NH69731?

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Vic Dale
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NH69731?

Post by Vic Dale »

Hi to all.

It's been a while because I got fed up with the attitude of certain members to some very pertinent questions about evidence with which we had been presented, such as photos and documents, which I feel have had been misinterpreted, or taken at face value, leading to serious errors in assessing certain aspects of the various engagements during the chase. So lets see if a new ethos maintains or if we are simply in the same old rut of personal attacks. I feel that the best way to test this is to ask a recurring question.

So, putting my head in the lion's mouth once more will ask; what do our members think this photo shows?
h69731.jpg
h69731.jpg (73.48 KiB) Viewed 2242 times
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tommy303
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Re: NH69731?

Post by tommy303 »

Hi Vic,

Welcome back. I was half afraid you had gone on to Fiddler's Green.

Their shoulders held the sky suspended;
They stood and Earth's foundations stay;
What God abandoned these defended;
And saved the sum of things for pay.
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tommy303
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Re: NH69731?

Post by tommy303 »

From left to right I see what appears to be a shell splash which has just reached to maximum height; to the right of that is burning debris, possibly oil from where Hood sank; moving to the right drifting smoke from Hood's magazine explosion and white spray from collapsing splashes from PoW. Further to the right a very light coloured area which appears to be background, then Prince of Wales withdrawing and making smoke and quite possibly a pattern of splashes from Bismarck.

Their shoulders held the sky suspended;
They stood and Earth's foundations stay;
What God abandoned these defended;
And saved the sum of things for pay.
Vic Dale
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Posts: 903
Joined: Fri Jul 04, 2008 7:53 pm

Re: NH69731?

Post by Vic Dale »

Hi Tommy.

Thanks for that. What you describe seems to coincide with what a number of people were saying a few years ago. I was wondering if anyone apart from myself had produced anything which contradicted this assessment of the photo.
Vic Dale
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Posts: 903
Joined: Fri Jul 04, 2008 7:53 pm

Re: NH69731?

Post by Vic Dale »

The logic of this photo is the central focus on the black smoke which I am certain is issuing from PoW. She has steered hard to starboard and then hard to port to clear the wreck of Hood and from the way she is making smoke she is driving hard. I believe this was a characteristic of the class when driven hard. Anyway, the smoke trail is typical of a ship underway. Why would the photographer focus on smoke from blazing oil when an enemy warship is under concentrated fire during one of the most vicious sea fights in naval history?

If PoW were to the right and on the run, the camera would be aimed centrally at her, and probably taking in Hood's smoke as well. We can see in the Schmalenbach film, that the cine camera is focused on the same leftward aspect of the battle. Prior to that, the camera had been focusing on PoW having steered hard to starboard, firing on Bismarck. Her smoke trail is being laid left to right as is shown in NH69731 and in Nh69725. I believe the correct sequence in which the shots should be shown is as I have placed them below. I have identified a strong common detail in the smoke pattern, which I have marked with an arrow
High smoke detail  in DVD frame.jpg
High smoke detail in DVD frame.jpg (5.04 KiB) Viewed 2210 times
Copy of High Smoke h69725.jpg
Copy of High Smoke h69725.jpg (73.34 KiB) Viewed 2210 times
High smoke pattern h69731.jpg
High smoke pattern h69731.jpg (65.69 KiB) Viewed 2210 times
In the photo designated NH69725, PoW can clearly be seen to the left of the smoke trail. The photographer has both the smoke from Hood, and PoW moving rapidly right to left as the central aspect of the shot. He has the whole battle scene right in the centre of the photo.

In Nh69731, the heavy splashes to the right can be seen to have fallen exactly where I would expect "overs" to fall, given the height of the strike on PoW's bridge and other high structures, during a certain phase of the battle, so I would time this shot at around 0602 and PoW is still steering towards the enemy - towards the camera. The salvo you see having fallen 'over' is very likely the one which smashed PoW's bridge

The dark splash to the left looks like HE from Bismark's secondary battery falling short.
Vic Dale
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Posts: 903
Joined: Fri Jul 04, 2008 7:53 pm

Re: NH69731?

Post by Vic Dale »

Here is a chart I produced a few years ago, which was drawn up using PoW's gunnery data - ranges and target bearings at given times. Not only was I able to plot Bismarck's courses, I was also able to track back and discover how PoW had behaved.
My Chart.jpg
(152.01 KiB) Not downloaded yet
My chart differs slightly from that of PoW's navigation plot, but it should be remembered that her navigation charts of the battle were ruined when blood flooded down the the voice pipe after PoW was hit on the bridge. The battle was reconstructed as well as possible after the battle for the Hood Inquiry, no doubt using engine room and wheel house logs, but anyone who has spent time in a warship's wheel house or engine room, will know that the logs are not very accurate and that entries are made as opportunity presents itself whilst other tasks are being under taken. Turns to port and starboard are not recorded by the second, as gunnery charts would be. I would expect the information presented to the Hood Inquiry to be focused more on the behaviour of Hood and Bismarck and less so on PoW.

I would accept that the true track of PoW might be better worked out using wheel house and engine room logs in combination with the gunnery data, but only the gunnery data has been available to me up to this point.

On this chart you can clearly see how I have plotted and timed the hit on Hood's boat deck, Hood's single turn to port and the way in which Captain Leach steered his ship to avoid Hood's wreck. The smoke trail from PoW as seen in the photos presented in my previous post, basically confirms the rudiments of PoW's track on this chart - her hard turn to starboard followed by a hard turn to port to bring her back on to her original engagement heading at around 0602, just in time to take the disastrous hit on the compass platform and on which PG's torpedo officer began his calculation for a launching a long range torpedo attack.
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