Hello everybody,
Byron Angel wrote: " ...To suggest that PoW "needed more time" (if we are indeed talking about the ~20 days difference), make no sense to me on that basis...We need to be careful about precision of language..."
I'm sorry we speak of 1.5 months more (see dated here
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=8523&start=195#p83200) from commissioning (apparently more or less at the same stage of completion) till "readiness (
7 weeks working day and (lately) night according to Brooke and confirmed by Wilkinson) between KGV and PoW. (
We need to be careful about precision of...calculations...
) .
Re. the fact that the readiness was so much influenced by the missions, I would say that without KGV ready, any other ship (even a light cruiser) could have carried Lord Halifax to the US: a battleship was not needed, if not to show the flag... PoW case is different as she was one of the few ships able to face Bismarck).
Therefore, while I agree that Leach may have been forced to declare his ship ready (after 4 months from commissioning) due to urgency, Patterson may have received much less pressure (but he declared to be "ready" after only 2.5 months)... In any way, both ships had to train and remediate their guns
after their readiness (KGV immediately, PoW after repairs in July
https://www.naval-history.net/xGM-Chron ... _Wales.htm).
My question still stands: why did Leach resisted so much to declare PoW "ready", imposing a much heavier gunnery training period before running the formal gunnery acceptance trials (in early May), up to the point in time when there was no way to resist anymore?
My explanation (personal opinion, of course, but logical and well supported by subsequent events when in battle and when reporting facts) is that his previous assignment as Ordnance Director made him very reluctant to accept a battleship whose guns he knew had some design problems.
He was not confident in his weapon and this "fear" was "
in his mind" during the battle (his own words), with the effect that we know.
Bye, Alberto