Hello everybody,
@ Wadinga,
Sean, I think I would agree an all your evaluations you are making on the extreme bad visibility difficulties on that moment among the various units, ... so confirming all the above other evaluations we are making too.
Also the commencement time of the action is in doubt, ... since we have either 02.03 as well as 02.10 ( on the PoW tactical map I have ), ... as well as the end of it well after 02.15 according to Ltnt Cdr T.J. Cain.
It can be for example that after the turn some destroyer followed the BC1 warships, ... and this was the reason why Hood told the PoW to signal them to sail North as previously ordered ... and in this case it made sense to use PoW as a signal " bridge " to communicate to them ... since at that point only the PoW was between Hood and the destroyers for sure ...
Too bad we do not have other destroyers reliable sources to be evaluated ...
YES, you are right, I have all the original strategical " manual " made maps as well as the reconstructed ones you have apparently.
I usually use only the original manual ones.
The Suffolk position at 03.20 ( she was transmitting ) was taken from PoW too, ... and Norfolk can be correlated with PoW as I did at 02.29 and at 05.41.
Consequently it is possible to correlate using their 3 tracks, ... the Suffolk with PoW, and with Norfolk both ways and several times, ... on point in time I called the key " checkpoints ", ... like the 02.29, 03.20, 05.41 .... etc etc etc
Suffolk was transmitting at 05.38, ... and Norfolk was taking very frequent ( according to Wake-Walker report ) D/F radio bearings to her, ... it was they way Norfolk was sailing compared to Suffolk and the enemy, ... that is the reason why on Norfolk map and track you can see that 05.41 traced bearing or Norfolk strategical map.
It is obvious that both Norfolk as well as Suffolk are incorrectly positioned on their own strategical maps from the geographical positioning stand point, ... so I only use their tracks and the bearinsg data from there.
This is the reason why I created a brand new map on a very high scale and very precise, ... placed the Hood and PoW exact one as the reference based on Warrand and D. Mearns Hood exact wreck position, ... reconstructed backwards the BC1 tracks until the evening of the 23rd, ... and positioned the Norfolk and Suffolk tracks ( taken from their strategical maps ) on it using just as best as I can the relative bearings one ( 02.29; 03.20; 05.41 ) to the other using the PoW track as reference, ... just as I showed you for the Norfolk demonstration days ago.
For me it is important only the 320° degrees relative bearings at 05.41 between Norfolk and Suffolk, but here you can see the Suffolk geographical positioning on Norfolk strategical map as you asked.
- 0541_Norfolk_map_bearings.jpg (74.9 KiB) Viewed 1802 times
We know today why " The Plot " was made, so it is to be taken after a very careful scrutiny on all it is traced on it, including the ship tracks.
I lost a lot of time thinking it was reliable, ... until I understood that it cannot be taken as a base reference at all, .. but only as a source of some carefully double checked inputs.
In fact I realized a " corrected " version to allow everybody to understand the differences between the reality and that " created " map. Here it is :
- Bearings_comparison_02.jpg (90.62 KiB) Viewed 1802 times
You are right, that PoW Plan 4 was maybe made not so accurately by the Admiralty on 1948, but they understood that it was the only way to realize the truth using the bearings, that is the reason why we are just trying now to make it better.
I agree, those interviews cannot be taken 100 % for granted, ... still some inputs are very good and some memories even if not 100 % correct, ... are in any way describing lived reality and known emotions.
Bye Antonio
In order to honor a soldier, we have to tell the truth about what happened over there. The whole, hard, cold truth. And until we do that, we dishonor her and every soldier who died, who gave their life for their country. ( Courage Under Fire )