Glad to hear you are interested in Coate's account:
So Hood is not obscured from Coates' viewpoint on the platform by superstructure, he is watching her "fairly closely" and then suddenly she is. How can this happen? Well, Hood could suddenly speed up or PoW could instantly stop, thus putting Hood so far ahead the superstructure gets in the way. Neither seems feasible. Or as seems more likely to me, PoW turns to port, following Holland's intention, announced by his unexecuted flag signal, putting the forward superstructure into Coates' sightline and creating the effect he so precisely describes. As does Alarm Starboard also precisely describe the turn to port, about which the Gunnery Dept was warned by the Compass Platform, before immediately emergency turning to starboard, to avoid Hood's wreck as Geoffrey Brooke so graphically describes. And the germans describe. Leach and Rowell simply forgot about this port turn, but the other witnesses didn't. Since the Enquiry was into Hood's loss, not examining the minutae of PoW's tactics, these minor omissions were irrelevant.I do not mean she was sunk, but was obscured by our superstructure.
I did not see the explosion.
Leach's report of 9th June on the Hood website ADM 267/111. Antonio, do you have different version of this, because the words you quote don't seem to be on the Hood site version.
Leach states that it was 15" but there is no actual evidence it was. Since the tenet of your case is that he was distorting his reports to minimise his alacrity in "running away as quickly as possible" so as to get subsequently nominated for medals, it would be in his interest to misrepresent 8" hits as 15" ones. Or maybe he just made mistakes like saying hit B was the same salvo as hit A, when we know it arrived at a different angle and therefore different time.“Shell “C”—15”: Hit starboard crane; detonation or partial detonation on boat deck.
Damage caused. Starboard crane; after funnel holed; all boat destroyed or damaged; fires started; Type 285 R.D.F. office extensively damaged by splinters and all personnel in it killed or wounded; extensive splinter damage to other compartments below boat deck; numerous important electric leads damaged or out; firemain lead to boat deck cut; two aerial insulators type O.B. smashed and cables parted; remote control cable to type 60 E R severed; port after H.A. Director holed in several places and one rating severely wounded.
All the best
wadinga