structure on Bismarck conning tower

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Ggasson
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structure on Bismarck conning tower

Post by Ggasson »

I am trying to discover the purpose of the structure mounted between the top of the admirals bridge and below the upper searchlight deck. It consists of two parallel strips at the end of a walkway. Tirpitz does not seem to have it. If you have Kagero's " super drawings in 3D" it is clearly shown on p.26. I have Stephan Draminski's Anatomy of the Ship which has great drawings & 3d renders but is somewhat lacking in descriptive detail in places.
Does anyone know what it is?
Thanks
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wadinga
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Re: structure on Bismarck conning tower

Post by wadinga »

Hi Ggasson,

Very intriguing. The Kagero representation matches well with photos in Breyer and Skwiot's German Capital ships, but I cannot figure out their function. These two panels were installed quite early on in the fitting out, appearing in photos from Spring 1940. They are in place even before the searchlight on the platform above is installed. They look like completely flat plates with projecting end plates.

But have you noticed there are similar units facing port and starboard on the sides of the gallery surrounding the upper rangefinder? :shock:

I have to admit I have no idea what they are at the moment. I find it hard to believe they are anything sophisticated like radar detector aerials which would surely be installed late on in fitting out.

Hopefully someone can come up with a solution.

All the best

wadinga
"There seems to be something wrong with our bloody ships today!"
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marcelo_malara
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Re: structure on Bismarck conning tower

Post by marcelo_malara »

Brower´s said for it:

FuMO 21 radar (possible)
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Herr Nilsson
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Re: structure on Bismarck conning tower

Post by Herr Nilsson »

It's the NES-Anlage = night recognition signal device
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Marc

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hans zurbriggen
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Re: structure on Bismarck conning tower

Post by hans zurbriggen »

Hello Mr. Ggasson,
as you have S. Draminski's AoS, you find the information at pag. 138, drawing C2/29, point 7, with description (supports with attachments for 9 night signal lamps: white, green and red).
Same structures are present at both Vormars sides.

hans
Ggasson
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Re: structure on Bismarck conning tower

Post by Ggasson »

Yes, got it thanks Hans. The 3D renders in AoS book show the attachment points which are not shown in the Super Drawings in 3D by Kagero. These structures do not appear to have been fitted to the Tirpitz from looking at photos. There are also night signalling lamps rigged from the mainmast and also from the outrigger on the upper searchlight deck. Tirpitz seems to have had these...perhaps they superseded the the other type? I'm assuming these lamps were a standard feature on German ships of the period.
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Herr Nilsson
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Re: structure on Bismarck conning tower

Post by Herr Nilsson »

NES.jpg
NES.jpg (33.81 KiB) Viewed 4060 times
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Marc

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wadinga
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Re: structure on Bismarck conning tower

Post by wadinga »

Hi All,

Its hard to tell but I don't think Bismarck has anything installed on the starboard side rack in the Grimstadfjord picture. Maybe they were obsolete by the time Bismarck sailed. The projecting ends presumably stop the lights from being seen from the side.

All the best

wadinga
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hans zurbriggen
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Re: structure on Bismarck conning tower

Post by hans zurbriggen »

Hello Mr. Ggasson
I have never seen any Tirpitz photo with them, too .

Hello Mr.Wadinga,
I am not sure I understand when you say 'rack' but Bismarck sailed with 'NES' for her mission. Images in Grimstadfjord show they were still in place both in front of tower under projector platform (Unteres Scheinwerferdeck) and at foretop (Vormars) sides: here starboard side.

hans

Grimstadfjord.jpg
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wadinga
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Re: structure on Bismarck conning tower

Post by wadinga »

Hello Hans,

I suspect these flat featureless plates are merely mounting brackets for the lights, normally installed as two sets, but there appear to be no actual lights installed in Grimstadfjord. OTOH The photo quality may be inadequate to show them.

Herr Nilsson's picture shows the lights installed on similar flat plates on the bridge of a much smaller vessel.

All the best

wadinga
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Herr Nilsson
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Re: structure on Bismarck conning tower

Post by Herr Nilsson »

wadinga wrote: Mon Apr 26, 2021 9:52 am I suspect these flat featureless plates are merely mounting brackets for the lights, normally installed as two sets, but there appear to be no actual lights installed in Grimstadfjord. OTOH The photo quality may be inadequate to show them.
The lights had to be removed in the daytime.
wadinga wrote: Mon Apr 26, 2021 9:52 am Herr Nilsson's picture shows the lights installed on similar flat plates on the bridge of a much smaller vessel.
It's Z39 in Boston.

Tirpitz
TP1.jpg
TP1.jpg (37.27 KiB) Viewed 3966 times
TP2.jpg
TP2.jpg (62.64 KiB) Viewed 3966 times
TP3.jpg
TP3.jpg (26.31 KiB) Viewed 3966 times
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Marc

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Herr Nilsson
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Re: structure on Bismarck conning tower

Post by Herr Nilsson »

Prinz Eugen
PG1.jpg
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PG2.jpg
PG2.jpg (36.52 KiB) Viewed 3964 times
PG3.jpg
PG3.jpg (27.98 KiB) Viewed 3964 times
Regards

Marc

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Re: structure on Bismarck conning tower

Post by Groundsman »

I wrote this for myself in 1987.

NES - Nachterkennungssystem - Night Recognition System

This seems to be a system of flashing lights used to identify friendly ships.

I first wondered about this when I noticed PG had a pair ‘plates’ on the front of her Admiral’s Bridge and two other sets either side of the Gefechtsmast just underneath the foretop. Sometimes these plates had rows of looped cables running between them. Other warships also had these plates including BS (the forward ones being on bars between the Admiral‘s Bridge and Foretop, and along the foretop shielding sides), HP and BL, the old pre-dreadnoughts, depot ships etc.. Not all the big ships had the plates - SH did not; GU originally did not but had them installed before ’Berlin’; the Panzerships and TP did not have them. Yet sometimes some of them had the cables.

I asked Paul Schmalenbach, who served on PG, if he knew what they were. He told me that the ‘loops’ were rows of red, green or white lights connected to a switchboard on the bridge for identification during peacetime training. One ship would flash a certain code in lights and another would answer with a second code. These codes were changed daily. Another correspondent suggested this was equipment called NES (NachtErkennungsSystem). The plates I assume are for shielding the lights but are not essential. Each set of plates holds two rows of five lights.

Photographs suggest it was in fact used in war activities and indeed it was. SH and GU had these cables on ‘Berlin’ and in the book ‘Make Another Signal’ by Captain Jack Broome (William Kimber 1973, p110) he writes ‘Message from HMS Rodney says Captain of ‘Chilean Reefer’, on being picked up by Rodney, said that GU was seen ‘signalling with red and green lights on front of bridge to another vessel thought to be a tanker’ (Uckermark). I’ve seen this report in Admiralty documents too.

TP may have had NES installed. On the sides of the foretop screen can be seen five dark ‘slots’, and facing forwards above the Admirals Bridge are four bars, two on the starboard side with two pairs of three lights and two bars on the port with two pairs of two lights..

LW had lights in the Baltic 1944-45 on the front of the bridge and funnel sides.

At the end of the war it seems NES had developed further. Z39 (and other destroyers and torpedo boats) had two rows of nine lights (each row containing three sets of three) fixed to the bridge front and funnels.
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