Wikipedia

Wikipedia:Featured article candidates/Operation Sportpalast/archive1

< Wikipedia:Featured article candidates
The following is an archived discussion of a featured article nomination. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the article's talk page or in Wikipedia talk:Featured article candidates. No further edits should be made to this page.

The article was promoted by Hog Farm via FACBot (talk) 15 November 2021 [1].

Operation Sportpalast edit

Nominator(s): Nick-D (talk) 01:11, 17 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]

This article covers the only occasion the famous German battleship Tirpitz was used to attack Allied shipping during World War II. On 6 March 1942 she was dispatched to attack two of the Allied Arctic Convoys off Norway. The British learned of her sailing through code breaking, leading to a cat and mouse chase in appalling weather. An attack against the battleship by British carrier aircraft failed on 9 March due to bad tactics, bad aircraft and a bit of bad luck, and she returned to her base on 13 March. Only one Allied merchant ship was sunk.

The article is the latest of a series I've brought to FAC on attacks against the Tirpitz. It was assessed as a GA in early August, and passed an A-class review a couple of weeks ago. I have since developed the article further, including by drawing on extra sources, with this burst of editing being aided by a COVID lockdown in my city which has left me with lots of spare time! I am now hopeful that the FA criteria are met. Thank you in advance for your comments. Nick-D (talk) 01:11, 17 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Image review

Comments by Wehwalt edit

  • It might be good to state the general locality where the operation took place in the lead paragraph.
More soon.--Wehwalt (talk) 19:04, 17 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Sorry, am traveling and time not my own.
  • " Tromsö" This redirects to "Tromsø". Which is preferable? Note you use the latter on second use (with repeated link).
  • "Admiral Commanding Battleships, Vice-Admiral Otto Ciliax, assumed command of this battle group" Is "Admiral Commanding Battleship" a formal title? If so, should "The" proceed it?
  • Yep, the German Navy had clunky-sounding titles like that. I've added a 'The'. Nick-D (talk) 09:19, 26 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]
  • " 12 pm on 5 March" would it be better to say "12 noon on 5 March"?
  • "During the afternoon of 7 March the Admiralty warned PQ 12 that German ships may be operating in its vicinity." Should "may" be "might"? This may be engvar as I see you use similar usages elsewhere.
  • Probably more one of my quirks than any particular English variant (I work in an industry where emphatic language in written documents is actively discouraged). Tweaked to 'might' as I agree it's the better word. Nick-D (talk) 09:19, 26 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]
  • Footnote 4: Should Bismarck be italicised?
  • It's not italicised in the source, so I don't think so. I've tweaked the presentation of this reference though. Nick-D (talk) 09:19, 26 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]
That's it.--Wehwalt (talk) 15:33, 25 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]
@Wehwalt: Many thanks for these comments. Nick-D (talk) 09:19, 26 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Support--Wehwalt (talk) 14:23, 28 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Support from Iazyges edit

Source review - pass edit

Taking this up for a source review also. Iazyges Consermonor Opus meum 16:32, 24 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Locations
  • Kennedy, Ludovic (1979) currently Boston, put into "Boston, Massachusetts (presumably).
  • Zetterling, Niklas; Tamelander, Michael (2009) change to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (presumably)
    • I think that both those cities are well known as centres for publishing, and as the dominant cities of their names especially for publishing purposes. Nick-D (talk) 08:39, 25 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]
  • London and NYC are both good as mononyms, may wish to change Oxford to Oxford, Oxfordshire, but it and Cambridge are also generally accepted mononyms.
IDs
  • Dimbleby, Jonathan (2015) I only see the 978-0-241-97210-6 ISBN listed for one of the 10 listed WorldCat entries for the 2015 edition, double-check (if you own the book) that this ISBN is correct, most of the 2015 editions use 9780241186602 per WorldCat.
    • Checked, that that's the ISBN in the book Nick-D (talk) 08:39, 25 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]
  • Roskill, Stephen W. (1956) per WorldCat it looks like the listed OCLC of 258695345 is for a 1957 edition; all of the 1956 editions have different OCLC's, but the one with the most coherent WorldCat page is 633635983; I'm unable to find the 258695345 OCLC in the link, so suggest changing the OCLC to 633635983. If you have a paper copy of the 258695345 check the date, and if it is 1956, disregard this as a failure of WorldCat.
    • Changed to 633635983, thanks. Nick-D (talk) 08:39, 25 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Comments
  • Dimbleby, Jonathan (2015) is also published by the Oxford University Press, although this starts in 2016; if you can confirm page numbers are the same I'd suggest switching dates and publishers. Entirely depends on if you view the effort as worth your while though.
    • I'll stick with the only edition I have access to here ;) Nick-D (talk) 08:39, 25 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]
  • @Nick-D: That is all. Iazyges Consermonor Opus meum 17:05, 24 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Support from TRM edit

