Naval History Forums

Hello,

KGV 284 did mix her salvoes fall of shots with Rodney's and range was estimated constant (while rapidly decreasing) at 25,000 yards (see KGV GAR, Gunnery Control, point 2).


Norfolk did not observe any hit before 09:04.

hans

Hello, unluckily there is no consistent account/reconstruction of May 27 engagement yet: - according to Rodney, they observed a straddle at 3rd salvo (22,500 yards), but, when first range came from rangefinder, they realized they were 2,500 yards short and had to correct; - according to KGV, 284 rad...

Hello Mr. lwd, Lütjens re-assigned target for Prinz Eugen at 05:55, having already correctly identified Hood. Bismarck would have fired 5 salvoes against Hood by the same time of Hood explosion even with Hood behind PoW: no statistical change. But you are right, the turn might have affected Hood vul...

Hello Mr. fsimon,
antenna visible (https://www.kbismarck.org/forum/downloa ... hp?id=4120) on Tirpitz mast looks like a 'Palau'.
Hohentwiel radar often used Palau antenna. Did Sophie use same antenna too ?

hans

Hello Mr. lwd,
you may be right from an average probabilities viewpoint in battle development. However, at 5th salvo Bismarck could have "luckily" hit Hood's magazines even with Hood astern of PoW. Position of BC1 ships doesn't change the odds.

hans

Hello Mr.fsimon, reading back your posts, I noticed a sentence re. Sophie : " FuMO 31 "Sophie" with 400kW was cancelled in favor of "Hohentwiel" radar ". Would you mind sharing your source about that ? I think I have read that Sophie was on board Tirpitz by 1944, instal...

Hello Mr. lwd, Probability of catastrophic hit for Hood was low, but not negligible. I think best work on such matter is from M. Santarini, an admiral, gunnery and weapons performances specialist, working at NATO, in his book 'Bismarck and Hood', where he statistically calculated number of salvoes n...

Hello Mr. lwd, I was speaking in pure statistical terms: inverting position between Hood and PoW would not have changed probabilities of Hood being destroyed in 5 minutes, because Bismarck, based on German practice, would probably have open fire against Hood anyway. Of course, you are right, any cha...

Hello Mr.Rico, I stand corrected. I cannot find out nor remeber where I have read such info re. height of Bismarck class main rangefinder (40.5 meters). You are correct, it should be around 32 meters and thus Tirpitz late radar antenna (6x3 meters) more or less from 34 to 37 meters (see https://www....

Hello Frank, I'm afraid I don't have any info re. other battleship height. I know just that Richelieu had to remove part of her foretop to pass under Brooklyn Bridge when entering New York yards for refit. A well known photo (see link) shows the ship just after bridge, under tugs, without her 2 top ...

Hello Frank, of course theoretical and practical range are different, depending on earth curvature but also on weather conditions (allowing or not allowing microwaves refraction) and materials reflection properties). However, Tirpitz main director rangefinder was at 40.5 meters height and radar ante...

Hello Frank, I'm happy to accept these designations. However, H.von Kroge seems to point to GEMA shipborne sets installed on board of large ships (detection at 60 km for enemy ships would be only possible from very high position, like foretops of battleships and heavy cruisers). I don't know which l...

Hello Frank, I don't know. It is possible that FuMO34 is simply FuMO26 in 'my' terminology (with large antennas)... and that FuMO26 in your terminology is another (older) model (with smaller antennas). Or, it is possible that FuMO34 is a very powerful version with TS60 triode (I remember Dave Saxton...

Hello Frank, I'm collecting KM photos since a while (12+ years), from all books I can find, from on-line sites / associations and mostly from friends who share same passion. Sometime, rarely due to budget contraints, I buy them. Major problem is not only to get photos, but to correctly date them, as...

Hello Frank, re: Scharnhorst, she received in October-November 1943 an early new radar suite (based on TS60 triode) with a 6x3 meters antenna on main director (as you say) and a 6x2 antenna (FuMO25) on aft director (see photo, where you can measure size of antenna using director midpoint and compari...