This may be of interest to fans of Flyhawk model ships. I was examining the sprues for Scheer and noticed that there were several small “generic” sprues mostly containing light AA, and other small fittings; they were labeled DE01; 02; etc. One sprue of interest held four triple-tube torpedo launchers, with their control cubicles. They have nothing to do with Scheer, as Scheer’s launchers were completely different, and anyway are on a different sprue. They are also not sprues from Flyhawk’s German Torpedo Boats Type 35 kit.
Could this mean Flyhawk is planning an unannounced release of a German destroyer (Zerstroyer)??
Verrrry interesting!
Never mind! I think they’re from the previous Scharnhorst. Bummer!! 
Scharnhorst had torpedo launchers??? I think you should build her for the torpedos away campaign … just sayin’.
Both Scharnhorst, and Gneisenau, as well as Tirpitz (but not Bismarck), Prinz Eugen, and Hipper Class, and Panzer Schiff (Pocket Battleships) carried either triple, or quad torpedo tubes - a peculiarity of German capitol ships.
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Don’t forget HMS Rodney, who probably deep-sixed Bismarck with one of her 24.5-inch specials; possibly the only instance of a dreadnought battleship actually torpedoing another despite many being equipped to do so…
M
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I don’t really think Rodney was a dreadnought, and it was the cruiser Dorsetshire that fired the final torpedoes. But then, it is said that Bismarck had already been scuttled.
After the building of HMS Dreadnought all ‘modern’ battleships built along the same principles were dreadnoughts those the came before and a few that were on the slips when HMS Dreadnought was launched became pre-dreadnought. So yes Rodney is a dreadnought, even the battlecruisers can be classed as dreadnought as they followed the same design principles. The Queen Elizabeth class were seen as the first super dreadnoughts as they added speed into the equation.
Prithee, Good Sir, WTF do you think HMS Rodney was? If the Queen Elizabeths were accounted Superdreadnoughts, that could be applied to the Nelsons. Rodney carried more and bigger guns than Bismarck and had armour at least equivalent or thicker.
German efforts may have speeded Bismarck’s departure but the ship wasn’t going to leave the scene other than vertically downwards anyway. Bismarck’s underwater protection was designed to resist a 250 kg TNT explosive charge but Rodney’s monster torpedoes had a 337 kg warhead.
Rodney missed with her first two 16-inch salvoes, straddled with her third, and ruined Bismarck’s day with her fourth, disabling turret “Anton” and dismantling “Bruno”, relocating much of it’s rear armour into the area of the bridge with terminally deleterious results for Lütjens, Lindemann and numerous others.
M
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“Prithee, Good Sir, WTF…” - yourself, and see how you like it!
Yes, Rodney fired off some torpedoes at Bismarck, but since they didn’t sink Bismarck, Dorsetshire finished off the job.
If one posts such an asinine comment as “I don’t really think Rodney was a dreadnought” one should expect it to be greeted with a certain rough humour.
I think you may have mentioned this before. In many (most?) cases the sinking of a large warship is a result of cumulative damage accumulated over an often protracted period (although the end can be swift and spectacular as some battleships have displayed a propensity to explode while - or after - capsizing: HMS Audacious, Barham, HIJMS Yamato, Musashi, Kirishima and probably Kongo). HMS Dorsetshire most likely would have had Mk.VII or Mk.IX 21-inch torpedo with a 340 or 330 Kg TNT (possibly Torpex) warhead, adequate to overcome Bismarck’s torpedo protection but unlikely to produce all the below-waterline damage visible on the wreck. One thing unknown at the time (except to the Japanese, who had observed the phenomenon during the tests on the hulk of Tosa) is that in certain conditions major-calibre shells falling just short of the target could pass under the belt armour and easily penetrate the anti-torpedo protection causing catastrophic damage; Rodney’s 16-inch fired at short range and low elevation could have done this, but they easily penetrated the main belt anyway.
Regards,
M
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My…we’ve come a long way from a casual observation of the parts in Flyhawk Scheer. Model is coming along quite nicely, but, as they say, “the devil is in the details”. Included PE is much more intense than the plastic kit itself. Funny thing is, the older I get, the smaller the parts get!
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