Re: [OFFICIAL] Missile Ideas

>Mikko Kurki-Suonio writes:
>@:) 
>@:) In any case, one must not discount the American superiority in
>@:) numbers nor the very favourable strategic position.
>
>  Especially the latter.  The Japanese really screwed that one up and
>basically walked into a trap.
>
>@:) That's the "Battle off Samar" I mentioned earlier. The small force
>@:) had about 20 CVEs and their about 500 planes. I'd say those planes
>@:) had something to do with Kurita's decision to withdraw.
>
>  I'm not so sure... I don't recall that they even launched any
>planes.  What I am sure they did was lay down a lot of smoke and duck
>in and out of it.  I think Kurita assumed, by the way they were
>fighting, that he'd found the (Nimitz's?) task force and he withdrew
>to organize his fleet.  I will definitely have to look it up now.

IIRC, the Japanese did indeed misidentify the CVEs and destroyers as CVs
and
cruisers, confirmed by the vigour of the DDs in reduced visibility.  The
IJN
force was already disorganized, having ordered "general pursuit", and
Kurita
withdrew as described.	"Battleship at war" quotes one of the senior IJN
commanders' description of that action- I'll check it tonight. The ID
problem was common in times past; in "Cruiser at War" an RN officer
describes an encounter with some German DDs and a vessel "very like a
Hipper
class cruiser, which turned out to be RN frigates and the battleship
Rodney
(which looks less like a Hipper than almost any other ship in the
world!).

SNIP
>@:) Does anyone else think mines are underpowered, especially wrt
>@:) missiles?
>  I guess I do, since I've never even considered dropping a mine.
>-joachim

Absolutely!  As they're expensive and fairly massive, I think hitting
one
should be a serious matter for a capital, and disastrous for an escort. 
As
is, the mean damage is 1.33 points, with a maximum of 4 and a good
chance
(i.e. I can't be fashed working it out!) of none.  I think Phil
Pournelle
suggested 1d6 damage per mine, and that feels right to me.

Cheers,
Rob Paul