re: #311 Targetpractice

Well, these were the days when they still very seriously believed that battleships would remain the capital ship of any strong navy. One can only wonder at how the Pacific War might have played out had the attack on Battleship Row failed and the US Navy had not had to rely on its carriers for their offensive punch.

The Japanese had a battle plan that counted on luring the US Battle fleet into an ambush the Marshall or Solomon Islands areas. Draw them in, encircle them and then chew them up with airpower. Once suitably weakened the battleships would finish off the US fleet.

Humorously, that was almost exactly the same plan the US Navy had prior to WWII, but with the presumption that _our_ battleships would be superior to those of the supposedly nearsighted, lower tech, IJN.

Everyone wanted the One Big Clash. Closest they came was at The Battle of Surigao Strait when the old BB’s, many veterans of Pearl, would cross Nishimura’s “T”.

It’s arguable that the US disaster at Pearl Harbor was one of the best things to ever happen to the US Navy…