Naval History Forums

I agree with previous posters that German victory was improbable. However, remember the discussion about using absolutes! I tried to produce a possible series of events leading to a German victory some time ago elsewhere (alternatehistory.com) and perhaps someone might like it (one obvious criticism...

What if someone had given or sold plans of the Yamato class to US intelligence during 1938? How would US ship building or war plans have altered? Would a Montana-like design have been built instead of the Iowas?

Another factor at the time was that Japan had no tradition or capacity for a general Liberal education of the officer and middle class ( in the sense of developing free ideas and unfettered thinking ) and much of what is perceived now as fanatical/slavish sticking to objectives/orders might better ...

Ark Royal's aircraft will surely attack Bismarck on the 27th May and given the low speed they have a good chance of scoring multiple hits. If Ark Royal sinks Bismarck alone, it may change the away everyone thinks before Pearl Harbor. However, if the Luftwaffe is competent, they can get some Bf-110s ...

What if Bismarck suffers less catastrophic torpedo damage on 26th May 1941, so that her speed is reduced to about 11 to 12 kn but she is able to steer? Let us also suppose that Vian's destroyers do not score a torpedo hit during the following night. Bismarck was about 550 miles (470 kn) from Brest a...

I know little about welding but my understanding is that the British (and Japanese) used D Steels (DuCol) which were strong but relatively hard to weld successfully. Germany, by contrast, had developed ST52 which was easier to weld and may have been developed to combine strength with ease of welding.

Talking of plagues there was of course the ''Spanish Flu'' pandemic of 1918/19 which I believe originated in Africa. The name ''Spanish Flu'' brings us back to military history. Spain was neutral in 1918 when the flu was causing devastation in the trenches. The censors prevented any report of this,...

I don't think that three destroyers on their own is enough. No I am asking if one destroyer could have been enough i.e. Bismarck takes the destroyer in tow, runs her engines for 20 knots and when she wants to turn to port, signals the destroyer to turn its rudder for a turn to starboard, the destro...

While reading the interesting article (thanks yellowtail3) at http://www.researcheratlarge.com/Ships/CV11/1944MarchTorpedoDamageSteering.html today, I read a list of "Further steps which could have been taken but which proved to be unnecessary during the INTREPID's voyage" including the idea "Tow a ...

About the rudder arragement: Which WWII (or contemporary BBs) had a rudder arragement that would have prevented a similar situation if hit by a torpedo as Bismarck was? North Carolina, Washington, Massachusetts, Indiana, South Dakota, Alabama, Iowa, Wisconsin, Missouri, and New Jersey . As far as I...

Why do people use this fact to argue that it's pointless to attempt to hit another ship at any range greater than that five years later in 1945? We are all too lazy to carefully analyze Iowa and New Jersey's action with Nowaki, which should represent the state of the art for February 1944. We know ...

There was a slightly less serious mention of this round on another forum http://www.thefiringline.com/forums/sho ... ight=katie.