Happy New Year to everyone!
Hi Cag,
Thanks for your vote of confidence! And the work you are doing is much appreciated from my standpoint as well.
Once again, human interpretation and recall - which has been shown to be very faulty - is the source of confusion and we really have to look past that and see where different testimonies can be integrated and coupled with whatever objective data there may be.
To me, the likely scenario is that the flag for the 20 degree turn to port was hoisted at about 0555, but was not executed until after the boat deck hit. If the German's opened fire at approx 0555 and Hood was hit by Prinz Eugen's second salvo which was fired only after the fall of the first, which Jasper did not clearly see, it suggests to me that Hood was hit some time after 0556, at which point, Holland ordered the execution of the turn, which opened PoW's A-arcs for salvo 9 just before 0558.
This allows the British reporting that the turn was made after the boat deck hit, even though the time the signal flag went up was at 0555. So, in effect, Holland "ordered" the turn after the hit. I suspect the Baron simply got the sequence wrong. Schmalenbach also might be interpreted as suggesting the British turned before PG opened fire, but if you really read carefully, in fact he may not be describing things in sequence.
It is obvious the course shown for PoW on the salvo plot, and the Rowell map on which it is based cannot be correct for the 0555 turn. If it was, PoW's A-arcs should have been open from salvo 5. Ships do not turn on a dime as shown on the map.
For me, the GAR which is based in part on data going through and timed over 8 m 58 s in the TS on the AFCT, and events in PoW's turrets (and otherwise - e,g. the salvo 12 "heavy hit" felt) during each salvos the most reliable, objective data available from PoW. Much more reliable that eyewitnesses watching events and trying to note times.
Even Rowell, in his Board testimony notes that the time sequence of the battle was compiled the next day from the information they had available and could be 2 minutes out.
Anyway, I do not really want to re-open old arguments. Everyone's position is clear. But I will say this Cag...thank you for initiating this discussion as it has brought to light something new - for me at least - changing my personal thinking on the hit sequence!
There is now no doubt in my mind that the "heavy hit" felt almost immediately as PoW turned to avoid Hood, the first hit the ship received, was that 15-inch underwater hit from Bismarck. Who knows? Maybe that is why its angle of entry appeared to come from so far forward!! The ship had just turned towards the enemy, brief though that turn was!
Thinking about it....in none of Leach's reports, was that "heavy hit" identified. It wasn't the HACS (not a "heavy" hit), the crane-funnel and obviously not the CP hit. PG's underwater hits came in from aft of the beam. The concussion felt was not the firing of any guns - why? Because they would know when the guns fired - especially in the TS!
Paul