Posted on 12/13/2016 2:47:51 PM PST by Vanders9
Swordfish pilot Jock Moffat – credited with launching the torpedo which crippled the Bismarck in 1941 – has died at the age of 97.
The Scotsman, who always played down his role in the attack, was a lifelong champion of naval aviation and friend of the Fleet Air Arm.
2016 ends for Naval aviation as it began – with the loss of one of its greatest heroes.
After the passing of legendary test pilot Eric ‘Winkle’ Brown early in the year, the Fleet Air Arm community now mourns for Lt Cdr John ‘Jock’ Moffat – the man credited with crippling the Bismarck.
(Excerpt) Read more at royalnavy.mod.uk ...
God bless you sir! RIP
IJN Kaga was built on the hull of a Tosa class battleship.
IJN Akagi was built on the hull of an Amagi class battle cruiser.
My old man was a hole snipe on the West Virginia at Suriago Strait. He was assigned to the WV when she was in dry dock at the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard after being raised off the bottom. He was one of the Yorktown CV-5 survivors. Half of the surviving engineers from Yorktown, were assigned to the WV.
Soory for the late reply, I got caught up in getting some chores done and never made iy back to FR last night.
Your neighbor was most like ly in 5”/38 caliber turret of the secondary guns. Most WW-II cruisers had either 4 or 6 dual 5”/ 38 caliber as secondary guns.
Regards
alfa6 ;>}
That sounds about right. His gun was definitely on of the secondary guns. He spoke in awe of the main guns, but said he was happy not to man one in battle.
Interesting, and pretty common I guess, was the fact that I was in my 30’s then and he was in his 70’s? His own adult kids never showed any interest in his war history. He wasn’t pushy at all, but he was pleased that someone my age was interested in what he had done. He had a number of combat ribbons and I think some Navy medals for exemplary service from a Seaman. I was glad to listen and pleased that my general WWII knowledge included some familiarity with Guadalcanal and the Solomons. He passed away without fanfare a few years later. RIP
Thanks for the reply. Knowledgeable Freepers like you make F.R. the great site that it is.
Oldplayer
Cushing, Oklahoma
Hiei was decimated in that battle
The Juneau was sunk that night, also. The Sullivan brothers were all killed. I live near their hometown in Iowa
Have long been a student of the Guadalcanal campaign. I believe that it, not midway, was the turning point in the war in the Pacific
Have you had a chance to read Neptune’s Inferno by James Hornfischer?
Pretty detailed account of the naval campaign for Guadalcanal.
Hornfischer also wrote “the LAst Stand of The Tin Can Sailors about Taffy 3 and the escorts at the Battle of Samar.
Regards
alfa6 ;>}
Thanks, it also helps to know where to look to verify what you thought you knew:-)
Regards
alfa6 ;>}
I have read Hirnfischers book. It is a good read.
Always seem to gravitate back to SEM set, when in doubt.
Picked up an old copy of Watt’s work on ships of IJN, from the 60’s. Very good detail. Found it on Amazon
“Taken out by a WWI designed biplane...”
Nope. Biplane designs came a long way in the TWENTY years after WW1 before monoplanes took over. An early 1930’s biplane was a vastly different beast than a 1916 biplane. They might look similar from a distance but that does not mean much.
The Swordfish first flew in 1934! That is a heck of a long time after WW1. Heck they started building the Bismarck only 2 years later in ‘36. Considering the Swordfish was the primary torpedo bomber for British carriers the ENTIRE time the Bismarck was in service it was pretty damn stupid of them to make guns that couldn’t hit it....
But that isn’t what happened. Automatic anti-aircraft systems on ships were all designed back then to hit the high altitude planes ABOVE you and not the stuff coming in at wave top level. Does not matter if it was a bi plane or a skip bombing B-24. So that story is a mis-representation at best and an urban legend at worst.
What ‘other planes’ supposedly attacked her? HMS Ark Royal and HMS Victorious didn’t HAVE any other torpedo bombers except Swordfish. And as far as I know nothing else ever came near except some long range patrol planes (scouts).
An Iowa would have slapped it around and taken its lunch money. Yamoto would have sailed right over it without slowing down.
The Hood was longer, heavier and had the same size guns as the Bismark. Calling it a BC or a BB at that point is a tossup.
The Admiral Class were designed as battlecruisers. After the Battle of Jutland, the deign was changed to allow more armor to deal with plunging fire. With this change, one could call HMS Hood a fast battleship, whereas the Renown and Repulse were obvious battlecruisers. However, Bismark had more armor. More importantly, it didn’t have torpedoes and had more modern range finding equipment. HMS Prince of Wales and Bismark survived hits with relatively little damage. Hood blew up like so many earlier battlecruisers had at Jutland.
And yet, to this day, no one is quite sure why Hood sunk. They’ve even now explored the wreck and they still don’t know why. The logical explanation is that she took a hit in the magazine and blew up. The only problem is: None of the witnesses at the time remember hearing or seeing an explosion.
It was sunk due to underwater damage. It was torpedoed by the British and the Germans claim that they used scuttling charges.
I was referring to Hood, not Bismark
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