Wikipedia:Featured article candidates/Operation Sportpalast/archive1

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

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

Suggest scaling up the maps. Nikkimaria (talk) 01:31, 17 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]
- Done, and thank you for this review. Nick-D (talk) 02:50, 17 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Comments by Wehwalt

It might be good to state the general locality where the operation took place in the lead paragraph.

Done Nick-D (talk) 10:23, 18 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]

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).

The latter - fixed Nick-D (talk) 09:19, 26 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]

"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"?

Yep, done Nick-D (talk) 09:19, 26 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]

"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

Reviewed at Milhist's ACR, happy to support as FA quality. Iazyges Consermonor Opus meum 18:32, 18 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]
- Thank you Nick-D (talk) 09:46, 19 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Source review - pass

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]
- @Iazyges: Thanks a lot for these comments. Nick-D (talk) 08:39, 25 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]
  Article passes source review. Iazyges Consermonor Opus meum 13:48, 25 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Support from TRM

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?
- Added Nick-D (talk) 08:55, 5 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]
"against Tirpitz' made" spare apostrophe here.
- Fixed Nick-D (talk) 08:55, 5 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]
"during early 1941. Between January and March 1941 " repetitive.
- Fixed Nick-D (talk) 08:55, 5 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]
"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?
- Fixed Nick-D (talk) 08:55, 5 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]
"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.
- Fixed Nick-D (talk) 08:55, 5 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]
"The Royal Air Force dispatched " -> "The Royal Air Force (RAF) dispatched "
- Done Nick-D (talk) 08:55, 5 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]
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.
- Done Nick-D (talk) 08:55, 5 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]
"Norwegian whalers. [20][22][23] " no space before refs.
- Fixed Nick-D (talk) 08:55, 5 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]
"comprised 15 merchant ... of two " MOSNUM again.
- Fixed Nick-D (talk) 08:55, 5 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]
"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.
- Done Nick-D (talk) 08:55, 5 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]
"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.
- Good catch - fixed Nick-D (talk) 08:55, 5 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]
"Fulmar fighters.[33] The Fulmar" repetitive.
- Fixed Nick-D (talk) 08:55, 5 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]
You previous linked "photo reconnaissance" but not "maritime patrol aircraft"?
- Linked Nick-D (talk) 08:55, 5 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]
"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]

Closing note: This candidate has been promoted, but there may be a delay in bot processing of the close. Please see WP:FAC/ar, and leave the {{featured article candidates}} template in place on the talk page until the bot goes through. Hog Farm _Talk 15:41, 15 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.