Naval History Forums

she was already so low in the stern from just that one port hit aft; that is, basically, if slowly, sinking by the stern when those three stbd torps hit. Low in the stern, means low in the stern. No means "sinking" see this ship http://i58.tinypic.com/21az590.jpg Sinking? Actually survive...

Big question - when those 21 ships were to be ready. If in 1939 - yes "battle of the Atlantic" could be different. But in 1945? Who cares. British will have that time ~20 fast battleships ( new + 3 modernized battlecruisers ) + heavy cruisers and so on. And France will have "some"...

First 3 Deutschlands were not a problem for British They had more than enough 8” cruisers to take care of them. And if really needed they had 3 ships stronger in every possible aspect. OK, say Repair and Refit, when not rebuild, had shorted max main artillery range, but who cares? They had ~21,5 km ...

I’m curious how they get into conclusion of finishing 12 Deutschlands before the war. It is not so simple, You cut battleship and have 3 or 4 cruisers in place of it. In case ton per ton possibly yes, but in reality there is need to have place to build them, armament to put on it and so one. For exa...

Forget about German carriers First 2 were to be Graff Zeppelin class, next 3 smaller one, on pair with Ryuho in size. Graff Zeppelin – full combination of lack of experience, idiocy and mistakes. Some points about idiocy/lack of experience ( there were more ) Preparing planes to take off – warm engi...

Apart from building couple of ships, there is some need of supply of fuel, building infrastructure, supply ships, maintenance and so one. In case of fuel. There were simply no “hard money” for purchasing oil for Kriegsmarine. Raider had “plan” of “organizing” and “keeping somewhere” as large oil as ...

... If you want to critique that information, You should start by researching the article in Warship International. Possibly. But I have Rodney report. There is statement "hit obtaned in second or third salvo", time 7:49 or 5:50 I have information from survivors. First hits received in 8:...

Rodney report. Nit Norfolk statek hits with Second salvo. So at last Rodney crew knew (or "knew" many things could be mistaken) that early hits were obtained. Yes there are statement of hits with 18th salvo by Rodney but it was not first hit! At last in Rodney report. So surely one primary...

That part of the book is 25+ years old. I have polish edition of Bismarck, by the same author, distributed at about 1990 ( had to check exact date ), and that appendix is quite the same – just translated. And contradicts with primary sources. Hardly surprising when You know what data was available i...

Rodney fired anyway almost 20% more with 1 gun less, 2" caliber more and being more than 15 years older ( :shock: ). No need to be shocked ;) Heavy guns can give problems. In case of Nelsons there were time to remedy them. Initially there were problems, and after ~10 years all of them ( except...

In case of Bismarck damage - I'm curious why people are so sure that Rodney put most damage? OK – forward director probably destroyed by Rodney and forward turrets possibly too. That’s make most damage? If yes - than this is more about (un)lucky hits not capability of artillery. In case of shells ou...

Quite short. Both had inclined belt armour. Littorio – 15 degree Nelson – 18 degree How good was spaced array of Littorio we had debate, so I’ll try to avoid repeat it now. In Nelson belt was 14” over magazines and 12” over machinery. Internal ( Littorio external ). Both were shallow – in Nelson ~1 ...

I would say - 6 knots speed difference
So if VV is not slowed down considerably, and fast, she can simply run away if something goes wrong.
Nelson had no such option.
In 1:1 and no any escort fight.

And one more thing to consider. I don’t know much about Italy’s practice, so I could be very wrong, but from pure technical point of view. ~1.5 meters behind Littorio’s belt there is 36 mm bulkead. Clearly splinter protection. After that bulkhead next 3 to 6 meters ( depends on area, plates are not ...

they were used just to corroborate Pugliese theoretical work, and they did. I ask a tricky question Who evaluates whether the test results confirm the theory? In the 30's, of course. "Independent experts" or Pugliese? Take me right - I'm not saying that whole thing not works. It works in ...