posted
Supposedly the users knew her as the Applecore.
(There's a special moment in RN aviation infamy where a bunch of Albacores failed to sink the Tirpiz because they were too slow to keep up with her... The battleship pushed about 30 knots against the wind, while the Albacores could barely made headway. I rather doubt the planes of the Graf Zeppelin could have done worse. Then again, they would have been under the direct control of G�ring...)
We Finns have fond memories of the discards of other navies' aviation arsenals. We were saved by Brewster Buffaloes the USN didn't want, had some Anson bombers the RN didn't want, and were about to receive a number of the Blackburn Skua's uglier sister Roc as well. After scraping the bottom of the barrel all on our own, we then became recipients of Hitler's poorest-quality European loot for the latter half of the war. Having one plane of each type is not quite the ideal way to build an air force...
OTOH, it was fun to pick up a book on WWII aviation history and see basically every entry for a Soviet plane decorated with a photo of an example captured by the Finns and painted with blue swastikas. Sometimes those were the only photos available of a particular type.
WizArtist II
"How can you have a yellow alert in Spacedock? "
Member # 1425
posted
I know the Brits used the Grumman F4F under the name "Martlet" and I believe they also used the Corsair before it received qualification aboard U.S. carriers. IIRC there was a Sea-Hurricane and a Sea-Fury but I am not up on when they entered service.
It's really amazing how completely wasted the German surface navy was. Imagine if they had assembled ONE fleet of:
and around 35-40 destroyers. This would have been quite an assembly for the British to deal with. Early on IIRC the only ships that could come close to matching firepower with the battlewagons were the Rodney and the Nelson, the KGV class having only 14" guns.
-------------------- There are 10 types of people in the world...those that understand Binary and those that don't.
Registered: Nov 2004
| IP: Logged
posted
Well, "wasted" is the right word. Basically everything that floated was used on the Norwegian expedition - and basically everything was either sunk or damaged on that expedition, too.
Both the "battlecruisers" (actually, the exact opposite of battlecruiser - these had heavy armor but light guns) and all the cruisers taking part were damaged, and two cruisers sunk. Several support vessels were lost as well. Virtually the entire destroyer force went to the bottom at Narvik.
I won't blame Raeder or even Hitler a bit for their timidity in using the Kriegsmarine after that, or for not finishing any new surface ships. In fact, that was standard Nazi operating procedure in the war: they would gamble everything, and lose everything, even if each of their respective early conquest campaigns did succeed in reaching its goals.
The trick for such a fleet would have been finding an objective for it.
Can't invade GB without lots of transports and total air control.
That fleet is overkill for an anti-convoy mission.
The Royal Navy is unlikely to give you a massive fleet vs. fleet battle that they can't win just for the heck of it. If you spend any time within land based air strike range you're toast.
Perhaps they could have invaded Iceland if the ships were available early enough in the war. Logistics would have been hell though.
-------------------- Twee bieren tevreden, zullen mijn vriend betalen.
Registered: Oct 2000
| IP: Logged
WizArtist II
"How can you have a yellow alert in Spacedock? "
Member # 1425
posted
They could have been used at the straight of Gibraltar (with land based air support) to choke off the ability of the RN from running the Med. Had they actually COORDINATED with the Italian fleet, they could have made North African campaigns far more hellish than they were. As for Narvik, It is suicidal to run large capital ships into narrow accessways. Happened to Nishimura & Shima too.
-------------------- There are 10 types of people in the world...those that understand Binary and those that don't.
Registered: Nov 2004
| IP: Logged
posted
This is all a German plot! It's about time unified Germany became a global threat again- fuck this "war on terorism" pussy shit- I want a real World war!
I'm thinking the current Germany could still roll right over France's ass to get the ball roilling.
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
| IP: Logged
Shik
Starship database: completed; History of Starfleet: done; website: probably never
Member # 343
posted
Always the Germans with you people. How about a changeup? Perhaps some nice Norwegian hegemony?
-------------------- "The French have a saying: 'mise en place'—keep everything in its fucking place!"
Registered: Jun 2000
| IP: Logged
posted
Too tough to throw together in time. Besides, Germany is a classic, China just never happened, and Russia's been done to death.
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
| IP: Logged
Shik
Starship database: completed; History of Starfleet: done; website: probably never
Member # 343
posted
I'm old-school at heart. Persia FTW.
-------------------- "The French have a saying: 'mise en place'—keep everything in its fucking place!"
Registered: Jun 2000
| IP: Logged
WizArtist II
"How can you have a yellow alert in Spacedock? "
Member # 1425
posted
Let the Second Great Incan Empire begin!
-------------------- There are 10 types of people in the world...those that understand Binary and those that don't.
Registered: Nov 2004
| IP: Logged
quote:Originally posted by Shik: I'm old-school at heart. Persia FTW.
I'm down with that. Where will we find our Alexander to crush them though? Certainly not among the Greeks.
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
| IP: Logged
WizArtist II
"How can you have a yellow alert in Spacedock? "
Member # 1425
posted
Well...there is always....Damien.
-------------------- There are 10 types of people in the world...those that understand Binary and those that don't.
Registered: Nov 2004
| IP: Logged
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
| IP: Logged
quote:Originally posted by WizArtist II: They could have been used at the straight of Gibraltar (with land based air support) to choke off the ability of the RN from running the Med. Had they actually COORDINATED with the Italian fleet, they could have made North African campaigns far more hellish than they were. As for Narvik, It is suicidal to run large capital ships into narrow accessways. Happened to Nishimura & Shima too.
ooooh - Good one. If they could resupply via Italy the logistics would be fairly secure too. Leaves the north Atlantic open except for U-boats, but the surface fleet wasn't good for much there anyhow.
-------------------- Twee bieren tevreden, zullen mijn vriend betalen.
Registered: Oct 2000
| IP: Logged
Printer-friendly view of this topic
