Search found 21 matches

by LeopardTooth
Tue Jan 26, 2016 6:07 am
Forum: The Dreadnought Era (1906-1921)
Topic: Adm Troubridge-right/wrong-in the GOEBEN AFFAIR
Replies: 67
Views: 31068

Re: Adm Troubridge-right/wrong-in the GOEBEN AFFAIR

This discussion looks to me to have focused on the tactical more than the strategic. As most people on this board probably know, it is said the British seizing Agincourt and Erin for their own purposes, instead of delivering them to their original purchasers the Ottomans, cheesed off the Turks. But ...
by LeopardTooth
Mon Dec 28, 2015 8:55 am
Forum: Naval History (1922-1945)
Topic: Best cruisers of WWII and the best use of cruisers
Replies: 171
Views: 85712

Re: Best cruisers of WWII and the best use of cruisers

Not so sure about the Atlanta and Didos not being cruisers (I would say they were specialised cruisers), since they were the roughly same size or bigger than the Japanese light cruisers (except for the Mogami class Lololol). Somehow I thought that the CLAAs were close in tonnage to a 3,200 ton Le F...
by LeopardTooth
Sun Dec 27, 2015 7:59 am
Forum: Naval History (1922-1945)
Topic: Best cruisers of WWII and the best use of cruisers
Replies: 171
Views: 85712

Re: Best cruisers of WWII and the best use of cruisers

Another hit-and-run weighing in with some opinions: * The Alaskas were the platonic ideal of battlecruisers. That's exactly what they were, fast cruiser killers with capital ship-ish guns but without the protection to fight a full battleship. They do not belong in a discussion of "best cruiser ...
by LeopardTooth
Fri Jul 17, 2015 11:13 am
Forum: Naval History (1922-1945)
Topic: Most successful RN Carrier of WW2
Replies: 10
Views: 11028

Re: Most successful RN Carrier of WW2

"Illustrious has to be the best and most successful carrier of WW2 in any theatre."

I can only hope that the scope of this analysis is limited to Her Majesty's naval vessels. Otherwise, a certain CV6 would like a word with you.
by LeopardTooth
Sun Sep 07, 2014 5:46 am
Forum: Naval History (1922-1945)
Topic: What if Hitler understood naval power?
Replies: 14
Views: 3628

Re: What if Hitler understood naval power?

I think that the smartest move that the Nazis could have done, naval-wise, is to have never built any surface ships lager than destroyers and E-boats, and had 500 or 700 Type VII and Type IX U-boats on hand in September 1939, with technology for the Type XXI well into development. Not very sexy as P...
by LeopardTooth
Sat Sep 06, 2014 6:04 am
Forum: Hypothetical Naval Scenarios
Topic: June 1944 battleship encounter
Replies: 10
Views: 7308

Re: June 1944 battleship encounter

It would be like PoW/Repulse or Cornwall/Dorsetshire or Gloucester/Fiji/Greyhound
Or like Musashi, 24 Oct 1944, and Yamato, 7 Apr 1945, for that matter.
by LeopardTooth
Fri Sep 05, 2014 8:34 am
Forum: Hypothetical Naval Scenarios
Topic: June 1944 battleship encounter
Replies: 10
Views: 7308

Re: June 1944 battleship encounter

although other accounts only list four heavy cruisers Spruance transferred older CAs Indianapolis, Louisville, Minneapolis, New Orleans, San Francisco, and Wichita (as well as CLs Birmingham, Honolulu, and St. Louis and twenty-one destroyers) from Turner's invasion fleet/Oldendorf's shore bombardme...
by LeopardTooth
Sun Jun 29, 2014 9:16 am
Forum: Hypothetical Naval Scenarios
Topic: Yamato and Musashi vs. Missouri and Iowa
Replies: 55
Views: 52594

Re: Yamato and Musashi vs. Missouri and Iowa

This info comes from the book "The Pacific War Encyclopedia” by James F. Dunnigan and Albert A. Nofi: “A true test would have pitted a squadron of Iowas against a squadron of Yamatos. The differences between the two classes of battleships are interesting. Since speed in a ship is partially a fa...
by LeopardTooth
Fri Feb 08, 2013 10:47 am
Forum: Hypothetical Naval Scenarios
Topic: Were battleships actualy usefull in WW 2 ?
Replies: 81
Views: 13940

Re: Were battleships actualy usefull in WW 2 ?

