Text 23026, 101 rader
Skriven 2012-03-28 23:08:00 av Glen Jamieson
     Kommentar till en text av Hap Newsom
Ärende: SILENT SERVICE 20328
============================
 -=> Quoting Hap Newsom to Glen Jamieson <=-

Greetings

 ->  -> was, it didn't work.
 ->  ->
 ->  HN> Of course it did not work. Mostly 
 ->  HN> because history is written by the 
 ->  HN> victors. But that was their position.

 -> As far as it went, the attack on Pearl Harbor was very successful.  It
 -> was just the consequences that didn't turn out quite as the Japanese
 -> military had planned.  Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto's plane was shot down
 ->
 HN> In fact the attack was much less than entirely
 HN> successful. Had they attacked the drydocks
 HN> and the oil depot it would have crippled
 HN> the Island's military position much more 
 HN> completely. As it was the sunken and damaged
 HN> ships were for the most part repaired and
 HN> returned to service..and with plenty of
 HN> oil and munitions to supply them for
 HN> the retribution which was forthcoming.

That would have taken quite a while to patch up and refloat the sunken
battleships.  It was a pity, as far as Yamamoto was concerned, that
the US carriers were not in port.  His own carrier aircraft destroyed
a lot of US planes on the ground, though.  He relied a lot on
carriers, and that was where the hundreds of planes that repeatedly
bombed Darwin came from.  It was when his carriers were sunk in the
Coral Sea battle that he realised all was lost.
 
 ->  -> Nothing can be 100% one or the other, but in aircraft, bombers are
 ->  -> primarily offensive, while fighters are primarily defensive.
 ->  ->
 ->  HN> If you go out looking for a fight
 ->  HN> that is defensive? Fighters did
 ->  HN> a lot more than just escort bombers
 ->  HN> y'know.
 -> 
 -> The bomber escorts were specialist long-range fighters.  Most fighters
 -> were primarily defensive, with the purpose of killing bombers and/or
 -> their escorts.
 -> 
 HN> Very much not correct my friend! Most 
 HN> fighters were sent out on "hunter/killer"
 HN> missions to attack trains, bridges, munitions
 HN> depots and troops. The other primary function
 HN> was reconnaissance. Fighters in the pacific were
 HN> used for defense of a carrier, but were also 
 HN> the offensive force used to sink enemy
 HN> carriers, shore emplacements, troops, 
 HN> and more. Very much an offensive weapon.

In the "Battle of Britain", it was the Spitfires and Hurricanes that
shot down the German bombers faster than they could be built, that
determined the outcome of that part of the war.  I don't think that
fighters could do much damage to ships or shore emplacements, with
just bullets and cannon shells.  Bombs were needed for that.  Even the
small Mosquitoes were primarily bombers, as in dam destroying.
 
 -> Australian subs - HMAS AE1 and AE2, each 725 ton, with twin 8-cylinder
 -> diesel engines, were built in England and delivered to Sydney in 1914.
 -> At the time that was the longest transit voyage ever taken by a
 -> submarine.  AE1 was lost during a successful attack on the German base
 -> at Rabaul - just "disappeared".  AE2 later did service in the
 -> Bosporus, was damaged, and later scuttled near there.  There are moves
 -> to recover it and return it to Australia.
 ->
 HN> That is how most submarines are lost.
 HN> without notice. If you are sunk while
 HN> submerged that is what happens..you
 HN> simply "disappear". 

So it seems.  It would be quite rare that they were found later.
 
 -> I suppose revealing details of that sort of warfare is restricted.  I
 -> will just have to use my imagination.
 ->
 HN> There are no real "details": you try
 HN> to figure out where they are, while keeping
 HN> THEM from figuring out where YOU are...first
 HN> one that is really successful is the survivor.
 HN> More often it comes down to who's technology
 HN> is better at detecting and being undetectable!

Thinking about how it is done - if a submarine is submerged, it would
be difficult to hit with a torpedo, and a depth charge would be likely
to damage your own boat....

I see that the Australian-built Deepsea Challenger, with US movie
director James Cameron inside it, has now gone deeper than the Piccard
Trieste record, to 11 km in the bottom of the Mariana Trench.  The
pictures taken of that part of the world showed it to be as lifeless
as Mars.

Cheers, Glen.
___ Blue Wave/DOS v2.30 [NR]

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 * Origin: Braintap BBS Adelaide Australia (3:800/449)