Text 14217, 62 rader
Skriven 2005-10-05 17:58:05 av Roy Witt (1:1/22)
  Kommentar till text 14210 av Dan Ceppa (1:138/666.0)
Ärende: Katrina
===============
05 Oct 05 14:30, Dan Ceppa wrote to Roy Witt:

 DC> On 04 Oct 05  06:09:10, Roy Witt got back to Dan Ceppa
 DC> -> Re: Katrina

 DC>> The Hood was well armoured abreast.  And, he did close the distance
 DC>> as needed.  Well, almost...

 RW>> The only reason they did close the gap was to get their guns within
 RW>> range of the Bismark.

 DC> Nope.  That maneuver was to change the deflection of the Bismark's
 DC> volleys.  As in your other post, the Hood did not have the upper
 DC> deck protection that the Bismark had.

Wrong.

In what was apparently a misguided attempt to close the range rapidly, or
perhaps an attempt to follow poorly conceived battle instructions, Hood
and Prince of Wales gave away whatever tactical advantage they had at
initial contact by holding to their original course for far too long a
time, and thereby allowing the Germans to pass ahead.

Having thus snookered themselves at the outset, the British ships were
forced into following a long pursuit curve while tracking the Germans,
instead of maneuvering to cut them off.  As a perfect pursuit curve would
require Hood and Prince of Wales to follow a continuously curving course,
and would always keep both German ships directly over the bow, in order to
make maneuvering easier and to increase their effective firepower, Holland
therefore apparently ordered the curve to be made in a series of straight
segments, so arranged as to keep the arcs of their after turrets open.  It
was, to say the least, far from an ideal solution.  Even though the
British were changing course frequently, which should have greatly
hampered German fire control, their rate of bearing drift was small and
the Germans' major problem would have been compensating for changes in
range.

Prince of Wales' verbatim narrative of the ensuing action reads as
follows:

    "During the approach 'Hood' made 'G.I.C.' - followed by - 'G.O.B.I.' -
just before opening fire at 0552.  Range approx 25,000 yards.  'Prince of
Wales' opened fire at 0553.  'Bismarck' replied with extreme accuracy on
'Hood.'  2nd or 3rd salvo straddled and fire broke out in 'Hood' in the
vicinity of the port after 4-in gun mounting.  Lighter ship engaged
'Prince of Wales.'  'Prince of Wales' opening salvo was observed over, 6th
was seen to straddle.  At this time 'Prince of Wales' had five 14-in guns
in action.  'Y' turret would not bear.  Fire in 'Hood' spread rapidly to
the mainmast.  A turn of 2 blue [indicating a course change of 20§ to
port] at 0555 opened 'A' arcs at 'Prince of Wales' ninth salvo.11  'Hood'
had a further 2 blue flying when, at 0600, just after 'Bismarck's fifth
salvo, a huge explosion occurred12 between 'Hood's' after funnel and
mainmast and she sank in three or four minutes.  'Hood' had fired five or
six salvos, but fall of shot was not seen, possibly because this coincided
with firing of 'Prince of Wales' guns."



Roy

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