[Gator101]

Good point.

I was thinking about this the other night and it occurred to me that Ozawa's Northern decoy probably succeeded in drawing off Halsey BECAUSE he knew it was a decoy. Thinking he had defeated the Center Force (as you described) he then probably thought the decoy force was going to take off once Ozawa realized 3rd fleet had defeated the force that Ozawa's ships were supposed to be distracting it from. Wanting to send some more Japanese ships to the bottom Halsey took of after them in order to prevent their escape.

I wonder...had he thought the Northern force was a legitimate striking force and not knowing what the overall strategy was, would he have been a bit more conservative and waited for them to come to him? If so maybe 3rd fleet, with its fast battleships, would have been in position to face Kurita when he appeared instead?

Imagine what a battle that would have been! This time had Kurita turned back he may have had a whole lot of American steel in hot pursuit looking to finish him off...rather than a few destroyers and CVE's looking on in bewilderment, wondering how they were still alive.

[wolficatZ]

LoL, I know what you mean when it comes to historical accuracy in archival film.

 

How about the longest range battleship vs battleship engagement in history?

 

 

"On 9th July 1940, the Mediterranean Fleet intercepted an Italian force returning from Benghazi in Italian-held Libya. Although the engagement was inconclusive, Cunningham pursued the Italians to within site of the coast, and his flagship the elderly battleship HMS Warspite scored a hit on the battleship Julio Cesare at a range of fifteen miles (approximately 26,000 yards )."

 

 

HMS Warspite

 

 

 

 

RM Julio Cesare

 

 

Back to the subject at hand, has anyone ever heard of the Yamato carrying 18" "shotgun" shells, which were to be used as anti-aircraft defense, and if they were ever used in combat or otherwise?