Re: Helltank and Helltank Destroyer

On Wed, 21 Jan 1998, Jonathan Jarrard wrote:

> During several periods of history, that has not been true.  No gun a
WWI
> destoryer mounted could hurt a battleship seriously, and even the
light
> guns mounted by a battleship could damage the destroyer (while the
> largest could sink or cripple one with a single shot).  Torpedoes were
a
> threat, but that's why battleships didn't travel alone.  The screening
> ships meant the destoryers couldn't put their torpedoes on target, and
> the battleship meant that light units couldn't defeat the screen.

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).

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