Not quite. South Dakota was able to fire at Kirishima and scored some hits after power was restored. Her secondary battery kept firing, too.
That’s when it was no longer a floating hotel.
But due to an electrical malfunction that occurred before it got hit.
Yeah, the damage was definitely “back to port to fix”, but it kept fighting. And the Kirishima didnt do any real damage.
First, the damage to South Dakota.
The IJN developed an AA round for their heavy guns. For AA, it sucked, but it was great for wrecking planes on an airfield. So they’d send ships to bombard Henderson Field, with the ammo trains in the turrets loaded with AA shells. During the 1st and 2nd Battles of Guadalcanal, the IJN battlecruisers, confronted by the USN, had to use up those AA shells before the ship-killing AP shells could be loaded. When those AA shells hit San Francisco and South Dakota, the odd damage they caused was mis-attributed to 8” shells. It’s estimated SD was hit by 5 14”. She was also hit by 8” from Atago, 6” from Kirishima, and 5” from DDs. Most of the hits were in the superstructure, where they damaged nearly every radar and FC system. Thus, the assessment by Lee. SD was in no shape to hit anything from then on. This is confirmed by IJN records recording damage to K and Takao when Washington was firing at them and SD was silent. SD may have hit DD Ayanami earlier in the fight, but that’s all.
Was SD in danger of sinking? No. She had little flooding and the fires were small. But at the moment Washington opened fire, the potential for critical damage was there. Kirishima had switched to AP. At that short range the AP could penetrate SD’s armor. K was undamaged and firing accurately. The cruisers and DDs were reloading their torpedo tubes. Their torpedoes had warheads larger than what SD’s TPS system was designed to absorb.
And then all the IJN attention was focused elsewhere.
Firing squad, not hanged. On the quarter deck of a British warship, where admirals and captains traditionally were stationed during battle.
For failing to “do his utmost” to relieve the British garrison at Minolta, even though his ships had been mauled in a previous battle with the French navy and had been sent out poorly equipped from Britain.
Dudley Pope (author of the Ramage series) wrote a non-fiction account, arguing it was a judicial murder by the British government, to cover up how poorly equipped Byng’s flotilla had been.
Right, sorry. But still…
Yes, agreed.
I think this was the origin of Voltaire’s quip about “pour encourager les autres.”
That expectation led to disaster in WWI at Coronel.
Bumped.
Thought this might interest the HMS Hood fans here: https://www.admiraltystores.com/
Hence David Lloyd George’s famous, and funny, comparison in a budget speech: “A fully equipped Duke costs as much to keep up as two Dreadnoughts, and Dukes are just as great a terror, and they last longer.”
A bargain at a mere £850! Sadly, there’s no “buy one, get one free” discount.
Never heard of a tampion before, but yes, the word is etymologically related to that other thing.
The term did send me down a Google image search rabbit hole. Many clever designs, but none featured tassels. That would have been attractive, as it would shown the helmsman’s skills if he could make them swing opposite each other like a stripper.
I read this as
“Mr. Byng was shot by the Pope, Dudley!”
Actually, I believe most people would read it this way.
Take it up with Jeff Bezos.
I was more impressed with him being only 12, and already an admiral!
Nepotism was rampant in the Royal Navy.
But still, after the reforms which came before the napoleonic wars- you could only be a captain after passing a lieutenant exam, and once on the Captains list it was purely a matter of seniority.
Better nepotism than cannibalism!
The Pythons made the best documentaries.