Search found 138 matches

by Keith Enge
Wed Jan 23, 2013 7:36 pm
Forum: Hypothetical Naval Scenarios
Topic: Royal Navy with Vastly Improved Air-Warfare Weapons in 1939
Replies: 7
Views: 4532

Re: Royal Navy with Vastly Improved Air-Warfare Weapons in 1

There are other problems to your supposition. You say that only the British had this advanced technology and no one else could even reverse-engineer it. However, this is contradicted by the fact that the Skyraider is a US, not a British plane. Tommy303 mentioned that early British carriers couldn't ...
by Keith Enge
Mon Jan 07, 2013 6:50 pm
Forum: Naval History (1922-1945)
Topic: PT Boats: Unqualified success or mediocre at best??
Replies: 6
Views: 5209

Re: PT Boats: Unqualified success or mediocre at best??

PT boats had another role that should be mentioned; they were used to rescue a lot of downed aircrew. Barges were mentioned but should have been emphasized more. Probably their primary use was as barge-busters. After the attrition of the "Toyko Express" became too costly in the Solomons, m...
by Keith Enge
Wed Jan 02, 2013 4:21 pm
Forum: Naval Technology
Topic: Aviation fuel on battleships and cruisers
Replies: 7
Views: 7457

Re: Aviation fuel on battleships and cruisers

The amount carried is surprisingly uniform across navies and ship types (excluding carriers); ships tended to carry around 2000 gallons per aircraft. That's US gallons, not Imperial gallons. Aviation gas weighs about 6 pounds per gallon so that's about 6 tons of avgas per aircraft. This 2000 gallon ...
by Keith Enge
Mon Dec 03, 2012 6:26 pm
Forum: Naval Weapons
Topic: What was the most effective naval anti-aircraft gun of WW2?
Replies: 167
Views: 109521

Re: What was the most effective naval anti-aircraft gun of W

The 20mm was still downing planes at the end of the war. The problem was that it was basically a revenge weapon. Many of the times, perhaps most, it killed planes after they had dropped their ordnance, particularly divebombers when they were vulnerable pulling out of their dive. A weapon that kills ...
by Keith Enge
Mon Nov 12, 2012 9:07 pm
Forum: Naval History (1922-1945)
Topic: My apologies to ADBA
Replies: 2
Views: 2042

My apologies to ADBA

I have always denigrated the actions of ABDA but I recently gained a new appreciation of the problems faced. The deficiencies are well known. ABDA was somewhere between an arranged marriage and a shotgun wedding. The bride and groom didn't even speak the same language with inevitable results. Tactic...
by Keith Enge
Fri Oct 05, 2012 7:26 pm
Forum: Naval History (1922-1945)
Topic: Taranto Effect on Naval Warfare
Replies: 71
Views: 18497

Re: Taranto.

The Italian Fleet sorties were "fairly timid and limited affairs" not because of Taranto but because of the scarcity of oil. That is why they didn't bother repairing large ships and made others inactive. They simply didn't have the oil to support the whole fleet. If they did sortie the who...
by Keith Enge
Fri Oct 05, 2012 5:15 pm
Forum: Naval History (1922-1945)
Topic: Taranto Effect on Naval Warfare
Replies: 71
Views: 18497

Re: Taranto.

I think that you all are rather overstating the importance of the Taranto raid. Its name is significant, it was a mere raid. The following discussion is pulled from the hypertext section of my WWII era database and explains my point: Evaluating the Taranto raid The British raid by carrier aircraft o...
by Keith Enge
Wed Aug 08, 2012 10:12 pm
Forum: Hypothetical Naval Scenarios
Topic: Best U.S. cruisers at the river Platte
Replies: 110
Views: 23880

Re: Best U.S. cruisers at the river Platte

Besides the rather well known occasions when they did have combat, the pocket battleships had several other close encounters. Some of these "what if" battles were: 12/20/39 north of the Skagerrak Deutschland vs Glasgow and Newcastle The German ship was sighted attempting an Atlantic breako...
by Keith Enge
Wed Aug 08, 2012 6:13 pm
Forum: Hypothetical Naval Scenarios
Topic: Best U.S. cruisers at the river Platte
Replies: 110
Views: 23880

Re: Best U.S. cruisers at the river Platte

Djoser - You're welcome. Remember that those hunting groups were to counter all three pocket battleships, not merely Graf Spee. Therefore, there is a possibility that one of the hunting groups might have encountered two or even three of them acting in concert. However, although they did occasionally...
by Keith Enge
Sat Aug 04, 2012 8:48 pm
Forum: Hypothetical Naval Scenarios
Topic: Best U.S. cruisers at the river Platte
Replies: 110
Views: 23880

Re: Best U.S. cruisers at the river Platte

RF - The likely location of a battle between a pocket battleship and French warships wasn't off West Africa but actually near the Caribbean. There were nine "hunting groups" created and the ones with French ships were near the Caribbean. The nine groups (with their area of responsibilities...
by Keith Enge
Thu Aug 02, 2012 4:28 pm
Forum: Hypothetical Naval Scenarios
Topic: Best U.S. cruisers at the river Platte
Replies: 110
Views: 23880

Re: Best U.S. cruisers at the river Platte

Francis - If you want French ships against AGS, don't propose Algerie and La Galissoniere. Why not use ships that were actually tasked with that duty. Among the nine groups that the British and French created to hunt and counter the pocket battleships were a group consisting of Dupleix and Foch (the...
by Keith Enge
Wed Jul 25, 2012 11:59 pm
Forum: Hypothetical Naval Scenarios
Topic: Best U.S. cruisers at the river Platte
Replies: 110
Views: 23880

Re: Best U.S. cruisers at the river Platte

alecsandros - Several hard copy sources which I consider more reliable than Wikipedia rate the panzerschiffe at 28 knots with the caveat that this wasn't obtained in service, hence the 26 knots that I mentioned. Similar, the Brooklyns were credited with 33.6 knots. When you are putting as many shell...
by Keith Enge
Wed Jul 25, 2012 9:44 pm
Forum: Hypothetical Naval Scenarios
Topic: Best U.S. cruisers at the river Platte
Replies: 110
Views: 23880

Re: Best U.S. cruisers at the river Platte

alecsandros - 1) AGS did obtain 28 knots but suffered extreme vibration. Her maximum usable speed for any length of time was 26 knots. The problem was synching multiple diesel motors to shafts. This is extremely difficult and small differences between two motors on the same shaft led to scary situat...
by Keith Enge
Wed Jul 25, 2012 7:48 pm
Forum: Hypothetical Naval Scenarios
Topic: Best U.S. cruisers at the river Platte
Replies: 110
Views: 23880

Re: Best U.S. cruisers at the river Platte

alecsandros - There are two things wrong with your argument. First, to best prevent the range from closing, AGS would have to put her stern to her pursuers. This would limit her gunfire to the aft turret. With only three guns and a not particular fast rate of fire, AGS would have difficulty obtainin...
by Keith Enge
Wed Jul 25, 2012 5:30 pm
Forum: Hypothetical Naval Scenarios
Topic: Best U.S. cruisers at the river Platte
Replies: 110
Views: 23880

Re: Best U.S. cruisers at the river Platte

The US ships would wipe up. There should be no surprise in this. After all, each of the US ships had almost the tonnage of AGS and there were three of them. The extra range advantage of the AGS had little value because the ship couldn't see as far as her guns could shoot. The Brooklyns would have be...