Search found 212 matches

by Mostlyharmless
Wed Mar 23, 2022 6:09 pm
Forum: Naval History in General
Topic: Are the Iowas Battlecruisers?
Replies: 23
Views: 4531

Re: Are the Iowas Battlecruisers?

It seems to me that there were three different types of ship that some people have called battlecruisers. The first built were the Dreadnaught Armoured Cruisers of the Invincible and Indefatigable Classes. These were designed as cruiser killers and worked well as such at the Falkland Islands. The Fr...
by Mostlyharmless
Sat Mar 19, 2022 3:16 pm
Forum: Naval History in General
Topic: Are the Iowas Battlecruisers?
Replies: 23
Views: 4531

Re: Are the Iowas Battlecruisers?

If Hood was a battlecruiser, the Iowas may be because Hood has the same relationship to an R-Class or a Queen Elizabeth as Iowa has to a South Dakota.
by Mostlyharmless
Fri Feb 11, 2022 7:33 pm
Forum: Naval History (1922-1945)
Topic: Armor Quality
Replies: 7
Views: 3623

Re: Armor Quality

One problem is that there were not a huge number of tests when armour from different nations was tested under similar conditions. There was a recent thread https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/warships1discussionboards/british-and-american-ballistic-tests-of-the-german-t45271.html#p946135 where someone w...
by Mostlyharmless
Sat May 15, 2021 3:39 pm
Forum: Naval Weapons
Topic: Torpedoes explosions at the end of run
Replies: 8
Views: 3513

Re: Torpedoes explosions at the end of run

As noted there are two weaknesses of exploding torpedoes at the end of their run which is that damage to the enemy might be overestimated and that the enemy might gain information. Simply telling the torpedo to sink after some distance would seem to avoid both problems although a magnetic fused torp...
by Mostlyharmless
Mon Feb 08, 2021 10:55 pm
Forum: Naval Technology
Topic: design of turrets
Replies: 5
Views: 2894

Re: design of turrets

The optimal shape for a main gun turret for a WW2 battleship was not obvious. The simplest solution was a box with a vertical face and a flat top as chosen by the British. The USN designs were similar but the face was sloped back, slightly reducing the weight of the roof at the price of making a pen...
by Mostlyharmless
Wed Oct 21, 2020 1:33 pm
Forum: Naval Weapons
Topic: Torpedo angle of attack
Replies: 20
Views: 5328

Re: Torpedo angle of attack

There was a trend to attacking with torpedoes at higher speed and higher altitude by both the IJN and the USN. According to http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WTUS_WWII.php#22.4%22_%2856.9_cm%29_Mark_13 the USN Mk 13 went from "The early models were further handicapped by the need to drop them low...
by Mostlyharmless
Mon Oct 12, 2020 1:27 pm
Forum: Hypothetical Naval Scenarios
Topic: Major Royal Navy defeat in 1914?
Replies: 6
Views: 2836

Re: Major Royal Navy defeat in 1914?

The consequences may be more significant than some posters suspect. Italy decided to join WW1 to be on the winning side following Austro-Hungarian defeats in Galicia. If the control of the North Sea seems disputed in early 1915, Italy may decide to wait and see. It may be clear by mid 1915 that the ...
by Mostlyharmless
Sat Oct 03, 2020 5:13 pm
Forum: Bismarck General Discussion
Topic: Bismarck final battle and German main battery accuracy Qs.
Replies: 29
Views: 6397

Re: Bismarck final battle and German main battery accuracy Qs.

dunmunro wrote: Sat Oct 03, 2020 4:35 am Well something was causing Bismarck to have an increasing list to port, that was clearly visible to RN observers.
Did Rodney hit Bismarck with a torpedo exploding amidships on the port side?
by Mostlyharmless
Sat Sep 26, 2020 12:39 pm
Forum: Naval Technology
Topic: Tonnage and Displacement
Replies: 16
Views: 19336

Re: Tonnage and Displacement

The issue of the displacements of warships in WW2 has a few other sources of confusion. If we have reliable documents, we find a simple "light" displacement which is the weight of the ship without any stores, ammunition, boiler water or fuel. We can add in weight of everything except the f...
by Mostlyharmless
Sat Aug 15, 2020 2:05 am
Forum: Bismarck General Discussion
Topic: Was the battleship Bismarck really the best of its time?
Replies: 220
Views: 60746

Re: Was the battleship Bismarck really the best of its time?

I am also confused as the two sources that I found disagree. If we take the article by Hammond (who has just had a book published on the same theme "Strangling the Axis: The Fight for Control of the Mediterranean during the Second World War" by Richard Hammond, Cambridge University Press, ...
by Mostlyharmless
Fri Aug 14, 2020 4:40 pm
Forum: Bismarck General Discussion
Topic: Was the battleship Bismarck really the best of its time?
Replies: 220
Views: 60746

Re: Was the battleship Bismarck really the best of its time?

I have been searching with limited success for details of the night attacks by Swordfish torpedo bombers in the Mediterranean. These were mostly on merchant ships and Italian destroyers. Describing operations from Malta http://www.aviation-history.com/fairey/swordfish.html has "Although Swordfi...
by Mostlyharmless
Tue Jul 28, 2020 12:42 pm
Forum: Naval Weapons
Topic: Broadsides
Replies: 5
Views: 2140

Re: Broadsides

Battleships were designed to use their guns and the designers normally made a strong enough deck to resist the overpressure. As an extreme example, the Yamato Class had a deck of 35 mm to 50 mm of CNC armour around the turrets, which might also help to defend the barbettes. However, the large light ...
by Mostlyharmless
Sat Jul 11, 2020 1:41 pm
Forum: Hypothetical Naval Scenarios
Topic: Vanguard vs. Iowa?
Replies: 28
Views: 20509

Re: Vanguard vs. Iowa?

There is another reason for composing a message using a word processor on your computer rather than online. On many sites, anything that you write online can be stored by the website. Thus if you were to write a vicious libel against another member and then decide not to post it, the words could sti...
by Mostlyharmless
Sat Jun 20, 2020 2:44 pm
Forum: Bismarck General Discussion
Topic: Jammed rudders and damage to prop shafts
Replies: 4
Views: 1778

Re: Jammed rudders and damage to prop shafts

There is an interesting report on the steering of USS Intrepid after damage at http://www.researcheratlarge.com/Ships/CV11/1944MarchTorpedoDamageSteering.html and there is also an assuming comment at https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/i/intrepid-iv.html: By racing h...
by Mostlyharmless
Fri May 29, 2020 12:38 pm
Forum: Naval History (1922-1945)
Topic: Tarranto
Replies: 6
Views: 2315

Re: Tarranto

The best answer to your question that I found on the internet was on the Armoured Carriers website https://www.armouredcarriers.com/operation-judgement-swordfish-attack-taranto-from-hms-illustrious which had: "The Fleet Air Arm did not use timber attachments to their torpedoes in the same manne...