Prinz Eugen's change of target order

[alecsandros]

However, on Bismarck firing had not begun yet and it would have been worth waiting a few minutes to effect a change over from base fuzed HE to APC. In any event, it was actually a little faster to use the regular hoist system rather than have the gunhouse crew move shells from the ready-use bins and load them onto the loading trays, and speed was essential given the German practice of firing rapid bracket groups to find the range after the initial defelection salvo.

Hi Tommy,

of course it's more complicated. However, the question remains: why did Bismarck held back her fire for so long ? She could have fired her HE shells while the APC were loaded.

Furthermore, there is no evidence to show all Bismarck's turrets were fed with HE shells at 5:52. It seems the most likely load, but we can not be certain of that...

Again, we can not be certain that at least some APC ammo was already in the shell rooms.

[tommy303]

As I said before, if Bismarck were already firing, and had successfully acquired the target, then pausing to change shell from base fuzed HE to APC would not have been acceptable since it would mean stopping for several minutes and they having to reacquire the target all over again. So as not to interrupt fire, the proper type would be placed in train and the base fuzed HE ahead of them fired off with the gunnery officer being informed when APC was coming up so he would know what to watch for. Four or so salvos per turret and the correct type would be reaching the guns.

In Bismarck there were two to four shell rooms around the shell handling room lobby, with shells being transferred through scuttles. Generally, if I remember correctly, each shell room had a number of each ammunition type carried so that any shell room for a particular turret could supply shells of whatever type was ordered for the hoist no matter which way the turret was trained and by the quickest most expeditious route. Consequently, when Schneider announced mistakenly, that the target was a cruiser, all shell rooms began to ready base fuzed HE and start the process. When the mistaken identity was corrected, the shell room officer would have immediately ordered APC, and Lindemann may have sent orders below to substitute APC and waited until that was done before opening fire. I believe it was probably Lindemann, and not Luetjens that accepted a delay until all was ready. It also allowed Bismarck and Prinz Eugen to reach just about optimal range for opening fire--not at all an unusual tactic.

[alecsandros]

So if I understand correctly, the shell rooms may have been full with HE, and firing enough of them to let a continous stream of APC being brought from the magazines would take some time ?

[tommy303]

The shell rooms were the stowage for projectiles and were located one deck below the propellant cartridge magazines. Each shell room had bins for nose fuzed HE, based fuzed HE (called common or SAP in other navies) and APC shells. Thus any shell room could supply whatever type of shell had been ordered by the gunnery officer. Normally, when a shell type was ordered, all the shell rooms began readying that type of shell for transferring to the handling room ring cars which would transfer the shells to the hoists.

[ede144]

But at that point Lutjens wasn't anticipating British heavy units - Intelligence was telling him they were still at Scapa - so the pack ice theory or an intimidatory move versus suspected cruisers might be a better explanation.

Yes Paul,
but at 5:45 there could have been very very little doubt about the identity of the 2 British ships, and at 5:52 already heavy caliber geisers erupted around the German ships - so it was clear that capital ships were on the move to intercept. So, why hold fire until 5:55, and even then only after a frustrated captain Lindemann apparently took charge over Lutjens ? If it were for Lutjens, perhaps the decisiion to open fire would have come later, or maybe it wouldnt't have come at all...

There would never a direct order from Lütjens to Schneider. And 3 minutes are very short to discuss your options