Naval History Forums

I understand, and I disagree. A 140 gun ship should be more powerful than a 100 gun ship, assuming both ships had the necessary crew size to man their guns and that the gun size was proportional to the ship size. I know the British won most of the time because of better gun drill, but I thought we w...

The Iowa class had 212,000 shp and 4 shafts. They had to experiment with different screws to solve vibration problems, ending I think with two 5 and two 4 bladed screws.

A bit more trivia for the US, where I served on control room watches: We always used "Ahead Flank" and not "Flank speed ahead", but all these probably vary from one navy to another and somewhat within eras. "Ahead Standard" was also used by the US and meant either "...

Your question confuses me:

"How would I tell port from starboard if I was looking at the Bismarck head on?".

I must be missing something, since the answer seems obvious.

They didn't fire at Bismarck's upperworks. In fact, Rodney adjusted salvoes to fire short in the hope some would hit below the waterline. What they didn't think about was short range = flat trajectory = no underwater hits. In fact, ricochets off the water hit upperworks. Captain of Rodney stated he ...

How could he saw her propellers?Didn't Bismarck sink from aft according to all the official descriptions? :? Anyway they were right, your article is very good indeed Antonio...;) No, in the final moments she rolled over and sank stern first. That is why the turrets are missing from the wreck - they...

You can shorten the ship if you use three turrets, that would save weight in armour and structure, which in turn means you need less power, saving further weight in machinery. This is not true. Adding length can increase speed. That is why Iowa class were so long with very "fine" bow. Hyd...

Bismarck was wallowing in the sea and moving slowly because of the rudder damage. Proably a poor firing platform. She did straddle Rodney early on, and the Baron straddled KGV with turrets C & D. Right after he ordered "Good Rapid" fire his director was destroyed, so that was the end o...

Those are the reasons why some navies did that, but there are reasons for having 4 twin turrets also and that is why the Germans did it with Bismarck and the British did it with most of their ships. Even the KGV class had an even number of guns. It was an ongoing debate throughout the world's navies...

I believe the reason for "unit" propusion designs is damage control. If you have steam lines from every boiler connected to every turbine, you have reduced watertight integrity and a more complex system. Sometimes simple is better. I believe the Iowa class BB's had engine and boilers in th...

Short question, short answer. Equal fight.

There would be luck involved, but you have to understand the D's weren't any larger than heavy cruisers. One hit from Yamato in the hull could easily cripple one of them.

The number of guns are only part of the equation of which ship is most powerful. To serve 140 guns was an enormous job. The 74's and 100's probably out-gunned any 140. :lol: I don't understand. Perhaps you can be more specific? On the surface of it, that seems silly, presuming the 140 has a proport...

hawaii wrote:Can anyone tell me whether the Bismarck had an ack ack on top of main turret B like that of the Tirpitz?

No, she didn't. Tirpitz' AAA was improved substantially over the years.

It seems to be a commonly held belief here that multiple layers of armor represented a superior scheme to the "all or nothing" scheme employed on US, British, and Japanese new construction. Why did those countries choose such an inferior means of protecting their battleships? I've read tha...