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From: JEWELLLW@VM.CC.PURDUE.EDU (Larry W. Jewell)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: Scharnhorst and Gneisenau
Message-ID: <1991Mar25.064930.29465@amd.com>
Date: 25 Mar 91 06:49:30 GMT
Sender: military@amd.com
Organization: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
Lines: 41
Approved: military@amd.com



From: "Larry W. Jewell" <JEWELLLW@VM.CC.PURDUE.EDU>

>In article <1991Mar22.045134.24861@cbnews.att.com> (Craig E. Ward) writes
>>The German battleships Gneisenau and Scharnhorst...
>I've noticed this a couple of times.  Everything I've read previous to your
>postings has classed these ships as "cruisers" or "battlecruisers."
	[ 9 redundant quoted lines deleted - PLEASE watch your
	  quoting, folks! -- CDR]

"Jane's Fighting Ships of World War II" lists Scharnhorst and
 Gneisenau as German Battleships with the following:
   Armour: (unofficial)
      12"-13" Belt amidships,
        3"-4" ends,
      12" Turrets.
      6" Decks
 I wouldn't want to encounter plunging fire from either the "K.G. V"
class or the "Iowa"s  with that thin skin, but I seem to remember
that they followed the philosophy of "fight or flee" command decisions;
namely if you can't lick, run like hell.  An estimated 29 speed would
allow them to run from the K.G. V's (designed for 27 knots), the "Nelson"
class (23 knots), and the "North Carolina"s ("over 27 knots").
   When you compare them to the ships they COULDN'T out run you get
a clear picture of when they were designed.
   The "Richelieu" class was designed for 30 knots (and reached 32 in
trials).  The "Iowas" were designed for 33 knots (acheived 35, [probably
when they were looking for carriers off Leyte?]).
   Once again, the battlecruiser is outmoded before it is really ready
for service.  The United States tried to correct this with the "Alaska"s
(rated at 33 knots)  but that speed was obtained by having TWO INCH !!
(sorry but, Lordy, what some people will do in wartime) deck armour!
   BTW: Jane's doesn't list ANY German ships as battlescruisers, do any
of the later versions make this destinction?

--
  Larry W. Jewell           direct replies to  JEWELLLW@VM.CC.PURDUE.EDU
"...before these weapons of the gods you must have seen how the proudest
palaces and the loftiest trees fall and perish."
HERODOTUS: Polymnia, Book 7, Chapter 10 (no, I didn't read it.)