Post by Toyama on Apr 10, 2017 18:01:32 GMT
Battle of the Denmark Strait
May 24th, 1941
Although the Battle of the Denmark Strait isn't a major WW2 campaign, it is too iconic to let it pass without its own scenario.
The German battleship Bismarck and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen were expected to try to break westward through the Greenland-Iceland-UK (GIUK) gap. While passing neutral Sweden in the Baltic Sea, they were first spotted by the Swedish cruiser Gotland and patrol planes from the neutral country; these reports were intercepted by the British embassy, allowing Royal Navy ships to watch their probable route.
(Gotland: “SWE NAV REP B a PE thr KG”)
Due to cloud and rain, the German ships escaded British tracking until, on the evening of 23 May, in the Denmark Strait, the two ships were spotted again. If the ships would get into the Atlantic, they would have free rein in creating havoc amongst the Atlantic convoys that were of vital importance to Britain.
The next morning, the German ships were intercepted in the Strait between Iceland and Greenland by a force of British ships, coming in from Scapa Flow. These were the battleship Prince of Wales, the battlecruiser HMS Hood and a screen of six destroyers, under the command of Vice-Admiral Lancelot Holland.
Prince of Wales was a newly commissioned King George V-class battleship, of much the same size and power as Bismarck. She had not yet been properly "shaken down", and her crew was green.
HMS Hood, named after the 18th-century Admiral Samuel Hood, had been the largest warship afloat for 20 years. Between the wars, more than any other ship, she had represented British naval power in the eyes of Britain and the world. But her armour was less comprehensive than a battleship's and her lower armoured deck was too light to stand up to long-range plunging fire. The outbreak of World War II prevented her from undergoing the required modernisation, specifically a planned increase in the thickness of the lower deck. Even so, Hood's firepower was the equal of any German ship afloat.
Far away to the southeast, Admiral Holland's superior, Admiral Sir John Tovey debated whether to order Admiral Holland to allow Prince of Wales ahead of Hood. In this position, the better-protected Prince of Wales would draw the enemy's fire. He decided not to give this order, later claiming, "I did not feel such interference with such a senior officer justified."
At 05:52, HMS Hood opened fire.
Battle report
Again, time for a game of WaS.
Choice of forces wasn't too difficult. Hood and Prince of Wales vs. Bismarck and Prinz Eugen. For balance purposes, the German ships were – secretly – supported by a U-47 sub.
During the first exchanges, combat was fought at long range, each ship hoping to evade any hits, but score some hits at the same time. PoW was lucky enough to score such a hit on Bismarck, before taking a torpedo from the U-47 herself.
(extended range exchange)
With the extended range now gone from the Bismarck and Prince of Wales, Hood would be rather safe as long as she stayed at bay, while still being able get in some shells.
This worked remarkedly well. With PoW and Prinz Eugen bearing the brunt of all enemy fire and rapidly going down, Bismarck and the U-47 started chasing Hood, planning to corner the British flagship and get it at a closer range.
(two princes "fatalled")
Taking cover behind Iceland, Hood managed to keep Bismarck at extended range, while scoring a couple of hits in the process. In the final engagement, with escape from the sub or Bismarck impossible, Hood closed in on Bismarck. Both battleships took shelter in the same squall, their salvos hit the mark and, while Hood soaked up the single hit, Bismarck was now crippled. Next, in a coupe de grace, Hood sent a full load of torpedos into Bismarck's hull. Bismarck disappeared beneath the waves, leaving HMS Hood victorious.
(Bismarck "finalled")
An Allied victory!
Epilogue:
In reality, in 1941, the battle proceeded quite differently. Hood's first salvos, mistaking the Eugen for the Bismarck, were directed at Prince Eugen. Soon, Bismarck and Prince Eugen returned fire on HMS Hood. The Prinz Eugen hit the Hood and set alight some anti-aircraft shells kept on deck. The fire this caused was not particularly dangerous for the ‘Hood’, even though it produced a great deal of smoke.
Bismarck replied with extreme accuracy on Hood. At 06.00, a salvo from the Bismarck hit the British flagship. The Bismarck had fired from 17,000 metres and the elevation of her guns meant that the shells that hit had a high trajectory and a steep angle of descent. The Hood had minimal horizontal armour and one of the shells from the Bismarck penetrated the Hood’s deck and exploded in one of her magazines. A massive explosion tore the ‘Hood’ in half. Those who saw the explosion said that the bows of the ‘Hood’ were raised out of the sea before they sank. The ship sank extremely quickly - within two minutes - and 1,416 men out of a total crew of 1,419 were lost.
