Naval History Forums

Out build Britain? Most commentary State that at no time in German naval planning was There a belief that Germany could or would out biuld Britain, parity maybe. The only z plan that should be taken seriously is the first. Pre war version. This required peace to be maintained until 1944 aprox. As so...

If memory services me corectly the official RAN enquire found that while the torpedo hit together with the fires one made it impossible for the crew to evacuate the hull resulting in no survivors, the bow most likely sheared off under water after the actual sinking. The theory of the loss of the bow...

Accuracy wise, ranges above 27,000 meters was less than 5%. This accuracy issue related to practical mechanics of manufacturing of the cannons, shell, powder and the physical mounting of the canons in relationship to each other ( interference ). Highly accurate sights and radar would not have helped...

Other than the US Navies use of turbo-electric plants, why was Diesel / Electric propulsion not used more in major warship designs between 1936 - 1944 ? Issues that I have researched so far that may have limited the use of this type? For what reason did the USN discontinue the use of turbo/electric ...

Basically the H-39 class was an improved version of the Bismarck class and was a direct response to U.S.A activation of a 'Acceleration clause' to increase the allowable calibre from 14 inches to 16 inches. The use of diesel engines was most probably strategic as the OKM would have been aware their ...

Thought I would pass a bit of 'a mechanic's eye' across the clutch drawing shown. It is a 'torque converter / conveyor ' clutch arrangement commonly used in 'automatic' transmissions instead of the 'pressure plate' clutch of manual shift gearboxes. Difference been what is been 'driven' by the clutch...

One construction flaw could be caused by the reported shortage of the material used in the special welding rods. Something not fixed until dec 42. The suggestion being that although the new Wh & Ww armor was weldable only the bomb/sea deck was fully welded, the rest was riveted. This makes sense...

I thank you all for your posts. I was not aware of the prinz's fuel shortage. Going on the May 26 refueling and having only 250 tons left. one wonders if the prinz had the tactical range to stick with the Bismarck considering increased usage during attacks? Further to this I just finished the book m...

This is one tactical question I have been researching and I am yet to see any discussion on this. Currently reading book by Baron burkard von mullenheim rechberg. 'A survivor's story'. Very interesting reading. He gives very good tactical reasons behind the separation with the belief that this saved...

The answer is in 'line of sight'. Visual range from the highest point of the ships superstructure ( fore top). On average the for western and European battleships maximum effective range was around 23,000 meters in perfect conditions. Add to this is the height of the targets fore top would add to 's...

I am studying the relationship between canon performance and armor penetration in regards to battleships. I have identified a couple of problems in obtaining reliable data and published opinions on this subject. For some reason western, based outside of Europe, authors tend to publish data & opi...