Atlantic fleet: Bismarck and Scharnhorst vs Washington and Temeraire and two destroyers .

[@michaeldenesyk3195]

The question I have is, why are you focusing so much on the Bismark? It has no main guns left, meanwhile, the Scharnhorst is shooting the hell out of your ships? Also, don't your Destroyers have torpedos? Best use those again what is left of the Bismark.

[@Sw0842]

The AI played the other ships . Not me

[@kizumbg4015]

Nice

[@StuartKoehl]

In real life, while the merchantmen turned away from the threat, the two destroyers would be laying down a smokescreen to interfere with German spotting. The American and British battleships, on the other hand, would not be handicapped by the smoke because their centimetric fire control radars were accurate enough not only to provide range and bearing, but also to differentiate between enemy ships and shell splashes, allowing fire to be corrected by radar, as well. After laying down the smokescreen, the destroyers would dart out of their own smoke and launch a spread of torpedoes against the two German ships. The Allied battleships would have allocated their fire against both German ships, until one was rendered ineffective, then they would have concentrated against the survivor. The best move for the Germans, assuming they were too stupid to run away, would be to ignore the battleships and fire exclusively on the merchantmen until they were out of range. In real life, the secondary armament would be firing at the same time as the main batteries (that's why they have separate directors and rangefinders), so the Germans would have been shooting at the destroyers with their 5.9-inch battery, while the British and American battleships would have been firing at the Germans with their 5-inch and 5.25-in batteries.

[@StuartKoehl]

Just how is Scharnhorst targeting Washington with Bismarck and her smoke blocking line of sight? It would also interfere with the Seetakt fire control radar. On the other hand, Washington's Mk.8 fire control radar would allow her to make first salvo hits at ranges in excess of 20,000 yards (as West Virginia, with a similar fire control system, did against Yamashiro at Surigao Strait).

[@davidmarkwort9711]

Stevie Wonder was on the Bismarck again

[@StuartKoehl]

Did the destroyers forget that their primary weapon is their torpedo tubes?

[@donalddemo]

Destroyers attempting to kill via 1000 cuts (scratches) with basically useless 5" guns instead of torpedo attacks was order of day by Admiral Giligan? who evidently mistook Sharnhorst for a Destroyer? I mean you couldn't let an Admiral Hipper just fire away untargeted like that especially after Bismark main guns done.

[@katmandoism]

That was stupid. You kept firing on the Bismarck even though her big guns were out of action letting the scharhorst pound away on Washington?

[@Sw0842]

The AI played as the British ships. Not me

[@StuartKoehl]

Why does everybody want to play the Germans? Their ships kind of sucked.@@Sw0842

[@Sw0842]

Then why did the british feared the Bismarck and Tirpitz so much?​@@StuartKoehl

[@StuartKoehl]

Because (a) the Germans deliberately overstated their capabilities; (b) because the British had only a few modern fast battleships, all of which (unlike Bismarck) complied with the 35,000 ton limit of the Washington Treaty; and (c) because as long as Bismarck and Tirpitz were operational, the British would have to divert capital ships to guard convoys--which left them unavailable for offensive operations. If the British had had access to accurate intelligence on Bismarck, they would have seen that she was, in many ways, a combination of modern and outdated features. She did have good fire control systems, equal to that of the KGV class at the time, but her armor layout was basically that of the Bayern class of 1916, she retained separate anti-destroyer and anti-aircraft batteries, instead of a modern dual-purpose battery (which would have saved space and weight, which could otherwise be devoted to additional armor and/or fuel oil), and her light anti-aircraft battery was inferior to that of the KGV class.@@Sw0842

[@inpaeingles2802]

And, as usual, americans win. Excuse me, but I am allergic to BS: Why not the germans with two destroyers?

[@StuartKoehl]

German destroyers lacked the range to get very far out into the Atlantic, and their high pressure steam plants were mechanically unreliable.