Naval History Forums

If we look at the signal from Lutjens informing Group West; that the ship had made AK55 at 0700 and that he was still under surveillance, we can see that the tactical time, or time of the event being reported, is included in the message, so there is no need to bog the system down working the time in...

Since writing my last post on this topic, I have taken in a great deal of information which is new to me and I believe now, that a complete repair to the hole in the ship's side would have been entirely possible. If the ship made for a sheltered location, divers could be put over the side to weld a ...

No anchors were jettisoned. "25.5. Zur besseren Trimmlage wird Öl von vorn nach achtern gepumpt, zur Erleichterung des Vorschiffs werden ausserdem beide Buganker geschlippt. 25 May. In order to improve the trim attitude, oil was pumped from forward aft, to ease the weight in the bow sections, ...

Yes I got the time segment bit, but the time segment applies to the transmission. Each hour at the transmitter receivers were divided into transmission and receiving segments, you can read more about it here; http://www.pust-norden.de/dan_ww2_gb.htm In brief; The time segments were intended for rece...

I would assume that Group West was using German Summertime, the same as Group North. The matter at issue is the disparity between Double British Summer Time (DBST) which was used in the British Ships and Central European Time (CET) which was used in Lutjens' squadron. I would expect Groups; North, E...

With the technical expertise aboard the Fleet Flagship, failure to make permanent repairs to the holes in the bow would have been remarkable and would have demonstrated a catastrophic breakdown of Captain Lindemann's ship organisation. He had reported his ship ready for action in the open Atlantic a...

I don't know what Herr Nilsson is driving at here, but it might help if he presented any questions directed at myself in English, as I am not a German speaker. As this is an English Language site it might be good manners to present himself in English in future, so that other non German speakers can ...

To Northcape. If you have a look at the the KTB, the Barons' book and the Survivors Interrogation reports, you'll see that the repair which was s destroyed when Bismarck was maneuvering to avoid torpedoes form Victorious' planes, was a "Futhering Sail" a form of collision mat which had bee...

I think the way to fully understand what was going on in the German vessel is to ask what would Lutjens have done after sinking Hood and driving off PoW, had his Flagship, not been damaged. I would not for one moment expect Lutjens to head for a port. He would have all his options open and would be ...

Mr Waddingham serves no purpose and should be ignored. Further in answer to Herr Nilsson's question about how Lutjens communicated local time to group west, I have been looking at signals sent by Suffolk to the Admiralty in London. The signal's time was given and was followed by a letter suffix - 06...

The clue to Bismarck's fuel consumption after the hit in the bow comes in the form of reduced speed. She was not going to butt into the sea and dig in at 27 knots as she might at higher speeds. This was the speed she used for most of the 24th. She also had a following sea and the wind was behind her...

Travelling across the Atlantic in December 1941, Captain Charles Lambe saw deficiencies in the crew of the ship: ...60% of the ship's company have never been to sea before{emphasis mine-Dan}. The proportion of RNR and RNVR officers is very high. They are a shapeless lot somehow and there is none of...

The Romanovs were put down because they were about to be liberated by thew whites. Had their dog survived it would have been put at the head of the white forces and more revolutionary workers would have died trying to stop them wrecking the revolution. On balance, if one worker and his family could ...

This is one of the Reasons I do not attribute it to Thatcher's thinking, I just don't think she'd have had the Brain to work it out, though the comparison with Hitler and Machiavelli do seem to fit the bill. Saddam Hussein took matters into his own hands when he invaded Kuwait, a territory he had be...

I have wondered about this myself, but possibly it is the reason why the Uhrzeitgruppe was included in the signals sent and received after 1300 on the 23rd, when it does not seem to figure in earlier communications, particularly with Group North. This could be to do with events at the time, or an ad...