Text 29290, 82 rader
Skriven 2015-12-21 12:31:32 av BOB ACKLEY (1:123/140)
     Kommentar till en text av WARD DOSSCHE
Ärende: Re: Pearl Harbor Day
============================
> Bob,
>  
> BA> > (in a matter of speech).
>  
> BA> Most of those old, slow battleships could make 20+ knots, much faster
> BA> than most submarines of the day.
>  
> You reference the battle of Leyte Gulf, which actually consisted of 3
different
> engagements.

Yes it did.
  
> You are aware that during the first action 2 US submarines actually outran
part
> of the Japanese fleet?

If you're referring to the force that eventually met its destruction at the
top of Surigao Strait, it was loafing along for the better part of a day.
  
> Any of the japanese battleships except the two older ones ran at 28 knots or
> more when applying full power. Even the older ones were about 2 knots faster
> than the old US Pearl harbor relics. That is what I meant ny implying they
were
> useless when slugging it out on the high seas ... the enemy could just steam
> away ...
>  
> BA> Arizona had been completely overhauled in 1937.
>  
> So was the British HMS Hood, and see what good it did.
>  
> BA> Insofar as the old battleships' inability to act in a naval engagement,
> BA> check out the Battle of Leyte Gulf in 1944, six of those old, slow
> BA> battleships (five of which had been at Pearl Harbor) annihilated an
> BA> approaching Japanese fleet
>  
> That is not entirely correct.
>  
> Those six battleships were in some kind of a trap where "part of a Japanese
> fleet" in narrows from which they could not get away were caught. Battleships
> like the Yamato and Musashi were nowhere near ... it happened at night.
>  
> The opposing force was a not-upgraded 1915 Jap battleship, the Yamashiro,
with
> no radar firing solutions which received a few hits but was sank after
several
> torpedo hits.

Musashi had already been sunk by the time the battle took place.  She was
supposed to have been a part of the Japanese force in that battle.  So was
Fuso, which had also been sunk.

> The Jap battleship Fuso was also sunk by airplanes, not by gunfire of
those old
> US battleships.

Actually by a destroyer or PT boat torpedo.  She blew up and broke in two.
  
> I hope you will not dissagree with me that in general the outcome of the
Battle
> of Leyte Gulf was decided by the actions of carrier-borne aircraft, not the
> fighting capacity of those 6 old battleships which apart of some hits on the
> Yamashiro bore no relevance on the outcome of that battle lasting for 3 days.

I don't disagree.  That battle was the last such battle between opposing
fleets.

Note that as a general rule, aircraft bombs are pretty much useless against
battleships.  With one exception (Tirpitz) most battleships (and other
ships) sunk by air action were sunk by torpedoes, not bombs.  The bombs
that
sank Tirpitz were an exception, they weighed 5 tons apiece, rather than the
normal 100-250 pounds.

There's a famous picture taken during WW II of a Japanese kamikaze about to
crash into USS Missouri, the airplane and its bomb are about the level of
the main deck and are about to impact.  After the crew put out the fire,
the
wreckage was shoved overboard and the damage was repaired with paint
brushes.
--- Platinum Xpress/Win/WINServer v3.0pr5
 * Origin: Check Out Doc's QWK Mail  Via Web BBS > DocsPlace.org  (1:123/140)