Naval History Forums

alecsandros wrote:

Anyway, I still think the statement that Rodney would be sunk wiothin 10 minutes by Bismarck is utter rubbish!

How about Hood going down in 5 minutes then ? Or Bretagne blowing up after Hood's second salvo ?

Hood was a battlecruiser, Rodney was a battleship!

I don't think that even with 6x15" Scharnhorst would have stood up in a one on one battle with DoY, she had the potential to do a lot more damage of course, but I also do not think her 9x11" would have incapacitated DoY in a one against one either, despite the claims being made for them i...

My point is this, battleships were designed to fight battleships, Yes, but not at any battle range. Warspite took a terrific hammering from the German Fleet when her rudder jammed, I believe she had over 100 hit from shells ranging from 6" to 11 and 12" she was badly damaged but she did n...

Gentlemen, I think that put in boxing terms, a good big one will always beat a good little one! Even if Scharnhorst had 6 x 15" she was facing too many adversaries at North Cape - at best she might have escaped severely damaged. Historically Scharnhorst almost did escape. At 18:24 hours Duke o...

Alecsandros, Thanks for your replies. My point is this, battleships were designed to fight battleships, The RN pre 1930's still thought in Nelsonian terms where one side battled it out with another until one of them were either sunk, captured or ran away. At Jutland Beatty got his a....kicked becaus...

put a fully refitted Rodney with a good crew against Bismarck and I think the result would be a very battered if not sunk, Bismarck. In any case as I have said before, Lutyens is not going to risk a fight with such a powerfully armed ship if the does'nt have to, he will use his speed and make a run...

Gentlemen,
I think that put in boxing terms, a good big one will always beat a good little one! Even if Scharnhorst had 6 x 15" she was facing too many adversaries at North Cape - at best she might have escaped severely damaged.

I'm sorry chaps, but this just does not wash! We have had this converstion before and the conclusion was that if Bismarck wanted to fight it out with Rodney she would have to stay within range making her speed advantage be of minimum use. Rodney was fairly well armoured - maybe not as well as Bismar...

Thanks Tommy,
In your opinion would the Highball bombs been effective?

Gentlemen, I don't know if she was the best heavy cruiser of WW2 but I do think she was the best looking! Clearly :) What I meant by "the best" was in very simple terms "to destroy any likely adversary of the same category"... Thanks Alecsandros, I know what you mean, I just thi...

Gentlemen, Surely the decision to keep to 22 Knots was so that Rodney could keep up, after all her top speed was only abot 23-24 knots when she was in good condition - which she was not at the time. As for the other class of ships, Renown and Repulse were battlecruisers, even more lightly armoured t...

Gentlemen, I'm sorry if this question has been raised before, but do you think the bouncing bomb used against the dams would have worked against Tirpitz, surrounded as she was by anti torpedo nets. Personally I would have thought that the impact of a 5 ton bomb agaist her side would have caused enou...

Gentlemen,
I don't know if she was the best heavy cruiser of WW2 but I do think she was the best looking!

Gentlemen,
I wonder if Bismarck did get back to Norway whether Hitler would ever let her go to sea again, or would she just end up like Tirpitz, stuck in a fiord for the rest of her life or until British heavy bombers sank her?

After Bismarck went down, there were many hundreds of survivors left in the water with a very good chance of survival, if they could get to a ship. Reading the Baron's account of how he managed to get aboard Dorsetshire, I feel it is quite amazing that he possessed so much presence of mind that he ...