Word: bismarckers
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Torpedoes played a greater part than shellfire in crippling and sinking the Bismarck. At Taranto, at Matapan and in this conflict, the British have shown great skill in using the torpedo-carrying aircraft, which was invented by a U.S. naval officer in 1912, which has surprisingly not been adopted by the Germans in the Battle of the Atlantic...
...Naval architects were astonished by the way the Bismarck stood up under punishment. Bismarck's crew were convinced she was unsinkable, and they were almost right. She absorbed at least 20 16-in. shells from the Rodney, 15-in. shells from the Hood, and 14-in. shells from the Prince of Wales and King George V; three torpedoes launched from aircraft, two from destroyers, one from a battleship and three from cruisers; and about three hundred 8-in. shells, 4.7-in. shells and other small stuff. PArtly this wonderful shock-worthiness was due to her thick, modern alloy-steel...
...more than 2% of rounds fired, the hit on one of Hood's magazines from extreme range of nearly 13 miles was fantastically lucky. And the British had their share of solid luck when one of their torpedo planes crippled a propeller and the steering mechanism of the Bismarck...
...main lesson was the need for coordination of all the weapons of sea warfare. Near Crete neither side was properly coordinated: Britain, lacking aircraft, lost ships, and Germany, lacking ships, lost men. But in holing the Bismarck the British used almost uncanny coordination. And the Bismarck, without planes to scout and destroyers to screen, was helpless once she was caught. British coordination was almost too keen. In its determination to catch the fat prize, the Royal Navy took a long risk - neglected convoys, deserted Gibraltar, sent out the Home Fleet, left Britain's normal supply lines and normal defenses...
...When Napoleon planned the invasion of Britain, he dreamed of just such a stripping as this, and sent his fleet as a decoy to the West Indies to try to accomplish it; but then only Nelson and the Mediterranean squadron entered the chase. With the Bismarck gone, the Germans still have her sister, the Tirpitz. If the German Navy, knowing what certain death it would be, nevertheless sent the Tirpitz out on a similar sweep, it might be a tipoff for invasion...