Britannia Rules the Seas

[hornet32]

Indeed Britannia did rule the Seas unfortunately there was a problem and the problem was airpower , the Japanese demonstrated that ruling the seas was a thing of the past at Pearl Harbor and again off the coast of Malaysia when the Repulse and the Prince of Wales were sent to the bottom so while the Empire did have a home fleet but it needed more it needed the U.S. . 

[Sir John]

I think one of your USAAC Generals (Doolittle?) proved quite early on that ships are vulnerable to planes with BIG bombs and torpedoes.

He gave the lesson then, but some did not heed it, including some British Admirals. Sending ANY ship out into unfriendly waters without air cover is suicidal. The lesson the USN did not learn from was Taranto, when a bunch of ex WW1 "String Bags" gave the Italian Fleet a hell of a shock, but the IJN - DID - learn.

But the torpedo was the REAL danger then, not the dive bomber, and Hitler did not have any!


SJ

[Swampy]

Jan 3, 2014 22:01:56 GMT -5 hornet32 said:

Indeed Britannia did rule the Seas unfortunately there was a problem and the problem was airpower , the Japanese demonstrated that ruling the seas was a thing of the past at Pearl Harbor and again off the coast of Malaysia when the Repulse and the Prince of Wales were sent to the bottom so while the Empire did have a home flee but it needed more it needed the U.S. . 

And, when the Japanese sailed into the Indian Ocean, the mighty RN was nowhere to be found - except for the aircraft carrier, HMS Hermes, which got sunk.

[Sir John]

Madagaska!