Naval History Forums

What happened to the Argentinian sub that got hit by heliocopters and was beached in South Georgia (I think it was there) - was it repaired or is it still there?

Hi Karl,
An interesting post, not sure about the last bit about no commie menace because of the latest developments in Eastern Europe - old Putin threatening to point his missiles our way again!!

Thanks again!
Out of interest, what amount of explosive would be in 14/15/16" shells?

The modern battleships had better torpedo protection, but there was no way to provide protection proportional to the increase in torpedo destructiveness. Thanks Tiornu, Could you say why? There have been many debates on this site about shell v armour, with the general conclusion seeming to be that ...

If the danger from torpedoes was a known factor with the later build battleships, why did they not increase the amount of protection - or could no amount of armour really protect the underside of a ship?

Did anyone (in England) see the progam on the sinking of the Lusitania the other night, it seemed that the RN were trying to blame Captain Turner for the tragedy?

RF, thanks for your reply, surely we wern't quite as helpless as that? After all we were expecting an invasion and we did have some conventional forces left as well as some aircraft. It is one thing to land small forces in particular areas, but quite another to take over an entire country. I still t...

Is it true that at North Cape the British ships were using 'flashless' cordite and the only ship to get hit (Norfolk) did not have any?

I suppose that in reality the German navy should have concentrated on submarines, armed merchant ships like Pinguin (which were fairly expendable) and maybe a few long range cruisers or Graf Spee type ships. Although they did not have the prestige of a large battleship, an awful lot of subs could ha...

Just a thought! While accepting that if given a choice, the tried and tested 8 x 15" in a conventional layout is probably a better option than an untried 10 x14". However, if the 14" turrets DID behave faultlessly, surely with an extra two guns they would have the potential to land mo...

That is true, and why the Poles and to a lesser extent the Czechs played such a key role for the RAF in September 1940. Another key question - what if Hitler had ordered an all-out land assault on Dunkirk on May 27 1940, causing most of the evacuated troops to be taken POW instead, and then orderin...

Are you thinking of Iowa? Yes, you're right, I think it was. I seem to remember my father telling me that when he was on the QE in the late 20's that if a misfire occurred they had to wait some time before they opened the breech. I can't remember how long it was though, it might have been as long a...

Hi chaps, My question re misfires seems to have been overlooked, so here it is again. 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 t...

The way I read Jutland was that Beatty went charging in against the German Battleships with his Battlecruisers and got a hiding. He was saved by the 5th Battle Squadron with its QE class ships which handed out quite a lot of punishment to the Germans and had their shooting been a lot better could we...

I always thought that the Bismarck was constructed quite well as an armored ship, but that the most serious and deadly construction flaw was in the layout and conceptual plan for adequate antiaircraft defenses of the time. Even at dockside they never shot down an attacking aircraft for certain! Is ...