The Swordfish's Torpedo misses Bismarck

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novicebutnice
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Re: The Swordfish's Torpedo misses Bismarck

Post by novicebutnice »

What if the torpedo missed?

To be honest so many things could have made a difference to the entire outcome.

- What if Bismarck had left with full tanks, and refueled.

Bismarck would have been sitting slightly lower in the water and maybe the shell hits from POW may have played out differently

Bismarck would also have been able to head to France at a slightly higher speed if necessary

- What if POW's shells had hit non-critical areas etc

- What if Bismarck hadn't sent that LONG message that allowed the British to determine her (his) location, then there is a chance that the British Submarines may have been able to intercept if Bismarck came across their path.

To me at the end of the day, I believe that the British would have sacrificed every last bomber etc to ensure that Bismarck was never able to leave port.

Maybe they would even have tried a naval bombardment like Battle of Mers-el-Kébir?
Byron Angel
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Re: The Swordfish's Torpedo misses Bismarck

Post by Byron Angel »

novicebutnice wrote: Fri Jun 05, 2020 1:25 pm What if the torpedo missed?

To be honest so many things could have made a difference to the entire outcome.

- What if Bismarck had left with full tanks, and refueled.

Bismarck would have been sitting slightly lower in the water and maybe the shell hits from POW may have played out differently

Bismarck would also have been able to head to France at a slightly higher speed if necessary

- What if POW's shells had hit non-critical areas etc

- What if Bismarck hadn't sent that LONG message that allowed the British to determine her (his) location, then there is a chance that the British Submarines may have been able to intercept if Bismarck came across their path.

To me at the end of the day, I believe that the British would have sacrificed every last bomber etc to ensure that Bismarck was never able to leave port.

Maybe they would even have tried a naval bombardment like Battle of Mers-el-Kébir?


Fair comment indeed, sir.
When you step back and view the event from dispassionately, the entire engagement is liberally punctuated by "Golden BB's" - The shell hit that so suddenly destroyed Hood, the shell hit from PoW that mission-killed Bismarck by irreparably severing access to Bismarck's forward fuel storage, the torpedo that crippled Bismarck's steering. This is arguably the kind of stuff that a bad novelist might write, but it happened in real life.

Byron
paul.mercer
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Re: The Swordfish's Torpedo misses Bismarck

Post by paul.mercer »

novicebutnice wrote: Fri Jun 05, 2020 1:25 pm What if the torpedo missed?

To be honest so many things could have made a difference to the entire outcome.

- What if Bismarck had left with full tanks, and refueled.

Bismarck would have been sitting slightly lower in the water and maybe the shell hits from POW may have played out differently

Bismarck would also have been able to head to France at a slightly higher speed if necessary

- What if POW's shells had hit non-critical areas etc

- What if Bismarck hadn't sent that LONG message that allowed the British to determine her (his) location, then there is a chance that the British Submarines may have been able to intercept if Bismarck came across their path.

To me at the end of the day, I believe that the British would have sacrificed every last bomber etc to ensure that Bismarck was never able to leave port.

Maybe they would even have tried a naval bombardment like Battle of Mers-el-Kébir?
If Most of this happened, Bismarck would either not have been intercepted and gone on to attack convoys. Or, if Pow's shells had not damaged her then having sunk Hood and seen off PoW then with full tanks she would be free to do the same as above and i don't think the RN or the RAF would have caught up wither her until she tried to return to Port. The only ships fast enough were two old battlecruisers with little protection and not enough firepower and a KGV which had the firepower but not the speed. A very serious situation for Britain and a great propaganda scoop for Germany.
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