When Mitchell's bombers sank the Ostfriesland

[Stephan Wilkinson]

When Billy Mitchell proved that bombers alone could sink a capital ship, by sinking the ex-German battleship Ostfriesland off the Virginia Capes in 1921, was the Ostfriesland at anchor or simply drifting? I know it was stationary, but was it in water shallow enough that it could actually have been anchored? The people running the demonstration did go to considerable effort to make sure the ship wouldn't become a navigational hazard if it was sunk, so I wonder if the usual explanation--that it was anchored--is in fact true.

[shrike]

When Billy Mitchell proved that bombers alone could sink a capital ship, by sinking the ex-German battleship Ostfriesland off the Virginia Capes in 1921, was the Ostfriesland at anchor or simply drifting? I know it was stationary, but was it in water shallow enough that it could actually have been anchored? The people running the demonstration did go to considerable effort to make sure the ship wouldn't become a navigational hazard if it was sunk, so I wonder if the usual explanation--that it was anchored--is in fact true.

If it was stationary, it would have had to have been anchored. It may well have been in 100+ fathoms, but it would have been anchored.

Rough rule of thumb would be carrying anchor chain twice the length of the ship (about 550ft for SMS Ostfriesland) so anchoring in several hundred feet of water is doable. Also there was a storm during the test, an unanchored ship would not have still been there after the storm.

[lmritger]

One of my favorite topics!

The Ostfriesland lies in a bit over 300 feet of water, and she was anchored in place, as were the Frankfurt, U-117, and G-102. I'm attaching a photo taken at the moment one of the 2,000lb bombs exploded, where you can make out the starboard forward anchor chain deployed into the water on the Ostfriesland.

Cheers,

Lynn

Attachments

[Stephan Wilkinson]

Thank you, Lynn. (FYI, I'm doing an article on the Mitsubishi G4M Betty, a couple of squadrons of which sank the Repulse and Prince of Wales, and I'm referring back to the Ostfriesland affair as the first big example of the sinking of a capital ship by bombers. The big difference was that the Ostfriesland was stationary and the RN ships were freely maneuvering. I needed to find out just how "stationary" the German ship was, and you have fixed that for me.)

[lmritger]

Glad to help, Stephan... and for what it's worth, the same principle applied to the attacks on the Alabama, Virginia, and New Jersey up through 1923. The ships were kept stationary.

Sounds like quite an interesting article! I'm sure you'll touch on the abysmal failure of the USAAF at Midway; will you cover the development of skip bombing in the PTO by Maj. Bill Benn and the 63rd BS as well?

Cheers,

Lynn

[Stephan Wilkinson]

No, just dealing with the Betty.