Naval History Forums

The command center could be established at any one of a number of positions. The Navigating Bridge, the Admiral's Bridge the forward and after gunnery control positions and there would be a number of emergency steering positions around the ship. In Battle fires might obscured the view from one posit...

Zhivago is fiction

I thought I had made it quite clear that that the collision mat was torn through action of the sea during hard maneuvering to avoid torpedoes from Victorious' planes - At 0007 - 0030 (British time) on the 25th. This event was recorded in Bismarck one hour earlier according to eye witness testimony f...

I have never suggested that Bismarck did not slow or stop to make repairs, so I don't know quite what you are driving at. I don't suppose she did stop, because without way on she would roll quite a bit. Making five or ten knots would engage the bilge keels and keep her steady, whilst dropping that b...

Having studied the preparations being made at St Nazaire and Brest for the reception of Bismarck, I would say they were making it perfectly obvious that that is where Bismarck was heading. The French agent Philipon will have been radioing this intelligence to London by the hour. In PG, Brinkmann kne...

What is being written here is not at all based on anything to do with shipboard life and work. I have seen these things done for myself. I have watched plates being welded into place, I have seen internal structures changed, by the hands of just a few men. I have seen whole areas of deck cut out usi...

According to one survivor, the plates were not big enough to cover the hole. He should know better than you or I. It would really be something if they had plates on hand that fit any given job. They were likely standard size mild steel sheets (Approx 3' x 8') and they would likely not be 1cm thick,...

http://www.chapelsteel.com/weight-steel-plate.html I used this calculator this morning and it looks like I put the decimal point in the wrong place. It doesn't make much difference to the actual job, because the weight is being carried by 5ton chain blocks. It might take a bit longer to keep everyon...

I have personal experience of carrying out difficult repairs in heavy seas. It is surprising what resource the individual can bring to a difficult situation. Just as in battle, morale is the major part governing success or failure. If you have the resources and the materials, there is no limit to wh...

An admiral of the Fleet is one of the highest ranking officers in the armed forces. He is already a Captain and has had command of many vessels large and small. Commanding a Battleship is a job any captain can do, though specialism in gunnery is probably a good bet. When I was at sea, the Captain co...

Hi Tommy old friend. It came to me in a dream - well more in the waking state after a good sleep. The Encryption Code could not possibly be sent in the encrypted signal, because it could never be seen until the signal was decoded. The law of logic intervenes heavily here - finally. The Encryption co...

To Dan. The exit hole from PoW's hit is not visible. I did a detailed check on the location and it is buried behind that large lump of silt. The farthest aft that hole could possibly be is forward of the double bollards to port and starboard of the cable holders. I think I cleared this up on the &qu...

As I understand it, the encryption key was set each day, according to a standard book distributed among ships and bases making it possible for all units to communicate with each other. The key changed at midnight so there would be no problems until late at night when there might be some confusion as...

Yes we are trotting out all the reactionary guff which the "official history books" have said. The Russian peasants were not a monolith there were various strata and it was the rich landed peasants who tried to circumvent the proper distribution channels and began hoarding and even destroy...

That length of cable visible on the wreck entering the shell hole resolves this aspect of the discussion for me. If the anchors were to be let go, all of the cable would have run out with it. Anchors are very important when entering harbour. If a squall blows up it may well be necessary to let go an...