Naval History Forums

Ulrich, Although a fanciful theory suggests depth charges could be used to mislead enemy gunnery spotters, (Antonio! -maybe once in a blue moon) they were actually held for scare tactics on an attacking sub or even killing sabotaging divers. PG's charges disappear from the stern during the Denmark S...

All, It would be very convenient to drift off this photograph "move on for now, come back later", into a discussion of others, because this is the very shot which disproves in one single frame the "parallel lines theory". Bismarck is heading directly at right angles to the rail. ...

Bob, Antonio and All, As I pointed out, it is hardly likely in view of the speed of the Bismarck (30 knots or 1000 yards per minute) and the distance of only 650 yards between the two ships. In just 40 seconds, the Bismarck would have been upon the Prinz Eugen. What explanation can you offer? That t...

Erik and Co, The FuMO power reference is as follows: Warship Edition 21 Published by Conway Maritime Press 1982. Article by Erwin Sieche German Naval Radar to 1945 Part 1. He has a table which references source F Trenckle Die Deutschen Funkmessverfahren, bis 1945 . The table has a power column which...

Antonio, I don't wish to question your splendid efforts on the maps but I really think you have to review your estimate of distances of Norfolk from both Hood and Bismarck. You mention quotes from the enquiry for this as 20,000 yards from Hood to Norfolk and yet Wake Walker as I quoted before also s...

All, I have seen a standard Deck log for Suffolk for the Month of May at PRO but it did not go into tactical details. These reports may be all there is. Antonio refers to Wake-Walker's comments at the Board of Enquiry, but does not mention 3. Will you please tell us what the range and inclination wa...

http://www.hmshood.org.uk/reference/official/adm234/adm234-509suff.html 17. 0542 (B). Received Norfolk's 0541 reporting sighting enemy, followed by Prince of Wales' 0537 and Hood's 0543. The mean of these placed the enemy some 280º, 14 miles from Suffolk's plot position, and sights obtained shortly ...

Jose, A big thanks to you too for hosting this fantastic site and placing all this amazing material in the hands of ordinary enthusiasts. I personally don't think the use of Roman or Arabic numerals is so important. I wonder if EM-3 is meant to indicate radar transmissions but not from "our&quo...

Ulrich, Mighty big thank you to yourself and the team responsible for putting the translated diaries on the site. You have given the ordinary enthusiast a wonderful gift. EM 3 is most intriguing. If EM-I is optical rangefinding, and EM-II is radar rangefinding what is EM-III? Logically its some othe...

All, Holland might have liked the idea of Norfolk and Suffolk assisting in the Denmark Strait, but in the circumstances it was impossible. N & S had to remain far enough back from Lutjens to be safe, but had only a 2-3 knot theoretical speed advantage to close to gunnery range. They would have n...

Erik and Antonio, I don't appear to have Brennecke in my collection either, but I believe he wrote a number of naval books post war. Can we validate his knowledge of FuMB 1? He was not aboard Bismarck himself, so it is not actually first hand knowledge. The B-Dienst technicians mention is interestin...

All, My suggestion is that it is the sea surface response to low air pressure. As the shock wave of high pressure bursts away from the muzzle it creates a low pressure area behind it. The spray is literally sucked off the surface into the low pressure zone. There is likely to be a succession of high...

When I checked the Long Thread on radar, radio interception and Lutjen's long signal, all of Tommy 303's posts had been replaced with a pornographic picture. How or why somebody intelligent enough to do it should want to do it is beyond me.

All the Best
Wadinga