HMS RODNEY gunnery report on the Bismarck action

[Craiglxviii]

https://www.benjidog.co.uk/battleships/ ... ost_Mortem

Getting a transcript of this would be superb.

[MikeKozlowski]

Craig,

REMARKABLE! Thank you for posting. Completely unlike any other report I've ever read; USAF's tended to be distilled down to "It done blowed up good."

Mike

[Pdf27]

That's really interesting. One of the consistent criticisms of the British in that action is that they closed too much on Bismarck - with the result that they smashed up the upperworks but didn't let water in (hence the controversy about whether she sank by scuttling or not). This clearly explains that - weather conditions were such that they were finding it almost impossible to get ranges until very close. That's something I've not seen before.

[1Big Rich]

Thanks for posting that Craig! Great stuff!

Regards,

[MikeKozlowski]

That's really interesting. One of the consistent criticisms of the British in that action is that they closed too much on Bismarck - with the result that they smashed up the upperworks but didn't let water in (hence the controversy about whether she sank by scuttling or not). This clearly explains that - weather conditions were such that they were finding it almost impossible to get ranges until very close. That's something I've not seen before.

Pdf,

Follow-up question - would Rodney/Bismarck have had the worst weather of any dreadnaught fight?

Mike

[Pdf27]

Follow-up question - would Rodney/Bismarck have had the worst weather of any dreadnaught fight?

Does Duke of York .vs. Scharnhorst count? That was much worse, but Duke of York had very good radar by that point.

[Craiglxviii]

If you read further down in that detail, there’s a note by the First Sea Lord saying something like “ghastly performance”.