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On Thu, 6/19/14, Kurt Feltenberger <kurt@thepaw.org> wrote:

 Subject: Re: [TML] Ship Design & the 'Plankwells'
 To: tml@simplelists.com
 Date: Thursday, June 19, 2014, 7:55 AM

 On 6/19/2014 7:31 AM, Phil Pugliese
 (via tml list) wrote:
 > I still remember reading the supplement that detailed
 the IN Spinward Marches ships, reading the text about the
 Plankwells 'suffering high losses'<sic>, looking at
 the stats, noting the puny class-3 meson shield (the other
 BB's had the max, class-9) & thinking, "No wonder they
 keep blowing up. Jackie Fisher has been reincarnated &
 is back at work again!".

 Except that it wasn't as design flaw that caused
 Indefatigable, Queen Mary, and Invincible to
 catastrophically explode and sink, it was extremely bad
 ammunition handling that should have seen everyone involved
 cashiered and beached.

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Well, I do recall that something similar happened to at least one german BC at the Dogger Bank & it survived 'cuz it had decent armor. After which the german navy changed their designs/procedures to prevent it from happening again.
Also, as I recall, the 'fix' involved hardware installation (flash suppressors) as well as procedural modifications, so I think it could be classified as a design flaw.
Everything I've read labels it as such & I don't think I've read anyone that thinks those ships were good designs.
Heck, I even read somewhere that the first RN BC's were assigned as flagships to CL squadrons!
Even then it seems that they were never meant to be placed in the 'line-of-battle'.
But, as more than one author has written, those big 12" guns were just too tempting.

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