Bruships 46: Accounts of Naval War

Probably in an open engagement, but the German destroyers could hide in fjord waters that Warspite could not reach and that British destroyers could still enter.

A wreck-search discussion argues that HMS Glorious and her destroyers should not have been sent out without stronger support.

Arleigh Burke's foreword to Geoffrey Bennett's Naval Battles of World War II turns combat history into lessons about design, intelligence, organization, and command.

They were meant to repel destroyers and light cruisers without using the main battery, although later dual-purpose batteries offered a more efficient solution.

J. Dennis's destroyer memoir contrasts exhausting patrol routines with Operation Hats, Italian high-level bombing, and the risks of escorting a disabled ship without radar.

They could be accommodated on very large ships, but a unified dual-purpose battery generally offered a more efficient concentration of firepower.

Ludovic Kennedy's wartime account follows HMS Tartar into Operation Claymore, from secrecy and Arctic preparations to the destruction of German shipping and fish-oil facilities.

Kennedy's short wartime book joined his service aboard HMS Tartar to a family connection with HMS Rawalpindi and was published while the war was still under way.

Aggregate shell-and-hit totals from Jutland can mislead when they combine daylight gunnery with the asymmetric battleship-versus-destroyer fighting of the night action.

Six-inch weapons retained more range and energy than five-inch guns, but their ammunition sat near the upper limit of what crews could move by hand.

Yes for surface fire, and later automatic mounts could also serve in air defense, but older mountings such as Belfast's had limited anti-aircraft value.

Georg von Trapp's memoir depicts an Austro-Hungarian submarine force constrained by old boats, poor repair support, unreliable torpedoes, and restrictive commerce rules.

Possibly, but wording centered on the Ottoman era could give both the United States and Turkey room to contain the dispute.

The Worcester class is presented as an attempt to give six-inch guns broad anti-aircraft arcs while retaining a substantial secondary battery.

North Korea has put serious effort into them, but quality control remains uncertain, and proof of reliable US reach would trigger a much stronger American missile-defense response.

Six- and perhaps eight-inch systems can be justified, but larger weapons create major integration problems and usually lose the practical comparison with missiles.

It would more likely have been led by a commodore or rear admiral with captains responsible for large sections, backed by strong communications and a major Royal Marines presence.

He considers them interesting, well-armed ships for their size, though he would welcome a larger anti-ship missile battery.

The operation needed the actual mixed force employed: little ships for shallow water, larger vessels at the mole, and destroyers for lift, protection, and gunfire.

The exact shooter is often impossible to prove, but no wartime or modern tank could withstand a direct battleship-caliber hit, and cruiser shells would also be devastating.

Operational experience can strengthen historical analysis, provided the author's evidence and argument withstand scrutiny.

Only perhaps against a very small unarmed craft; an armed and maneuverable ship would bring far more firepower and would leave the tank at a severe disadvantage.

Ludovic Kennedy's Pursuit reconstructs how fuel limits, missing direction-finding destroyers, plotting errors, and ambiguous Admiralty signals sent major British forces away from Bismarck.

It would be powerful but exposed; success would require methodically neutralizing land air bases because the confined Mediterranean denied the maneuver room available in the Pacific.

No. Commanders practiced it earlier; the postwar change was largely the naming and codification of behavior already present in operations.

Through Fire and Water follows Ardent as she moves to protect the amphibious force with a four-and-a-half-inch gun, Oerlikons, and Sea Cat.

It was obsolete, but the fleet had not received enough funding to replace it broadly with Sea Wolf before the war.

Competing patronage networks and Fisher's extended tenure denied Beresford the succession he expected, turning policy disputes into a bitter personal struggle.

Not chiefly; Sea Wolf was new, fitted to too few ships, and still being debugged when it was sent into a demanding combat environment.

James Somerville was a particular favorite, while Percy Noble retained King's respect despite their arguments.

Ernest King and Andrew Cunningham fought hard over Allied policy while preserving a mutual professional respect.

Cunningham receives the narrow edge because the Mediterranean imposed more concentrated threats and faster decisions with fewer resources.

A biography of Fleet Air Arm pilot Dickie Cork drew on a dispersed network of personal and institutional sources.

Belfast can last for many years with maintenance, but preserving her requires expensive dry-docking and replacement of deteriorated hull sections.

A wartime account follows an overstretched carrier fleet and the mixture of experienced and new pilots forming 880 Squadron aboard Indomitable.

About three to five, with a corps-style organization likely closer to three once support and reinforcement elements are counted.

Belfast's size and location make preservation more difficult than work on a smaller museum ship such as HMCS Sackville.

Yes. Carrier aviation ideally needs roughly two aircrews per aircraft so crews can rest and remain trained while the air group keeps flying.

Not often, but the Norwegian campaign and Admiral Lord Cork and Orrery provide an important exception.

Yes; Dragon, Duncan, Diamond, and Montrose are among the ships regarded as lucky.

Both arrangements existed during the Second World War, and ship- and squadron-based maintenance groups worked in an integrated way.

Yes; there was extensive activity, with Austro-Hungarian submarines especially important and dangerous.

Attack at Dawn reconstructs British destroyers entering Narvik harbor while German magnetic torpedoes ran beneath them or failed to detonate.

Replaceability is no reason to dismiss Prince Philip's actual wartime service and conduct.

Not in the same way; the Allies changed their procedures and later destroyer screens were prepared to fight through the threat rather than disperse the convoy.

Quite possibly; historians may know that an operation happened without knowing its real task, and some operations may have covered for others.

Britain wanted to deny Germany an Antarctic base or supply point that might support submarines and threaten South Atlantic routes around the River Plate.

Most politicians have no need to know, while many files were never retained and surviving records can remain buried within a vast archive.

Decades of short-war assumptions allowed production capacity to disappear, forcing wartime procurement to recreate factories, tooling, and skilled workforces.

They may protect living people, sit under separate Royal Archives custody, or reveal intelligence sources and methods that still have security value.

Continued Abrams production preserves a functioning tank factory for the moment when the United States needs new vehicles quickly.