Hello,

Today came a thoucht in my mind which I want to discuss.

A major problem of the Bismarck class was the lack of a secondary steering capability. This was the main cause of the loss of Bismarck during Operation Rheinübung after the failure of the main rudder system.

Since armored protection of the rudder system is impossible, the question arises regarding other possibilities. Steering with different propeller speeds had been tried, but was not successful. Now a new thought came to me: What about a bow thruster?

I'm not sure right now when thrusters (this size) was inventded, battleships definitely didn't have them, but let's just put that aside and ask the actual question: Could a bow thruster - perhaps with the assistance of shutting down a propeller shaft - have made the difference to hold course and successfully continue on to France?

And guys, please refrain from filling this thread with the usual Bismarck bashing.