Bismarck

Some interesting stuff on the Bismarck German war ship for those who have an interest in this kind of thing.
http://www.bismarck-class.dk/technicallayout/rudders_propellers/rudders_propellers.html
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Seeing that the big guns can shoot such limited amount of rounds, I decided to stick to the smalle calibers

 

Thanks- interesting reading and the Swordfish Biplanes got her eh?
A new era shows its mettle.

 

She played the hunter, and the hunted roles with equal drama.

I think she spent most of her time being the hunted though.

I saw a PBS TV special on it once, hard to hide something that large for long.

 

Interesting how the propellers and rudders were arranged. I wonder if they used prop walk for low speed maneuvering or if the use center propeller as main turning prop. Well I guess it wasn't built for quick maneuvering. If memory serves me right, same setup as Titanic.

 

All the Nazi German 3 screw boats were messed up (Hipper, Scharnhorst, and Bismarck). It doesn't show in the above diagram, but there was a fatal flaw in this type of design with the flanking rudder steering rooms and required jog in the longitudinal continuation of the armor belt to cover them. This allowed hits aft to buckle the main hull girder at the steering rooms, either causing the complete loss stern or the jamming of the rudders.

 

Thanks, jeh.
Were these flaws known at the time, or did they only become apparent
on analysis after the war?

 

Basicly durning the war, when 4 (IIRC, Blucher, PZ, Biz, and Gns) lost sterns or had the rudders jammed. When desinged there was no dynamic shock analysis. Only after the war was the whipping analysis done to show why you shouldn't do it. Basicly, due to the width needed, the steering room armor jogged outboard of the main armor belt at the fwd WTB. In whipping, the mass of the armor was unsupported in the longitudinal bending case causing the fwd WTB outboard corners to buckle, allowing the whole stern to rotate down.

 

Don't forget the Tirpitz.

My uncle worked on the salvage....parts could be had.

 

I had to see what it looked like: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Fairey_Swordfish_on_Airfield.jpg

 

Low and slow into the antiaircraft barrage.
Yikes

I was thinking about this thread and wondering why a hybrid anti-ship missle has never been developed- aerial on approach, then pitch in and torpedo mode for last bit of run to target thereby going under the defensive deck batteries...

Current use- not WWII era.

 

It is interesting that no Swordfish were shot down by the Bismarck. http://www.kbismarck.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=65

 

There are modern versions of aerial torpedoes. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerial_torpedo#Modern_weapons

"Since the advent of practical anti-ship missiles technology, aerial torpedoes have largely been reduced to use in anti-submarine warfare. Missiles are generally much faster, with longer range and do not have the same launch altitude limitation of aerial torpedoes. Some modern aerial anti-submarine torpedoes do have the necessary guidance capability to engage surface vessels, though given the widespread availability of missiles on aircraft and the small, specialized warhead on anti-submarine aerial torpedoes, this is not an option normally considered."

 

If I remember my Bismark movie history, in the final battle, she got hit in the rudders and cause her to turn to the right and not be able to evade. It makes sense that swordfish had torpedoes that could be launch from far away and in front profile which makes then harder to hit. Remember these planes were very slow so you didn't want to get close to ship anti-air. Also remember that this is WW1 technology, no guidance system and no fancy missile technology, so it was either a bomb, a machine gun or a mechanical torpedo.

Back then the game changers were range and crew accuracy, the Bismark had battleship guns for range and a very well trained crew for accuracy. The Hood had radar, and of course the swordfish for recon and extended range.

 

Naval aircraft (dive and torpedo bombers) worked well against ships until the advent of the proximitiy fuse circa 1943. After that it was just a slaughter until the advent of high speed guided missles (and a Kamikaze Ohka is a guided missle). However, based upon battle damage, even now missles rarely sink ships, especally steel ones. What they do is start fires, and ship survival is more dependent on DC and combustables than perforation. And right now, with modern anti-missle PDS, the tide has turned back in favor of the ship. Horizontal bombing never worked against a maneuvering ship.

 

My great-aunt was a German war bride. I was at her house when the movie Bismarck was playing. It made her cry.