H.M.S. Rodney damage

[Serg]

After reading some quantity of books I firmly believed that the Bismack have not achieved any hits during her last battle, with the exception of splinters. But I was assailed by doubts - here I cite a text from Hunting the Bismarck by Skwiot & Prusinowska, 2006:

"Even though she did not receive any direct hits from Bismarck, German shells exploding near her showered her with splinters. There were three small holes on the Rodney's bridge. One penetrated the deck into the searchlight control room. Also, a 150mm shell went through the senior petty officers's mess. Another splinter bounced off to hit the gun director compartment, causing slight damage. As a result of these hits, the telephone lines in the superstructure were cut, which made further communication between the platforms impossible." - p185

In other words, seems Rodney has hit by 150mm projectile after ricochet off... It possible that the splinter can to damage communication tubes which is usually armored?
It is clearly that authors mostly used secondary sources. Is it misprint? (book was translated from polish)
From other side, the last word about this history was not written yet. And maybe I missed something new. Does detailed description of Rodney damage exist?

Regards,
Serge

[Tiornu]

I think you will find that Rodney was hit by a 6-inch chunk of metal--that is, a splinter measuring 6 inches, not a 150mm shell.

[Serg]

Thanks. This explains confusion.
But I am uncertain that I can find a source quickly. Maybe you know where is written that splinter was 6"? (except the original polish book)

[Tiornu]

There must be another source that confused the splinter with a shell because I have looked at the matter before. I remember reading a description of what the splinter did--it entered the hull and penetrated perhaps one other surface without causing any sort of damage. If it had been a shell, it would have exploded and damaged at least one compartment. If it had been a dud, it would not have been stopped so easily and would have traveled much farther through the ship.

[Gary]

Rodney probably recieved more damage from her own gun concussion than from enemy fire.

The concussion damage was of course cosmetic (toilets and sinks rattled of the walls etc) which in no way impaired her ability to fight.

The splinter that hit Rodney would be of little concern to a battleship.
Probably the equivelent of a wrestler recieving a very slight graze to his elbow.

*By the way, there is a small HMS Rodney site if you are intrested*
http://www.geocities.com/Pentagon/Quarters/4433/

[RF]

Rodney probably recieved more damage from her own gun concussion than from enemy fire.

This was discussed at some length in Kennedy's book, based on the comments of Rodney's crew at the time.

[prhayes]

Len Deighton, in his book Blood, Tears and Folly, gave an account of the Bismarck episode. He suggests Rodney was popping rivets and suffering other damage from the concussion of her own fire. He definitely gives the impression that it was impeding her ability to fight. Rodney was on her way to America for a long overdue refit when she was diverted to the Bismarck chase, but none of the other accounts I have read suggest this impaired her performance in the final action.

Pete

[RF]

He definitely gives the impression that it was impeding her ability to fight.

Pete

I think that is something of an exageration.

Beware of this author.

[Gary]

The concussion damage was a nuisamce and no doubt inconvienient for the poor blokes who had to fix it but that was it.
It didnt hinder the ships fighting ability at all.

[RF]

This is exactly as Kennedy says.

It is unfortunate that some writers who author both factual and fictional books use a degree of licence in interpreting the facts.

A few years ago a national newspaper ''exposed'' an alleged attempt to ''falsify'' history, involving a claim of a secret May 1940 meeting between Churchill and Hitler. An alleged fake photo of Churchill and Hitler shaking hands was used to support the newspaper story.

As I say, beware of some authors.

[Karl Heidenreich]

Hey,

Rodney´s concussion phenomena didn´t impair her ability to aim or fire properly? During the May 27th fight against Bismarck the British ships took a while before straddling an easy target as the German BB. Was it possible that it was due in part to this?

Best regards...

[lwd]

Hey,

Rodney´s concussion phenomena didn´t impair her ability to aim or fire properly? During the May 27th fight against Bismarck the British ships took a while before straddling an easy target as the German BB. Was it possible that it was due in part to this?

I'm not sure how easy a target Bismark was as she was persueing a somewhat erratic course.

Accorrding to:
http://www.navweaps.com/index_tech/tech-016.htm

KGV accidentally ranged on the radar reflections of Rodney's shell splashes so did not get on target until 0910 when she scored with a concentrated shell salvo.

With resepect to Rodney according to:
http://www.navweaps.com/index_inro/INRO_Bismarck_p2.htm

Rodney's gunnery was very accurate in these opening moments,

Seams to counter your original premise.

[Tiornu]

There's some confusion about the accuracy of Rodney's fire. It seems that one of the British cruisers recorded that Rodney's third salvo was a straddle (this is from memory) when Rodney's own crew said it took them multiple salvoes just to get on target for deflection. It wasn't until the 17th or 18th salvo that they actually did manage a straddle. What Bismarck was doing all this time, I don't know.
Rodney's crew was in a very low state of readiness when this whole episode began, and the problems with gunnery are a logical outcome of that. Most of the blast damage probably occurred late in the game when the short range dictated minimal gun elevation.
It should be remembered that blast damage was very common when battleships used their big guns.

[Karl Heidenreich]

OK. So the blast didn´t impair the aim.

[Tiornu]

The best source for information on Rodney's condition would be the report from the yard where she went for repairs/refit. An American yard--I don't know which one.