Naval History Forums

Hi Steve, I'll leave it to your compatriot Dave Saxton to explain how the superlative Seetakt would have allowed Bismarck to outperform anything on these ships in 1941! The whole German F/C system was 1940s state-of-the-art and Hood or any other unmodernised WWI ship would be lucky to stand much of ...

Fellow Contributors, I expect we have all had that frustration at one time or another, but Mr Rico is perfectly correct. I always highlight and Control-C before hitting the preview button (just in case) and if I am being really long-winded, I compose my deathless prose in a word processor and insert...

Hi Steve, Have you not remembered Alberto, like Elvis, has left the building and won't be answering? Actually it was more like Tosca's exit in the opera ie leaping off the battlements with a shriek. Lutjens had no interest in engaging battleships and would have left them labouring far behind unless ...

Hello jrp, Glad to be of service. As a Commodore First Class Harwood could fly a broad pennant (triangular swallow-tailed flag in 2:3 ratio) with the red St George's cross on a white background. This was a pennant version of the Admiral's flag. Second class commodores had the flag "defaced" with a s...

Hello jrp, I see that was your first post- welcome aboard! According to my copy of Britain’s Glorious Navy published early in the war, the Commodore First Class had the same cuff stripes as a Rear Admiral. A Commodore Second Class had only the single broad stripe. Post war, only the single broad str...

Fellow Contributors, After some investigation I have some serious issues with the explanation on the Armoured Carriers site. Any wire attached to the nose of the torpedo would be IMHO a very poor idea. It is supposedly strong enough to support the weight (c1600 lbs) long enough to gain this preferre...

Hi Paul, It would indeed be a job to raise a 16" shell by hand, made even more improbable un the film 'Battleship' where 4 or 5 carried a shell in Missouri the whole length of the ship! Absolutely everything in the splendid and enjoyable hokum which is "Battleship" is improbable or downright impossi...

Fellow Contributors, Searching for a control mechanism to allow: while the torpedo had already evolved to the guided monopropellant powered device that gave them about 50 km range with unheard off accuracy. I came across the Hedy Lamarr and George Antheil 1941 patent for frequency hopping to be appl...

Hello Fatboy, Thanks for the visual update. I believe that is the actual functional open air navigating bridge. Both Eagle and Hermes had this feature, and just aft of your red circle the upper level is full of DCT with no room for a bridge crew. Compass binnacle, Pelorus, target bearing indicators,...

Hello Fatboy, You foxed me a little with the 95 suffix (Oh yes- pennant number :cool: ) but if you mean the carrier commissioned in 1926 I assume the "bathtub" is the huge boxy position atop the tripod mast. As the first designed aircraft carrier in the world,(Hosho commissioned first) Hermes and la...

Hello Paul, You are too kind, sir. ;-) Today 80 years ago, Richelieu left Dakar. Excellent article on U boat net The Richelieu which had been landing cadets at Dakar, had sailed with the Fleuret at 1315/25 for an unknown destination. She was shadowed by an aircraft from HMS Hermes until 1700 hours. ...

Fellow Contributors, Francis has posed interesting points: Do you assume that Germany and / or Italy seize the French Fleet or that France goes to war against Britain ? These are two different situations. If France declares war to Britain (it's very unlikely IMHO, but let's assume it for the sake of...

Hello Francis, I see your points and we agree completely about the Axis fuel crisis. Whether Hitler could have traded more from the Soviets is a debatable matter, but in the end he decided to attack and try and steal it instead. The extra oil resources proved hard to get back into production and the...

Fellow Contributors, 80 years ago this morning, the 95% complete battleship Richelieu slipped out of Brest, just leaving ahead of the German invader, and survived unscathed their subsequent bombing attack offshore. However instead of making the short, comparatively safe journey to ally Britain's har...

Fellow Contributors, (Just in case anyone else is still bothered :cool: ) Interestingly there appears to be snow remnants on parts of the ship which is perhaps surprising for an October date in Brest. A "Warship Issue 49" article Prinz Eugen under Two Flags says the "Tradition" flag in silk was pres...