Deleted member 1487
What happens if the bismark and later tirpitz break out into the atlantic for convoy raiding? What happens next?
What happens if the bismark and later tirpitz break out into the atlantic for convoy raiding? What happens next?
But what about the ability of those ships to run amoke in the convoy system before the Americans enter the war? The Brits would have to spread themselves thin trying to cover convoys and find the German raiders. Individual convoys would not be able to stand up to the German ships either. So you can honestly say that there would be no change at all to the war if convoys are being sunk in large amounts by the pride of the Kriegsmarine besides a few more dead allied sailors? Even the death of the Hood would not have been avenged and this would not sit well with the public.
I agree. The real nightmare scenario would be that the Bismark, the Tirpitz, the Scharnhorst and the Gniesnau all go raiding together.
For added mayhem, we could also have a POD where the Graf Spee wins the Battle of the River Plate and is still in service in 1941.
Each of these ships was capable of sinking an entire convoy on their own. Losing one or two convoys is a major setback, but one that the Allies can probably recover from. Losing 4 or 5 at the same time, however, will seriously jeopordize the Allied war effort and may even be enough to force Britain to sue for peace.
I suspect your wanking over the Bismark... Let me guess, it'll be a matter of two or three posts before you bring out the old wallnut: "Oh, the Germans may have scuttled the Bismark, hence the fact she had been battered into a burning wreck by the poms doesn't matter"You are giving the German BBs short shrift. Bismark was indeed sunk by British BBs= while it was circling helplessly at 10 knots. Now it seemed to do pretty decent against a BC and BB when it faced the Hood and Prince Of wales. The British had a lot of problems with their turrets and guns.
You are giving the German BBs short shrift. Bismark was indeed sunk by British BBs= while it was circling helplessly at 10 knots. Now it seemed to do pretty decent against a BC and BB when it faced the Hood and Prince Of wales. The British had a lot of problems with their turrets and guns.
Think about what the Brits had to do to take down the Bismark BY ITSELF.
You put the rest of the fleet spread out to each go after its own convoy and the brits are faced with partialling out their BBs and BCs one to a convoy. Considering how many convoys we are talking about. IF they could manage that. Its not like they had any warning that the Bismark was coming out. It would take weeks to get the big ships to the convoys, what with the time needed to get there and have them ready.
Yep, the poms did have trouble with the 14" quad mounting and the gun itself didn't have as much bang as many of it's contemparies... but that's quite a differance from your implied "useless".Cockroach= you need to do some remedial reading on the problems the RN had with their turrets and guns on the KGV Class.
I have to agree. Before the USN comes in, there were only handfuls of RN DDs & RCN corvettes... German CCs/CBs would have given RN nightmares.But what about the ability of those ships to run amoke in the convoy system before the Americans enter the war? The Brits would have to spread themselves thin trying to cover convoys and find the German raiders. Individual convoys would not be able to stand up to the German ships either. So you can honestly say that there would be no change at all to the war if convoys are being sunk in large amounts by the pride of the Kriegsmarine besides a few more dead allied sailors? Even the death of the Hood would not have been avenged and this would not sit well with the public.