Re: [OFFICIAL] Missile Ideas

Mikko Kurki-Suonio writes:

@:) Or maybe Hollywood really meant Yamato's sistership, the Musashi
@:) and you're referring to the Battle of Surigao Strait (October
@:) 24-25, 1944)?

  That's probably what he's thinking of.

@:) Except Musashi wasn't there. She was sunk earlier by US aircraft.
@:) Even then you're ignoring the slight 3:1 battleship advantage the
@:) Americans held.

  In the strait itself, the battleships only got involved pretty late,
after the destroyers had pounded most of the Japanese ships into
snot.  I don't recall exactly what ships the Japanese had at this
point but some of them were fairly heavy.  Cruisers and the like.

  [ warning: I have forgotten the names of all places, players and
ships involved in the following action ]

  At the same time as this battle was taking place, a second Japanese
force was trying to kill the American task force 54 (34? You know who
I mean).  They expected them to be guarding the northern approach to
the harbor just to the north of the Surigao Strait (the strait is the
Southern approach).  Well they weren't but a small force of escort
carriers, light cruisers and destroyers was and that force managed to
fight off the Japanese force which contained at least one battleship
and a bunch of heavy cruisers, because the Japanese admiral got
spooked and didn't get his fleet in order.  I don't think any Japanese
ships were sunk however.

  I can look up the details if anyone's interested.

@:) Ok, enough of this. Let's look at things more abstractly:
@:) 
@:) Fact: More ships is more flexible. Especially in a campaign.
@:) Rough figures: A BB might cost 500pts. A DD 100pts. Thus you get 5
@:) DDs for the price of one BB in FT.	Consequently, for 500 points,
@:) the flotilla of DDs is more flexible.

  Yup.	However they may or may not be as flexible as in the real
world, where DDs played an important role as scouts, communication
vessels, fleet pickets, ASW ships, AA defense, night attack boats,
armored cargo carriers (!), rescue ships etc, etc, etc.  Most of these
missions don't come into play in a typical FT game (or campaign) so
the DDs lose some value there.	On the other hand, it sure would be
interesting to come up with a campaign in which these kinds of actions
were required.

-joachim