Naval History Forums

HMSVF wrote: "Are the shell splashes short or long? If they are short doesn't that mean that the shell which went through the compass platform had a completely different angle of fall than the rest of the salvo, I mean the compass platform was way up high in the bridge structure, I'd imagine i...

Hello everybody, northcape wrote: "It is an arithmetic mean, but the arithmetic mean is just a number which in this case does not tell anything about the effectiveness of fire" Correct. Means values are what we are trying to calculate (despite a huge resistance). All the other parameters ...

A different spin on the Leach cover-up debate: it is my opinion that Leach succumbed to pressure from higher-ups to prematurely declare PoW ready for active service. B Evening, As I mentioned on the other thread I think the pressures of the time led to her deployment. The cupboard in fast battleshi...

Gentlemen, I wonder if we might look at this in a slightly different light as to the actual blame sometimes directed at Capt Leach and place it at a much higher authority - the RN and the senior officers who ordered Hood and PoW to intercept Bismarck. Here we have an old battlecruiser with known we...

Hello everybody, we are speaking now about subjective judgements and not facts, like the geometrical reconstruction of the battle or the subsequent evident "embellishment" of the story. However, IMHO, if you have a mission (prevent Bismarck from raiding in Atlantic) and, while engaged, yo...

Hello everybody, I have already said that the judgement over Leach, Wake-Walker and Ellis as soldiers is largely subjective, and we should here concentrate on facts and evidences instead. However: HMSVF wrote: "Leach made the right decision full stop. " I would not be so categorical. Had ...

Hi Paul, I agree with most of your your above considerations. I also said that Leach's decision to disengage was the good one with hindsight . His decision to break off the engagement with " superficial damages " only, at the very time he took it, was however very different from what was ...

Mucked up post Sorry!

Trying to restore 'order in the court'... I assume, in rather broad terms, two proposals are being made, primarily championed by Mssrs. Bonomi and Virtuani. These are: a) That Mr. Bonomi's reconstruction of the Denmarck Strait action and associated timings, etc., though not perfect, are at least es...

paul.mercer wrote: ↑Sun Mar 31, 2019 6:21 pm Post copied and deleted, sorry

Definetly Holy Goat!

offending" yet their sacred cow. [/b] I've never really understood this turn of phrase. Denmark Straight was a tactical defeat,I don't think that I've ever read that anybody has said different. The divergence of opinion appears to be in regards to Leach's actions. Now having read the various d...

Just to lighten the mood ! :D The Story of the 2 hunters and the 2 Bears. The 2 (British) hunters are of different ages and experiences. The older hunter (Mr Hood) is experienced but has poor eyesight, the younger hunter (Mr P O Wales) has good eyesight but isn't an experienced shot. So the 2 hunter...

Hello everybody, I think we should be back to gunnery figures, not discussing Leach behavior when retreating, that is clearly a subjective topic, where anybody is free to have his own personal opinion. Wadinga wrote: "As far as I can see he nowhere mentions a rate of fire for Prince of Wales,&...

My only comment would be that it would appear that the summary is heavily weighted towards establishing that Prince of Wales was exhibiting fairly good gunnery compared to Bismarck. That may be true, but that was not, and could not, have been known in real time. I think an important point that is b...

Hello everybody, HMSVF wrote: "Did Leach claim that the damage was superficial during or after the engagement" Are we comparing and analyzing actual gunnery data (as available almost 78 years later) or collecting the "impressions" got by the participants in the heat of the actio...