Bismark vs. Hood: 8 minutes in real time

[Cedric]

I ran across this the other day and found it real interesting since it gives a salvo-by-salvo account. It runs counter to the popular notions of the movie, Sink the Bismark, and the Dogfights episode. For example, Hood misidentified the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen as Bismark and started engaging the cruiser. Later, the Prince of Wales, despite technical problems with her guns and not having a "work up" cruise, did the most damage to Bismark with three hits. Prinz Eugen got early hits on Hood rather than the Bismark.

 

[trader]

It seemed a fair contest - interesting that both sides missed so many shots on target.

 

[The Night Rider]

It seemed a fair contest - interesting that both sides missed so many shots on target.

Both sides were firing at the end of their range.

Both the target and the gun were moving.

This was in 1941 there was no such thing as a targeting computer and property nothing from Texas Instruments. So they had to do all of their computations with a pen and paper in real time.

I was artillery when I was in the Army.

Our FDC had to account for.

Cross Winds.
Altitude (which wouldn't be relevant at sea level)
Temperature because the powder has different performance characteristics at different temperatures.
The rotation of the earth during time in flight.

Now imagine doing that while the other guy is shooting at you

 

[bc22wm]

As a rule, I avoid videos like the plague. This caught my eye. Thanks for sharing.