The Tow Files: Same Crap, Different Year.

[earl colby pottinger]

Don't forget

It seems like a lot of capital ships' final fate was to be scuttled by their own crew. The large ships were frequently too tough to actually sink in a short period of time, even after being effectively turned into scrap (as far as combat was concerned). But they contained stuff their owners didn't want the Other Side to see, and there may have been some possibility that they could have been fixed up and used by the Other Side against Their Side. So they were scuttled.

Even it they can't fix it up you just supplied a lot of high grade metal that the other side will not have to mine first, and will use a lot less fuel to melt down.

[Tanasi]

[history sperg] To be fair, nobody's gunnery was that "good" early in WW2. At the time, the most sophisticated forms of naval gunnery were still relying on WW1 era technology like visual rangefinders and adjusting your shots based on where the splashes from your misses were falling. Even the best crew generally needed 3 tries to hit a target: Too long, too short, BINGO.

In 1940/1941, gunnery boiled down to "throw enough s*it at the wall, some of it will stick"

By late in WW2 , radar had been invented and the first crude analog computers were appearing to plot firing solutions. Which is why it's called that, you plug numbers into the computer, you get the solution to the equation.

By contrast, in 1944 the USS West Virginia hit the IJN Yamashiro on her first salvo, at 23,000 yards , in the DARK.

Interestingly, the record for longest confirmed hit in WW2 was 26,000 yards, scored by, who else? HMS Warspite, the most decorated battleship in history, and it was in 1940 on mostly guesswork and grit. [/history sperg]

Your second statement reminds me of a yousetuber The Mighty Jingles who uses that phrase alot. It's also very true.
Some pre-Pearl Harbor American BBs had the analog computers to which you're referring, specifically the North Carolina and it also had early fire control radar. Maybe excepting for the Texas and New Yorks the other BBs were upgraded with FCR. My dad was at that battle you're referring to he was on the BB-43 USS Tennessee. He was nearly part of the Pearl Harbor battle, he came in next day and was assigned to a repair ship.
BTW, the Iowas still use the same analog computers for fire control of the main guns.

[Tanasi]

British guns pummeled it, torpedoes rammed into it, and the crew scuttled it. But the Bismarck was unsinkable! It took a lot to make it go down.

I wouldn't say it was unsinkable, eventually the British would have got it they did sink the Tirpitz its sister ship. German ships were well engineered.

It seems like a lot of capital ships' final fate was to be scuttled by their own crew. The large ships were frequently too tough to actually sink in a short period of time, even after being effectively turned into scrap (as far as combat was concerned). But they contained stuff their owners didn't want the Other Side to see, and there may have been some possibility that they could have been fixed up and used by the Other Side against Their Side. So they were scuttled.

Capital ship are purposely built to be hard to sink, there was still a lot of question where or not the Oriskany would sink when it was scuttled. It's too bad so many of our old and retired capitol ships were scrapped. I know my state would love to have BB-43 in Memphis maybe one day we'll get SSBN-734.

[Argabarga]

Due to the large amount of real-life pummeling they survived before sinking, the Bismarck and Yamato are frequently the unsinkable OMG PLS NERF ships in many a naval combat game, from one I used to play on graph paper with rolled dice in high school (They were an 8 and 9 respectively, with the Iowa and North Carolina being "only" 7's

While in "World of Warships", a current time-waster of mine, Bis is the toughest "Real" German ship, the two above her on the tech tree are theoretical designs that were never built while the Yamato is the top ship in the game that sinks other ships so easily that the aforementioned Jingles joked that it has a "delete" key on the bridge AND is effectively immune from being sunk by torpedoes, as even a full spread of 6 hitting isn't enough, you have to circle round and land an entire SECOND spread before she gives up the ghost


As far as whiny tow victims, we tell them to take it up with Tow Manager, siccing them on their friends or landlords may make us liable if an altercation ensued based on us telling the customer to go argue with someone......

[mjr]

while the Yamato is the top ship in the game that sinks other ships so easily that the aforementioned Jingles joked that it has a "delete" key on the bridge AND is effectively immune from being sunk by torpedoes, as even a full spread of 6 hitting isn't enough, you have to circle round and land an entire SECOND spread before she gives up the ghost

Let's not forget...the Yamato was also a space ship...

Anybody remember "Star Blazers"?

[dawnfire]

loved that show

[Monterey Jack]

Desslok-Desslok-Desslok...!

[Tanasi]

Due to the large amount of real-life pummeling they survived before sinking, the Bismarck and Yamato are frequently the unsinkable OMG PLS NERF ships in many a naval combat game, from one I used to play on graph paper with rolled dice in high school (They were an 8 and 9 respectively, with the Iowa and North Carolina being "only" 7's

While in "World of Warships", a current time-waster of mine, Bis is the toughest "Real" German ship, the two above her on the tech tree are theoretical designs that were never built while the Yamato is the top ship in the game that sinks other ships so easily that the aforementioned Jingles joked that it has a "delete" key on the bridge AND is effectively immune from being sunk by torpedoes, as even a full spread of 6 hitting isn't enough, you have to circle round and land an entire SECOND spread before she gives up the ghost


As far as whiny tow victims, we tell them to take it up with Tow Manager, siccing them on their friends or landlords may make us liable if an altercation ensued based on us telling the customer to go argue with someone......

I've sunk the Yamato many times in WoW using DDs, CE,CL and BBs. Never played a CV. Yamato's armor isn't that exceptional however it's main batteries are capable of citadels on anything in the game.

[Nunavut Pants]

Let's not forget...the Yamato was also a space ship...

Fighting with the Gammalons,
We won't stop until we've won
If we can win, the Earth will survive...

[mjr]

Fighting with the Gammalons,
We won't stop until we've won
If we can win, the Earth will survive...

With Ouuuur Starrrr Blazerrrrs!!!

[DiRF]

With Ouuuur Starrrr Blazerrrrs!!!

https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/u-sAA...lT3/s-l500.jpg

I'm more of a UPSF Soyokaze man, myself.