Marc,
I wouldn't like to come back to interpretations".
We have the
PG KTB (Brinkmann) saying that at 05:53 Hood and KGV opened fire, we have another entry saying that at 05:55 PG and BS returned fire and we should really stay at what was written.
If PG fired 90 seconds after BS (as you say), logically the entries would have been written differently: 05:53: Hood, KGV and BS open fire. 05:55: PG returns fire, and
it is not this way.
We have
Schmalenbach saying in clear that PG and BS fired at the same time, after 4 to 5 Hood salvos (2 and half minutes delay).
We have
Jasper confirming 05:55 for PG (not mentioning any BS fall of shells, eagerly observed while he was waiting his own permission to fire)
We have
the Baron account describing what happened on board Bismarck and the surprise regarding the delay, with so many details that I cannot imagine he invented them. (
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=7736&p=72944&hilit= ... ing#p72944). The Baron was 3rd GO of Bismarck and surely he didn't forget Schneider's requests.
All the German official statements and all the German Gunnery Officers are in agreement about this German delay.
Plus we know Lutjens communicated a 5 minutes battle to sink Hood while there is no German document and no German account (no one AFAIK) stating that BS and PG fired with a significant delay one from another, after Lutjens gave permission to fire (JD) to his squadron as a whole, as perfectly logical.
For me the case is closed,
until someone will be able to produce an alternative credible timeline (with a salvo sequence, photo analysis and an acceptable RoF for BS...) demonstrating the contrary.
As I have said, I'm not much interested in who pushed the fire button first (I still trust Lagemann caption and Antonio's analysis of the PG expended cartridges, because it is consistent with what we know and in the absence of any proof against it) but my 2 cents
opinion is that Brinkmann added the 24/5 "summary" at the end of the day (saying BS fired first) already trying to explain that he just followed Lutjens orders (firing after BS) because he knew already that German instructions were not to engage battleships and that his actions would have been scrutinized, as they actually were (it is only my speculation and I will never be able to prove it).
Bye, Alberto