Naval History Forums

John Harland's "Seamanship in the Age of Sail" covers the duties of the Marines aboard ship in some detail.

Byron

A bit confused here. Bismarck fired 93 rounds at Denmark Strait, which would be 12 full salvos (with 3 misfirings) - 6 against Hood and 6 against PoW. She hit Hood first with her 3rd half salvo. Did she continue firing half salvos or full salvos after the hit? Hood blew up after the 5th salvo, whic...

General crew exhaustion, as a result of being held at constant battle readiness in the face of Japanese air attacks on the previous day, was cited by the USN as an important factor in the Savo debacle. My father, who spent three years on a DD in the PTO during the war, told me that his watch officer...

" ..... The senior air officer removed this detail before relaying it to naval headquarters on the grounds that he did not wish to pass on what he regarded as conjecture."

Upon such seemingly insignificant events do great consequences pivot.

Byron

Just received my copy of this book. I have only just started ploughing through it, but it is very arguably the best book of the "Winfield series". This book is not a Winfield "solo effort". The following co-authors were major contributors: > John Tredrea - (well known AoS researc...

Hi TTTT, Please don't ask me where I read the following; I just don't remember. But I recall reading that a major motivation behind the somewhat unusual hull plan form of the US fast BBs was to maximize the coverage of the anti-torpedo protection system in relation to the length of the ship. In as m...

See "Operational Experience of Fast Battleships: World War II, Korea, Vietnam". US battleships were not deficient in seaworthiness, but they were considered "wet" ships due to the fine bow entry mentioned by the OP. This extended through the IOWA Class and it was recommended that...

Hi, all. Random musing; on say a standard 74 gun ship of the line, would sailors mess and sleep on the upper gundeck? (tables in between each gun, and sling hammocks, etc) All I'm thinking is that; on a 74, as indeed, most ships of the line, the upper gundeck is basically open to the elements. You ...

The hull shape of Bismarck and other European battleships were radically different from the new US battleships (and Yamato). While Bismarck and the Europeans had the "classical shape" with a very wide, but rather small, midsection becoming gradually narrower both in front and aft, the US ...

More interesting stuff to chat about ..... Here is a comparison of what Goodwin stated as the armament of the French ships in his book "The Ships at Trafalgar" versus what Demerliac indicates them to be in his book "La Marine du Consulat et du Premier Empire - Nomenclature des navires...

Byron, wow! I hadn't thought of the different weight measurements. Good research! So maybe he wasn't completely bonkers. My pleasure, Steve. I enjoy doing this sort of research. BTW, there is a related Trafalgar discussion thread just started on the NavWeaps Battleship versus Battleship forum on Ca...

Hi Marcelo, I hope your absence from home is due to a vacation and not a business trip :dance: Great Britain did employ a 68-pdr carronade in limited numbers from the late 1770s, but TTBOMK the 42-pdr was the heaviest long gun in RN service as the lower deck battery of certain large 1st Rate three-d...

I've been reading a book by Chris Durbin called "The Colonial Post-Captain" wherein he states that some French Ships of the Line had 52 lb guns. That seems frankly ridiculous to me and I thought it might have been an editing mistake but it's repeated later in the book. It's fiction, but l...

Wow! Built in 1999??? BTW Do a web search for the yacht “Coronet” restoration project in Newport Rhode Island to preserve an ocean-going luxury sailing yacht of the late 19th century (originally built for a wealthy American “Robber Baron” in the 1880s. This is a real labor of love to reclaim it from...

Hi Marcelo, Clipper ships are indeed things of beauty. I was fortunate enough to have seen "Cutty Sark" in Greenwich, England back in 1976 (pre-fire). Pictures just don't do them justice sSimilar feeling for "USS Constitution"). Speaking of such vessels, I was fortunate enough to...