Hi Mr.Cag,Cag wrote: "Hood PoW Norfolk and Suffolk firing on Bismarck, four ships firing on one ship, with no coordination between battleships or more importantly cruisers? "
Sure ! If only it had been so, on May 24 !
GIC may be a logical choice with two ships firing at one, to avoid confusion, but it's NOT mandatory, it's a choice (a choice we know was made by Holland).
KGV, Rodney, Norfolk and Dorsetshire fired at one ship on May 27 without much coordination, with good results, even if some confusion was made in spotting the fall of shots, at least between KGV and Rodney.
Actually, Hood fired at PG and PoW fired at Bismarck. Had a cruiser (e.g Suffolk) opened fire against the closer target (Bismarck), it would have been exactly the same situation as PG against Hood, probably not confusing at all PoW (as PG did not confuse at all Bismarck). Norfolk, being at almost the same distance from Bismarck and PG could have decided to redirect her fire against PG instead, had her fire been confused by Suffolk fall of shots (again a possibility, I'm not aware that Dorsetshire and Norfolk had any problem among them on May 27).
To avoid possible confusion, on May 24, Norfolk and Suffolk decided NOT to open fire at all, independently one from the other.
The point is just that the two cruisers had no intention to engage (Ellis said it clearly), feeling themselves as pure shadowers. This behavior was in no way comparable with Lutjens decision to keep PG in the line, using it as a battleship. Tovey thus needed to "embellish" the otherwise poor story from British side.
Bye, Alberto