  • File:Fairey Albacore aircraft taking off from HMS Victorious to attack the German battleship Tirpitz on 9 March 1942.jpg, not seeing in the links on that image page where the date of 9 March 1942 (or even the "morning" take-off) is referenced?
    • Please see the IWM's caption - "A torpedo-carrying Fairey Albacore aircraft taking off from the flight deck. It is dawn and the TIRPITZ had been spotted so a force of 12 Fairey Albacores fitted with torpedoes take off from HMS VICTORIOUS". The image title at the IWM site notes it's of the Home Fleet's operations between 2-9 March 1942. As this is the only torpedo strike mentioned in any of the sources during this period (with multiple sources noting that the attack on 9 March was the only such attack made during the operation), it is clearly of the 9 March torpedo strike against Tirpitz. Nick-D (talk) 08:55, 5 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]
  • "It was conducted by..." infobox also mentions 8 submarines, why aren't they included?
  • "against Tirpitz' made" spare apostrophe here.
  • "during early 1941. Between January and March 1941 " repetitive.
  • "Sportpalast" is given in italics as part of the operation name, but the similarly German language "Rheinübung" is not, what's the overall approach to operation names and italics?
  • "German submarines" were these U-Boats? Wouldn't that be a more precise link?
    • Same thing. The U-boat article is a summary of various German submarine types, so isn't very useful here. Nick-D (talk) 08:55, 5 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]
  • "This was done ... something ..." this doesn't feel like encyclopedic high quality writing.
  • "The Royal Air Force dispatched " -> "The Royal Air Force (RAF) dispatched "
  • File:HMS King George V viewed from HMS Victorious between 2 and 9 March 1942.jpg again, not seeing in the links on that image page where "viewed from HMS Victorious" is noted or referenced?
    • The rather wordy file title on the IWM site states that the photo was taken "ON BOARD HMS VICTORIOUS". The Commons caption expresses this better! Nick-D (talk) 08:55, 5 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]
  • "17 merchant ships ... two destroyers" MOSNUM, no mixing of words/numerals for comparable figures.
  • "Norwegian whalers. [20][22][23] " no space before refs.
  • "comprised 15 merchant ... of two " MOSNUM again.
  • "with the Fairey Albacore.[32] 817 Squadron had " I would merge these short sentences, with a semi-colon perhaps, and avoid starting that second, short sentence with a numeral.
  • "These obsolescent biplanes were slow and unmanoeuvrable.[34] Each could be armed with a single torpedo." again, two short sentences, makes the reading slightly clunky.
  • "Fulmar fighters.[33] The Fulmar" repetitive.
  • You previous linked "photo reconnaissance" but not "maritime patrol aircraft"?
  • "around 12 noon" is 12 needed here? Is there any other kind of noon?
    • Not even in the Arctic - fixed. Nick-D (talk) 08:55, 5 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

That takes me to "Battle". More to come. The Rambling Man (Keep wearing the mask...) 10:57, 4 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

  • Thanks for these comments. Please note that I'm going to be out of town for part of the weekend. Nick-D (talk) 08:55, 5 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]
No problem, happy to support in light of your responses. The Rambling Man (Keep wearing the mask...) 22:23, 6 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Thank you Nick-D (talk) 03:30, 7 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]
The above discussion is preserved as an archive. Please do not modify it. No further edits should be made to this page.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Featured_article_candidates/Operation_Sportpalast/archive1&oldid=1055456178"