Naval History Forums

I don't think its a question of whether the USSR could have won on the eastern front without lend lease, it is whether nazi Germany could have won, which I don't think was possible, they were far too overstretched, just like Napoloeon. Germany did not have the resources to blitzkrieg all the way to ...

Also there was Austria-Hungary, Turkey and the Balkan States all unable to feed themselves and with their agricultural systems disrupted. Remember it takes many months to grow a crop and disruption to the planting, growing and harvesting cycle results in lower yields until the system is secured agai...

Japanese civilians have always been very subservient up until the democratic movement beginning after ww2, i doubt there would be any civil discontent no matter how bad a war became in 1905. Also Japanese military personnel again pre democracy have always been more willing to die for the emperor tha...

Whether it was the Russian declaration of war or the 2 nukes or a combination of them both which caused japan to surrender in 1945 is just the straw that broke the camels back, Japan was already pretty much smashed flat! In 1905 the Russo Japanese war never touched the mainland, ie the population an...

Would pre extreme right wing Imperial Japan have surrendered without an invasion, they certainly wouldn't in ww2 until 2 nukes were dropped, would Japanese martial machismo have allowed them to surrender, that is what I doubt. I believe the only way to make Japan surrender is to smash them flat, wit...

Late war yes, but just pre war and early war, ie pre Midway before the huge attrition rates kicked in they would have produced the air groups for the carriers while they were being built.

If Togo had lost at Tsushima would Japan have lost the war? I don't think so, maybe caused a negotiated peace but I don't think Tsarist Russia could have invaded Japan if Makarov had cleared the way, or if they tried they would have been embroiled in an unwinnable war.

I don't know if this has been done before, if so somebody please let me know. Yamato and Musashi the largest battleships ever built, they cost an extraordinary amount to the Imperial Japanese military budget and did little other than rust and get sunk. So what if they were designed and built as carr...

Anthony Quayle also played the baddie in Ice Cold in Alex, the German spy posing as a South African soldier trying get behind the British lines in North Africa. Ice Cold in Alex, now that was a sweaty film

I think Togo is greatly overrated for his victory at Tsushima, he had all the advantages and no disadvantages. But Gaius
Duilius is underrated, the Roman admiral during the 1st Punic War when Rome was the underdog and Carthage the great seapower.

In which case there are others that could be added to the list. Lord Barham springs immediately to mind.

I find it interesting that Nimitz is listed here, did he actually do any operational planning or command in ww2? I thought he was overall c in c pacific and delegated operational matters to operational commanders.

Whoever rules space, will rule the oceans--and of course the land. If there is a 3rd World War (the gods forbid it, please), there will rapidly develop a race to be the first to conquer near Earth Space. Some intriguing possibilities in this thread, I like it. I agree with this with one proviso, sa...

There is a big problem with UAVs which people rarely consider and thats their weak link, their datalink. Jam that and all they can do is rtb. The US has never had to fight anyone as technologically advanced since WW2, if they ever have to they will find their UAVs lacking.

High speed guided weapons have a great deal of trouble manoeuvring simply because of momentum, thus they have a hard time actually hitting a relatively slow speed manoeuvring aircraft, this is why they have explosive warheads where close is good enough. If the guided weapon can approach the target s...