Bismarck and Prinz Eugen escaped – for the time being.
The sinking of the Hood was an event that shocked the Royal Navy, the British nation and the entire World, changing the opinion about naval warfare. Some say the loss of the Hood marked the end of the battlecruiser as a credible fighting machine.
Up until today, there is discussion about the exact cause of the mechanism behind Hood's sinking.
As stated above, the British Admiralty concluded that the most likely explanation for the loss of Hood was a penetration of her magazines by a single 15 in (380 mm) shell from Bismarck, causing the subsequent catastrophic explosion.
Truth is, for a variety of reasons, the exact mechanism of the loss of Hood will probably never be known with certainty. The event occurred with remarkable suddenness, and was to most observers completely unexpected. No cameras were clearly trained on Hood as she exploded and no "black box" counted down her final, fatal, seconds. There were almost no survivors.
It has been suggested from examination of the wreckage, found in 2001, that the magazine explosion in the 4 in (100 mm) armament near the mainmast caused the vertical blast of flame seen there, and this in turn ignited the magazines of the aft 15 in (380 mm) guns that caused the explosion that wrecked the stern. This explosion might have travelled through the starboard fuel tanks, igniting the fuel oil there, setting off the forward magazines and completing the destruction of the ship.
The wreck of Hood revealed the bow section bereft of any structure and a huge section of her side is missing, from the 'A' barbette to the foredeck. The midship section had its plates curled outward. Moreover, the main parts of the forward structure, including the 600 long tons (610 t) conning tower, were found about 1.1 km (0.59 nmi; 0.68 mi) away from the main wreckage. This has sparked theories that the 15 in (380 mm) forward magazines exploded as a result of the force, flames and pressure, caused by the detonation of the aft magazines. However, a team of marine forensic scientists has found that implosion damage to the forward hull due to the rapid sinking of the Hood, is the most likely cause of the state of the forward hull, and they do not support any theory that the forward magazines exploded.
May 24th, 1941
Although the Battle of the Denmark Strait isn't a major WW2 campaign, it is too iconic to let it pass without its own scenario.
The German battleship Bismarck and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen were expected to try to break westward through the Greenland-Iceland-UK (GIUK) gap. While passing neutral Sweden in the Baltic Sea, they were first spotted by the Swedish cruiser Gotland and patrol planes from the neutral country; these reports were intercepted by the British embassy, allowing Royal Navy ships to watch their probable route.
(Gotland: “SWE NAV REP B a PE thr KG”)
Due to cloud and rain, the German ships escaded British tracking until, on the evening of 23 May, in the Denmark Strait, the two ships were spotted again. If the ships would get into the Atlantic, they would have free rein in creating havoc amongst the Atlantic convoys that were of vital importance to Britain.
The next morning, the German ships were intercepted in the Strait between Iceland and Greenland by a force of British ships, coming in from Scapa Flow. These were the battleship Prince of Wales, the battlecruiser HMS Hood and a screen of six destroyers, under the command of Vice-Admiral Lancelot Holland.
Prince of Wales was a newly commissioned King George V-class battleship, of much the same size and power as Bismarck. She had not yet been properly "shaken down", and her crew was green.
HMS Hood, named after the 18th-century Admiral Samuel Hood, had been the largest warship afloat for 20 years. Between the wars, more than any other ship, she had represented British naval power in the eyes of Britain and the world. But her armour was less comprehensive than a battleship's and her lower armoured deck was too light to stand up to long-range plunging fire. The outbreak of World War II prevented her from undergoing the required modernisation, specifically a planned increase in the thickness of the lower deck. Even so, Hood's firepower was the equal of any German ship afloat.
Far away to the southeast, Admiral Holland's superior, Admiral Sir John Tovey debated whether to order Admiral Holland to allow Prince of Wales ahead of Hood. In this position, the better-protected Prince of Wales would draw the enemy's fire. He decided not to give this order, later claiming, "I did not feel such interference with such a senior officer justified."
At 05:52, HMS Hood opened fire.
Battle report
Again, time for a game of WaS.
