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TheSatyr · 01-02-09, 03:33 AM

What seems to be the accepted reasoning these days for the loss of the indefatigable,Queen Mary and Invincible is simply a real bad decision made by the Battle Cruiser Force. In general,the ships of the BCF had poor gunnery standards when it came to accuracy. Unlike the Grand Fleet they rarely did any gunnery practice. So they tried to make up for it by increasing their rate of fire,and they did that by throwing out all safety precautions. They left the magazine doors open,they stacked cordite and shells in and around the turrets and well,that is a disaster waiting to happen.

It wouldn't have mattered how thick the armor was on those BCs. Once a turret took a hit and the ammo and cordite cooked off,the flash fire would have an unblocked path to the magazine.

The only reason the Lion didn't blow up after Q turret took a hit was that the turret commander,even though mortally wounded,immediately ordered the magazine flooded. For that,he was awarded the postumous VC.

01-02-09, 03:33 AM	#69
TheSatyr Captain Join Date: Apr 2002 Posts: 545 Downloads: 0 Uploads: 0	What seems to be the accepted reasoning these days for the loss of the indefatigable,Queen Mary and Invincible is simply a real bad decision made by the Battle Cruiser Force. In general,the ships of the BCF had poor gunnery standards when it came to accuracy. Unlike the Grand Fleet they rarely did any gunnery practice. So they tried to make up for it by increasing their rate of fire,and they did that by throwing out all safety precautions. They left the magazine doors open,they stacked cordite and shells in and around the turrets and well,that is a disaster waiting to happen. It wouldn't have mattered how thick the armor was on those BCs. Once a turret took a hit and the ammo and cordite cooked off,the flash fire would have an unblocked path to the magazine. The only reason the Lion didn't blow up after Q turret took a hit was that the turret commander,even though mortally wounded,immediately ordered the magazine flooded. For that,he was awarded the postumous VC. Last edited by TheSatyr; 01-02-09 at 03:35 AM.