Most were small Escort Carriers
Posted on 02/11/2021 7:46:52 AM PST by Onthebrink
Also known as the Super Yamato-class, the Design A-150 battleship began in late 1938 and it was to be armed with at least six 510mm (20-inch) guns as well as dozens of smaller caliber weapons. The warship as it was originally envisioned was also 91,000 metric tons (90,000 long tons) and yet would be fast enough to maintain a speed of 30 knots – faster than the American Navy’s North Carolina-class battleships, which could maintain a speed of 27 knots.
(Excerpt) Read more at 19fortyfive.com ...
Ping.
Bigger isn’t better. Think the Bismarck.
I also recall a documentary a few years back where Nazi Germany built one model of a super huge tank. I do not recall the specs, but it was a monster. The problem was not enough materials to go into production. IMO the real problem was being a huge waste of resources as it could have been easily knocked out. Where as if the same resources were used to build smaller tanks more would survive to do their intended tasks before being knocked out... If that makes sense.
Much more thoroughly researched.
Much better written.
Much cheaper.
(And I'm being much more sarcastic.)
It’s a good thing Billy Mitchell wasn’t Japanese. Just imagine if the Imperial Navy had said screw those old battleships — we’re pouring all our resources into carriers.
Another issue, at least with humongous tanks, is mobility. The Tiger tanks were too heavy for many road bridges, such as those in the Ardennes.
Think Bismarck’s problem wasn’t size but a) there was only one of them and b) it was used in the wrong role. Should have sent fast cruisers on commerce raiding.
The Tirpitz was the Bismark’s sister ship.
Wonder how the sink the Bismarck story would have played out if they sent Tirpitz too.
Bkmk
The Bismark got unlucky and a torpedo hit the steering gear. A 1 in 1,000 lucky shot for the RN.
Guy in this video speculates it was a 1 in 1,000 shot that sunk the Hood too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83WS54ZQEBg
Dreams versus reality and practicality! There are many that think it was a mistake for Germany to build its ‘Pocket Battleships’ like the Bismark and her sisters. If the same resources had been put into the U-Boat fleet, Britain might have been starved into submission.
Ditto, and even worse, with the IJN supers, the Yamato-class Battleships. Japan’s chronic metal shortage became a cause of war when FDR embargoed scrap-metal and other resource purchases in the late 1930s. If, instead, the IJN had gone to added carriers and smaller ‘gun’ ships AND an aggressive sub force of their own, they would have gotten a better force. We, of the Allied Nations, should be happy that autocrats can see such ‘shiny objects’ as these being so attractive!
Of course, our own USN was very divided over Battleship vs Carrier in the pre-war era. The fact that Pearl Harbor left the Carriers to be the strong arm in the vast Pacific for those early years, made the transition to the predominant air-power an easier move than if that rivalry stayed hot!
Most were small Escort Carriers
Thanks for posting this!
From blam’s wiki link, at end of article:
“Of the 151 aircraft carriers built in the U.S. during World War II, 122 were escort carriers.”
adding a little known fact.
“During World War II, the United States Navy purchased two Great Lakes side-wheel paddle steamers and converted them into freshwater aircraft carrier training ships. Both vessels were designated with the hull classification symbol IX and lacked hangar decks, elevators or armaments. The role of these ships was for the training of pilots for carrier take-offs and landings. Together Sable and Wolverine trained 17,820 pilots in 116,000 carrier landings.”
How much does 1945 pay you to continually pimp their site?
151, in three years.
It now takes nine years to build one.
As Stalin said, "quantity has a quality all its own".
Well, the Yamato worked out well so the Super Yamato should make a bigger “splash.”
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