found the Hood

[mariuszj1939]

and my Hoods
http://forums.ubi.com/eve/forums/a/t...526#4641079526

[FIREWALL]

Originally Posted by mariuszj1939

and my Hoods
http://forums.ubi.com/eve/forums/a/t...526#4641079526

Very nice patrol mariusz

[harzfeld]

There were a few ships named Hood in history;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Hood_%281891%29
Image this older Hood still go after Bismarck by order of Royal Navy, even second-rate sail ship of the line with cannonball guns. Picture a captain with sword standing on front bow taking charge against Bismarck. Royal Navy deserves being mocked now and then for ordering Hood to go after Bismarck. I don't know if they will make another Hood, but I think they want to retire the name in honor.

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by harzfeld

Royal Navy deserves being mocked now and then for ordering Hood to go after Bismarck.

I disagree. They had their resources spread pretty thin, and they sent the closest assets they had. In principle Hood and Prince of Wales should have been more than a match for Bismarck. What happened surprised everyone - even the Germans.

[harzfeld]

Well, the Royal Navy’s strategy isn’t the only one that deserves being criticized, why did Hood took lead instead putting Prince of Wales with better armor in front of Hood to absorb the shelling hits? Would this tactical have worked better? Did it have to do with references on Hood being “Mighty”? Well there goes double the pride, then double the fall. Hood was more of WW1 ship, its armor was no match for Bismarck. I remember reading somewhere that there were hundreds of shells hitting Bismarck during the chase, plus some torpedoes too, before Bismarck got scuttled. There were King George V & Rodney, plus some aircraft carriers up in Atlantic, and would it have worked better if Royal Navy had been more patience and gathered their task force up in strength before introducing themselves to Bismarck? What was the hurry to send Hood in the first place? Bismarck still would have to return to port at France’s coast for refueling while Royal Navy could have awaits for it. Sure Bismarck would have brought havoc to convoy, but German already had Uboats doing that and Bismarck can be easily avoid while Royal Navy was shadowing it, alerting convoy to change routes or stay at ports.

I also think German deserved being criticized for sending capital ships into sea without air and sea escorts. Bismarck could have turned back when it realized the Royal Navy had become responsive of its present before entering Atlantic, but it choose to press on. It was pretty much poor in tactical for Royal Navy on Demark Strait, the only benefit they lucky got was having Bismarck to change course heading one of France’s ports for repairing & refueling. German had poor strategy for both battles regardless and why did German sent Bismarck in first place if they were surprised of their victory at Demark Strait? Sometimes I am suspicion of many errors & criticisms involving German, Japan, & UK actions making me think they wanted what have happened to happened, similar to America with a different agenda on Pearl Harbor & 9/11 to win public opinions and polls.

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by harzfeld

Well, the Royal Navy’s strategy isn’t the only one that deserves being criticized, why did Hood took lead instead putting Prince of Wales with better armor in front of Hood to absorb the shelling hits? Would this tactical have worked better? Did it have to do with references on Hood being “Mighty”?

I think it had more to do with the fact that Hood was Admiral Holland's flagship, and British tradition was that the flagship leads the line; as opposed to German doctrine from WW1 that the flagship is in the middle of the line.

Well there goes double the pride, then double the fall. Hood was more of WW1 ship, its armor was no match for Bismarck.

True. The best discussion I've ever seen on the subject is this one:
http://www.navweaps.com/index_inro/INRO_Hood_p1.htm

I remember reading somewhere that there were hundreds of shells hitting Bismarck during the chase, plus some torpedoes too, before Bismarck got scuttled. There were King George V & Rodney, plus some aircraft carriers up in Atlantic, and would it have worked better if Royal Navy had been more patience and gathered their task force up in strength before introducing themselves to Bismarck? What was the hurry to send Hood in the first place?

The hurry was that Bismarck had been sighted, and they had to send the nearest warships immediately. If the British lost her again, the next place she might turn up could be in the way of a big convoy. If possible, the nearest ships had to intercept and engage now.

