RE: IJN Tugs

>During the Battle of the Atlantic, especially in the early days, the
Royal
>Navy was so short of dedicated escort craft that Ocean going tugs were
>frequently used on the convoy runs.

While this is an example of desperation and not planned fleet design,
I'll
accept it.

>I suppose it would be nice to have large, armed tugs for the job in
hand,
>but how likely is it that a space faring power would put resources into
such
>a design when they could build a conventional warship instead? Why not
just
>send in a bare-bones conventional tug with a light escort?

I imagine the first would be my point, and the second would indicate my
'strategic defense', save you'd need a lot less than one tender/carrier
for
each ship in the fleet. To run an attack fleet with less transport than
you
have fighting craft seems to invite defeat in detail.

>that is to say the ships they tow would unhitch from the tugs and make
way
>to the redevouze point independently, leaving the tugs safely out of
>harms way.

Well, those ships dispersed would individually be subject to being
jumped,
and in my view, a tender with carried boat would be far more vulnerable
than a warship alone, but I see we probably disagree on that point.

Otherwise, all in all, we seem to agree.

The_Beast