soc.history.war.world-war-ii

On Mar 19, 11:18 am, "L2008"
> The German crew would have headd the explosion. There were enough German
> survivors (and not all lied) to give a decent account of what went on.

Oh I agree, but I was thinking more of a lower-order explosion, rather
than an explosion of the entire magazine, that contributed to
compromising the structural integrity of the ship, leading to a rapid
sinking. Any other explanation than a sudden and unexpected sinking,
with most of the remaining fit crew (of whom there must have been
many) below decks fighting fires or doing other damage control, just
doesn't seem to work? Otherwise a significant fraction of the crew
should have survived, just as Kormoran's did?