Quiet here...

TBR

Member
Joined
Apr 3, 2008
Messages
978
Reaction score
4
Location
Germany
Country
llGermany
Yes, I was quite astonished when I found out about it on wikipedia. I knew something was in the works from talks with Swedish corvette crews during BOST 2006 and some Swedish Army drummers late in '07 but didn't think they'd move so fast.

This system of an unified officer coprs and enlisted non-nco draftees was awkward both in "frontline" operation and especially in personnel management. Don't let yourself be fooled by the wikipedia tables, the "old" rank tables which show a "sergeant" rank already incorporate a pre-reform Army model program.

Tag, you're it.

BTW - The Sweden report on the Daily show was hilarious. :)
 

HReardon

Member
Joined
Dec 18, 2007
Messages
291
Reaction score
1
Location
Calgary
Country
llCanada
I don't have anything much to go with, so i'll keep it simple.

What inanimate object did Admiral Rozhestvensky take his frustrations out on during fleet maneuvers?
 

HMSWarspite

Member
Joined
Aug 13, 2006
Messages
650
Reaction score
1
Location
Bristol
Country
ll
First thing that comes to mind is an early experiment with a whitehead torpedo. It looks like the ship launching the torpedo is one of those odd early ironclads, like HMS Warrior, that was a sailing ship plated with armor. Very strange.
Warrior was definitely not an Ironclad wooden ship! She was the first iron hulled armoured sea going steam ship...
 

Bullethead

Storm Eagle Studios
Joined
Feb 18, 2006
Messages
3,890
Reaction score
3
Location
Wakefield, LA
Country
llUnited States
Warrior was definitely not an Ironclad wooden ship! She was the first iron hulled armoured sea going steam ship...
And her battery is only 1 deck.

Everybody needs to go see Warrior. She's a beautiful ship from the outside, looking like a huge clipper (or barque, really), and is exquisitely restored and maintained inside. Jackie Fisher trod her decks. And Victory and Mary Rose are within easy walking distance, if you need any other reason to see her.

Plus, you can spend the night before your visit in the upstairs room of a pub with Gosport Nan, and learn from a local drunk how to mix a bottle of Bass #1 into a pint of mild :laugh:. And all the while, you'll have this lingering worry in the back of your mind, perhaps from a past life, that the barkeep is a crimp and that the pressgang will be kicking down the door at 0300. But this just adds to the attraction of the trip.
 
Last edited:

Bontainer

Member
Joined
Jun 27, 2008
Messages
76
Reaction score
0
Location
Siegen
Country
llGermany
Yep, Warrior is a MUST, this is real time travel. You enter the ship and suddenly you are in 1860. From the food on the tables (ok, NOT 1860 :) to the sabres and the cap revolvers in the ready stands for the marines. The Warrior was the Nimitz of the 1860, it was an absolutely revolutionary design, Iron hull (just reagrd the fact that this is the original hull from 1860) over the breech loading Armstrong rifles (ok, they didn´t really work, metallurgy wasn´t able to contain the strain when firing so they reverted to muzzle loaders later) - worth any minute you spend there. Portsmouth is definitly a place to spend some time.
 

HReardon

Member
Joined
Dec 18, 2007
Messages
291
Reaction score
1
Location
Calgary
Country
llCanada
Beercat is the winner!

I find the story pretty funny. I would think that binoculars would be pretty spendy items at that time to be pitching them over the side.
 

Beercat

Member
Joined
Mar 21, 2007
Messages
101
Reaction score
0
Location
Chicago
Country
llUnited States
Beercat is the winner!

I find the story pretty funny. I would think that binoculars would be pretty spendy items at that time to be pitching them over the side.
I thought I once read that he had a good subordinate who purchased binoculars by the case.

I'll need a little time to come up with a question, must pretend to earn my pay for a few more hours.
 

Bullethead

Storm Eagle Studios
Joined
Feb 18, 2006
Messages
3,890
Reaction score
3
Location
Wakefield, LA
Country
llUnited States
Yep, Warrior is a MUST, this is real time travel. You enter the ship and suddenly you are in 1860. From the food on the tables (ok, NOT 1860 :) to the sabres and the cap revolvers in the ready stands for the marines.
All the little details are there, down to the polished brass sights on every Armstrong rilfe and the polished copper and brass parts on the boilers. But what really got me was looking at that big old Penn trunk engine (how many trunk engines, let alone the famous Penn's, are still with us?) that was hooked up to an electric motor so was in constant motion. Truly monster pistons, plus all the other bits. And the whole thing immaculately maintained, polished, painted, and all.
 

