Artillery Incident on 23 May 1941, 2044 hours?

Discussions about the history of the ship, technical details, etc.

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tommy303
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Post by tommy303 »

Well, the actual number of radars put out of action during the firing at Norfolk does need some clarification. The most I have read is that the forward radar was put out of action preventing Bismarck from scanning forward in poor visibility. This would indicate to me that either both forward radars were out of action at the time, or perhaps just the foretop radar which, because of its greater height, had greater range and therefore longer early warning times of something ahead.

Their shoulders held the sky suspended;
They stood and Earth's foundations stay;
What God abandoned these defended;
And saved the sum of things for pay.
Bgile
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Post by Bgile »

Do we know that the radar above the Bismarck's conning tower was EVER working? Maybe it was "tagged out" due to some other failure beforehand that doesn't appear in the QM log because it didn't result in a major loss of capability. Then when the one on the foretop failed, that was a significant loss.

Also, radars sometimes failed due to bolts working lose and then being sheared off, breaking cables due to the mount then shifting. These things can be random, and it's possible for one radar to fail when another one in similar or less demanding circumstances doesn't.
hsk1
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the forward radars

Post by hsk1 »

Hola! I want add some information to this topic.
Von Müllenheim-Rechberg stated in his book,that both,the radar at conning tower and the radar on the foretop were set out of order after the 5 salvos at the british cruisers. And Paul Schmalenbach,the former 2.nd artillery-officer at Prinz-Eugen said in Jochen Brenneckes Book "Schlachtschiff Bismarck" on side 108/109,that the crew (of the Prinz Eugen)was wondering,why they dont shot at the british cruisers.
The skipper - Kapitän zur See Helmut Bringmann explained them,if the Prinz Eugen open fire at the enemy,the ship can take serious damage through these fire-exchange and this would endanger the whole operation.

HSK1
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