Hood Gunnery on May 24
Posted: Fri Jul 03, 2015 9:24 pm
In another thread (Prinz Eugen towing Bismarck),
There are at least three big uncertain things (mysteries ?) around Hood gunnery on May 24, keeping in mind that HMS Hood was perhaps an old ship but she was very well trained :
1) Witnesses contradictions about the total number of Hood salvos (in an 8 minutes fight, Hood should have been able to fire far more than 10 semi-salvos, some witnesses speak about 4 to 5 only. Up to 6:00, PoW fired 14 semi-salvos, having open fire only at 5:53.....).
2) Witnesses contradictions about Hood aft turrets firing or not (Hood aft turrets were theoretically never blind even on the initial 300° course, albeit at their very limit, just PoW Y turret was unable to bear on course 300°).
3) The statement of the PoW gunnery report (in general very detailed and precise in terms of timings) that says "Hood out of action" just few seconds after 5:55.
Especially the last point has always been a nonsense for me. It refers to a battle time when BS and PG first salvos were still in the air (if not even resting in their gun barrels...). In any case, it is not stated: "Hood on fire", or "Hood hit", but simply "Hood out of action", that for me can only mean that HMS Hood was not firing anymore before German shells started hitting her.....
Bye,
Alberto
Hi Alec, I fully agree with you.Alecsandros wrote: "A salvo plot for HMS Hood's fall of shot would be most interesting..."
There are at least three big uncertain things (mysteries ?) around Hood gunnery on May 24, keeping in mind that HMS Hood was perhaps an old ship but she was very well trained :
1) Witnesses contradictions about the total number of Hood salvos (in an 8 minutes fight, Hood should have been able to fire far more than 10 semi-salvos, some witnesses speak about 4 to 5 only. Up to 6:00, PoW fired 14 semi-salvos, having open fire only at 5:53.....).
2) Witnesses contradictions about Hood aft turrets firing or not (Hood aft turrets were theoretically never blind even on the initial 300° course, albeit at their very limit, just PoW Y turret was unable to bear on course 300°).
3) The statement of the PoW gunnery report (in general very detailed and precise in terms of timings) that says "Hood out of action" just few seconds after 5:55.
Especially the last point has always been a nonsense for me. It refers to a battle time when BS and PG first salvos were still in the air (if not even resting in their gun barrels...). In any case, it is not stated: "Hood on fire", or "Hood hit", but simply "Hood out of action", that for me can only mean that HMS Hood was not firing anymore before German shells started hitting her.....
Bye,
Alberto