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Re: IJN Battleships
IMHO, being ex-USN, some of the reality is being lost in time. The Allied Task Forces operating in the Western Pacific were enormous, composed of hundreds of ships. A few submarines could only make a small dent in one of these task forces even if they were able to trade all their torpedoes one for one for ships. Also remember the structure of the task forces, the largest quantity of ships were DDs and DEs with the primary mission of ASW. After the first torpedo strike, the few subs would instantly become the hunted. As for the big battle ships, without effective air cover, they were simply very large targets and had little chance of getting in range of even 18" guns. That is assuming they had ammunition, which I understand the Japaneses did not have in sufficient quantity to do a full provisioning when they were sent into combat.
Best regards
Artie Bob
(Pilot for over 50 years but also sea duty (peacetime, thank you) on BB-64, CA-123, APA-?, LSD 34. Variously, Navigator, CIC officer, Electronics Officer, Air Officer, and Band Officer. Qualified OOD fleet, Crypto Board, and CDO.
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