Naval History Forums

There was an AA conversion sketched out. The details are in Friedman.

José M. Rico wrote:Anybody else wants to tell us how did he come to be interested in the Bismarck?

lwd, Tiornu, Antonio Bonomi, tommy303? Just to name a few of the regular users here.

Well Jose I rem. a teacher at school (when I was about 12) describing the hit on the rudder as a fluke that sealed the ship's fate, and my asking my dad about it. He said, quite simply, "The Bismarck blew the Hood out of the water", which was quite an introduction! I also rem. buying the "World at War" issue entitled "Clash of the Leviathans" and have been hooked since then.

No matter how begrudgers knock the Bismarck, for me she'll always be the ultimate battleship. No BB had the same glorious and tragic impact.

I first heard of you in 1997 when you started the KBismarck site and recall that your English was quite basic then, by your own admission! I might have the "U-97" email you sent me (maybe on Hotmail) welcoming me to the site. How things have developed in that time.

Hello Patrick,

To be honest, I don't remember the "U-97" e-mail, but it is nice to hear from a long follower of the site like you.

Best regards,

Ciao all,

my turn now, .... when I was young I received as a gift 3 small pocket books, .... edited in Italy by Mursia, .. they were B.B. Schofield one about the Bismarck, .. Watts about the Scharnhorst North Cape battle,.. and last one about Graf Spee and the River Plate battle.

That was my starter for KM ships interest.

I read them on the seaside on summer 1972,..I was 12 years old,.. soon adding the Peillard one about the Tirpitz.

While my interest focused on theTirpitz,.. I always purchased everything I could about the 10 major KM warships, .. including Bismarck of course, .. for example Pursuit by L. Kennedy, ... Busch, Brennecke, ... etc etc.

When the Baron book was translated in Italian by E. Bagnasco on 1984,.. it was the book seller itself to bring it to my home, .. as I was calling him so often asking him if it was available,..... I wanted to read it as soon as it was possible....

After having read so many books about the Bismarck, .... I always thought that everything was already written and well researched about this famous ship,.. and only the Tirpitz was still a source of mistery and discovering, .. but on 2003 while writing on another forum I was asked about my personal opinion on Denmark Strait photos and the Bismarck battle course, .... that started some new interest looking of what I realized was out there posted, .. and the results are known now : no more reversed photos or drawings with the hits on the wrong side of the ship.

This forum as well as others and the many very competent members I am honored to discuss with,.. helped me a lot discovering more and learning a lot too ...... a big thank again for everybody .....

But I am not done with the Bismarck yet, .. as there are still a couple of arguments I need to bring out in the close future, .. the YELLOW and the FUEL,.... and a new great project, .. still lots to do ...... and research,..... but I am having fun,... as I love to do it,.. Bismarck now as well as Tirpitz and the other ships,.. is my passion and my hobby,....... so stay tuned,.. as you will see more ...

Ciao Antonio

José M. Rico wrote:Hello Patrick,

To be honest, I don't remember the "U-97" e-mail, but it is nice to hear from a long follower of the site like you.

Best regards,

Jose, I rem. now that the name associated with that early Hotmail address was "U-47" (Gunther Prien's ship), not U-97!

Patrick

Sorry to be so late getting back to this interesting thread - ISP problems!! I guess I started with military history, and my brother's desperation to find someone to fight a wargame with. We laid out a "battlefield" on the spare bedroom floor and, using 20mm Airfix miniatures fought a Napoleonic battle. He won, being 10 years my senior, but I can honestly say I haven't lost one since. As a boy I already had a healthy interest in Airfix models anyway, but this encouraged me to look further. So, I bought books on WW1 and, later, WW2, but I still enjoyed Napoleonics for wargaming - a good mix of range for the artillery, whilst not being over the horizon, scope for imaginative use of cavalry, and lots of nice uniforms to recreate in miniature. I was growing up in the era of films about WW2, and my Mum and Dad watched them all, me too. How long before my interest in the machinery of war got taken by the ultimate war machines - Battleships!! Not long at all. The Hood was still a name that people remembered and along with that, of course, "The Bismark". 50,000 tons of steel can look beautiful, don't you think?

Regards.

Hello im a newbie here . And im are interested about all german warfare ,Battleships ,Tanks, and airplanes.. I have been so since i was a little boy. I found this web page for short time ago . I was reading about Prinz Eugen my favourite ship online when i found a link to this Web page. And i have been reading about Bismarck and its is going to be my favorit ship too. A interested is at The battle of Bismarck and Hood took place only 250 miles from my country on the Atlantic ocean . .
Best regads Sigurjon Leifsson

Welcome to the forum.

I believe it is the case that Iceland became an independent country arising out of WW2 (in 1944) and the German occupation of Denmark.

Ooh easy peasy this one:
I love the ears on the main turrets and I love the Malted Shreddies rangefinders.*


*When I was a little girl I remember my dad building the Airfix 1/600th ships and thought the rangefinders on top of the tower etc were Malted Shreddies.

So its back to the beauty contest.... who's the prettiest ship?

BISMARCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

RF wrote:So its back to the beauty contest.... who's the prettiest ship?

I'm going to get killed for this...

Prettyness is Hood no doubt. Bismarck is pure hardness. Graf Spee is graceful.
Though I love H.M.S Lion...this hurts my head

To Karl and RF:

My absolute favourite is ...... Bismarck (with the yellow turret tops!), folowed by Tirpitz.

Then.........Gneisenau followed by Scharnhorst (no's 3 and 4 of the beauty contest)

Then.........Richelieu closely followed by Srassbourg then followed by Dunkerque (no's 5-7);

Then ........Repulse (no 8!)

Then.........Roma, Littorio and Vittorio Veneto.

Then Yamato and Musashi.

Thats it!!!

The_Ships_Cat wrote:

RF wrote:So its back to the beauty contest.... who's the prettiest ship?

I'm going to get killed for this...

Prettyness is Hood no doubt. Bismarck is pure hardness. Graf Spee is graceful.
Though I love H.M.S Lion...this hurts my head

Hood does of course have a beauty all of its own.

iankw wrote:The Hood was still a name that people remembered and along with that, of course, "The Bismark". 50,000 tons of steel can look beautiful, don't you think?

Regards.

Oh yes! There is a romance of style there too. Everything is just too blocky now, jelly mould cars and awful Gherkins sprouting up, horrid trains. The Space Shuttle is ugly...the Saturn V is beautiful and aircraft are chavvy too and I totally miss Pan Am...and just don't get me started on Raptors or JSF!

Mebbe instead of ploughing money into Olympic rubbish we could build the Hood and Bismark and let everyone have a look round them, be far more educational.
I can't wait for the Nats at Telford to get my Revell 1/350th Bismarck and the stuff to go with it. *Yeay*