Re: 18.1" Anti-Aircraft Guns!!!

Imre A. Szabo wrote:

> Hi Guys,
>
> I finished the book "Big Fleet Actions" by Eric Grove.  In the section
> on the battle of the Philippine Sea, it stated that the Japanesse
> considered all their guns dual prupose.  They even had special
> "incendiary shrapnel shells for big guns up to 18.1in caliber" for
> anti-aircraft use!
>
> This is in direct contradiction of the Full Thrust Rules, page 17. 
One
> way to correct the rulses is to allow all beam to fire as PDS, but
they
> only get 1d6 at short range, even if it is a Class 20 beam.
>
> IAS

  True enough, but IIRC, they (the 18.1" guns) didn't knock down a
single
airplane. All those big guns could do is point in the general direction
and
hope the scattershot hit something- the guns were simply too big and
slow
to accurately track a fast moving aircraft. Using anti-ship weapons
against
small craft just isn't a very good idea- its all in the trade-off (big
heavy weapon that can smash armor and hull, or a small light gun that
can
traverse quickly and can track fast craft- well, sorta : )