The FReeper Foxhole Remembers The Bougainville Campaign (11/1/1943 - 9/3/1945) - Oct 21st, 2003

http://www.chinfo.navy.mil/navpalib/wwii/facts/bougbttl.txt ^ | JO1 Lorraine Ramsdell

[GATOR NAVY]

Actually, I'm not sure I agree with this author's assertion of a Japanese gun advantage. I don't have throw weight data here that I have at home, but I'd bet 4 USN CLs (64 barrels of 6") could put out a greater wight of shells per minute than 2 IJN CAs (20 barrels of 8") just due to their greater rate of fire. That's exactly why at this stage of the war we had no 8" cruisers in the Solomons . Their rate of fire was found to be too slow (and most had been sunk or damaged by the Japanese earlier).

But in this case the amount of shells put out didn't matter. After they obliterated SENDAI, they couldn't hit crap the rest of the battle.

[GATOR NAVY]

Howdy snippy. Watching game 3 at lunch right now. Go fish! (actually I have no feelings either way about the Marlins. I just hate the Yankees)

[Samwise]

Good to see ya, snippy! Dogs are the greatest.

The dog we have now is the world's biggest chicken. He literally is afraid of shadows. The family joke is that he sees dead people. We keep telling him that God made him strong so that he could protect his sheep, but he just cowers behind us. :^) That is unless someone upsets Samwise Jr.--then look out! He is the most peculiar dog I have ever known.

[snippy_about_it]

I have to agree with you. Of course I was an Indians fan until Jacobs sold the team. I haven't watched any baseball for two years now. :(

What the heck, I'm addicted to the Foxhole now!

Good to see you "fall in".

[SAMWolf]

Thank you Samwise.

[snippy_about_it]

Awww. The poor thing. Mine weren't necessarily brave just alert. Barked at you if you came on their block!

[SAMWolf]

All of the Japanese DDs had heavier torpedo armamaent and heavier gun armament than their American counterparts, and all the Japanese cruisers had ten 8" guns. The Japanese could have fought the battle out of range of the American light cruisers.

[Soaring Feather]

Good nite everyone!
LOL

[Samwise]

Good night, bentfeather. You must reallllllly be tired.

[Soaring Feather]

Well yes, Sam I guess so. No really feeling too great. Was up for most of the night last night, and have had the freezing shivers for two days now.

Guess I have something.

[Samwise]

So sorry to hear you're not well. Use plenty of covers, stay hydrated, and call the doc if you don't improve soon.

[SAMWolf]

Good Night Feather.

[SAMWolf]

You better beat this bug. We can't have a laid-up Feather. Too many people count on you.

[radu]

I take my kittens with cream LOL!

Me, too. Don't need any sugar....kittens are already super-sweet. *giggle*

[E.G.C.]

BTTT!!!!!!!

[snippy_about_it]

Hope you are feeling better this morning feather.

Take a nap today too and rest a little, you are up early and late and with the change in weather in this part of the country we need our sleep to stay well!!

And we need you to stay well. :)

[GATOR NAVY]

Sam-

Did a little research last night, and from these figures, I still wouldn't say we were outgunned. Outclassed in torpedoes, no doubt. But in this case the beachhead had to be protected, so we fought with what we had. IMO, the range factor doesn't matter in a night fight, even high quality Japanese optics wouldn't get hits at max 8" range at night. But here's some throw weight figures:

4 USN CLs w/16 guns per ship = 64 guns X 107 lb shell X 8 rounds per minute per gun= 54,784 lbs of shells per minute

2 IJN CAs w/10 guns per ship = 20 guns X 277 lb shell X 3 rpm = 16,620 lbs
2 IJN CLs w/7 guns per ship = 14 guns X 83 lb shell X 6 rpm = 6,972 lbs
Total IJN cruiser 23,592 lbs vs. USN 53,5760 lbs

Didn't do the DDs, I'd have to figure which ships were which class, but my point was our 6" cruisers were capable of putting out a lot of firepower very quickly and weren't as disadvantaged as it may initial look.

[SAMWolf]

You're right about the range in a night battle. Without radar gunnery it would all depend on the Mark I eyeball. Not only that but the smaller guns would be able to fire faster, the Japanese torpedoes would have posed a problem. They were more reliable and had longer range, at night they could be deadly as proved in the sea battles around Guadalcanal.

The DD's would have been most useful for torpedo attacks, 5 inch guns would have had to get in close to hurt the CA's.

Thanks for doing the extra research.

Almost every account I read about the battle gives the advantage to the Japanese. Maybe it's just become "Military urban legend" it's been repeated for so long.