How many females, homosexuals, and transsexuals will be among the ship’s company?
Where will they get their raw materials when they run out? China apparently is consuming them at staggering amounts. African raw materials won't last forever. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/e6b692ec-5e2f-11e5-a28b-50226830d644.html#axzz4AZxeRONx
The only US submarine of note at the Midway battle was the Nautilus, regardless of Admiral Nagumo's fears. Plus, American torpedoes were pieces of crap the first two years of the war. They seldom hit anything, and many sub patrols came back to base having the same performance that the pre-1020 bomber/attack/torpedo planes had on Japanese ships that day, which is to say hapless, worthless, and dealing no damage whatever. American expertise in carrier battle tactics were not in the same league as the Imperial Navy's co-ordinated assaults.
Additionally, Japanese battle doctrine was weighted strongly to offense, not defense, which worked with great success pre-Coral Sea, but ultimately doomed them.
They also lost a carrier at Coral Sea that should have been part of the MI attack, in addition to the carrier forces sent to attack the Aleutian Islands which was a silly game for a silly reward. These two albatrosses were foisted on Yamamoto as conditions for approving the MI attack, but he made little objection. Rather than concentrate massed forces, which Japanese military doctrine dictated, this "shotgun" approach diluted the Main Force was another massive mistake.
This never would have happened. Had Midway been lost, Japan could never have invaded and occupied Hawaii. They did not have the transport ability to keep such a captured garrison supplied, especially having to bring the supplies from half a world away in a submarine infested ocean.
Additionally, the most powerful nation on the planet with unmatched productive capacity would never negotiate with a smaller country which had launched a sneak attack such as Pearl Harbor.
later
Aircraft carriers seem to be putting all the eggs in one vulnerable basket. I would think they would all be gone a few days into a serious war. Strafing wogs in gunboat diplomacy is one thing. Against a first or second tier power, would they really last that long?
For me and my brother it gave some hope for the safe return of my dad (Marine) from the South Pacific and our mother from the 16 hour a day job in a defense factory.
We entered the war with six fleet carriers, two in the Atlantic and four in the Pacific, and soon transferred one from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
The Japanese thought they had sunk two at Coral Sea, with a third in dry dock following Wake Island. This left us with two, they thought. The main purpose of their attack on Midway was to draw out the American fleet and destroy what remained of it.
They had some problems amassing their own forces, with the attack on the Aleutians and losses - including pilots and aircraft - at Coral Sea. For lack of pilots and aircraft, it was an easy decision for them to leave one of their fleet carriers in dry dock and send “only” four to Midway. Still, four flattops should have been enough.
In large measure, we won the Battle of Midway because the Yorktown was quickly returned to service, giving us three flattops.
A Freeper non sequitur recommended it to me and i am in his debt
Hopefully, China learned that sneak attacks upon the U.S. are doomed to fail. Hopefully, Obama will not teach them differently.
“Japanese admirals are criticized here for their attachment to “traditional methods” in the manner they organized their forces prior to the Midway battle. Thus, it is explained that the “designated main force of battleships” was placed behind the carrier force, so that after the initial contact, the battleship force could “then enter the fray to launch the decisive blow””
True enough. But here is the conclusion that I draw from the “PLAN Conclusion”... they are not going to build a large carrier fleet for Blue Water operations. They plan to fight within the seas that they control, and under land-based air cover. Moreover, they plan to use unconventional methods, like their sea-denial DF-21 “carrier killer” ballistic missiles to upset US naval planning. This is not to say that they aren’t going to build a couple of carrier divisions for sea-lane control, and “show-the-flag” operations.
“Another mistake pointed out in this piece is that the Japanese carrier strike force had two contradictory missions at Midway, both supporting the invasion of the island and also destroying the U.S. Navy forces in the area, so that at a critical juncture, the Japanese Navy was “chasing two rabbits at the same time”.”
That wouldn’t have happened if the USN hadn’t penetrated the IJN naval cipher. The idea was to hit Midway fast & hard, taking it before the US fleet intervened. The Japanese planned to take the 2 rabbits sequentially, and was not sufficiently flexible to account for the possibility of having to take them on simultaneously.
Does the insignia on this plane mean its a crash test fighter?