Re: Helltank and Helltank Destroyer

In a message dated 98-01-24 14:39:11 EST, Mikko Kurki-Suonio wrote:

<< While true of navies that had ample destroyers to throw around, and 
 generally a sound tactic if you had the resources for it, one must 
 remember that German ships of WWII went out almost always without a 
 destroyer escort of any kind -- yet I can not recall one getting hurt
by 
 a torpedo attack from a lighter vessel EVER (finishing Bismarck off 
 doesn't count).
 
 The Japanese managed to score a few cruisers but nothing bigger, and
they
 were the best when it came to surface launched torps. 
 
 I think the offensive value of destroyer torps is somewhat overrated. 
 IMHO, it's more like a bee-sting than a wasp-sting -- defensive in
nature 
 (a bee dies delivering the sting, a wasp doesn't). >>

Well... can you think of a time when _any_  German capital ship other
than the
Bismarck even put to sea? I could be wrong, and as I'm in the States at
the
moment I don't have my reference books to hand (they're all back in the
UK),
but I think germany only ever built the Bismarck andTirpitz. In the case
of
the Bismarck, leaving port without a serious destroyer escort was a
pretty
suicidal move, though not so much because of the torpedo threat as
aircraft.
Air power was the major threat to capital ships in WWII, hence the
reason the
US navy operated in Task Forces: the destroyer 'screen' was primarily an
anti-
aircraft defence.

Jonathan was actually referring originally to WWI, where airpower was
not a
factor, but destroyer squadrons were effectively employed, if only to
cover
the retreat of the battleships.

Anyway, this discussion seems to have come a long way from Helltank!

Later,

Matt Hill