Naval History Forums

dunmuro: Lutjens' actions were thus either foolhardy (and a maybe a consequence of simple cowardice by "freezing" at the sight of the Hood, as some have claimed) or simply an acknowledgement that he could not outrun his opponents, and thus, early in the morning with clear weather, his onl...

No, the position where Bismarck encountered the British ships is well to the south of the Denmark strait, they were to the west of Reykjavik and already in the Atlantic. They had several hundred miles of open ocean to the west of them before the packice off Greenland would force them to turn south ...

Ciao Dunmunro and all, the 29 knots at 138.000 shp was theory. The 30,8 knots at 150.170 shp were real :wink: . The Baron memory may be fallible, .... but he explained the ship performed better than design ( 30,8 vs 29 ) ... and it matches with trials records, ... with Adm Raeder to Hitler and othe...

Cia dunmunro and all, the SHP were the new ones so I assume 150.170 as reported into Groner book ( and not the old 138.000 = 3 x 46.000 ) . The displacement was 47.253 ton and I assume metric tons (1ton = 1000 Kg) and here we have full details of the ship weight percentages. As far as for the Baron...

Ciao Dunmunro and all, forget those dockyard engine test data and the theoretical comparison with Scharnhorst engines and weights. Bring out the trials data available on Breyer / Koop book at page 78 when on 19 Oktober 1940 on the speed trails Bismarck reached 30,8 and 31 knots with 47.253 ton as r...

Ciao dunmunro and all, are you saying you do not beleive the Bismarck trials data and the Baron book confirming them ? Please explain us what do you have to support this position in case. Why in your opinion Adm raeder told Hitler that Bismarck than could ONLY make 28 knots after teh battle damages...

I also read that thread and I have to remark that estimating ship speed from seemingly (but actually not) comparable ships is not very accurate. Also, the Holtrop & Mennen estimator follows from the older publications and is certainly not up to speed with the more modern database and knowledge ...

I spent a fair amount of time investigating Bismarck's likely top speed, and IMHO, she could not have outrun either Hood or PoW. I suspect that both RN ships had about a knot more speed. Without getting too far off track, you're making a very bold statement that contradicts most of the evidence we ...

A few points: Bismarck seemed to use 1/2 salvos, so for example, all 4 forward guns would fire, then a few seconds delay and then the after turrets would fire. The question really isn't about 9 guns versus 8 but about 2 or 3 turrets versus 4 and whether an fore and aft or all forward arrangement was...

30knots wrote:What about fuel capacity ?

Bismark had more fuel capacity but that wouldn't have helped her escape from DS. In fact. I suspect that Lutjens knew that he was at a disadvantage regarding speed, and hence did not have the option to avoid a fight.

I spent a fair amount of time investigating Bismarck's likely top speed, and IMHO, she could not have outrun either Hood or PoW. I suspect that both RN ships had about a knot more speed.

Also, if there was even a very small target angle, PoW's belt would be immune.

Significantly, at no time does Captain Leach say that PoW's radar failed to function and he does make clear that it was used in support of action against the German squadron on a number occasions. http://www.hmshood.org.uk/reference/official/adm234/adm234-509guns.htm : "From: The Commanding Of...

Basically, the Yamato's inclined belt extension is too close to the hull and when a torpedo hits, the blast wave causes the brittle armour to shatter and the fragments are then driven through the next bulkhead into the ship, rupturing the TDS and allowing flooding into the adjacent compartments. Th...

Basically, the Yamato's inclined belt extension is too close to the hull and when a torpedo hits, the blast wave causes the brittle armour to shatter and the fragments are then driven through the next bulkhead into the ship, rupturing the TDS and allowing flooding into the adjacent compartments. The...