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The same or smaller numbers of Stukas (or SBDs, or Skuas or bomb armed Albacores or Swordfish) were quite likely to have achieved the same results. None of these ships represented difficult or hard to sink targets and the end result is not surprising or exceptional.
Hahahahah yeah, I don't agree. SBD's yes- they too were quite deadly. Skuas? You gotta be kidding. Albacores or Swordfish would have been hard pressed to even reach the target and wold have been decimated by the CAP (before and after the raid)
I think this is the real crux of the debate we have. You (and I know some others here as well) seem to rate a bomber exclusively by bomb load. I think, based on reading the operational histories, many of the other factors like range, accuracy, maneuverability etc. actually mattered more. Particularly range and accuracy, especially when it comes to naval war. Few bombers in the war really had decent bombing accuracy, and the D3A was definitely one of those in that rare category.
In 1939 Swordfish dropped 366 practise bombs against the target ship Centurion and averaged about a 70 yd error at dive angles from 60-70 degrees (Smith, Dive Bomber), and this would equate to about 33-50% hit rate against a Hermes sized target. Being able to drop multiple bombs per attack sortie should increase the hit rate per sortie.
Billy Mitchell arranged a series of stunts where B-17s were intercepting and dropping bombs on the decks of ships at sea. The government spent a half billion dollars developing the supposedly miraculous Norden bombsight and were convinced that they could drop a bomb in a pickle-barrel as the propaganda line went, from 30,000 ft. They were certain that four-engined heavy bombers could take out ships at sea too. Pre-war testing made it look highly plausible.
I don't expect him to know the details of all the hits, only of the ordnance that was carried. The luftwaffe knew the position of Illustrious when she was first attacked by Stukas and it was less than 100nm miles from the Luftwaffe bases in Sicily and no further than when Illustrious was in Malta Harbour. This map shows the distances involved and the risks that the RN had to run to escort a convoy to Malta:
https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/...MshLAGzx4R3EDFOm1kBS/IMG_0469.PNG?format=750w
In this interview the Stuka Squadron Commander that attacked Indomitable states that they carried 1 x 500kg and 2 x 250kg bombs each:
...It looks like Indomitable was indeed hit by two 500 kg bombs dropped by Stukas of StG 3. The same unit also scored four hits on the HMS Warspite during the earlier operation Excess, but it too failed to sink. Later the same Stukas managed to damage the light cruiser HMS Southampton badly enough that it was scuttled. They never sunk any capital ships as far as I could determine.
This is footage of the actual attack here:
Impossible. Mitchell was court martialed in 1925 and put out of the service. He died in 1936. The Army Air Corps didn't receive their first 13 YB-17s until 1937. I think you are mixing up air power demonstration tests. Mitchell's "stunts" were conducted in 1921 against stationary ships from relatively low altitude. During the 1930s, there were a number of airplane vs ship "maneuvers" conducted by both the Air Corps and the Navy, including intercepting and dropping flower sacks and water bombs on moving warships, from low altitudes. The long-range search and ship bombing capabilities of the new B-17s were highlighted several times in 1937 (several hits scored from an altitude of 400 feet) and culminating in the May 1938 interception of the Italian liner Rex approximately 700 miles of off the U.S. east coast. This prompted a USN protest that the Army (Air Corps) was getting too much into USN business and all Army aircraft were restricted to operating no more than 100 nautical miles off the U.S. coasts which remained in effect until WW2 broke out. The first Norden bomb sight wasn't installed in B-17s until 1939.
During WW2, there were several examples of U.S. Army medium altitude bombers (including B-17s and B-24s) successfully attacking ships, but usually these were either stationary or very slow moving merchant vessels in restricted waters and certainly were not from 20,000 or 30,000 feet. The Army ship killers were 5th Air Force B-25s and A-20s using 500 pound bombs in skip and mast height bombing, like during the Battle of the Bismarck Sea.
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You did not bother to read the Armoured Aircraft Carriers link I posted in my message Swordfish vs Devastator? The main point in it to confirm the size of the bombs was "It was pointed out the 14-in hole reported in the 60lb steel plate alongside the forward lift was too small for a 1100lb (500kg) SD-style bomb. Intelligence recorded the diameter of this weapon was 18in, with an older style being 15.5in.
Only the 550lb (250kg) SD bomb had a 14in diameter."
The IJN Vals were not exceptionally accurate and we have to remember that attacking nearly unarmed merchant vessels allowed aircraft to drop from very low altitudes. This is a summary, from Lundstrom, of the very similar attack on USS Sims and the tanker Neosho, which had a maximum speed of only 14 knots.
"By 1115, Lt. Cdr. Takahashi determined there definitely was no American carrier nearby and released the carrier attack group and its escorts to return to the carriers. His dive bombers would attack the oiler and accompanying destroyer. At 1126 he began his attacks. He led four carrier bombers against the destroyer Sims, and they scored three direct hits on the radically maneuvering tincan. The remaining thirty-two carrier bombers made slow, deliberate dives against the Neosho and inflicted at least seven hits, including a flaming crash by one of the Zuikaku carrier bombers. Noon found the Neosho adrift without power and perilously listing 30 degrees to starboard. Only her extensive compartmentation and tanks kept her afloat. For the loss of one carrier bomber, the Japanese had sunk one destroyer and fatally crippled a fleet oiler. "
Unlike Hermes, which sank rapidly, the crew of Neosho had time to assess the damage and number of hits. 32 bombs dropped and ~7 hits on a lightly armed 14 knot tanker versus ~35 bombs dropped and 6 hits on Illustrious moving at 24 knots and having some degree of CAP and a lot more flak. Hermes was probably hit ~10 times.