Posted on 07/28/2006 9:07:33 AM PDT by managusta
Already posted: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1673700/posts
"Six H-class battleships- At 140,000-tons and armed with eight 20-inch main guns, these monsters would have been twice as big as the Japanese Yamato-class super-battleships."
I believe the H-Class that would have been ready by 1944 would have been 56200 tons(68000 full load), 8x16in guns, the rest similar to Bismarck, except for 4 shafts, with deisels on the center shafts.
"Three battlecruisers- slightly larger and faster than the Bismarck-class battleships, these vessels would have the same armament, but not as much armor."
The O-Class Battlecruisers, as projected in 1939 would have been about the size of Sharnhorst, with 15in guns.
The designs you are refering to are later expansions of these designs that served only to placate Hitler. (and to keep the design staff from going to fight Russians)
data from "German Warships of the Second World War" by H.T.Lenton,1975
I remember my mother talking about this carrier many years ago. As the story goes, a attack on the east coast was supposed to be a birthday present for Hitler.
It *is* scary. Even with Hitler's miscalculations and blunders, Germany kept Europe at war for almost six years. It is hard to think what would have happened if the Third Reich had waited longer to start a war.
"Others say the Soviet navy used the ship for target practice and sank it as part of a training exercise in 1947.
"
I heard that the Soviets loaded it up with looted heavy industry machinery, and it sank as they were towing it back to Russia.
I hope someone decides to dive on it.
The German Army that invaded Russia had 3,200 tanks and 600,000 horses. The Wehrmacht was never really totally mechanized.
The German Army that invaded France in 1940 was smaller and less well equipped than the French Army, not even counting a couple hundred thousand allied British troops in France at the time.
The relative sizes of the German and Japanese economies relative to their adversaries was something like 1:6 and even larger if you include access to stategic materials. The Axis was doomed by events of December 7, 1941.
My dad was a WW2 vet and he told me that they used mules a lot during the war. One story he told me was about a sgt. yelling at 2 soldiers for beating on a mule. He told them that soldiers were a dime a dozen but mules were hard to come by.
I thought Spencer Tracy sank it by ramming a B-25 into it in "A Guy Named Joe".
BJ was no micro-manager. He was a true big-picture man. He worked a very short time each day (ala JFK) and loved to delegate work to his devoted corps of left-wing loonies, while he played hard.
If you're looking for a true micro-manager it was Jimmy Carter.
It was Hildebeast who was doing the micromanaging. We all know what BLZbubba was doing...........and with whom.....
A point well taken.
I completely forgot the other half of the team! A perfect case in point being her incredibly detailed Health Care Plan!
And let's not forget her minute-by-minute Bimbo Eruption Control office.
Will she have a Himbo Eruption Office?........(or a Lesbo).....
Great info. I appreciate it.
His name was pyke and the stuff was Pykrete. Here's the story
http://www.cabinetmagazine.org/issues/7/floatingisland.php
One measure of a nations economy at that time was the number of Cyclotrons. Britain had 3. Germany had 2. Japan had 1. The US had 30.
Hitler had to start when he did, because the France and British were catching up. The British alone were making aircraft faster than the Germans in 1940.
The Germans made about 1500 Tiger 1 and Tiger II tanks from 1942 to 1945. The US made 1600 Pershings (M-26) tanks in the first half of 1945.
Hitler was a "quality over quantity" kind of guy. So was the Wehrmacht, a left over from the 100,000man Reichwehr Army days. Only much too late were a few systems designed for ease of manufacture (MG-42 for example). Most were hand tuned wonders, that had to be rare on the ground.
The Germans were better trained than their opponents. Until 1944. Then they complained that the US didn't fight correctly, bypassing their best defenses.
It was easy to blame Hitler for all ills after he was dead, and losers always solace their egos with the thought of how brave they were.
Germany had some great weapons. But it's strongest asset was it's troops. They fought well, and they fought hard.
You're both missing an important point. When US troops came on the scene, they were almost from the beginning on the offensive fighting dug-in Germans and Japanese in fortified positions. That would be hard on anyone.
And if you think that was hard, the Germans and Japanese would have had a FAR harder time if they had tried to invade the USA. Being on the defensive has certain advantages.
But the industrial might factor is vastly overlooked. Even if Hitler had started the war at the "right time", he would have eventually been attrited down to a nub because neither Germany nor Japan could REPLACE lost weapons and men as quickly and easily as America could. We had more people and factories than both of them put together.
But then again, if Germany got the A-bomb first, all bets are off...
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