It was on this day that the Battle of Jutland ended - from early afternoon of 31 Mai, 1916 to sometime in the early AM of 1 June.
This is the HMS Indefatigable sinking after the "cordite flash" accident struck this ship. The exact same mishap also sank fellow battlecruisers Queen Mary and Invincible.
What happened was that each of these ships was struck on their heavily armoured main gun turrets. Ususally that just meant the loss of those guns - a major deal, but not a ship destroyer. However, what the British didn't realise - and the Germans discovered @ the earlier, smaller Battle of Dogger Bank the year before- was that when turrets are hit and their armour pierced, that 'flash' of fire has to be contained withing the turret. I think it was the German battlecruiser Seydiltz was almost lost @ this 1915 battle - but, the Gernmans learned the lesson.
The lesson?? What gunlaying then meant was mating a shell with bags of powder rammed into the - what do I call it?? -- the bolt of the gun (This meant the back end of the barrel - the opposite of where the shells come out from). However, turrets were cramped places w/ no storage space - so all shells and bags of powder had to be brought up from the 'magazines' - or storage spaces for all that gunpowder - in a small dumbwaiter type elevator.
However, the gunpowder bags would leak gunpowder - from the turret all the way down into the magazines in the 'bowels' of the ship. So - when the turrets were hit and flamed up evrything in that confinded space, the flame (flash, really) spread out reached all the way down the elevators following that powder trail into the magazines - where, well, everything stored there went up.
This is the HMS Indefatigable sinking after the "cordite flash" accident struck this ship. The exact same mishap also sank fellow battlecruisers Queen Mary and Invincible.What happened was that each of these ships was struck on their heavily armoured main gun turrets. Ususally that just meant the loss of those guns - a major deal, but not a ship destroyer. However, what the British didn't realise - and the Germans discovered @ the earlier, smaller Battle of Dogger Bank the year before- was that when turrets are hit and their armour pierced, that 'flash' of fire has to be contained withing the turret. I think it was the German battlecruiser Seydiltz was almost lost @ this 1915 battle - but, the Gernmans learned the lesson.
The lesson?? What gunlaying then meant was mating a shell with bags of powder rammed into the - what do I call it?? -- the bolt of the gun (This meant the back end of the barrel - the opposite of where the shells come out from). However, turrets were cramped places w/ no storage space - so all shells and bags of powder had to be brought up from the 'magazines' - or storage spaces for all that gunpowder - in a small dumbwaiter type elevator.
However, the gunpowder bags would leak gunpowder - from the turret all the way down into the magazines in the 'bowels' of the ship. So - when the turrets were hit and flamed up evrything in that confinded space, the flame (flash, really) spread out reached all the way down the elevators following that powder trail into the magazines - where, well, everything stored there went up.Here is HMS Invincible @ that explosive moment - shocking to see:
The ships were broken in half, as you can see. The North Sea is pretty shallow, although eventually the halves of Invincible settled and were later salvaged, I think.
The trick that the Germans did was that after the near loss of Seyditlz (again, I think it was Seydiltz) was to put irontite doors all through the turret and elevator system so that the flame- or flash - could reach all the way down to the aagazines. One could accept the loss of a turret - but not a ship.
The ships were broken in half, as you can see. The North Sea is pretty shallow, although eventually the halves of Invincible settled and were later salvaged, I think.
The trick that the Germans did was that after the near loss of Seyditlz (again, I think it was Seydiltz) was to put irontite doors all through the turret and elevator system so that the flame- or flash - could reach all the way down to the aagazines. One could accept the loss of a turret - but not a ship. The other Battlecruiser lost by the British was Queen Mary, seen here:
1 comment:
War is a fascinating subject. Despite the dubious morality of using violence to achieve personal or political aims. It remains that conflict has been used to do just that throughout recorded history.
Your article is very well done, a good read.
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