Footage of the Bismarck firing upon the Hood, and Bismarck under fire from the British fleet
Also, I do believe that HMS Vanguard was a larger ship than HMS Hood.
Posted on 04/14/2021 10:09:07 AM PDT by Onthebrink
Wizdum wrote: “The British found out in WW1 how vulnerable their ships were to the type of detonation that sank the Hood.”
It was later determined that the loss of those three battlecruisers had more to do with operating procedures than lack of armor. At the time, British Captains prioritized rate of fire and removed safety features such as flash/blast curtains between segments of the main batteries. These curtains were there to prevent just such a happening. There were also provisions limiting the amount of powder bags that could be removed from their safety containers which were ignored and powder bags were stacked in the turrets ready to use.
It is often overlooked but these incidents were more the result of rapidly burning propellant than bursting shells. These changes improved the rate of fire but allowed burning propellant to propagate throughout the turret shattering the ship.
Just a bunch of navel gazing.
Sorry, Invincible was the 3rd British battlecruiser to explode...
1950's pop song: Johnny Horton Sink the Bismarck
I wonder who the guy was that first thought,
“Instead of shooting straight across at another ship, let’s drop shells down on top of them so they can penetrate and go deep.”
You’re thinking of the Graf Spee.
Looking past the increasing armor belt to fend off direct shots, Dreadnought would use plunging fire to strike the thin steel decks of the opposition.
Kind of like the U.S.S. Biden.
Admiral Holland knew he had to get inside the plunging fire range of the Germans. Hence driving straight for the German ships and masking his aft guns.
“This is a pretty lousy article about a fascinating ship,”
Thus it is typical for 19fortyfive.
Hood was a battle cruiser. She should have never been put anywhere near a real battleship. It was practically criminal that she was.
Similar thing happened at the 2nd Battle of Guadalcanal when the USS Washington got left holding the bag when the South Dakota experienced electrical problems. But the Washington was expertly conned by her skipper and Adm Lee knew more about the practical problems of night-fighting with radar than the experts did. Different outcome.
Right. It wasn’t that the Hood lacked armor, rather it was the way her armor was arranged that was the problem. Plus the fact that her deck armor was thin given the threats of plunging fire and aircraft.
Go to page 14, to glimpse the beginning of her story ...
Both were scuttled.
Tallguy: "...when you’re enemy (Germany) is dictating the terms of the fight, then mismatches are bound to occur."
c19fan: "Some would classify HMS Hood as fast battleship."
By my count WWII Brits had 20 battleships (not including Hood), of which they lost three in battle: Royal Oak (U-47), Prince of Wales (Japanese bombers) and Barham (U-331).
Americans had 24 battleships, of which we lost only one, Arizona at Pearl Harbor.
Others damaged there were repaired & returned to battle.
For comparison Brits had about 20 carriers (5 sunk), Americans had 30, including CVLs (7 sunk), all losses (except CVL Princeton) were pre-war manufacture, none of their then newest ships.
Point is: we're often told how "obsolete" battleships were in WWII, but the truth is they still performed important jobs (i.e., shore bombardment) and survived combat pretty well, especially when protected from air & submarine attacks.
Oklahoma capsized at Pearl Harbor, was refloated and an attempt was made to tow her to San Francisco, IIRC, to be refitted.
Halfway there she started taking on water, (accidentally on purpose, IMO, being older and nowhere near as fast as the Iowa class ships), was cut loose from the sea tug and sank, out there somewhere.
For practical purposes, lost as a result of damage at Pearl Harbor.
Oklahoma and her crew shouldn’t be forgotten. That was a horrendous way to go.
The Bismarck would have sunk even without the scuttling.
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