The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #104248 Message #2137018
Posted By: Little Hawk
30-Aug-07 - 01:31 PM
Thread Name: BS: What are the absolutes of good writing?
Subject: RE: BS: What are the absolutes of good writing?
Theoretically, perhaps, Rinslinger...
However, I doubt that it would have turned out that way in practice, because the USA's newer battleships had considerably more advanced rangefinding systems than the Japanese did. Their rangefinders were harmonized with very advanced surface radar equipment for increased accuracy. The Japanese had much more primitive radar...I think it was only useful for spotting aircraft...and they had to rely on optical rangefinders that were not as good as the American ones when fighting gunnery duels.
I think the American ships would have had a distinct advantage at longer ranges. Firing at the most extreme ranges usually yields few, if any hits. At shorter range things would have been more equalized.
Anyway, it's sort of a moot point because by 1944 the Americans had established what amounted to almost total air supremacy at sea, and it was their many hundreds of carrier aircraft which presented the most deadly threat to Japanese surface vessels. The Japanese Navy really had no chance at all in the one-sided battles of 1944 and 1945, despite the advanced design features of some of their fine warships...and the unquestionable courage of their personnel.
Yamato and Musashi were deliberately built to be larger than any conceivable American battleship...by the simply expedient of giving them a beam broader than can pass through the Panama Canal! All American capital ships had to be narrow enough in the beam to get through there, for obvious reasons, and that limited their size to below a certain tonnage. The Yamato and Musashi were considerably wider built ships of a heavier tonnage. This made them quite a bit harder to sink, and it allowed the mounting of heavier guns and more armor. They were also surprisingly maneuverable, due to a very good hull design. They were really the final statement in battleships...all they lacked was the very sophisticated radar and rangefinding equipment of their American counterparts.
Oh, and the Japanese ships also lacked as effective an anti-aircraft system with which to protect themselves. American anti-aircraft guns were way ahead of any other nation's at the time...proving devastatingly effective against Japanese aircraft.