3 replies to this topic

[jc Prudhon]

Bunjurno

 

Preparing for using (more) my Italian fleet, I noticed that in many of the historical fights they tend to keep a sort of pre war division organisation. Does that mean they would be more likely to have a proper team training (such as th concentration fire rule) than the RN who mix up  and down ships for missions?

 

Any one with right doc did a sort of sorting out who can or not (also for Pacific) 

[Mark Hinds]

FWIW, I don't recall concentration fire being used in any significant way in WW2, despite pre-war theories.  IIRC the British tried it at River Plate, and it didn't work out very well...  For example, in the annual "Warship 2018", from the article "The Battle of the River Plate: A Tactical Analysis":  "... One consequence of the Battle of the River Plate was that expectations in the British fleet changed.  King George V and Rodney engaged Bismarck without employing Flank Marking or Concentration Fire."

 

MH

[W. Clark]

My understanding of RM gunnery limitations besides their gun tubes being too close together was their doctrine which they followed rather closely. As an example, their inability to rapid fire is based more on their using ranging shots and adjusting each salvo rather than limitations imposed by shell supply or the ROF being too slow. So, it appears to have been self-inflicted rather than an equipment issue. They actually shot fairly accurately because of that, just slow. I'm not aware of any record of the RM using divisional fire. But that may well be a result of poor coverage the RM has received in English publications. Our understanding in that area may very well change as more information currently in Italian get translated to English. There has already been some movement in that area.

 

WMC

[Jim O'Neil]

Doctrinally, the RM did not  allow more than one ship to engage each target. Can't quote the source from memory, sorry.