Re: Tin Cans versus Dreadnoughts

Robert:
  I would agree with you about most of the battleships sunk during WWII
were of 
the older nature.  However there were a couple that were of modern
design.  
Besides the two Japanese BB and the German Bismarck there was also the
Britsih 
Prince of Whales.  Her and the Repulse (an older ship that had been 
reconstructed if I remember correctly) were attached by most land based
Japanese 
naval plans.  The POW was a modern ship that took several hits.  One of
those 
hits shut down electrical supply espeically to AA and radar.  The other
hit that 
doomed her was a hit near the propeller shaft (#4 if memory iscorrect).
The crew 
coupld not disengage the shaft from the engine in time to prevent if
from 
opening up the seals in several places which caused progressive
flooding. The 
actual number of plans in the attack was about 88 if memory is correct.
  An interesting note about one of the American BBs (Iowa class). It
seems there 
was a dent left in th armor following a Japanese attack that was never
repaired 
properly.  Sometime later (and we are talking 70s or 80 here) some mavy
repair 
men used bondo or something similar to fill in the dent.  The captain of
the 
ship was almost livid at them doing that.  "It dates back to WWII!" was
one 
comment.  Jexx, these brass, don't appreciate hard work.
  OBTrav comment.  Every now and then I get a minature that hs a
deformity.  
When asked about that I usually invent something on the spot like  "Of,
that was 
damaged done to no critical parts of the ship during tthe last battle. 
This was 
rushed here due to the severity of the problem."  This also works for
ships that 
have slightly tilted pieces that were glued on not quit perfect.
  
  John W. Fox
  
  
> 
> Good points John. I'd like to add a couple of more points about 2nd
> Guadalcanal. The Japanese capital ship that was sunk was Hiei, one of
a
> class of four battlecruisers reconstructed as fast battleships in the
late
> 1930's. She defnitely didn't have a "modern" (for 1942) battleship
scale of
> protection, even allowing for the extensive refit. Secondly, 2nd
Guadalcanal
> was indeed a "barroom brawl". Initial contact (and open fire), despite
U.S
> radar and the vaunted Japanese optics, occurred at about 3000 yards or
so,
> at which range the U.S. 8inch guns were at least theoretically capable
of
> penetrating the Hiei's relative thin main belt and turret armor.
Finally,
> the air attack threat was sustained air attack from the SBD's based on
> Henderson Field, not just a single carrier strike. Despite all of
that, it
> can well be argued that Hiei was lost as much due to the indecision of
her
> captain as to her battle damage. Inter alia it should be noted that
most of
> the "easy" capital ship kills in WWII (Royal Oak, Hood, Barham,
Arizona for
> instance) were obsolete or obsolescent vessels. Modern capital ships
> (Scharnhorst, Bismarck, etc.) proved extremely tough and difficult to
sink,
> whether by air attack, torpedo, or surface gunfire. USS North
Carolina, for
> instance, was able to maintain 25 knots AFTER being hit by a Japanese
> submarine torpedo under the Number 1 turret. The only modern
battleship that
> was an "easy" kill that I can think of was the Italian Roma, sunk by a
> single (or possibly 2) hits from a 1400lb guided bomb which exploded
her
> magazine.