Prinz Eugen's Performance at DS Battle
Posted: Thu Jun 01, 2006 1:11 pm
Hi All,
On another, less dedicated, website I was criticised for writing that "PE fought magnificently alongside Bismarck on 24 May 1941".
It was the use of "magnificently" that someone objected to. He felt that PE had been in no great danger that day and contradicted my assertion that hitting *two capital ships with at least three salvoes was not that special!
Even if one accepts that several hits on larger, much more heavily armoured and armed capital ships was nothing to write home about (and I don't accept this, naturally!), I feel that PE, at the very least, deflected or distracted the British ships' attention away from Bismarck and contributed substantially to the German victory that day.
What do others think? In WWII, how often did a cruiser hit and damage a battleship or battlecruiser? I know that lighter British ships hit/damaged heavier German units at the River Plate and North Cape, where Scharnhorst was the target, but are these valid comparisons? North Cape is possibly more valid as Scharn. was a "battlecruiser" but the British were't fighting two capital ships on that particular day.
Patrick
On another, less dedicated, website I was criticised for writing that "PE fought magnificently alongside Bismarck on 24 May 1941".
It was the use of "magnificently" that someone objected to. He felt that PE had been in no great danger that day and contradicted my assertion that hitting *two capital ships with at least three salvoes was not that special!
Even if one accepts that several hits on larger, much more heavily armoured and armed capital ships was nothing to write home about (and I don't accept this, naturally!), I feel that PE, at the very least, deflected or distracted the British ships' attention away from Bismarck and contributed substantially to the German victory that day.
What do others think? In WWII, how often did a cruiser hit and damage a battleship or battlecruiser? I know that lighter British ships hit/damaged heavier German units at the River Plate and North Cape, where Scharnhorst was the target, but are these valid comparisons? North Cape is possibly more valid as Scharn. was a "battlecruiser" but the British were't fighting two capital ships on that particular day.
Patrick