Naval History Forums

... Operation Berlin was not a great success in terms of actual results. The actual sinkings could have been achieved by a pair of hilfskreuzer. Even the assault on one merchant ship, the Chilean Reefer, almost went pear-shaped. Yes, there was substantial dislocation of convoy cycles and deplyment ...

... For Germany a surface fleet is a luxury. It isn't needed for the defence of Germany itself, that is the role of the German Army. Therefore a German surface fleet is entirely expendable, the Germans can afford to be aggressive and take risks, the British cannot. So an attack on an aircraft carri...

... This is a very odd statement it is clear that he knew he had unreliable ships with badly trained crews. He promptly blasted vast amounts of ammunition away One minute everybody is impressed by the (equal) longest ever naval hit proving highly efficient gunnery and the next the performance is ca...

A somewhat strange thread to me – ever since it startet … Hm – Marschall instead of Luetjens. Why? Admiral Marschall seems to get a halo attached to his head here because he sunk a heavy British unit by going straight in for the kill. So what? Admiral Luetjens did the same; more reluctantly but as e...

SMS Seydlitz came back home on hands and knees but she came back home. That episode must have impressed them very much. This is an important point. For combat in the North Sea in a scenario involving navies of somewhat comparable strength, the survivability of a ship was a worthy consideration. Sey...

... The latest findings and conclusions, co-authored by James Cameron (the senior author), Bill Garzke, Bob Dulin, Ken Smith, myself and one other, will be released at a meeting of the American Society of Naval Engineers (ASNE) on, I believe, 24 June. This paper represents several years of detailed...

History has not quite preserved what left me with the nickname 'ufo' but I carry it around since schooldays – it somehow just stuck. :think: The naming of 'NARA' is easier though: National Archives and Records Administration, USA. It's the States equivalent to our Public Records Office. NARA still h...

As an aside I was wondering if Heye's thesis was ever published, this is the first instance I've been made aware of it. Do you read German? Than at least you can get half way to read Helmuth Heyes thoughts on the topic. Michael Salewski published some key German thesis in the third volume of his &q...

Thank you ! Things to think about in there! And I wasn’t aware that the ‘Nanny’ was also twin shafted. Two propeller tankers are awesome monsters! The Swedes say on their page that: “… and low propeller induced vibrations compared with those of a corresponding single screw ship.” Is that more or les...

... Stuart Slade has a few excellent hydro-articles at warships1.com. In on article he comments that Hipper’s ship without the center shaft only gains 1 knot. Slade concludes the center shaft is not very efficient. Although I really like his articles, this conclusion I strongly do not agree with. T...

An all time classic that question :D Bob Henneman has a fine article on that topic on his pages: http://www.bobhenneman.info/Rangeclocks.htm As addons to the article: - Battleships of the Imperial Highseas Fleet used them as well. I think there is a picture of SMS Kaiser often seen in the net with a...

... But I still think that an uninhistorical Tirpitz with a historical Bismarck would be a a menace to the brits bigger than the arithmetical sum of the parts. :stubborn: Very best regards! I am sure you are very right that Bismarck plus Tirpitz would have had much :!: more an impact than the bare ...

... Correct me if I am wrong here but just looking at the Hoods armor particulars, I assume a 15 inch shell from the Bismarck would have to pass through either the Hood's 12 inch main belt or her 7 inch upper belt + 2 inches of deck armor + 12 inches of barbette armor to reach her main magazine. Is...

Hm – I do think Admiral Holland had much justification for his conduct of Battle. As for his approach: It worked! He had already bridged the gap of vulnerability to plunging shellfire from Bismarck. His ship did not fall victim a one of the feared and dreaded deck hits but was probably simply hit th...

Hej marty1 If you look at sheer range you probably get better with costal batteries. The German H-Class 16” battleship guns in shore use could achieve ranges of up to 56.ooo m. I think in Norway there were some emplacements; 'Batterie Dietl', Vestfjord, I think and 'Batterie Trondness' in Vaagsfjord...