Text 14375, 46 rader
Skriven 2005-10-07 22:37:42 av Ward Dossche
     Kommentar till en text av Dan Ceppa
Ärende: Re: Bismarck v Hood
===========================
Dan,
 
> RW> Bismarck...Not all of them British though. About 17 or 18 U-boats, a
> RW> couple of Aircraft carriers, etc...Even the aircraft aboard the two
> RW> carriers stayed out of the way because there was just too much
> RW> firepower on the ocean.
 
> 90 mph Swordfish are really what did the Bismark in.  They damaged
> the Bismark's steering.
 
And the second carrier was not within range for its aircraft anyway.
 
It's amazing how sometimes so much depends on such a small detail. On Christmas
Eve 1943 the Scharnhorst was running away from the HMS Duke of York who simply
was too slow. Then HMS Duke of York shot its last volley from maximum distance
and one of its shells hit Scharnhorst and ruptured a steamline which knocked
several knotts from its speed and withing the hour it was on the bottom of the
sea.
 
Or that Japanese officer who made that crucial mistake during the Battle of
Midway which eventually cost them nearly their complete carrier force and was
the turning-point of the war in the Pacific.
 
Also the HMS Prince of Wales suffered bad luck. On Dec.10 1941 when it had
sortied from Singapore with the older battlecruiser HMS Repulse it was also
attacked by Japanese (land-based) aircraft and received a torpedo-hit on its
rudder which became jammed. It was then also bombed to the bottom of the sea,
so was HMS Repulse.
 
> RW> Did you know that those 15 inch guns on the Bismarck could also be
> RW> used to shoot at aircraft...imagine a 15 inch flak shell exploding
> RW> within a 300 yard radius of those little airplanes.
 
> RW> "down, down, down, the ring of fire"
 
> Nope.  The effect on planes was the shock wave created by those
> shells going past them.
 
Exactly, 15-inch flak-shells did not and do not exist. Bismarck had only 2
types of 15-inch shells on board ... one type for naval engagements and another
type for shore bombardments. Our specialist didn't find that on Wikipedia.
 
 \%/@rd

--- DB 1.58/001877
 * Origin: "Leonard will be free" - http://www.leonardpeltier.org (2:292/854)