All or nothing concept?

As silly theories go I liked the one that maybe it was caused by a crewman having a sneaky smoke while sat on a bag of cordite.

 

Re: MkII Shell Magnet

Nonsense! HOOD was sunk by an Imperial Star Destroyer!

 

Someone mention the British Armored Deck carriers a while back. I believe the concept behind the armored deck was thus.

The first armored carriers were designed at a time before radar had become a practical proposition. Therefore the first indication of incoming enemy aircraft would be when they were sighted by the carriers escorting destroyers. Since the speed of aircraft was steadily rising the amount of warning the destroyers could offer was dropping. A carrier might not be able to get planes into the air to defend it so instead the ship was armored to be able to 'roll with the punchs'

The whole concept was interesting but ultimately for a number of reasons it was going down a technological dead alley.

 

Armoured box carriers

http://p216.ezboard.com/fwarships1discu ... =887.topic

Has anyone read anything to suggest that any RN planners were at any time during the late 30’s beginning to doubt the wisdom of the armoured box carrier with its limited air group and only able to withstand a 500lb bomb - the size carried by the Skua at the time. Engine power and the carrying capacity of aircraft were increasing all the time and although I doubt if they would know much about the true capabilities of other countries aircraft, looking at how British aircraft has progressed should have given them some clues and so knock away one of the reasoning’s behind the armoured box carrier as designed.

In addition, would any of these planners be in a position to know about the developments in radar which would knock away another of the reasoning’s behind the armoured box carrier - radar would give the advance warning that faster aircraft had taken away.

 

In the 1930's radar wasn't so much cutting edge as the bleeding edge. Even by 1941 you have fairly major units running around without a full radar package. I say this because during the hunt for the Bismark in 41 HMS Suffolk had a full search radar but Norfolk had only a navigational radar that was fixed forward.

Designing a warship is a difficult task for countries like Britain and the US. If you are prepared to buy ' off the shelf ' then size and weight of a system is a known factor. Cutting edge can't offer this certainty and you don't what to be in a position of relying totally on a certain brand new system incase its designers come back and say ' whoops we could get it to work after all '.

I'd not wanting to getting into a debate on the virtues of the Armored carrier since I'd believe they were a technological step in the wrong direction.

 

Another point that can be made is that new technology takes awhile to be trusted by those who are expected to use it. Just as an example, trusting radar did not come easily to many American admirals during the first year of the Pacific War, who often simply did not understand the device or its potential. This cost the USN a number of casualties in the surface battles in the Solomons in 1942-43.

 

That was me, I merely brought up the armored deck of the RN carriers to point out the deficiency of the US wooden-deck flattops that suffered against aerial attacks or Kamikazee runs.

 

Hey, why not a "all-or-nothing" concept battle tank?? But where would the "nothing" section be?

Just kidding

 

It's hard to get excited about the greater resistance to Kamikazee attacks. Like a lot of things in war the Kamikazee has achieved a level of a fame out of all proportion to its actual military usefulness. It was effectively the product of a failing military regime that lacked the courage to face the brutal truth that victory or even a draw was beyond Japans grasp.

 

The British armored-box carriers were more vulnerable to kamikaze attack but more resistant to kamikaze hits.

 

One American officer phrased it this way: "When an American carrier took a kamikaze, it was six months in Pearl (Harbor). With the Limey carriers, it's 'Sweepers, man your brooms!'"

 

Talk about dusting off flies. It's always tough for a 5 ton aircraft (even when fully loaded) to do much damage to a 30,000 ton ship.

 

The crews of the US carriers BUNKER HILL, HANCOCK, ENTERPRISE, SARATOGA, and INTREPID might disagree with that assessment, liang.