The German converted Merchant ship raiders easily got fuel oil from their prizes. Their stories are very interesting.
If instead of the Bismarck the Germans somehow had a fully crewed and fueled Yamato how different would things have turned out? The AA guns on the Yamato would have shredded the biplanes.
No. The AA suite on the Yamato in 1941 was pretty piss poor, no better than the German’s. By the time of her demise it had been beefed up considerably, but still not anywhere close to American standards. The Bismarck had trouble lowering their guns sufficiently to target the slow moving and rather insubstantial biplanes. [Cite]
I remember reading decades ago a time travel story where an F4 Phantom and crew wound up in 1916 Europe. “A real game changer,” they thought but it was not so. It took weeks to strain enough kerosene for one flight and the plane had no gun pod. Not only did they have only a handful of missiles, the planes of the period had so little metal in them, radar could not get a reliable lock.
They wound up flying one combat mission and knocked their opponents out of the sky by zooming down upon them and hitting them with the jet blast.
I well remember “Eagle among Sparrows.” It suffered from the usual sf flaw of the era: over-stating the point. Yes, some of the disadvantages the story brought up were valid, but not all of them, and not to the extent in the story.
Agreed, and the American and UK AA was also pretty bad in 1941.
I’m wondering how things would change using Yamato instead of Bismarck. It’s an interesting way to compare the designs. Some thoughts:
Yamato is a bit slower than Bis, so the British battleships should be able to intercept from a much better angle—they could ‘cross the T’ of the Germans. Maybe Norfolk, Suffolk, and the 5 destroyers can be in the fight.
Yamato is much better armored. Hits like the one vs Bis amidships will do less damage.
The 18” is so much more powerful than the German 15”, PofW is now about as vulnerable as Hood was to Bismarck.
The 18” shell was designed for long and stable underwater travel. The underwater hits on Hood and PofW will do much more damage than the German ones.
The German guns fire faster. Fewer hits for Yamato?
Yamato had the largest and highest rangefinder, ever. More hits for Yamato?
Hawk Among the Sparrows by Dean McLaughlin
Damnschatzer! Serves me right for EVER trusting my memory! (See thread about aging…)
I stand by my critique that it overstressed its points, but that was a major trope of SF of that era. (Lots of space battle stories where one lonesome scout ship destroyed the entire invading armada, etc.)
I believe they also had supply ships that they met up with. Not sure if they had oilers/fuel ships, but I suppose I could look it up.
The Germans also had “milch cow” submarines during WWII that they might have used to resupply the Bismarck and similar surface raiders, with modifications.
Apparently they did have oilers at sea–Prinz Eugen refueled from one after being detached from Bismarck. The earlier operation Berlin was suported by several oilers.
Admiral Holland’s original plan was to meet the German ships right after sunset, approaching in the dark while the Germans were silhouetted in the light. Hood may have been able to get close enough to avoid plunging fire, and her 15" guns were certainly powerful enough. For this plan to work, Suffolk needed to stay in constant radar contact, but contact was lost for about 90 minutes, so when they did meet Bismarck it was under much less advantageous conditions.
They did, yes. But they loved to grab a oiler, etc so they could extend their cruising time. or they could just suck the fuel oil from a merchantman’s tanks, then sink it.
Here’s two of the most successful German Q-ships/raiders. They provided stores and fuel to U-boats and other German ships. Interesting tales.
Read the books about their exploits- fascinating!