Gawdzilla Sama
TImeToSweepTheLeg
At the beginning of WWI the USN would have done just as badly. It took one very handsome admiral to get them sorted out.
"New" book on Pearl Harbor, attack analysis.
- Thread starter Gawdzilla Sama
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At the beginning of WWI the USN would have done just as badly. It took one very handsome admiral to get them sorted out.
lobosrul
Master Poster
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Yeah, I'm going on capabilities, not probabilities. When you come right down to it the Japanese were just crap at this whole Navy thing.
I'm not sure I'd totally agree with that.
As evidence:
http://combinedfleet.com/battles/Java_Campaign
... OK that one can be explained away by a lack of unit cohesion between disparate navies. And also, we just weren't ready for them.
But,
http://combinedfleet.com/battles/Guadalcanal_Campaign
We got our butt's handed to us a couple of times there.
I have just found out that the first carrier attack ever was launched in September 1914 by the Japanese, against German and Austro-Hungarian ships at anchor in the German-controlled Chinese port of Tsingtao. The ships were undamaged. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Tsingtao
German-style beer is still made there. The Chinese have regained the port and kept the brewery. Smart.
German-style beer is still made there. The Chinese have regained the port and kept the brewery. Smart.
Gawdzilla Sama
TImeToSweepTheLeg
The first German attack on a Soviet position happened during WWI.
Soviet? You mean between November 1917 and the Brest-Litovsk treaty?
Gawdzilla Sama
TImeToSweepTheLeg
Yep, on the Baltic Coast. Don't have the source handy for that, sorry.
Andy_Ross
Penultimate Amazing
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It wasn't a Carrier as you may know it. It was for all intents and purposes a Cargo Ship
A Seaplane Carrier is more of a Tender or Depot Ship. It would use cranes to hoist aricraft aboard for servicing or repair
good site here with pictures of the ship and it's aircraft
http://warnepieces.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/wings-of-rising-sun-in-world-war-one_18.html
Gawdzilla Sama
TImeToSweepTheLeg
Yep, "tenders" tend to their charges, they don't launch them. To qualify as a carrier in my book you need to launch and recover aircraft without hoisting them out of the water.
And do it in the dark with a full gale blowing.
Gawdzilla Sama
TImeToSweepTheLeg
Just bought Pacific Crucible.
Gawdzilla Sama
TImeToSweepTheLeg
Well into this one. He's not kind to any side, which gets my respect.
catsmate
No longer the 1
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USN damage control was considered excellent, I assume the same ideas were used ashore?
At at a range of ~100m. With searchlights...
That whole voyage was a bit of a farce. Besides the Dogger Bank incident they fired on the Swedish steamer Aldebaran, the German trawler Sonntag and the French sailing vessel Guyane along with a number of small craft attempting to deliver Russian consular dispatches when passing near the Danish coast.
Ironically one of the undelivered dispatches was a personal message for the fleet commander (Rozhestvensky) from Tsar Nicholas telling him of his promotion to Vice-Admiral rank...
At Cape Town there was (probably) the only incident of a crocodile getting loose on a battleship ever recorded in naval history. Plus some snakes...
However it's inspired me to write a time travel RPG scenario involving an attempt to start WW1 a decade early.
Gawdzilla Sama
TImeToSweepTheLeg
With 54 very large tanks of combustibles on the premises the Pearl Harbor Naval Base Fire Department was always preparing for a emergency.
Gawdzilla Sama
TImeToSweepTheLeg
... and I'd suggest you save your money for something you really want. Nothing wrong with the book, but it wouldn't be nearly the 133 pages if he'd gone with his own interpretations of events. The feeling I got was the voluminous quotes were there to pad it out to something close to the size needed to sell. (I would suggest you get the bibliography, it's impressive.)
Corsair 115
Penultimate Amazing
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In the bibliography of Shattered Sword it mentions the book Fire in the Sky: The Air War in the South Pacific by Eric M. Bergerud. The library here has that one, so that's next on my read list. 
I'll follow that up with The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors by James D. Hornfischer.
My thanks again to this thread for getting me to start doing some historical WWII reading again.
I'll follow that up with The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors by James D. Hornfischer.
My thanks again to this thread for getting me to start doing some historical WWII reading again.
ArchieGoodwin
Muse
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I've ordered two books already because of this thread... Do I have to get this one too, really?
Gawdzilla Sama
TImeToSweepTheLeg
Zimm's book is, frankly, for the hardcore military reader. He uses wargame theory to analyze the attack and points out the heavily flawed strategy and tactics used by the IJN. Bottom line is "Yamamoto should have gotten his head handed to him on a platter."
Hara's book is more readable.
Hornfischer's book is a detailed, blow-by-blow look at the Battle of Taffy 3, one of the David-vs.-Goliath battles in history. This was the first hardback I had purchased in nearly twenty years, based on the reviews by forumites all over the web. I agree with them completely.
Hara's book is more readable.
Hornfischer's book is a detailed, blow-by-blow look at the Battle of Taffy 3, one of the David-vs.-Goliath battles in history. This was the first hardback I had purchased in nearly twenty years, based on the reviews by forumites all over the web. I agree with them completely.
dudalb
Penultimate Amazing
Tsingtao Beer....standard part of the menu at every Chinese Restaurant in the U.S.