Picture of the day

[Rod B]

Bismark or Hood?

 

[old303]

Bismark or Hood?

That was HMS Hood that exploded like that. Bismark slipped under the waves a few days later after a heavy pounding by British battleships and reputedly a German order to scuttle because they were afraid the Royal Navy was still able to board with cutlasses and tow a prize to England.

 

[Rod B]

That was HMS Hood that exploded like that. Bismark slipped under the waves a few days later after a heavy pounding by British battleships and reputedly a German order to scuttle because they were afraid the Royal Navy was still able to board with cutlasses and tow a prize to England.

Thanks for the explanation.

 

[Dosing]

Well following on the sunken ships theme, the new North Korean missile cruiser. Not impressive to have it sink, but impressive they had enough tarps to cover it.

 

[XRCD011]

real long legs? I can see the steering wheel being kind of useless, unless it had separate wheel brakes like a tractor.

The kettenkrad uses the front wheel to effect left/right turns up to around 5° then the track braking takes over for further turning. The drive sprockets are also brake drums, but what is not seen is the rear idler wheel that adjusts track tension. As a Kettenkrad is a neat 1M wide, the back half of this vehicle (picture) could be something cobbled together and is unsprung as the torsion bars are not that long for the width in the pic. I have a good collection of pictures of "cars" made out of ex-wehrmacht kübels and schwimmers and to say the need for a car made for some interesting conversions from crude to very presentable. As for what is supposed to be the motor and lay out of the drive train in the picture is anyones guess.

 

[bdft]

That was HMS Hood that exploded like that. Bismark slipped under the waves a few days later after a heavy pounding by British battleships and reputedly a German order to scuttle because they were afraid the Royal Navy was still able to board with cutlasses and tow a prize to England.

You forget the Stringbags off Ark Royal that torpedoed her and damaged her steering gear, preventing her from maneuvering. The next morning King George V and Rodney supported by Norfolk and Dorsetshire damaged her so badly that the crew scuttled her.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_battle_of_Bismarck

 

[fingers284]

You forget the Stringbags off Ark Royal that torpedoed her and damaged her steering gear, preventing her from maneuvering. The next morning King George V and Rodney supported by Norfolk and Dorsetshire damaged her so badly that the crew scuttled her.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_battle_of_Bismarck

There is a Canadian connection to that Swordfish torpedo attack. The man that was running the radar on the ship that directed the planes to the Bismark was a Canadian, my wife worked with his daughter . I believe he was Canadian Navy but was optioned to British Navy because of his radar specialty.

 

[ArmedGinger]

USS Minneapolis (CA-36), severely damaged after losing her bow in the brutal night action at the Battle of Tassafaronga

 

[Dark Alley Dan]

The Consolidated R2Y "Liberator Liner". Note the wings. Look familiar?

This is the one they built - one of one. This from Wikipedia:

The XR2Y-1, as the single prototype was known in Navy service, used the high-aspect wing and tricycle landing gear of the Liberator. The fuselage was an entirely new design, and the vertical stabilizer was taken from the PB4Y Privateer. The final design looked much like a smaller, high-wing Boeing B-29 Superfortress, but with windows for passengers.

The aircraft was meant to carry passengers or cargo to distant Navy bases, but after a brief evaluation the prototype was demilitarized in the mid-1940s, returned to Convair, and leased to American Airlines as a freighter with the name "City of Salinas".

 

[Bubba Yugga]

The Consolidated R2Y "Liberator Liner".

The single window on the starboard side of the forward fuse suggests there's another cargo door just forward of the propeller arc.
Even getting crew to duck under the wing box could be a chore...

 

[Dark Alley Dan]

VW has, as we know, a history of producing military vehicles. Everyone's seen a Kubelwagen or a Schwimmwagen or perhaps even a Kommandeurwagen. And some of us have spent time behind the wheel of an Iltis, for better or worse. But are you aware that the Bundeswehr and others (all of whom should have known better) campaigned the Vanagon / Type 2.5 / Type 3 / Transporter?

Field ambulance, for those who are in no rush to receive medical aid. This one ex-Belgian...

"When in Rome", American style...

Even the Danes, an ordinarily sensible people, fell prey to their subtle charms...

We've owned one of these, an '85 Weekender, for coming on twenty years. I'm qualified to say that when they work, they're slow, but fun, and a great vehicle for buggering around in. But they are not reliable, or simple. They're a typical 1980's VW product. Overly complicated, fraught with electrical issues, prone to rust, and spendy to fix. There are more rleiable things to own, drive, and camp in. But when they work, they're brilliant. Can't imagine conducting military functions in one.