After Action Report: Nelson, Rodney, King George V Vs. Bismarck and Prinz Eugen

mickeyg · 03-01-10, 08:44 PM

I have been a keen follower of naval warfare for about 45 years , coming from a naval and shipbuilding background , my father and Gt G/father were in the merchant service and my mother and G/F from her side worked at Vickers Armstrong in WW2 and my Gt/G/F on my mothers side , made the 16" guns on the HMS Nelson ( well his team ) , All I have done is read books .
Through all the forums and hypothesis I have read over the decades about the KM, IJN and the RN , is that after the Washington Treaty on Battleship size , The Germans and the Japanese decided they would not comply and built Super-dreadnoughts , while the Brits worked within the confines of this treaty , So basically the KM and the IJN cheated , pure and simple , like a motor race where in say the 2 litre class , someone enters a 3 litre car and hopes to win , without being found out !
Despite all of the Axis forces huge ships they still lost and got a hiding into the bargain , The Bismarck was no great advancement in design , 44 minutes after the engagement with Rodney and KGV , she was finished . The PoW was still active after her encounter with Bismarck as Bismarck`s shells were no match for her armour and although hit 7 times was really no worse for wear, whereas Bismarck hit 3 times by PoW had to find a port as she was taking on water , It doesnt matter about "the Bismarcks " armour belt not being pierced etc , She was out of the the fight in 44 mins and she sank ,end of story , she go hit 400 times , no Armour is going to save you .
Reports of sailors noting that Bismarcks Armour was in tact are pure fantasy , imagine 16" shells being fired at you at point blank range , are you going to check the armour belt before you abandon ship !
KVG was the best class of battleship in WW2 , there was 5 built, the deck armour was good as was the side , The Scharnhorst couldn't land a direct hit on DoY and an 11" shell would`nt have been much of a concern to her , Graf Spee cound`nt knock out 3 small criusers in the early days of the war so the 11" gun was no better than a 6" against an amoured Battleship .RN wins KM loses . Simple .

03-01-10, 08:44 PM	#7
mickeyg Bilge Rat Join Date: Mar 2010 Posts: 1 Downloads: 0 Uploads: 0	Bismarck and Tirpitz I have been a keen follower of naval warfare for about 45 years , coming from a naval and shipbuilding background , my father and Gt G/father were in the merchant service and my mother and G/F from her side worked at Vickers Armstrong in WW2 and my Gt/G/F on my mothers side , made the 16" guns on the HMS Nelson ( well his team ) , All I have done is read books . Through all the forums and hypothesis I have read over the decades about the KM, IJN and the RN , is that after the Washington Treaty on Battleship size , The Germans and the Japanese decided they would not comply and built Super-dreadnoughts , while the Brits worked within the confines of this treaty , So basically the KM and the IJN cheated , pure and simple , like a motor race where in say the 2 litre class , someone enters a 3 litre car and hopes to win , without being found out ! Despite all of the Axis forces huge ships they still lost and got a hiding into the bargain , The Bismarck was no great advancement in design , 44 minutes after the engagement with Rodney and KGV , she was finished . The PoW was still active after her encounter with Bismarck as Bismarck`s shells were no match for her armour and although hit 7 times was really no worse for wear, whereas Bismarck hit 3 times by PoW had to find a port as she was taking on water , It doesnt matter about "the Bismarcks " armour belt not being pierced etc , She was out of the the fight in 44 mins and she sank ,end of story , she go hit 400 times , no Armour is going to save you . Reports of sailors noting that Bismarcks Armour was in tact are pure fantasy , imagine 16" shells being fired at you at point blank range , are you going to check the armour belt before you abandon ship ! KVG was the best class of battleship in WW2 , there was 5 built, the deck armour was good as was the side , The Scharnhorst couldn't land a direct hit on DoY and an 11" shell would`nt have been much of a concern to her , Graf Spee cound`nt knock out 3 small criusers in the early days of the war so the 11" gun was no better than a 6" against an amoured Battleship .RN wins KM loses . Simple .