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If you haven't already seen it, you might enjoy it.
About an hour.
About an hour.
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The British and German Navies protected their Powder Bags with brass sleeves.
For some reason HMS Hood's were not. At least that was the conclusion. -
Old, but good!
M1a1's-R-FUN!!!!!!!Comment
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That is a good one. Interesting battle at a crossroads between the centuries-old tradition of Ships of the Line and the new technologies of aviation and radar that made them increasingly obsolete. Thanks, DT.Comment
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Re: Hood. The british lost a number of capital ships as Jutland. Cause almost certainly stemmed from unsafe handling of powder, etc. in an effort to increase rate of fire. Absent evidence to the contrary, would certainly be a likely cause for the dramatic sinking of the Hood which in every way followed the same pattern as seen at Jutland. JMHO. Sincerely. bruce." Unlike most conservatives, libs have no problem exploiting dead children and dancing on their graves."Comment
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Re: Beatty. Yep! Then followed the coverup that blamed Jellicoe for the failure of Beatty. Only recently has that bit of fake history come to light. Sincerely. bruce." Unlike most conservatives, libs have no problem exploiting dead children and dancing on their graves."Comment
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The British, having not fought a fleet engagement since Trafalgar in 1806, believed the way to fight was the old way -- at point blank range. The Germans, not such naval experts, opened up as soon as the topmasts of one fleet could be seen from the other and a range estimate made. The British were sneering at the Germans when their ships started blowing up.
At the inquest, one old grizzled captain asked, "Well, why NOT fire at extreme range? The worst that could happen is you might miss!"Comment
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Yes, the British lost more ships than the Germans did at Jutland,
but the German navy never left port again, Britain ruled the seas once more.Comment
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Germans were more proficient in long range gunnery in the WW1 era, including naval gunnery. Years of Krupp leadership in the field combined with the traditional German strength in optical instruments saw to that. Review boards can say what they want after the fact, but units are going to fight how they train. Range was a German advantage.Comment
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The British guns were "breach loaders" which meant they used bag ammunition. Once the powder charge is in the lift its just a bag of cordite with vollitile black powder igniters on each end regardless of how its stored in the magazine.
The German heavy guns were classified by the British as "quick firers" because they used a system unique to them and had been since at least since the first world war. The "main charge" of German heavy naval ordnance was a Brass rimmed case with most of the propellant that was loaded into the breach sealing it. There was a "fore charge" in a bag that was loaded in front of "main charge" cartridge. the main charge and the fore charge were loaded in together after the projectile was loaded.
This was not only a lot safer it was a lot faster. Most battleships were capable of 1.5 to 2 main armament rounds per minute. German capital ships could crank them out faster = Bismarck was capable of three rounds per minute maximum at low elevation and the 11" gun Lutzow class "pocket battleships" and the Scharnhorst class battle cruisers could crank out a maximum of six rounds per minute. The Germans seem to have avoided firing that fast generally due to the strain it placed on the equipment.
Paintings of German ships in action at Jutland show those giant brass cases being dumped out of the back of the main batter turrets on battle ships and battle cruisers and rolling around on the decks.
German fire control systems used stereoscopic range finders that were deadly accurate but required a very cool head. The Brits used co incidental rangefinders which required mereging two images into one, sort of like a lot of camera systems. German shooting tended to fade off the longer an engagement lasted and it certainly did at Jutland. By 1941 the Brits had fire control radar systems that were capable of "blindfire" which eliminated any fire control advantage the Germans might have had. Our Mk 103 fire control radar which we used to devastating effect against the old battle cruiser Kirishima at the Second Naval Battle of Guadalcanal was a clone of the excellent Brit systems.Last edited by Art; 05-28-2020, 01:53.Comment
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I've a great book on the U Boats in WW2. Iron Coffins, by ex U Boat Cmdr.
Toward the end of their Glory Times every time they came up for a battery charge
they were immediately attacked by a British or American plane, they'd submerge,
wait twenty minutes, come up and be attacked again. Author states he was
constantly hearing signals from other boats, "attacked, sinking"Comment
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You sure they're different? Thought all optical rangefinders worked on the same principal--two prisms reflecting two images that are merged in the viewfinder to show range, accuracy determined by distance between the two prisms. Photos of WWI turrets often show projections on each side of the turret which contain the prisms. I used a 12" Ranging 1000 when woodchuck hunting yrs ago, but accuracy became unreliable beyond 300 yds.; on the other hand, it always worked, whereas my laser RF has a dead battery every time I want to use it.Comment
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