Naval History Forums

Got some more time, so here's an additional two cents.... As I am sure I have said before, the outcome of the DS battle could have been very different with different circumstances, we all know that. As in any battle, the one who scores the most telling hits first gains the advantage. In this case th...

Hi all, It never ceases to amaze me how a discussion on Bismarck and the DS can spark such lively debate!! Great stuff! But a quick response to Ingura's last post before I rush off to work... At Jutland, the quality of the British shells was poor and they tended to burst on impact rather than penetr...

Hi All, The group Beatnik Turtle has released a song written in tribute to HMS Hood and the Battle of the Denmark Strait. The songwriters were inspired after viewing a documentary on the battle and, remembering Gordon Lightfoot's tribute to the Edmund Fitzgerald, composed the song. You can listen to...

Here are my two cents on this one... This poem does have some value as a historical document, despite its sentiments that may be unsavoury to us today and I appreciate being given the chance to read it. It gives an insight into the depth of feelings against one's enemies in a time of war - faceless ...

Thanks guys! Got back electricity at home today, though many parts of the island are still without. Some areas may be out for some time because of the extent of the damage. Tonight there are no tropical storms/hurricanes/typhoons/cyclones anywhere in the world. So weatherwise, the tropics are at pea...

Hi Folks! I'm back on-line thanks to having a relative with a generator! Dean was quite the experience, but we got off lucky. The eye passed 50 miles south of Kingston so Hurricane force winds only extended 10 miles or so inland. I think we experienced generally category 1 winds, probably around 80 ...

Thanks Bgile! We still have power this morning, though they'll be cutting it in about an hour. It's raining steadily but the winds are still light. That should change in a couple hours as it closes in. The storm thankfully looks like it will score a near miss as far as the eye is concerned, but we'r...

Hello All, Tonight, here in Jamaica we are bracing for a very probable direct hit from Hurricane Dean - the first hurricane of the 2007 Atlantic season. It is currently a Category 4 with winds of 145 mph with gusts to 185. It could strengthen to a Cat. 5 (>155 mph sustained) before it hits. This cou...

Thanks Karl! ..and everyone, you can see a little bit of video footage here: http://media.smh.com.au/?rid=30685&category=Breaking%20News and comments by David Mearns (he thinks it's too soon to be certain that it's Sydney and since the wreck is 65 miles away from her last known position, with th...

I know this is a very touchy subject, even after 67 years, but I try to look at it from both sides. You have to appreciate the grievous position the French were in - knowing their country had been subdued by the Germans and the threat posed to the Allied cause if the enemy got a hold of their ships....

Ok, maybe I worded that badly - what I meant was "so sad that it CAME to that" as it really did not have to happen that way...

Hi all, I just mentioned Mers-el-Kebir in the "luck" thread and thought I'd bring to everyone's attention a French site that has a series of dramatic photos of the battle. Some of you may have seen them before. The captions are in French. They show the line of French ships, the British sal...

Yeah Bgile.....Kirishima! Hiei was unlucky that San Fransisco's 8-inch shell whacked her steering gear and would otherwise have been spared the ignominy of being a battleship crippled by the gunfire of cruisers and destroyers. Another example of great luck was Strasbourg getting out of Mers-el-Kebir...

One big bit of bad luck for the Americans was the absence of the Hiryu during the dive bombing attacks that devastated Akagi, Kaga and Soryu. I'm not sure why Hiryu was out of sight (can anyone say?), but it allowed her to launch the counter attacks that doomed the Yorktown. Don't forget too, the in...

The coincidence is uncanny.....

Maybe cats DO have nine lives.....