The United States should retain some battleships as a symbol of out naval superiority

[Dreadnought]

I didnt mean to take it as a flame post its just we get so many these days from "week enders" with nothing better to do it almost becomes second nature.

But, just to say Welcome to WAB. Hope you enjoy your stay.

I agree with you on most parts of the torpedo protection schemes available during WWII. I believe this is why the USN relied on damage control measures to make up for weaker points aboard their ships. Their damage control measures certainly paid off when one thinks of how many USN ships could have been lost due to poor damage control measures not just due to torpedoes but gunfire,bombing, kamichazi and the occassional high seas storms and ofcoarse Naval accidents with ships colliding.

The best measure of defense against the long lance torpedoes came when the USN realized how powerful a torpedo it actually was for the time.Pearl Harbor among other battles helped reinforce this belief. It wasnt until later they developed their destroyer tactics in order to draw the IJN torpedo fire instead of depending on the bigger ships (CV's,BB's,CA's,CL's etc) to be able to outmanuver them.


Japan lacked damage control measures more then any Navy I have ever read about. Coming from a Navy that was a great sea power I found this surprising.
Midways carriers or atleast two of them could have been saved had they taken damage control more seriously. From what I have read about the USN during Midways battles as soon as they (USN) launched the fighters/torpedo bombers off the deck they would drain all av fueling lines, lock down the hangars, elevators etc. According to a few books this was a fatal error on the Japanese part. The av fueling lines well kept full aboard Japanese carriers spreading the fires more quickly then everything excluding the bomb hits to the lower hangars etc.

Radar greatly improved the USN chances of catching them unaware and also gave the USN a few minutes heads up before their planes would arrive so they could be buttoned up before the fighters/bombers arrived and could already assume a good speed for manuvering against the planes coming in plus their CAP would be waiting for them as both sides exercised this tactic.

[Dreadnought]

Damage control training on average I grant was superior in most U.S. ships, but there are enough examples of ships surving damage in other navies to make it very much not an absolute rule.

Agreed, Jutland was a great lesson in damage control for both parties involved. The Brits lost more ships and lives then Germany after few hits but they were well placed hits. Some of Germany's ships would have never made it home if it wasnt for superior damage control measures. Shipping water,limping home on one screw with alot of damaged machinery and not to mention the body counts onboard. Ever since reading about it in depth does one find that the Germans built a such great ships. They introduced several new concepts on ship building design and layout long before the outset of WWII.

Japan on the other hand I would have expected to have better damage control then they had coming from experience years before in 1904-1905. Togo's fleet was superior in speed and gunnery They witnessed the damage they inflicted on the Russians during the Russo Japanes wars some 40 years earlier and yet didnt capitalize on it training wise where as the Russians were poorly trained and outmatched ship wise. Supposedly the Japanese only lost threee torpedo boats where as the Russians almost lost everything except for i believe 4 ships survived. Japan had in addition learned that the element of surprise would now become a forefront in their naval strategy from that year forward.

[reve893]

I would first like to say that a battleship still represents the might of a country. If any other stupid country wants to mess with the US. We can always get a battleship to bombard their harbor. Just to show other suckers not to mess with us. THey can also be used as command ships, and i would say that armoring them with depleted uranium plates would make them even stronger. Giving them some missiles, to shoot down planes, and some new shells. We are talking major power.

[IDonT]

How about this...

The USN recommissiones USS Missouri indefinately, the same way the USS constitution is still in "commission".