Re: [FT] Re: Tin Cans versus Dreadnoughts

--- Nyrath the nearly wise <nyrath@clark.net> wrote:
> 
>	In traditional WWII naval doctrine, there was a
> reason for the
>	small ships.
>	It was called "torpedo boats".
> 
>	Battleships could blow any lesser ship of the line
> right out
>	of the water, but those pesky torpedo boats were
> too fast to
>	be hit by any gun mounted on a battleship.
> 
>	And a couple of well placed torpedo boats could
> send a
>	battleship to Davy Jone's locker.
> 
>	Thus: the Torpedo Boat Destroyer, which was
> shortened
>	to "Destroyer."
> 
>	This was a fast (i.e, little or no armor belt) ship
>	specialized to swat torpedo boats.
> 
>	Battleships and Destroyers need each other. 
> Battleships
>	protect destroyers from other battleships, and
> destroyers
>	protect battleships from torpedo boats.
> 
>	Cruisers, on the other hand, are balanced ships
> which
>	are optimized for independent (i.e., non-fleet)
> operations.
>	These are the ships that travel alone to raid
> convoys or
>	whatever.  They can also be used in fleet
> operations
>	as heavy cavalry and as advanced scouts.

Actually, TB's speed did not prove to be that much of
a protection against BB's gunfire, particularly since
the latter usually had fairly strong batteries of
anti-TB QF guns. Their best ally was night, rather
than speed, which made the superior range of
battleship guns irrelevant (you can't hit what you
can't see) and made it possible for torpedo boats to
get within torpedo range of their prey relatively
unmolested. Night actions at Tsushima and Jutland,
where destroyers really came into their own, are good
examples of that. Given short ranges of night-time
combat and the impossibility of holding torpedo boats
at arms length at night, an anti-torpedo boat screen
became the only effective way of fighting them.

Mike J. 

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