Mostlyharmless wrote:The worse error was to build Yamato and Musashi and not to use them until too late. For example, Yamato was sufficiently hard to sink that she could have been risked 100 miles East of the Kido Butai on 4th June 1942. Ersatz Yorck wrote: Interesting thought! Yamato as a magnet f...
by LeopardTooth
Thu Feb 07, 2013 6:20 pm
Forum: Hypothetical Naval Scenarios
Topic: Were battleships actualy usefull in WW 2 ?
Replies: 81
Views: 13940

Re: Were battleships actualy usefull in WW 2 ?

Me: I would pick an Alaska or Dunkerque class battlecruiser or a Scharnhorst class undergunned battleship over an Nevada, Bretagne, Arkansas, New York, or Courbet class battleship. I would also pick one of the more modern vessels over as the probably victor over a New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Cavour, ...
by LeopardTooth
Thu Feb 07, 2013 6:06 pm
Forum: Hypothetical Naval Scenarios
Topic: Were battleships actualy usefull in WW 2 ?
Replies: 81
Views: 13940

Re: Were battleships actualy usefull in WW 2 ?

Let me put it this way: In may 1941, what would you rather have if you were admiral Raeder: One 50000 ton battleship and one 20000 ton cruiser ready for action or 70 additional 1000 ton submarines ready for action? Note that this is twice the number of German uboats operational at that time. When y...
by LeopardTooth
Thu Feb 07, 2013 2:04 pm
Forum: Hypothetical Naval Scenarios
Topic: Were battleships actualy usefull in WW 2 ?
Replies: 81
Views: 13940

Re: Were battleships actualy usefull in WW 2 ?

By the time of their completion, Richelieu and Jean Bart were in US waters. Sailors on the USS Massachusetts and Augusta might have had other opinions about the Axis combatant-status of the Jean Bart on Nov 8 1942, as sailors on HMS Barham and Resolution might concerning Richelieu in Sept 1940. I w...
by LeopardTooth
Thu Feb 07, 2013 10:29 am
Forum: Hypothetical Naval Scenarios
Topic: Were battleships actualy usefull in WW 2 ?
Replies: 81
Views: 13940

Re: Were battleships actualy usefull in WW 2 ?

The countries which had the know-how and resources to build and use a large fleet of modern BBs (USA - 9 ships and Great Britain - 6 ships) did not have true adversaries in this matter. The countries that lacked the resources tried as best as they could but they came up with 4 slow ships (Japan), 2...
by LeopardTooth
Thu Feb 07, 2013 12:53 am
Forum: Hypothetical Naval Scenarios
Topic: Were battleships actualy usefull in WW 2 ?
Replies: 81
Views: 13940

Re: Were battleships actualy usefull in WW 2 ?

The Washington wasn't the best battleship in the world, but it was a pretty good one, and it was the best one there that night when it mattered. Besides Iowas and Yamatos, I cannot think of another class of WW2 battleship that I would rate as a clearly more powerful ship than Washington/NC. Really,...
by LeopardTooth
Wed Feb 06, 2013 12:29 am
Forum: Hypothetical Naval Scenarios
Topic: Could the Type XXI U-boat have won the war?
Replies: 64
Views: 26107

Re: Could the Type XXI U-boat have won the war?

Read http://www.navy.mil/navydata/cno/n87/history/cold-war-asw.html#PhaseI In the immediate post-war years, to counter presumed Soviet Type XXI-clones, the US and UK military introduced various detection and destruction technologies: * the APS-20 radar * the QHB scanning sonar * magnetic anomaly det...