Single events in Kriegsmarine history

From the Washington Naval Treaty to the end of the Second World War.
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RF
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Post by RF »

Terje Langoy wrote:Hello, everybody.

I'll make my own top 5 lists, starting with the remarkable events...

No 1: The Bismarck sinking the Hood
No 2: U-47 sneaking into Scapa Flow
No 3: The Tirpitz, a fleet in being
No 4: Operation Cerberus
No 5: The sortie of the Penguin


Very best regards
I would propose a No. 6 for your list:

No 6: Kormoran sinking the Sydney
''Give me a Ping and one Ping only'' - Sean Connery.
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RF
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Re: Dear Bgile

Post by RF »

Terje Langoy wrote:
Laurenz wrote:The Twins could start an attack in a distance of 28 kilometers and their shells could still penetrate 35 cm steel armourment on such a distance.
L.
The longest hit during the war occured at a range of 26 km and that's not something you repeat over and over again, Laurenz. The Twins had a range of over 40 km but do you think they could aim and hit anything at such a distance during WWII? Theoretical numbers are not consistent with reality.
The Germans could have course have used their Arado 196 seaplanes for artillery spotting at the longer ranges. However they never actually used them other than for gunnery trials....
''Give me a Ping and one Ping only'' - Sean Connery.
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RF
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Re: Dear Terje

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Laurenz wrote:What RF was mentioned here (Bismarcks succsess against Hood) is sympthomatic here in the forum. On the other hand, most people defend here the bad german maritime leadership.
I repeat, that a fleet has to be used.

I still think Raeder's proposal was right to use Dakkar as the main base for the german bigships. From there they could support the italian navy in the mediterenian sea, close Gibraltar for the British. Then it would have been easy to beat the British in Egypt.
With no allied forces behind Gibraltar, the italian navy would have been free for the Atlantic.

Kind regards,
L.
The ''bad german maritime leadership'' was entirely down to Hitler - before WW2 he wanted a fleet, as evidenced in the Z Plan, then when war started and the first losses came in he was too scared to use that fleet.

Raeder was absolutely right in the use of Dakar. But Hitler was at that time focussed on Russia....
''Give me a Ping and one Ping only'' - Sean Connery.
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Terje Langoy
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Post by Terje Langoy »

Hello, RF.

I have wisely concluded that when it comes to Kriegsmarine history, there's really very few things I can be absolutely sure of. My basis for rating Admiral Scheer's venture as a good sortie, not audacious, can be seen by looking at the examples that are previously mentioned as being audacious. Operation Cerberus and the venture of U-47 are such sorties.

I came to think of an account I read about A.D. Huff when I saw your post upon the Arado-planes. During the late morning hours of 22nd February, a small plane flew over the Huff and dropped a message to halt the ship. Although the Huff most probably was picked up by radar at first and also the fact that captain McDowall really couldn't care less about the message he recieved, it does nonetheless provide a field of operation in which these planes were actually used during World War II...

Best regards
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miro777
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Post by miro777 »

hey
sorry for not reading the whole thread...
but i think to assess the most important single event in the naval history of the Kriegsmarine, you have to clearly make perimetres.
is it the success? is it the significance?
i think the sinking of HMS Hood by Bismarck is the most well known.
U-47 is simply genius
Weseruebung was the biggest campaign
Pinguin was the most successful one
all these are single events, but none really really IMPORTANT
even the tirpitz and graf spee episodes were not that importnnt
in the context of the whole war...therefore i would take my stand upon the sinking of the Bismarck
it hurts for as a german to say that...but i must say the fact that Bismarck actually sank was the most important event in the history of the Kriegsmarine in WW2
it causes a total change in tactics in the KM...
it later triggered to the change in command
it trigggered the fact that the U-boots got prefered over the capital ships
it also made it clear for the powers of the world that BBs are very vulnerable to aircraft attacks.
it gave the British hope again..
it triggered many things and therefore i must say that this is the most important event...
adios
miro
Die See ruft....
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Karl Heidenreich
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Post by Karl Heidenreich »

Hi miro!

Where have you been?

Best regards.
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RF
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Post by RF »

miro777 wrote:hey

Pinguin was the most successful one

adios
miro
How would you justify that claim, as some of us wouldn't even regard Pinguin as the most successful hilfskreuzer?
''Give me a Ping and one Ping only'' - Sean Connery.
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Admiral-scheer
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Post by Admiral-scheer »

I don't know about all the auxilary raiders as most of then operated far from the Atlantic and while they were successful did not seem to arouse fear as they operated far from German waters. Because of that I don't exactly feel the Pinguin's part was all that great or any of the Raiders.

The same goes for Admiral-Scheer. :wink: :wink:

Bismarck's sortie brought attention and fear.
I mean some German bad luck as it that fatal Torpedo
that brought him to its demise.

While Tirpitz required big effort to sink I don't think that it is as great as the Bismarck.

I admire the U-47 venturing into Scape flow and sinking the Royal Oak.
Even if it did not have a big impact, it did bring some embrassment to the British. :oops: :oops:

The attack on Norway was great but with the losses of Blucher I feel less admiration for it

Cerberus was great, but I don't think it as nearly as much drama as the Bismarck or U-47

Wolf packs were great tactics but just did not carry so much fame and importance as the others.

In short I think It should be:

1.The sortie of the Bismarck
2.U-47 sinking Royal Oak
Best regards
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RF
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Post by RF »

Admiral-scheer wrote: The same goes for Admiral-Scheer. :wink: :wink:

Bismarck's sortie brought attention and fear.
Don't forget that Scheer's sortie in the Atlantic started with a convoy attack which caused havoc - the cancellation and rerouting of convoys because of that attack in November 1940 caused far more damage to the British economy than the loss of Jervis Bay and the five merchantmen that were actually sunk. The fear created was such that convoys had to be given battleship escort from that point on until after Bismarck was sunk.
''Give me a Ping and one Ping only'' - Sean Connery.
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