Scharnhorst & Gneisenau Mediterranean 1941

blah blah blah

So what you;re saying is if S&G are at sea they wont attempt to force the straights if there is a sizeable RN counterforce

Are S&G just gonna steam around in circles somewhere in the atlantic waiting for a phonecall - cos that will work well

They'll probably just park round the corner and wait. Maybe behind a bush or something.
 
Funny, like the Germans would obligingly steam through in spite of knowing that those ships would be there...

Any attempt hinges on those ships NOT being there and its is very easy for the Germans to find out, its a phone call away.

"Yeah, they've left harbour, there's nobody here, come on through!"
"Oh, what a stroke of luck, I wonder where they could have gone"

Six hours later...

"Ah. I think I know where they went."

To be honest, having Force H sitting in harbour is probably the best situation for S&G. If Force H knows they're out in the Atlantic, then they'll come out looking for them.
 

JAG88

Banned
"Yeah, they've left harbour, there's nobody here, come on through!"
"Oh, what a stroke of luck, I wonder where they could have gone"

Six hours later...

"Ah. I think I know where they went."

To be honest, having Force H sitting in harbour is probably the best situation for S&G. If Force H knows they're out in the Atlantic, then they'll come out looking for them.

blah blah blah

So what you;re saying is if S&G are at sea they wont attempt to force the straights if there is a sizeable RN counterforce

Are S&G just gonna steam around in circles somewhere in the atlantic waiting for a phonecall - cos that will work well

Funny... They will be raiding convoys, thats what they did usually and it is exactly what would get Force H to leave Gibraltar and try to find them, which as we know, quite often didnt. Sometimes they even did it accompanied by one of their fast AORs to increase their search area, if they do that they can top up once advised of Force Hs departure and attempt the breakthrough.

You can even count on the ever helping Spanish to send a couple He-111s to occasionally to try and spot Force H and pass the word, its not like they didnt do stuff like that on a regular basis. Uboats could be deployed for the same purpose, of course neither guarantees spotting them since bad weather would be an operational requirement, but they might get lucky.
 
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