#4263608 - 05/24/16 10:52 PM
Good article on the Battle of Denmark Strait- Bismarck
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oldgrognard
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We talked abou his a few months ago and I thought some might find this of interest. The time of the engagement and the sinking of Hood was faster than I envisioned. Only 5 minutes from when Bismark starting firing on her. http://www.hmshood.com/history/denmarkstrait/bonomi_denstrait1.htm
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#4263686 - 05/25/16 07:09 AM
Re: Good article on the Battle of Denmark Strait- Bismarck
[Re: oldgrognard]
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Good article and interesting, thanks for posting! Still there are several details i do not understand. For what i read the german "Funkmess" (=Radar) had a longer range than their counterparts, so i do not quite understand how it could be a british surprise attack? I also read that the Bismarck's range and angle detection ("Feuerleitung") was done via "Funkmessortung", not visually at least at the beginning of the battle, when the ships were further apart (?)
Last edited by Catfish; 05/25/16 07:16 AM.
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#4263876 - 05/25/16 07:18 PM
Re: Good article on the Battle of Denmark Strait- Bismarck
[Re: Mad Max]
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Basically if Hood had only managed to complete her turn and had brought her full battery into play, things would have been a whole lot different.
That's speculative. Hood fired 10 salvos (twice that which Bismarck required to destroy her,), probably in the neighborhood of 40-45 shells and not a single hit (Prince of Wales had attained 3 hits by this time). I don't believe that unmasking her remaining batteries would have made any difference. Now, if those partial salvos were striking home, then I can see an argument made for the increased destructive potential of accurate gun fire and perhaps a different outcome. But Hood's shooting was atrocious, and I think it would have just resulted in additional splashes, not to mention also making her a larger apparent target.
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#4263880 - 05/25/16 07:28 PM
Re: Good article on the Battle of Denmark Strait- Bismarck
[Re: oldgrognard]
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The aft batteries would have allowed increase of ladder partial salvoes, so it may have been able to get the correct range and bearing for hits with the additional adjustment rounds. May have been, not a certainty.
Good people sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.
Someday your life will flash in front of your eyes. Make sure it is worth watching.
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#4264053 - 05/26/16 04:35 AM
Re: Good article on the Battle of Denmark Strait- Bismarck
[Re: Sturmtiger]
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I remember reading that when the Hood blew up or right after, seconds, that she had been hit by the Prinz Eugen.
The Hood was a battleruiser and not a battleship. I think it would have been slightly different if it was a Queen Elizabeth class or another with the Prince of Wales. The problem with a Queen Elisabeth class was that she didn't have the speed to force the fight. Even with the faster Hood and Prince of Wales they had difficulty as outlined in that article. But it does seem that the Hoods accuracy and target selection was not very good.
Good people sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.
Someday your life will flash in front of your eyes. Make sure it is worth watching.
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#4264059 - 05/26/16 05:20 AM
Re: Good article on the Battle of Denmark Strait- Bismarck
[Re: oldgrognard]
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Mad Max
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That's strange because Hood had a record of winning Fleet gunnery awards. Target selection is a little easier to understand due to the similarity of all the German warship silhouettes. Back to the RN ship designs, the G3s cancelled by the Washington Treaty were absolute world-beaters. One of those would have had Bismarck for breakfast without breaking stride. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G3_battlecruiserThey call them battlecruisers, like Hood, but they never were.
"You'll never take me alive" said he, And his ghost may be heard if you pass by that billabong "Who'll come a Waltzing Matilda with me?"
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#4264346 - 05/26/16 11:18 PM
Re: Good article on the Battle of Denmark Strait- Bismarck
[Re: oldgrognard]
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To be fair, nearly all capital ships had pretty anemic AA capability early on.
Suicide is man's way of telling god "You can't fire me, I quit!"
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#4264348 - 05/26/16 11:31 PM
Re: Good article on the Battle of Denmark Strait- Bismarck
[Re: oldgrognard]
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Mad Max
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Sturmtiger, you are saying that there was a specific weakness, unrelated to overall armour design, in Hood's midships deck armour?
Have you any links or references to this please? I never heard of this before.
Last edited by Mad Max; 05/26/16 11:33 PM.
"You'll never take me alive" said he, And his ghost may be heard if you pass by that billabong "Who'll come a Waltzing Matilda with me?"
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#4264350 - 05/26/16 11:35 PM
Re: Good article on the Battle of Denmark Strait- Bismarck
[Re: oldgrognard]
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While we are here, neither the Hood nor the Bismarck belonged in WWII.
There AA was pitiful. A stringbag hit the Bismarck with a torpedo. I would hate to see what a flight of Bettys would do. If the Bismarck didn't belonged in WW2 then most of the USN BBs didn't either. The 'flaws' in the Hoods armour protection was known and she was scheduled for an upgrade but then a war started. AA was pitiful on ships at that time.
There was only 16 squadrons of RAF fighters that used 100 octane during the BoB. The Fw190A could not fly with the outer cannon removed. There was no Fw190A-8s flying with the JGs in 1945.
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#4264364 - 05/27/16 12:19 AM
Re: Good article on the Battle of Denmark Strait- Bismarck
[Re: oldgrognard]
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A thought in my mind also wonders if the fire ignited something after Hoods final salvo. The witness account that the fire was burning blue indicates that it was not a bits and pieces of things flame. My thought runs along the lines of that they fired and opened the ammunition doors as part of the accessing the next rounds.
That is pure speculation, but to me seems as likely as the "golden BB" perfect penetration to a magazine.
It is likely we will never be sure what happened.
Good people sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.
Someday your life will flash in front of your eyes. Make sure it is worth watching.
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