Naval History Forums

Hello Herr Nilsson, To be perhaps a little pedantic, Bismarck is in both Kampfgruppe and Verband so that is no differentiator. Whichever designation Raeder reported on, Bismarck was implicitly if inaccurately included. Indeed you are correct, the orders written over a month before http://www.kbismar...

Fellow Contributors, Reading about the Bismarck's brief stay in Norway I came across the following: 21 May. At 0900 on 21 May the group put into Kors Fjord near Bergen according to plan. There they refueled during the day and kept out of sight of the enemy. In Raeder's report to the Fuhrer at the Be...

Hi Herr Nilsson, Spot on "spot" on the after fuel hatch and associated stain. :clap: :clap: :clap: Herr Hawkeye! The double mark is also observable in the beam-on shot after Denmark Strait when Bismarck's bows are buried deep in a wave, so it never got cleaned off. Is it a manifestation of the fuell...

Hi Pieter C, My best guess is that the first, which is just aft of the lowered companionway is a fender or fenders for when a vessel comes alongside, being lowered to the water surface. The second looks like a temporary garbage chute for dumping stuff over the side, so it didn't stain the hull, they...

Hello Paul,

Yes, but to avoid too many layers you might want to work it over with a chipping hammer first.......

There wasn't very long in harbour for this paint job and it wouldn't be surprising if it abraded fairly quickly at sea.

All the best

wadinga

Hi Pieter C, That Facebook site has some excellent photos including the head on shot with the port anchor down, it could be water has drained across the deck and down the starboard hawsepipe. The blobs on deck could be be two crewmen with a hose whilst the rest of the party are clustered round the c...

Hello Pieter C, You bring up an interesting matter :D Also noticeable is that the painted false bow profile above the false bow wave is present, suggesting the slightly darker grey of the bow relative to the rest of the hull was maintained. There was only limited time available for this cosmetic pai...

Hi Kev D, And no offence taken. :ok: It was only because this "weak stern" business has been around for ages that I was surprised to things heading off at a tangent. The sonar image is indeed fantastically-detailed, the site is better for your post. It is interesting to see a section of fo'csle deck...

Fellow Contributors, Unfortunately you gentlemen have been off on a wild goose chase. And it turns out it was't even a goose. It is the bow which is separated from the Karlsruhe wreck. These cruisers had a single turret forward and two aft. The spectacular Nazi Eagle and Swastika structure on her st...

Hello Marcelo, You have said, but, if the nose points slightly upwards from a tail down rudder command, the torpedo will ascend. But this assumes the torpedo's direction of travel is precisely along its axis. The torpedo is not moving up a solid ramp on wheels, but moving through a fluid medium. If,...

Fellow Contributors, As has been previously shown the "water hammer" effect drops off pretty rapidly with distance, so the Upkeep mine had to explode close to the concrete dam wall. With a dam like the Sorpe, which was a very deep front-to-back earth dam with a concrete core, 617 dropped the mines a...

Hello Paul,# From the thread opener above: A Polish team were attempting to defuse it by burning away the explosive using an ROV, after evacuating the area, but it exploded. Luckily no one was hurt. For those, like me, unaware that burning away explosive was an accepted technique the team leader gav...

Hello Marcelo, Firstly congratulations on the effort you are putting into attempting to solve this puzzle. Little matters like this are left out of the books we read on the subject. However it seems to me that having identified early on the lift contribution of the torpedo body, your current calcula...

Fellow Contributors, Indeed this thread is converging somewhat on that re Tarranto(sic). And slightly with "Bouncing Bombs". Was this fact or am I imagining it? Yes and no respectively. From that other place: In daylight such slow moving targets would likely be annihilated even before dropping their...

Fellow Contributors, Can you international guys see the film on You Tube? AIRCRAFT TORPEDO ROYAL AIR FORCE INSTRUCTIONAL FILM MARK XII TORPEDO 75624 YouTube · 24,000+ views · 19/08/2015 · by PeriscopeFilm It explains everything. :cool: It's especially cool because air dropped torpedoes have to initi...