Naval History Forums

@Herr Nilsson: hi Marc, his name is in the Supplement to the London Gazette (October 14, 1941) as he was decorated together with the other people involved in the sinking of BS. He was on board HMS Norfolk and he was awarded a DSC. Here the name in the Supplement: $115572BC9B74E535.jpg http://www.ubo...

@Dunmunro: as opposed to that of Paul's, your one is not really a very balanced post....... The facts are now quite clear , thanks to Antonio's researches and to all the other members (including you) who contributed to reconstruct this page of history with their own competencies. If they annoy you a...

@Paul: as usual a very balanced and fair analysis from your side, even if I think very unlikely that a mistake was done in the transmission of such an important message... :clap: You wrote: "If the starboard aft HACS director was undamaged by splinters, then it suggests the McMullen was” in” on...

Dunmunro wrote: "The only source we have for a possible Leach court martial is from Tovey years after the war, at a time when his own secretary states that his memory was failing and that he was prone to exaggerate. No other source exists for this contention." :negative: Come on, Duncan, ...

@Duncan: thanks for clarifying that the gunnery officer is unaware of the secondary armament status during an engagement. However, don't you find a bit strange that no detail on the 5,25" shooting is recorded anywhere ? :think: Was it normal not to take care about the number of salvos and the e...

@Sean: temporarily out of action (as declared by..... Capt.Leach........ but they found NO damage at all, so , sorry, NO CHANCE. Wadinga wrote: "You cannot close down the initial turn to port discussion, inconvenient though it is for you, becuse there too many clear indications it took place&qu...

@Dave: finally a good question in a thread that is becoming a nice display of desperate fantasies ! :clap: I would add : "was McMullen (as PoW guns director) aware of the 5,25" battery and fire direction status, when he sent the boy to Capt.Leach (at let's say 6:02, realizing that the ship...

@Wadinga, Hi Sean, don't forget that the catapult control platform is amidship (so very much protected by the fore funnel) and the aft Pom-Pom platform is on the trajectory from the HALA directors support to the Walrus launch position. No splinter can reach both sites without causing damage to the f...

@Herr Nilsson: thanks Marc, it's corrected now. I copied a statement from one of Antonio's previous post and then forgot to change the name..... sorry. :oops: Even if I agree with Antonio on most of his analysis, I guarantee we are not the same person ! I would like to have his knowledge and analyti...

Wadinga wrote:"Bits accelerated from the crane head might be expected to travel largely in the direction of the shell. That is nowhere near the Walrus." Hi Sean, you are right, not a very probable trajectory but still possible. However, your theory about the 8" shell (hit n.2) is muc...

Dunmunro wrote:"Gaynor's account is completely worthless" Hi Duncan, please don't dismiss a witness just because it annoys you. :negative: His account is not giving us a perfect timeline (for this we have Hunter-Terry), but his account is very clear, technically competent and reliable. I'...

Wadinga wrote: "Looking at the excellent model pictures it is astonishing that Coates was affected by the crane hit when the explosion happened aft of the funnel, and he was a deck below the boat deck."......."In fact is it not more likely that the Walrus, perched on the port end of ...

I agree with Antonio's above post : the whole 5,25" + HACS directors accounts "smell really bad ... "

Bye, Alberto

Steve Crandell wrote: "....so my impression still stands. Six overs in a row is terrible gunnery practice. Bismarck's first three salvoes were in the form of a range ladder ... that was standard German practice. I believe in the event one of the ladder salvoes was a straddle so they were able ...

Steve Crandell wrote: "An example of poor performance of PoW was her shooting. People have stated that she did very well to get three hits on Bismarck. My point of view is that she was extremely lucky, because her shooting practice was actually terrible. She got six salvo "overs" in ...