Naval History Forums

Yeah. The thing is, the 14 inchers the KGV's used weren't up to the challenge of penetrating true battleship armor... They had a really hard time taking down Bismarck. If memory serves the Rodney with her 16 inchers was the only ship present that actually was able to penetrate the hull armor, thus ...

I have become quite interested in radar assisted AA FC as well. This site has a lot of valuable info, including some really interesting bibliographical data: http://www.rnmuseumradarandcommunications2006.org.uk/PAGE%2019.htm and this page: http://www.rnmuseumradarandcommunications2006.org.uk/LIBRARY...

.... The IJN did have some reserve aircrews in Japan, and since Nagumo is planning to return directly to Japan, he could afford to take some aircraft/aircrew losses (although if they couldn't afford to even do this, it begs lots of addition questions...). .... Not sure how many or how well trained....

S&G also had severe problems due their extremely low freeboard. The 15cm single turrets would flood out even in moderate seas. IIRC, the freeboard amidships was about 12'.

A primary difficulty with trying to answer this question, is the knowledge that Japan had attacked an overwhelming more powerful opponent, and that there's no possible strategy that the IJN could have used to ultimately win. However, if the strategy is to strike at PH to buy time to build up a defen...

I'm certainly no aplogist for the sencondary batteries on the German battleships. I have been rather critical of these over the years. Nevertheless, it seems to me that they are being held up to an impossible standard by assuming that should have been capable of sinking destroyers in a timely fashi...

If you guys were Nagumo would you launch a third strike? or... Do you agree with his decision to return to Japan after the strike of the second wave? I think now that attacking Pearl Harbor facilites wont change much even if half the oil tanks are destroyed but I still think that a third strike aga...

I read quite a bit of Friedman on CV design last night. At least this discussion has done that much for me. What dunmunro has done is cherry pick a small part out of this huge treatise. He left out all the parts where the drawbacks of AFDs were discussed and the back and forth the USN went through ...

You've demonstrated, once again, that you can't stand to be contradicted and that's about all. As you know, what I can't stand is deliberate distortion. You cite a single anecdote and present it as a valid point. You've made no effort to examine the subject from any angle, even an obvious one, that...

I guess that's why Franklin suffered more casualties than all the RN AFD carriers combined. Why would you guess that? Was this best effort of your cause-effect reasoning? LOL, Implacable = 4 shafts and 148,000 SHP, Essex = 4 shafts and 150,000 SHP. Yes, we can all laugh at stats in a vacuum. Let me...

I'm guessing it bothers you to realize that American carriers were better-protected from air attack than the British armored-box carriers. I guess that's why Franklin suffered more casualties than all the RN AFD carriers combined. Yes, I enjoy statements without foundation as much as anybody. LOL, ...

If the Americans wanted to accept the limited speed, range, hangar height and ventilation, and avgas stores of the British design, they might have found Implacable acceptable. But in actuality, they would have found the suggestion ridiculous. Yeah, after watching Franklin light up like a torch, I b...

dunmunro, The Implacables had a designed complement of 45 aircraft, right? How did they manage to get 85 on it? Or are we talking apples and oranges? Well you can see what they were carrying in comparison to USN carriers here: http://www.navweaps.com/index_oob/OOB_WWII_Pacific/OOB_WWII_Carrier-Raid...

Ultimately the USN decided to adopt an armoured flight deck on the Midway class CVs. The problem for the US was how to get an armored flight deck AND the air wing size they felt they needed. To get both, they ended up with a 45,000 ton ship (the Midway class), which in spite of their large displace...

A quick followup. Friedman's US Aircraft Carriers has an interesting discussion of armoured flight decks. The discussion goes back and forth, and the argument against the AFD, on the grounds that it reduces aircraft capacity is well discussed, however I will quote two two sentences which Friedman at...