Bontainer

Member
Joined
Jun 27, 2008
Messages
76
Reaction score
0
Location
Siegen
Country
llGermany
http://www.hmswarrior.org/tour/index.html

Ok, one last post concerning the Warrior. Take your time with the great website. Its worth taking a closer look at.

What amazes me most is the boldness of the design. In my view its even more "modern" than Dradnought was in 1906.

Just compare it with the 3-deckers (that hadn´t really changed since Victory) being built up until 1860, only with the addition of a steam engine, but no other decisive design changes, and then you get a ship made of iron (not only armored with iron like Gloire) , screwdriven (no sidewheels), breech loading rifles, and a speed of 14+ knots. Last not least the durability: After a long servicelife (without ever firing a shot in anger) it was used as a pontoon where oil tankers could unload their cargo. The deck was covered in concrete and that 1860 vintage iron hull, just survived for nearly 50 years before it was made into the museum we see today. Amazing!

Even Jules Verne used its specifications in the opening pages of 20.000 leagues. The ship that hunts the Nautilus is essentially the Warrior.
 

TBR

Member
Joined
Apr 3, 2008
Messages
978
Reaction score
4
Location
Germany
Country
llGermany
Portsmouth remains one of my favourite liberty port experiences. Well, Trafalgar 200 was going on at the time...
 

Beercat

Member
Joined
Mar 21, 2007
Messages
101
Reaction score
0
Location
Chicago
Country
llUnited States
In the novel Das Boot, the first watch officer makes a big mistake. You won't find it in the movie. An atrocity is almost committed, but the navigator catches this mistake first. Describe the situation and mistake.
 

Bullethead

Storm Eagle Studios
Joined
Feb 18, 2006
Messages
3,890
Reaction score
3
Location
Wakefield, LA
Country
llUnited States
Never having read the book, I can only guess, but I think I'm on the right track....

The 1st Officer made a slight mistake in plotting their homeward course, which would have made them arrive a few hours later than they really did. This would have saved them from the RAF raid so the story would have had a happy ending. However, having a happy ending would have been an atrocity against the highest traditions of Germanic literature dating back to Iron Age oral tradition. Siegfried, Beowulf, even the gods themselves, always died at the end. Fortunately, when the navigator relieved the 1st officer, he knew how to take a shortcut and thus allowed the U-boat and crew to keep their appointment with cruel fate :p
 

Beercat

Member
Joined
Mar 21, 2007
Messages
101
Reaction score
0
Location
Chicago
Country
llUnited States
Never having read the book, I can only guess, but I think I'm on the right track....

The 1st Officer made a slight mistake in plotting their homeward course, which would have made them arrive a few hours later than they really did. This would have saved them from the RAF raid so the story would have had a happy ending. However, having a happy ending would have been an atrocity against the highest traditions of Germanic literature dating back to Iron Age oral tradition. Siegfried, Beowulf, even the gods themselves, always died at the end. Fortunately, when the navigator relieved the 1st officer, he knew how to take a shortcut and thus allowed the U-boat and crew to keep their appointment with cruel fate :p
Good guess:p

Unfortunately for you German Literature has your imagination beat in this instance.
 

Bontainer

Member
Joined
Jun 27, 2008
Messages
76
Reaction score
0
Location
Siegen
Country
llGermany
Sorry, I do know the film nearly by heart, but the book collected dust on my shelves, never to be read...

The only atrocities I can think of, would be machinegunning a lifeboat or torpedoing a neutral or hospital ship since Buchheim used several historical themes in the book (I am not sure he used THOSE).
 

Beercat

Member
Joined
Mar 21, 2007
Messages
101
Reaction score
0
Location
Chicago
Country
llUnited States
They were returning from Gibraltar and in pretty bad shape, no periscope, one diesel, etc. They stop a liner at night, The First Watch Officer doesn't find it in the Ship's Register. The Old Man fires his fish in the forward tubes, all are duds due to damage. Meanwhile, the Navigator goes through the books and finds the liner is registered and is a neutral. The First Watch Office didn't check the supplement containing updates since the War began.

The question has dragged on long enough. I nominate Bontainer to post the next question.
 
Top