Bill Cameron
Banned
Gents,
Seeing as even more ponderous bloviating about the alleged superiority of Bismarck's design and construction has been dumped into this thread again, let me share the following link with you all:
http://www.navweaps.com/index_inro/INRO_Bismarck_p1.htm
It's a very exhaustive, , very technical, and very detailed examination of the ship's final battle and loss. Expect to spend an hour or so reading the materials there and following the footnotes provided.
One extremely important point to remember in all this simplistic chest beating regarding Bismarck's design and "unskinkability", is the fact that the ship was MISSION KILLED within 20 minutes of the RN battleships opening fire. How long it took Bismarck to sink and why Bismarck eventually sank is of no consequence when Bismarck's antiquated armor scheme could not protect her crew from gunfire for 20 minutes or prevent gunfire from turning her into becoming a defenseless waterlogged hulk in the same period of time.
Compare that 20 minute period to the experience of USS South Dakota in the Second Naval Battle of Guadalcanal and you'll see why Bismarck's design was a failure.
Bill
P.S. Before the Usual Suspects take exception to my description of Bismarck's armor scheme as antiquated, either out of relfexive chest beating or general incomprehension, I am not referring to the steel used to create Bismarck's armor but rather how the battleship's armor was arranged within her hull.
Seeing as even more ponderous bloviating about the alleged superiority of Bismarck's design and construction has been dumped into this thread again, let me share the following link with you all:
http://www.navweaps.com/index_inro/INRO_Bismarck_p1.htm
It's a very exhaustive, , very technical, and very detailed examination of the ship's final battle and loss. Expect to spend an hour or so reading the materials there and following the footnotes provided.
One extremely important point to remember in all this simplistic chest beating regarding Bismarck's design and "unskinkability", is the fact that the ship was MISSION KILLED within 20 minutes of the RN battleships opening fire. How long it took Bismarck to sink and why Bismarck eventually sank is of no consequence when Bismarck's antiquated armor scheme could not protect her crew from gunfire for 20 minutes or prevent gunfire from turning her into becoming a defenseless waterlogged hulk in the same period of time.
Compare that 20 minute period to the experience of USS South Dakota in the Second Naval Battle of Guadalcanal and you'll see why Bismarck's design was a failure.
Bill
P.S. Before the Usual Suspects take exception to my description of Bismarck's armor scheme as antiquated, either out of relfexive chest beating or general incomprehension, I am not referring to the steel used to create Bismarck's armor but rather how the battleship's armor was arranged within her hull.