he not give a visible signal of loyalty. And having political officers in the KM vessels give me the hint that someone doesn´t trust the crews, ergo, they were not good nazis. There was a case in the spring ...

I have fought this battle in war games and as Spee you have almost no chance of winning unless you attack early and close the ships in port. At that point you hope for luck to come your way with a critical hit or two on the BC's if you do that you can then flee. Another point here is that in 1939 L...

I've been through the waters near Port Stanley and several other places that remain un-mentioned. I'm only pointing out that if Spee had closed range with S & G so they could use thier 21 cm main armament while the rest of his forces scattered he could have at least damaged the British squadron...

I believe that Topp had been awarded the Iron Cross both first and second class - see the U-bootwaffe website listing of awards.

There are loads of issues here! How do you define a battle, separate from a campaign? The Battle of the Atlantic, the German submarine campaign did indeed cover the entire Atlantic, it extended to the Indian Ocean and one U-boat sank a ship in the Tasman Sea and then attacked another ship off the ea...

Another thought has occured to me - the turret arrangement on this class I believe was similar to the Scharnhorst classe - three triple turrets, but 15 inch rather than 11 inch. I presume that the Littorio class was built to the required Treaty weight restrictions so would I be right in thinking tha...

Did the RM conduct any tests on these battleships to see how well they could be steered using the propellers only? I other words could they be maneouvered more easily than the Bismark classe if there was a major problem with the rudders?

I have heard some time ago that a propaganda film was made about life aboard the hilfskreuzer Kormoran. Do copies of this film still exist? If so are they publicly available? I have also heard that the two Propaganda Ministry men on board Kormoran filmed the engagement with HMAS Sydney - did the foo...

I have for some years been trying to trace the British merchant ship Matheran, whose captain/bridge crew witnessed at long range the night time gun attack by hilfskreuzer Michel on the Greek ship Eugenie Livanos on either 7/8 or 8/9 December 1942, south east of Madagascar. I cannot find any informat...