HMS Barham (04) was a Queen Elizabeth-class battleship of the Royal Navy named after Admiral Charles Middleton, 1st Baron Barham, built at the John Brown shipyards in Clydebank, Scotland, and launched in 1914.
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[COLOR=rgb(0, 0, 0)]The date is 25th Nov. 1941, off the coast of Egypt. The battleship was sailing with the Mediterranean Fleet (Force A) from Alexandria to cover an attack on Italian convoys heading for Libya. Other ships in the fleet were the battleships Queen Elizabeth, Valiant and an escort of eight destroyers, Barham was hit by three torpedoes from the German submarine U-331. The torpedoes were fired from a range of only 750 yards providing no time for evasive action. As she rolled over to port, her magazines exploded and the ship quickly sank with the loss of nearly two thirds of the crew. The explosion was caught on camera by Gaumont News cameraman John Turner, who was on the deck of the nearby Valiant.
Out of a crew of approximately 1,184 officers and men, 841 were killed. The survivors were rescued by the other British ships that were sailing with Barham.
german ability to make large warships without triggering a counter-effective arms race was limited by the treaty of Versailles. So hitler and german high command concentrated on smaller stealth and deadly craft, not for battles, but for surprise attacks and stealth sabotage. it worked.
large warshps with big guns mounted on the deck proved ineffective after japanese gigantic warships were sunk by squadrons from American aircraft carriers. the japanese could then make marine equipment far superior to any other power, but with the whole world’s guns directed at it in the final stages of the war, it was unwinnable…
At sea Germans had to make do with whatever was best available. That treaty you mentioned, the expansive British empire with ports all over, a royal navy with serious hardware and experience ensured the Germans could not go toe to toe with the British on Naval warfare. So guerilla tactics using U-boats was employed
I have watched many third Reich documentaries, and one thing I have noted though, is that , there were some engineers who hailed from Eastern European countries, who had some war changing ideas, wonder the kind of curriculum that these countries had ?
the japs are just extremely suicidal, they brought in the use of Kaiten and the Kamikaze pilots who all exploded themselves directly into warships, desperate times
Like the radio men in the Vietnam war. They had a very low life expectancy. The Vietcon used to target them since taking them out would ensure there was no air support for the ground troops. It did not make it better that their radio equipment was heavy and had long antennas that made them stand out.