Naval History Forums

From Navweaps - Flashless Propellants Due to the presence of calcium in the small amount of chalk used to counteract traces of residual acids, SC cordite had a very bright "flash," a characteristic which led to the development of flashless propellants. British flashless propellants in use ...

Hello everybody, thanks to Byron Angel for these data. Obviously recovering speed after a significant loss is quite time-consuming, especially to get back to top speeds and we can keep it into account after 6:02-6:03 for PoW. However, turns executed very smoothly don't affect significantly the spee...

Does anyone knows how much time would have been needed to get back from 18-19 knots to 28? Based once again upon RN data for performance of HMS Repulse, assuming full power and steady heading: Time required to accelerate from 19 kts to 21 kts = 2 minutes. Time required to accelerate from 21 kts to ...

For reference in connection with the tactical turn-away of Prince of Wales - For a ship of her size commencing a turn at 28 knots under 35 degrees helm (and assuming no reduction in power during said turn) - > Speed after 45 degrees change of heading would be reduced by approximately 15 pct (say, 24...

A comparison of the McMullen salvo plot and Leach’s action report shows several apparent discrepancies in recorded event times – Opening of Prince of Wales’ A arcs > Leach – “A turn of 2 blue at 0555 opened "A" Arcs at "Prince of Wales" ninth salvo. > McMullen salvo plot shows sa...

Two comments - > Avoidance Turn by PoW Interpreting McMullen's graphical plot of PoW's salvoes, salvo 16 was fired at approximately 0600:45 and salvo 17 was fired at approximately 0601:40. That suggests an interval of approximately 50-55 seconds between discharges. > Bearing and heading discrepancie...

I have re-visited the A arc question and discovered a logic error on my part, which I attribute to the late hour and an excessive intake of Bailey's Irish Cream. Based upon McMullen's diagram and recorded bearings, Bismarck would have been with PoW's A arc on any compass bearing =/> 325 degrees. B

Unmanned drone tanks, AFVs, etc. are being considered. Not macho enough for the old school, I think. Hmmm ..... remotely guided/operated drones of all types are undeniably here to stay. I am however troubled by the potentially dangerous unintended consequences of the inevitable next technological s...

Re the nature of PoW's evasive turn away from the wreckage of Hood - Based upon the performance details of HMS Hood and HMS Repulse under helm at high speed, it might be possible to draw some b r o a d inferences with regard to PoW's sudden starboard turn to avoid the wreckage of Hood Notes - > Hood...

I am glad to see that we seem to be making progress here. One correspondent suggested that an overlay of the most relevant track charts might be a useful tool in analysis. This is true, and represents in fact, how I have tended to approach the problem, at least initially, in the past. Unfortunately...

Thanks Byron, I presume this would also apply to the King Tiger? My other question is abut the usefulness of tanks today, of course in WW1 they scared the hell out of the Germans and in WW2 at the start the Germans scared the hell out of everyone else, but later on both sides the tanks were suscept...

Hi Paul, Wait until the legions of Sherman tank 'fan-bois' get wind of this thread; countless terabytes of debate and dispute have circulated around the topic of German heavy tanks and their true battlefield value. From my perspective, there is no question that the Tigers were very powerful in the a...

All of the range/bearing data under discussion here will be subject to some sort of inaccuracy. The real question is: to what degree would any such inaccuracy, in practical terms, affect a reasonable and rational narrative of events?

B

Gentlemen, Once again, many thanks for all your replies. I watched a program the other day about the development of the Spitfire and it concluded that the later griffon engined ones were almost a completely different aircraft to the earlier ones. I also believe that the Griffon engine turned in a d...

However, if we are really interested in reconstructing the battle, then we must realize that we often have reciprocal bearings (or timings) taken from both sides and these bearings (timings) match perfectly. Thus we can logically assume that there is no error at all in these cases and that we can l...