Looks a lot like an Iowa class BB...
Posted on 08/22/2006 3:51:50 PM PDT by IonImplantGuru
Great story.
"...They also canceled the larger Montana class, which reached the blueprint stage..."
Now that would have been one awesome ship.
The Montana Class would have been a logistical nightmare. It was actually designed to withstand hits from the sixteen inch guns used by the North Carolina and Iowa Class battleships, but it wouldn't have been able to traverse the Panama Canal. I'm not sure if it would have been able to take direct hits from the 18 inch guns on the Japanese Yamato class battleships. It would have required lots more fuel and used up steel that could go into more tanks and aircraft carriers.
:^)
I didn't think you'd see the ping, but I added you just in case.
Just what I thought it meant too. It could be read either way.
Can you imagine the pin-head dutifully plowing up all his land? But Ah-Ha! With patience and perseverance, he did bag himself a Mitsubishi!
Looks a lot like an Iowa class BB...
Cool story!!
Sure they tied up lots of surface ships for a few weeks, but eventually it was disabled by a torpedo launched from an obsolete Swordfish biplane launched from the British carrier HMS Ark Royal.
That only occured because german engineers assumed that British bombers would fly faster than 100 knots. It was only because they were using the Fairey Swordfish, that the British aviators escaped sestruction. And it was only luck that ensured a perfect hit on the Bismark.
By 1942, it was clear that only fast battleships would suffice. There is a heck of a difference between a ship that goes 23 knots and one that goes 30 knots when trying to catch a fast moving fleet. The 1923 South Dakota would have faired worse than the 1941 USS Washington (the 1941 USS South Dakota suffered electrical malfunction during the battle and served only as a camoflage and a target of japanese attention, while the Washington cloased on the Kirishima and then crippled it.)
In the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal, the US had the advantage of having 2 new fast battleships, whereas the Japanese only had upgraded pre-World War I battlecruisers.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naval_Battle_of_Guadalcanal
Thanks for the link. It's a great story. I especially like the description of the main hero:
They don't make many like this guy anymore.
I thought this thread was going to be about another 'last' Japanese fighter who refused to give up and was found in the jungle somewhere.
The hero was featured in an American Heritage article back in the sixties some time.
I've read that the Japanese stole the defense plans for Corregidor in 1911 when Black Jack Pershing was out there working for Arthur MacArthur. 1911.
Was the execution of this POW approved by JAG HQ?
Got a pic of the Philippine NG Peashooters that engaged the Japanese on December 8th?
Can you elaborate? I am completely in the dark here...
Talking out of turn (to the Media). Commonplace nowadays.
BTW, Douglas MacArthur was the presiding officer in Mitchell's trial.
Mitchell was a major commander of the air component during WW1 & so was our foremost airpower expert. Imagine if we had court-martialed George S. Patton, our leading tank expert? Imagine the difference in the way the ground war would have been fought?
Turn it around. What if Mitchell had survived to command allied air forces (instead of Hap Arnold)? Maybe we would have had the B-29, and other advanced types BEFORE we entered WW2 instead of toward the end of it. Perhaps we wouldn't have spent the first year of the war sending un-escorted bombers over Europe & taking 20 - 25% losses on each mission.
Good point & one I was about to make. One slight quibble: one reason that major surface actions were commonplace in the waters around Guadalcanal was that both sides had lost the use of their carriers at about the same time. The US lost the Wasp to a torpedo, Enterprise was laid up for repairs, Yorktown was gone, and the Essex-carriers were not yet on line.
The Japanese had lost Soryu, Hiryu, Kaga & Akagi at Midway. Their remaining fleet carriers, Shokkaku & Zuikkaku were also damaged & undergoing repairs.
The Japanese would run surface ships down the slot at night, but had to scramble back up the slot before the Army/Navy/Marine pilots started patrolling at dawn. Any damaged Japanese vessel from a night surface action was basically dead meat by the next morning.
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