Naval History Forums

If you doubt the efficacy of the radar-directed gunnery, you have but to read (or re-read) Japanese Destroyer Captain, by Tameichi Hara. He was quite clear on the devastating difference it made from around late 43/early 44 on. I don't have it here in Key West, it's still up in Daytona, but I rememb...

Well, if you are correct and the 11" gun on GS has a good chance to kill a CA at 25,000 yds, then the CA would do best to refuse combat. I just don't understand why six 11" guns have a better chance to hit than nine 8" guns. I have the impression that 18,000 yds is max effective rang...

Tactically , Henry Harwood's handling of his squadron at the Battle of the River Plate was less than ideal . Peeling Exeter away on her own initially ( " Exeter to investigate " ) was likely to get her identified sooner than necessary , because she was one-of-a-kind with a distinctive sil...

Your calculation of relative hitting power falls apart if the 8" shell hits a turret or other important area. If it does, the turret will be knocked out the same as a turret on the cruiser. What you seem to be saying is the AGS was a superior ship and all the worlds navies were stupid because ...

We have nine guns vs six here. Do you seriously believe six guns have a greater possibility to hit than nine, even with a ballistics advantage? That's a 50% difference in hit probability. It just doesn't make sense. I have to wonder where you would draw the line. Three guns? Any other time you woul...

The big advantage that Lutzow has is in long range accuracy. The 11" guns had a much flatter trajectory and a much shorter ToF and so were more accurate, especially at long range, which means that the USN CA would have to endure a very dangerous run to get within effective range, which would b...

The big advantage that Lutzow has is in long range accuracy. The 11" guns had a much flatter trajectory and a much shorter ToF and so were more accurate, especially at long range, which means that the USN CA would have to endure a very dangerous run to get within effective range, which would be...

In this scenario the Bismarck will get clean away, as Tovey cannot approach France that close that far into 27 May and still maintain high speed and then get home again. KGV only just got home as it was. The RN had a plan (and secret agreement from Dublin) to refuel via tanker in an Irish port, but...

Hi to all. We all know of HMAS Sydneys fateful engagement with Kormoran at very short range. This is maybe me clutching at straws but do you think a Zara or a New Orleans class would have survived if they had been in Sydneys place? Let us assume that the Italian/American Captain makes the same erro...

Formidable carried 16 Martlets in April 1942.

The failure of British yards to adopt welding had nothing to do with technical or quality issues. This gives an indication of the factors that prevailed: http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=bw46M1qI9gMC&pg=PA90&lpg=PA90&dq=welded+construction+in+british+shipyards&source=bl&ots=Wx...

Yeah they were... but then again at the rate they were spitting those things out was enough that any production method they used would prove to be fairly unreliable. Though I must admit that the modular construction probably did help in all respects. But back to the subject. Bismarck was welded. Bi...

I am suddenly intruiged by the fact that Britain was using riveting techniques even by that point in time, and especially with their new battleships. Did they not have welding technology (I think about this and then remember the US Navy had welding by that point)? And did they not realize that rive...

Mr. Munro also has not answered in criticism of why those folds occurred when the air pocket, if it existed would have been at the bottom of the tank and not at where the air folds occurred because the ship was upside down when it arrived at the seabed. The paper was written with the intent of gath...

The 14 inch belt armour was capable of withstand a 15 inch AP shell up to 15,000 yard s. this figure is only for the RN 15"/42 Mark I. The SK 38 cm AP-round was able to penetrate the same amount of armor at about 25.000 yards. So the statement in red is something misleading RN penetration figu...