The twins

This is off a forum im on, With are duty done, our task force command of Devonshire then sailed for Copenhagen, where the only remaining large German ship, the cruiser Prinz Eugen, had surrendered and had to be escorted to the main German Naval Base of Wilhelmshaven, then in the British occupied zone.

Having in mind she might emulate the scuttling of the German High Seas Fleet after W.W.I while on passage, Savage and another destroyer were stationed on either beam with our torpedoes trained on the cruiser as a deterrent.

However, it turned out that their sole thought was to get home safely and as we went up the Jade River, Savage was detailed to lead Prinz Eugen through the outer tidal locks into the naval base, the sides of which were lined with masses of German sailors obviously intending to give the last surviving large unit of their Fleet a right royal reception.

While I am not very proud to recall it now, we were at the time so disgusted and incensed that such a welcome should be given to a surrendered ship, I deliberately took Savage through that lock at high speed, or a much higher speed than normal, so creating a considerable series of waves that thoroughly wet the feet of, and caused quite a commotion among the welcoming spectators.

It could be said this was a most discourteous, dangerous and even stupid thing to have done, but I was by then an able and experienced ship handler and it gave enormous satisfaction not only to myself but to all my officers and ship’s company. Thus we went on through several more basins creating considerable havoc among the U-Boats and other craft moored in them, wires snapped and crews lined up on deck had to jump for safety.

In the end I nearly met my Waterloo when the passage between two basins was spanned by a swing bridge, which a frantic little man was slowly opening with a wheel, while I equally frantically was trying to avoid a collision.

It was all great fun at the time and at least let them know the Royal Navy had arrived, in any case there was no German Admiral who could tick me off for proceeding at an immoderate speed and causing so much damage in confined waters...

 

Two nukes didn't sink her. Five months after the second nuke she finally rolled over from unchecked flooding and sank. Hell, my old ship (DD977) would have sunk if left without power for 5 months.

PE today:

 

Steve,
Don't say that :'( we should have kepted her :'(

 

I saw it was a wasted, the ONLY reason we got her was to keep the Russians hand off her..
Nikki

 

I hope some of you understand how much I love Prinz Eugen..

 

I'm not stalker her, She's my baby girl dang it
Nikki

 

Sharnhorst and her sister were Battlecruisers. High Speed and lighter faster firing armament. They were very large for their size. They were labelled as BBs by the German Navy as propaganda as Germany had no Battleships at the time until the Bismarck class which included Bismarck and Tirpitz. These were Germany's first True Battleships since the first World War and were the epitome of German Naval Construction. They were designed to be Theorecticaly a match for a any other battleship at the time . If they encountered a battleship escort for a convoy they had the ability to stand toe to toe as a battleship would unlike the Scharnhorst class where the 11 inch guns were no match for piercing the British Battleship armour from WW 1 for example the Queen Elizabeth class or the modern British Battleship Duke Of York which though slower was able to hit the faster Scharnhorst while it was trying to increase the range and get away. The Hood is a Battlecruiser but the largest Battlecruiser. Some still argue that it was a BB but it was designed and built as a Battlecruiser though armor for the sides was battleship armour and her guns certaintly had hitting power her deck armour made her unable to withstand plunging fire. The fact remains Germany had 2 Battleships Bismarck and Tirpitz and the Scharnhorst class were it's Battlecruisers. Had they had the 15 inch guns they would certaintly had been reclassified as Battleships. Graf Spee and Adm Sheer were heavy cruisers equipped with the same guns as Scharnhorst. Both were made for strike fast and hard and get away . They could outfight anything with smaller armament and had the high speed . Against a Battleship this is where they would fail . The Japanese Kongo Class were built as fast Battlecruisers initially in WW1 and were upgraded with increased armour and gun elevation and increased speed. So much of the refit went into their improvements they were reclassified as fast Battleships for WW2. The Dunkerque class of France were battlecruisers and were large fast ships with 13 inch guns and good armour. Designed to hunt down the Graf Spee.

 

Well reasoned, concisely put. But I still contend that anything with thicker belt armor than Bismarck has earned the right to be a battleship, and not a namby-pamby battlecruiser. So there

 

I've always called them Battleships.. But there Undergunned Battleships.
Nikki

 

Lol. Well anything that wears heavy armour and carries a pea shooter shouldn't be called a Battleship. So..Nya Nya Nya.....

 

Curt
I've always loved the twins, always..
Nikki

 

While 11" is at the lighter end of battleship guns, the Scharnhorst class were still considered battleships, as were the Dunkerque class, by the countries that launched them (ships of the line if you want to be technical). The fact is that there is no hard definition for a battleship that transcended the borders of all the countries that built them. This whole argument is a bit like saying a Smart car isn't a car, or a chihuahua isn't dog etc.

 

Glorified go-kart/dune buggy IMHO.

 

Fancy coffin more like it, but I'm sure you get the point.

 

Every time I see one of those smart cars, I wince. There's this automotive engineering concept called a "crumple zone"... areas of the car designed to compress inward to absorb the energy in a collision. The crumple zone of the smart car is the PASSENGER COMPARTMENT.

 

y'all are nuts, hope y'all know that
Nikki

 

I consider the chihuahua to be a mexican barking rat.......