Naval History Forums

Watching the great series on the Military Channel about WW1 shows many many German sailors aggravated that they were bottled up in port and most wanted a chance to "break out". To have that strong of a fleet, like the HSF was, and to use it in the way it was used? Shows weak leadership imo...

Well, to see the Seydlitz limpin home and then in port nearly burnt out with no turrets, yet floating....is impressive. Derrflinger and Von Der Tan as well. They absorbed an incredible amount of punishment from the RN's QE class...and other RN ships, yet stayed afloat whilst their counterparts had a...

Great thoughts going on in this thread. I will agree that the USA thought that the Japanese would in no way attack Pearl due to logistics. they thought, wrongly, that a force could not sustain itself as it crossed the vast pacific w/o being found or supplied properly. A little Arrogance as I mention...

Besides the P-40 was not match for the Zero. Vaild! No question, altho the 2 USA P-40's that did make it into the air from the training field may have had up to 5-7 (?) confirmed kills? The one thing an hour of prep would have probably guaranteed? The training blanks loaded in the AA guns of most s...

Thanks Karl! Bismarck was truly a magnificant ship, one of the strongest/fastest and most accurate gunnery, ever! AS I have stated on the HMS Hood site, twas a shame she was used the way she was, more or less a death cruise, an early version of a kamikaze? The RN's QE class was sooooooo important to...

Hmm, it took much more time to arm and fuel enough planes to offer any resistance. Also, I doubt that the few ships that COULD have escaped to open sea would be as easy to refloat as the ones on the bottom of the harbor. I suppose casualties would be much worse if some ships would have put out to s...

Radar on the northwest of Ohau detected the Japanese a full HOUR before they had arrived. The sad part is that Radar was brand new and not taken as seriously, thoughts of the B-17's in flight from the west coast, or a large group of pelicans/birds!... If given an hour to fully prepare, the US forces...

Thanks for the Invite Karl, nice site and a thought provoking thread.. I can't argue with ANYTHING put down on this thread in relation to these majestic ships of WW2, but I would like to add an overlooked class that spanned WW1 and WW2, and served with great disctinction in both, The RN's Queen Eliz...