Recent content by Ltlconf

I didn't discount land based airpower, though there again the US just curb stomped the Japanese in time, though it wasn't my focus so got lost in the shuffle. Thanks for pointing this out. It must be said, early on even when the Japanese still had relative air dominance they preferred to fight...

Totally agree, hence the "sucked eggs" part. The simple fact that Malaya was bottom of the barrel for any and everything is simply WHY they sucked eggs. That and Percival, despite having a solid plan, seems to me (among other issues, some not of his making) lacked the forceful personality to be...

From what I've read, I think we must stress, "the last two years of the war." As you say Ramprat, up to then it seems carriers were used because it's what the USN had for a given fight in open seas, while the vast bulk of the battles in and around the Solomon's and Bismarks, and even the naval...

It was ultimately a strategic disaster, operationally brilliant (why does everyone forget the operational stage of things: here the Japanese definitely kicked ass), and were successful tactically because, yes, the Allies were caught utterly flat footed and often just sucked eggs. The Allies...

Yeup, and Mac and his staff would be frustratingly very hit or miss with that said analysis throughout the war. Sometimes through no fault of their own, sometimes very much so. Though to be fair, due to the issues with the parochial nature of American intelligence services protecting their turf...

Agreed. Me, I'd likely go, "Screw it, it's a go." The information is worth the risk to me, but even then only if the weather gave a solid chance of success. Otherwise you're taking a massive risk of kicking off a war for little to no return. If the weather looks good? Yeup, go for it. And if the...

Agreed, and again not disagreeing with any of this. It's also 20/20 perfect hindsight. Indochina was still TECHNICALLY French territory and you could even claim it got lost getting to Luzon, and thus a fig leaf could be claimed. Formosa was Japanese integral territory and a bit off the beaten...

And I question nor differ in none of this assessment of Mac. Just in the guessing why he made some of the decisions, primarily the lack of Taiwan overflights. And we can't know that as everything we have on that time is based on other's assessments. He didn't write anything himself down except...

Mac was apparently trying to avoid a fight despite all his bluster. Both likely to buy time, and more likely to not piss off the powers-that-be in DC who were neck deep in desperate negotiations. Mac being worried about Japanese feelings? Unlikely. Well, beyond pissing them off into attacking...

To be fair, Emperor Mac wasn't alone in that assessment. But making that assessment without any backing evidence was boneheaded. On the other hand, doing reconnaissance over flights of someone else's sovereign territory during a time of tense international relations when your government is in...

It doesn't help that the written word lacks that all important tone of voice and facial expressions that can make sarcasm obvious.

Then, as pointed out, there is the time lag between getting in the information, sorting through it, filtering it out as to what's vital and what's not, then getting the right people to listen. This last counts, as it is was also pointed out, intelligence work wasn't highly thought of in the...

Thank you, this was exactly what I was looking for. I knew US torpedoes were crap, thus many didn't go off, but the OTHER main issue early in the war was the sheer number of plain misses. Which kinda stunned me.

The Americans, especially, really seemed to have issues landing any aerial torpedo hits early in the war, and that's considering if the torpedoes would even go off. Is this because aerial torpedo work is an especially difficult? Seriously, this is area I've little knowledge.

Our VFW post announced it. We had a toast and prayer, put the flag at half mast. We're a small post but we do our best.