Naval History Forums

RF wrote: "Following on from the above post I would add that I am also sceptical on changing the timings of the POW engagement with Bismarck after Hood blew up. All the historical writers appear to have a consensus that there was a period of 12 minutes of action, which they report as ending at...

RF wrote: "It appears from a post above that the Baron had Norfolk and Suffolk 12 to 15 miles astern of Bismarck. Given what should be the safest shadowing range to keep in contact we are probably looking at 15 miles" With all due respect, all evidence points to a short distance from BS s...

Antonio Bonomi wrote: " During the battle Norfolk was as close as 11 sea miles ( at 06.00 ) equal to 20.372 meters from Bismarck and did not open fire ......... Norfolk was doing the " arc " moving slightly away from the German warships " Antonio, sorry for mixing 2 sentences fr...

@RF: please read the last posts from myself , Antonio Bonomi, Paul Cadogan, Tommy303 and all.......... :lol: According to her own gunnery report, Norfolk never fired :negative: and evidence demontrates that she was at 20000 meters (22000 yards) from enemy, so she WAS PART OF THE BATTLE ! :stop: Bye,...

Paul Cadogan wrote: "My view of Leach has not changed. My view of Wake-Walker in this instance, has. No wonder he pursued Bismarck to the bitter end! He must have felt it to his bones when Hood blew up and PoW withdrew and his guns had remained cold!" "The fact seems to be that Norfo...

Wadinga wrote: "The Baron stopped looking at the cruisers and handed to job off to a junior with another periscope so he could look at Hood. " Hi Sean, yes I know, and he added that, as Norfolk was apparently very quiet, he "took the risk" of taking a look at Hood handing over h...

Wadinga wrote "What evidence do we have for three salvoes from Norfolk at 06:02 ? " It's several days I have myself this question in mind.... :think: and thanks for posting the Norfolk's gunnery report that doesn't mention any short salvo from Norfolk. What I find strange with these salvo...

Antonio Bonomi wrote: " So it is irrefutable were Norfolk was at 05.35, at 11 miles from the enemy as PoW got the enemy too and issued the enemy interception report immediately after. PoW plan 4 is making very clear the situation at 05.35.......... so Norfolk was not behind the enemy, but a bi...

Dave Saxton wrote: " I think it unlikely that POW will score any hits at all in the next ten minutes given the battle circumstances at 0602" Well, given the 160° turn away under smoke screen, I agree with you, it was unlikely PoW could score any additional hit. However, if after 6:01 PoW ...

Dave Saxton wrote: "The main rangefinders (which were in the turrets) were not fully functional because they were fouled with sea spray. The optics aloft were also wet with shell splash spray from a forrest of shell splashes and much of the time fouled with smoke" Yes Dave , you are right...

@ Alecsandros : of course I agree on any single word of your previous posts ! Byron Angel wrote: " Leach's own comment about his crew being keen, but not really fully trained on the gunnery side is also of note. ......... there is no guarantee that PoW's gunnery would have remained at that degr...

@Paul: I fully trust your veterinary medical experience, not having one myself ! :D Thanks so much. Still, having been operated twice for such an hernia, I can't consider a clearly non-strangulated hernia a decisive factor to "justfy" Capt.Leach behaviour. Your suggestion that he could hav...

Wadinga wrote: ".........the vital fact that Norfolk was not at the Battle of Denmark Straits. They fired their 30,000 yard guns at Bismarck after Hood's loss and the salvo fell something like 10,000 yards short." Just to be sure I understood correctly your point, are you telling here tha...

Alecsandros wrote: "my opinion goes with those who consider Prince of Wales as still in fighting condition , and thus capable of delivering heavy damage to Bismarck, at 6:01. At 13km there was practically no portion of Bismarck armor capable of withstanding 14"/L45 gunfire, except her sca...

Wordy wrote: "If it was peace time then thing would be different. It wasn't, his ship was needed and I imagine he was very releuctant to accpet it into service" Yes, and he was probably right about the quadruple turrets design flaws. However it was war time and accepting this ship he shou...