HMS King george 5th battle group vs Bismark battlegroup

Hey there naval warfare fans we've got some real ironclad giants taking thier positions
getting ready to blow the hell outa eachother in the royal navy corner we have the HMS King George V, Hms rodney battlegroup with their escorts vs in the Kriegsmarine corner the Bismark battlegroup with battleship tirpitz and with her escorts sheer and graf spee along with Italian cl Trento. So sit back and enjoy this hypothetical sluggfest.

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• Hms
• King
• george
• 5
• bismark
• scheer
• Kriegmarine
• royal
• navy

[Vermiliontea]

I have this game + enthusiast addon. And it can be interesting. My main gripe with it is that results very rarely (never) correspond to history. While the ambition level to model ships capabilities 'accurately' seem to be very high amongst the geeks that tinker with this, one is left with two possible conclusions: Either the allies had an enormous amount of luck repeatedly throughout WW2, or those fellows wank off way too much to their Bismark and Yamato models.

[98RamMagnum]

@bjbing2003 You realize, the Bismarck held it's own against multiple battleships, with only a heavy cruiser as an escort right? You also realize the PoW, ran away from the Bizmarck and the Prinz Eugen?

[Toni112007]

whats name of this game???

[deino117]

Such an old-looking game, and yet for a real naval enthusiast (like me) it seems to have so much realism and play value after all these years. Why are naval wargames such an overlooked genre? I'd love to have a battleship versus battleship game like this one but with all the up to date graphics and game variables.

[notsureyou]

the max range of the final hit is 16-17km with the shortest (found on the HMS HOOD association website) is 13.3km.

So the angle of the shell as it reached Hood would be between a min of 9.9deg and a max of 12.8 deg. At that shallow angle the shell would in fact ricochet off and not penetrate Horizontal amour.

[notsureyou]

@MrHistorian123

The low angle would not have been enough to cause penetration. At 22km the angle of fall is 19deg. anything less than that and it wont happen. Also to be able to reach her inner vitals verticle amour would have to be penetrated. Perhaps Hood upper belt was penetrated and that deflected the shell down at a steeper angle?

[MrHistorian123]

@notsureyou

You are correct. Naval historian Anthony Preston told me that during the ship's 1939 refit, the belt armour was reinforced somewhat, as was the deck armour from the rear funnel forwards. Because war broke out, the planned update could not be completed. However, her protection was still marginal to inadequate against 15 inch guns at intermediate and close ranges on the beam. It might have been adequate if she had fought with the after turrets firing on an extreme forward bearing.

[MrHistorian123]

@notsureyou

At the time of the fatal hit, Hood was on a course almost directly for Bismarck. When she was found, her rudders were hard over, suggesting she had just commenced a turn to bring her after guns to bear. This meant that the fatal shell was travelling almost along the line of the ship from bow to stern. Even at a low trajectory (c14deg), a 15 inch shell could penetrate the thin (3 inch) rear half of Hood's deck armour, which had not been reinforced like the front half in 1939.

[notsureyou]

I dont think that the belt would have saved her. Only the offset angle to the target would have helped. but beam on to target she's in alot of trouble. her belt at its thickest was 305mm. it was sloped which gives an increase factor of 1.3 at combat ranges so that gives her 396mm belt. if that figure was the end of the story, then she is immune beyond 21km.

But its not Hood had ww1 quality steel, which would remove the slope bonus so her 305mm belt could be penetrated at 27km and below.

[notsureyou]

@MrHistorian123

According to the naval gun penetration data for Bismarck, the min range for Horizontal amour penetration is 22km (and thats 86mm amour). At the range hood was hit the angle of the shells as the Hit Hood would have been no more than 11.5 deg.

[MrHistorian123]

@notsureyou

Not so. The range was just at the minimum at which plunging fire could penetrate Hood's deck armour. Any closer and her belt would have saved her.

Fact: Hood was a very old lady with serious gaps in her armour and should never have been pitched against a modern battleship.

[MrHistorian123]

@98RamMagnum

I hate to introduce a few facts into the argument but Rodney suffered no damage at all in the action with Bismarck. Also, the shell that sank Hood WAS fired by Bismarck; though a 8 inch shell from Prinz Eugen did trigger a fire earlier, this was not not the fatal blow. This was almost certainly a 15 inch shell that penetrated the thin deck armour close to the aft 4 inch magazine and exploded it, leading to detonation of the after 15 inch magazine.