Bismarck still would have to return to port at France’s coast for refueling while Royal Navy could have awaits for it. Sure Bismarck would have brought havoc to convoy, but German already had Uboats doing that and Bismarck can be easily avoid while Royal Navy was shadowing it, alerting convoy to change routes or stay at ports.

Not so. Bismarck had weeks of fuel onboard. The reason they had to head for France was that Prince of Wales put a hole in one of her fuel tanks. No battle, no hole, no run for France. The British felt that they must stop Bismarck now, or possibly never. One example of this was the Armored Cruisers, or 'Pocket Battleships'. Yes, Graf Spee had been stopped, but not until after wreaking havoc with the British merchant marine. Admiral Scheer had also done much damage, and was not intercepted.

They also had the example of the previous war: The German battlecruiser Goeben was in the Mediterranean, along with the light cruiser Breslau. The British had three battlecruisers on station, under admiral Milne. Thinking Goeben had to get out of the Med and into the Atlantic, Milne placed himself between her and the Straight of Gibraltar. When the Germans instead headed east for Turkey, Milne ordered the four armored cruisers of vice-admiral Troubridge to try to intercept. When Troubridge realized that he would probably lose all four of his ships for no gain, and Goeben would still escape unharmed, he called off his pursuit. Goeben escaped to Turkey, and the British press wanted both admirals taken out and shot. They were court-martialed, Milne for incompetence and Troubridge for cowardice. Both were found not guilty, but neither ever commanded a ship again.

A few months later, when rear-admiral Christopher Craddock was ordered into the Pacific to intercept the armored cruiser squadron of vice-admiral Graf von Spee, and realizing he was probably going to his doom, he commented "I hope I shall not suffer the fate of poor Troubridge." He didn't; the German squadron obliterated his, killing Craddock and the crews of both his armored cruisers.

This was the cloud hanging over Admiral Holland when he found his was the closest group to Bismarck. And, as I said, they thought they were probably more than a match for the Germans.

I also think German deserved being criticized for sending capital ships into sea without air and sea escorts. Bismarck could have turned back when it realized the Royal Navy had become responsive of its present before entering Atlantic, but it choose to press on. It was pretty much poor in tactical for Royal Navy on Demark Strait, the only benefit they lucky got was having Bismarck to change course heading one of France’s ports for repairing & refueling. German had poor strategy for both battles regardless and why did German sent Bismarck in first place if they were surprised of their victory at Demark Strait?

The problem there is that Germany really didn't have the air and sea escorts to protect their big ships at sea. They knew they couldn't fight the British ship for ship. The only option they could see was to send them out as fast surface raiders and hope to do as much damage possible before they were cornered. If they waited until they had the ships to make a proper battle group they never would have sailed at all. Look at what happened to Tirpitz.

[harzfeld]

Valid points you have there. Too bad Hood is at the bottom of sea, not in a museum, I would have loved to visit it. About Tirpitz, I agree it was a bad idea for a battleship to babysitting a port to press awe on UK when it could have join into a large group of capital ships to mow everything in their path down. For example, Scharnhorst & Gneisenau, they were only two battleships in several incidents together, I think Prinz Eugen joined with sisters one time. However, UK had capital ships spread out, German knew this and the way they could have crippled UK further if they assembled as much capital ships they can together and sink UK’s capital ships one at a time unless UK assembled theirs in time which would probably be like another Battle of Jutland. UK still has to worry about their flanks above North Sea, the channels, Artic Ocean, plus their ports in case of surprise invasions. Also they had to cover Gibraltar cuz of Italian warships too. German’s blitzkrieg on France & neighboring countries with tanks & planes were so successful because of how many worked together, not spreading out. But how odd for German that didn’t include their capital ships into their blitzkrieg operations & strategies against UK’s ports and ships. I view capital ships for that purpose as many capital ships protecting each other in a group would make a huge difference instead of spreading them out and becoming easier targets. Of course that would be for WW1 & WW2, not modern days unless capital ships carry lasers to shoot planes down. Anyway, this is interesting discussion and that link is good reading too. Thanks.