Best naval fighter

[the lancaster kicks ass]

atleast the shiden saw a lil service, to late to change anything though..............

 

[Lightning Guy]

True. And, to the Japaneses' credit, at least they saw fit to put they few good pilots they had left in the Shiden.

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

good pilots for an outstanding plane..............

 

[plan_D]

Too bad it wasn't outstanding pilots for an outstanding plane.

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

what, so its the american fault for killing all the good ones, if olny they'd left a couple, then in years to come Plan_D could say "outstanding pilots for an outstanding plane."

 

[plan_D]

Don't you think they should have..

No but I was saying it as they shouldn't have wasted their pilots like they did because you have to admit they did.

 

[Lightning Guy]

The 343rd Kokutai, which was equipped with the Shiden was truly a group of outstanding pilots (Nishizawa, Sakai, and virtually every remaining ace in the IJNAF) for an outstanding plane. There is a reason they were called the "Squadron of Experts."

 

[plan_D]

So, it was outstanding pilots for outstanding planes.

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

at least with the kammakazi they didn't have to train them to land

 

[plan_D]

That's always a plus...

 

[plan_D]

Too bad for them the 'one plane, one ship' theory was completely wrong.

 

[Lightning Guy]

Well, when that "one ship" is defended by a few hundred Hellcats and Corsairs and a few thousand AA guns and that "one plane" is being flown by a kid with virtually no time in a cockpit, it's not going to be very effective.

 

[plan_D]

But even when that 'one plane' hit that 'one ship' it still didn't take it down. It normally took about 4...and sometimes more.

 

[Lightning Guy]

Depending on what it was, yeah. Some of the American destroyers took several Kamikaze hits and stayed afloat.

 

[plan_D]

I read the average was for but of course if it was a transport carrying fuel and ammo..then...well BOOM!

 

[Lightning Guy]

Merchant ships were never as tough as military ships. Of course if a military ship got hit in a magazine (like HMS Hood) or a carrier had it's fueled planes hit (USS Princeton, and IJN carrier at Midway) . . . well it was BOOM for them too.

 

[plan_D]

Yes, it was very unlucky for the HMS Hood, well unlucky and slightly idiotic of the gunners. They stacked up all the cordite around the turret, they did go up against the best battleship ever gracing the oceans though.

 

[Lightning Guy]

The Bismarck the best battleship ever? You may find this site interesting . . . http://www.combinedfleet.com/baddest.htm

 

[plan_D]

When I say best I mean best through it's record and on how the Royal Navy, the greatest Navy ever were so scared by the beast. The Bismarck could go toe-to-toe with any other battleship, it beat the 'greatest' Battleship of the Royal Navy, and took 7 other Battleships plus an aircraft carrier with two Swordfish strikes to bring it down. And even then it was scuttled
Quite an operational record, for it's maiden voyage.

 

[Lightning Guy]

The Hood was technically a battlecruiser and not a battleship which is why it was blown up so tragically (not enough deck armor to stop plunging fire from battleship guns). The British were also terrified of the Tirpitz, Scharnhorst, Gneisnau, Graf Spee, etc. They didn't consider these ships to be a general threat to the Royal Navy but realized that they had the potential to deciminate merchant shipping.