Choice of forces wasn't too difficult. Hood and Prince of Wales vs. Bismarck and Prinz Eugen. For balance purposes, the German ships were – secretly – supported by a U-47 sub.
During the first exchanges, combat was fought at long range, each ship hoping to evade any hits, but score some hits at the same time. PoW was lucky enough to score such a hit on Bismarck, before taking a torpedo from the U-47 herself.
(extended range exchange)
With the extended range now gone from the Bismarck and Prince of Wales, Hood would be rather safe as long as she stayed at bay, while still being able get in some shells.
This worked remarkedly well. With PoW and Prinz Eugen bearing the brunt of all enemy fire and rapidly going down, Bismarck and the U-47 started chasing Hood, planning to corner the British flagship and get it at a closer range.
(two princes "fatalled")
Taking cover behind Iceland, Hood managed to keep Bismarck at extended range, while scoring a couple of hits in the process. In the final engagement, with escape from the sub or Bismarck impossible, Hood closed in on Bismarck. Both battleships took shelter in the same squall, their salvos hit the mark and, while Hood soaked up the single hit, Bismarck was now crippled. Next, in a coupe de grace, Hood sent a full load of torpedos into Bismarck's hull. Bismarck disappeared beneath the waves, leaving HMS Hood victorious.
(Bismarck "finalled")
An Allied victory!
Epilogue:
In reality, in 1941, the battle proceeded quite differently. Hood's first salvos, mistaking the Eugen for the Bismarck, were directed at Prince Eugen. Soon, Bismarck and Prince Eugen returned fire on HMS Hood. The Prinz Eugen hit the Hood and set alight some anti-aircraft shells kept on deck. The fire this caused was not particularly dangerous for the ‘Hood’, even though it produced a great deal of smoke.
Bismarck replied with extreme accuracy on Hood. At 06.00, a salvo from the Bismarck hit the British flagship. The Bismarck had fired from 17,000 metres and the elevation of her guns meant that the shells that hit had a high trajectory and a steep angle of descent. The Hood had minimal horizontal armour and one of the shells from the Bismarck penetrated the Hood’s deck and exploded in one of her magazines. A massive explosion tore the ‘Hood’ in half. Those who saw the explosion said that the bows of the ‘Hood’ were raised out of the sea before they sank. The ship sank extremely quickly - within two minutes - and 1,416 men out of a total crew of 1,419 were lost.
Bismarck and Prinz Eugen escaped – for the time being.
The sinking of the Hood was an event that shocked the Royal Navy, the British nation and the entire World, changing the opinion about naval warfare. Some say the loss of the Hood marked the end of the battlecruiser as a credible fighting machine.
Up until today, there is discussion about the exact cause of the mechanism behind Hood's sinking.
As stated above, the British Admiralty concluded that the most likely explanation for the loss of Hood was a penetration of her magazines by a single 15 in (380 mm) shell from Bismarck, causing the subsequent catastrophic explosion.
Truth is, for a variety of reasons, the exact mechanism of the loss of Hood will probably never be known with certainty. The event occurred with remarkable suddenness, and was to most observers completely unexpected. No cameras were clearly trained on Hood as she exploded and no "black box" counted down her final, fatal, seconds. There were almost no survivors.
It has been suggested from examination of the wreckage, found in 2001, that the magazine explosion in the 4 in (100 mm) armament near the mainmast caused the vertical blast of flame seen there, and this in turn ignited the magazines of the aft 15 in (380 mm) guns that caused the explosion that wrecked the stern. This explosion might have travelled through the starboard fuel tanks, igniting the fuel oil there, setting off the forward magazines and completing the destruction of the ship.
The wreck of Hood revealed the bow section bereft of any structure and a huge section of her side is missing, from the 'A' barbette to the foredeck. The midship section had its plates curled outward. Moreover, the main parts of the forward structure, including the 600 long tons (610 t) conning tower, were found about 1.1 km (0.59 nmi; 0.68 mi) away from the main wreckage. This has sparked theories that the 15 in (380 mm) forward magazines exploded as a result of the force, flames and pressure, caused by the detonation of the aft magazines. However, a team of marine forensic scientists has found that implosion damage to the forward hull due to the rapid sinking of the Hood, is the most likely cause of the state of the forward hull, and they do not support any theory that the forward magazines exploded.