Text 35897, 74 rader
Skriven 2009-09-09 07:21:32 av Bob Ackley (1:300/3)
  Kommentar till text 35781 av Ross Cassell (1:123/456)
Ärende: WWII (was SocialSecurity)
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Replying to a message of Ross Cassell to Ward Dossche:

 RC> Hello Ward!

 RC> 08 Sep 09 11:48, you wrote to JOE NICHOLSON:

 JN>>> The Japs attacked the United States at Pearl Harbor.  The next day
 JN>>> FDR, with the blessing of congress, declared war on Japan.  How can
 JN>>> you truthfully say no bombs would have been "thrown" on Japan?

 WD>> Because without a war in Europe in the pacific the Japs would have
 WD>> had to face the Royal Navy and the RAF. That would've made the odds
 WD>> very unlikely.

 RC> Without a severely distracted Great Britain, I doubt Japan would have
 RC> done what it did..

 WD>> There were only 2 capital ships in 1941, Prince of Wales and Repulse
 WD>> plus 1 heavy cruiser HMS Exeter. All three were dispatched with luck
 WD>> off Singapore and during the Battle of the Java Sea. Such a lucky
 WD>> shot would not occur every time.

*Two* capital ships?  The Brits had a couple of dozen battleships left over
from WW I, Ramilles and Malaya being just two.   In addition to Prince of
Wales,
her sisters King George V, Anson, Howe, and Duke of York, plus Rodney and
Nelson
were all modern capital ships.  Plus the Royal navy had Ark Royal and at least
three
other aircraft carriers (at least two of which were sunk early on).

 WD>> The Royal Navy would've easily have outgunned the Japs, more
 WD>> battleships, more cruisers, more destroyers, more carriers .... You
 WD>> can have some luck some of the time, but not all the luck all of the
 WD>> time.

 RC> By count of Ships, the Royal Navy was the Worlds largest, then.

 RC> However that "statistic" changed drastically as US War production
 RC> ramped up after Pearl and I dont include the Liberty Ships.. <G>

<g>  In addition to a couple of *thousand* Liberty and Victory ships, the US
cranked out three dozen or so fleet carriers (and dozens of 'jeep' carriers
built
on freighter hulls), four top-of the-line battleships (the entire Iowa Class,
six
were laid down, the last two - Kentucky and Illinois - were still under
construction
at war's end and were not completed), dozens of heavy (8" guns) and light (6"
guns) cruisers, more dozens of destroyers and escorts and still more dozens
of transports (AKA), attack transports (APA), fleet oilers (AO) and submarines.
And fleet auxiliaries and other miscellaneous support ships.  And maintained
facilities to repair and overhaul battle damaged ships.  In just a bit over
five
years.

An effort the nation would find impossible today.  This country has neither the
shipyards nor the industrial capacity to duplicate that effort.

 RC> US Naval strength leapfrogged the UK by 1942.

 RC> By the end of 1944, total US Navy ships of any kind exceeded 6000.

 RC> That number decreased drastically into the 600's after the War, stayed
 RC> relatively consistent throughout the cold war and is now down to 279
 RC> as of 2008, lowest sice the 19th Century. Of course with todays Naval
 RC> Warfare a single carrier battlegroup could wipe out anything a
 RC> mid-20th century navy could muster..

And one WW II era destroyer could pretty much take out anything the navies
of the mid-19th century and earlier could muster.

--- FleetStreet 1.19+
 * Origin: Bob's Boneyard, Emerson, Iowa (1:300/3)