I was reading about a WW2 naval battle in which a British ship lost its bridge to a German salvo. The piece mentioned that most of the officers were killed immediately, but that the ship was able to continue fighting until it was finally sunk later on. How does a ship continue to fight if its officers and command structure are crippled?
British warships had redundant command positions. While the bridge was the main command position, there was at least one secondary bridge from which the ships could be commanded. This might be positioned in the aft structure, or below the main bridge in the forward superstructure, if not both. There was also a secondary fire control position aft, from which the guns could be controlled and commanded. The role of manning the secondary bridge in the event of a hit to the main bridge fell to the Commander, or Executive Officer in American parlance. In destroyers, this role would be filled by the First Lieutenant. Out of action, the Commander/First Lieutenant was responsible for looking after the crew. In action he was responsible for controlling the damage control parties. When he was informed that the captain had been killed, he would move to wherever the ship was being commanded from, and take over. The after gunnery position was always manned, as it was used for controlling the secondary battery in action.
One British battleship suffered a bridge hit during WWII. This was Prince of Wales at the battle of the Denmark Strait. A 15in shell from Bismarck struck the starboard side of the bridge, and passed through without bursting. Shrapnel and spalling killed or wounded everyone on the bridge, but left her Captain, John Leach, and the Chief Yeoman of Signals, unhurt. With the main bridge wrecked, Leach moved down to the Admiral's Bridge, one level down. He would command Prince of Wales through the rest of the action from here. At the Battle of the River Plate, the British cruiser Exeter had her bridge destroyed by 11in shells from Graf Spee. Splinters from a hit on B turret killed or wounded all but three of the bridge personnel, again excluding her captain, Frederick Bell. The splinters also wrecked the communications systems, so Bell moved to the after control position. Communications here had also been damaged, so Bell was forced to form a human chain to pass helm orders.