I came across a part of history I didn't know much about. When the British evacuated their forces from Norway they did a mistake, or rather an accumulation of mistakes. The British intelligence knew the German battle group with Scharnhorst and Gneisenau were somewhere in the area. However, the information never reached the captain on HMS Glorious nor any other naval commander in the northern Atlantic. The captain of HMS Glorious was a ship captain and it had been much better if he was a captain of cruiser or battleship instead. He had a conflict with his wing commander as well. HMS Glorious never had any air patrols up and that might contributed to the sinking of HMS Glorious and her two escort destroyers.

So, was the sinking of HMS Glorious avoidable and the can we blame an information overload for why the naval commanders never got a warning in time? The British intelligence had a lot to do at that time when the Germans attacked the low countries and France as well.

It has always struck me as a failing of the captain, he chose to travel through a combat zone at reduced speed with no air patrols up or lookouts posted on the ship.

Irrespective of any information he may or may not have had regarding the location of German forces he failed to carry out even the minimum ship security.

I follow up with another question that might can get things moving here. The German navy built the quite impressive battleships, some where pocket battleships. Graf Spee must be the most famous one and they were quite successful. The British were forced to spend resources to find them. However, had it been better if the German navy built more uboats instead of Bismarck, Tirpitz, Prins Eugen etc. Big powerful battleships may look powerful, but they were beaten by much smaller and cheaper aircraft's.

Originally Posted by I3BrigPvSk

I follow up with another question that might can get things moving here. The German navy built the quite impressive battleships, some where pocket battleships. Graf Spee must be the most famous one and they were quite successful. The British were forced to spend resources to find them. However, had it been better if the German navy built more uboats instead of Bismarck, Tirpitz, Prins Eugen etc. Big powerful battleships may look powerful, but they were beaten by much smaller and cheaper aircraft's.

The amount of time and resources used to hunt down the Bismarck and keep the Tirpitz bottled up far outweighed the resources used to build both German ships.

There is one subject I have wondered about, the HMS Hood was apparently sunk by plunging fire from the KMS Bismarck yet the story goes that the design of the Bismarck meant that it lacked the ability for plunging fire.
The Prinz Eugen however was capable of plunging fire, is it possible the Hood was sunk by the Prinz Eugen?

Originally Posted by MontyB

The amount of time and resources used to hunt down the Bismarck and keep the Tirpitz bottled up far outweighed the resources used to build both German ships.

There is one subject I have wondered about, the HMS Hood was apparently sunk by plunging fire from the KMS Bismarck yet the story goes that the design of the Bismarck meant that it lacked the ability for plunging fire.
The Prinz Eugen however was capable of plunging fire, is it possible the Hood was sunk by the Prinz Eugen?

It might be so. However, to suggest the pride of the RN being sunk by a lesser ship than Bismarck. i don't think the Limey's like to think about that.

I am thinking more in terms of the resources used to build and man the German surface fleet had been better used if they were building more subs and man those. I haven't figured out what the German navy would do with the people too tall for being in a sub, but most people were shorter in the 1940s than what they are today. How many subs do we get for one Bismarck and how many subs can be manned by the crew of Bismarck?

Originally Posted by I3BrigPvSk

It might be so. However, to suggest the pride of the RN being sunk by a lesser ship than Bismarck. i don't think the Limey's like to think about that.

I've never eaten a lime in my life.

Originally Posted by I3BrigPvSk

It might be so. However, to suggest the pride of the RN being sunk by a lesser ship than Bismarck. i don't think the Limey's like to think about that.

I am thinking more in terms of the resources used to build and man the German surface fleet had been better used if they were building more subs and man those. I haven't figured out what the German navy would do with the people too tall for being in a sub, but most people were shorter in the 1940s than what they are today. How many subs do we get for one Bismarck and how many subs can be manned by the crew of Bismarck?

It is known that the Prinz Eugen hit the Hood and ignited a fire but at the time the Hood exploded it had switched targets and was firing on the Prince of Wales however there was less than a couple of minutes in it which given the range of the engagement was not a lot.

Originally Posted by BritinAfrica

I've never eaten a lime in my life.

If you make a soda of it and add gin, you get a great moral reduction beverage

Originally Posted by I3BrigPvSk

If you make a soda of it and add gin, you get a great moral reduction beverage

Morals? wassat?

Originally Posted by BritinAfrica

Morals? wassat?

What the dictionary define as moral


"Concerned with or derived from the code of behaviour that is considered right or acceptable in a particular society."

I have no idea what that means, I usually let the gin and the lime soda decide what is right and acceptable