Bismarck and European battleships vs.US battleships - hull shape and seakeeping qualities.

[Mattzo]

Just on the KGVs, I would note that (contrary to common perception) they didn't have no sheer, merely just a small one of 5 feet (compared to say 10 feet on the North Carolinas or 8 feet on the South Dakotas). This was also no worse than any of the 50-odd preceeding dreadnought battleships built for the Royal Navy.

Also on freeboard, you can see in the design history how it was reduced from Nelson in the KGVs to save weight.

"Freeboard to top of deck at side amidships at standard draught":

27 ft - Nelson
26 ft - 14A, 16A, 14D, 14E, 14F, 15A, 15B, 16B, 15C
25 ft 6 in - 14L
23 ft 6 in - 14O
22 ft 9 in - King George V as finally designed

Despite this, midships freeboard on the KGVs seems very comparable to contemporary battleships in other navies, if not slightly better. Freeboard at the bow, of course, is different.

Generally, KGV seakeeping seems to have been very satisfactory, except for the aforementioned wetness forward.

[chuckfan3@gmail.com]

I notice on the Iowa class battleships, the range finder was also removed from the A Turret after WWII, but the X turret retained its range finder.

[wadinga]

Hi All,

Leafing through Siegfried Breyer's Battleships and Battlecruisers there are a number of speculative plans from 1939 onwards for the battleships to come after Bismarck/Tirpitz. He notes these were more design exercises, given the state of the war and resources, than ships to be actually built, but show the thoughts of German designers on what might become the ultimate German battleship. Annual revisions followed, culminating in the H-44 design. What is noticeable to me is that, as a result of a big increase in displacement, Anton is not only a very long way from the prow, but also there is a huge overlap of fore deck area over the waterplane representation all the way from the bow to abeam Bruno, resulting in a rapid increase in buoyancy as the bow is driven into waves and which also improves the "throwing aside" of spray.

What is also noticeable is that both Anton and Dora retain their rangefinders up to the H-43 (1943) version when the "wise counsel" of AVKS is finally accepted and they are absent in this and later designs.

I was lucky enough to visit the "Adolfkanonen" near Harstad in Norway some years ago, where several of the guns built for these never-realized monsters were installed for coast defence, and one of which survives in restored condition to be visited today.

All the best

wadinga