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You would loose some efficiency though, no? I mean, four carriers can assemble a strike force faster than three. And they also can bring up a bigger fighter screen in the same time.
Yeah, but isn't that of any kind of bombing scenario?Torpedo bombing against ships protected by fighters sounds like a terrible idea unless protected by a string fighter force which will fail on occasion. I wonder when it was realised it was a bad idea. The Germans seem to have almost given up on the idea and preferred to aim a time delayed bomb at the ships waterline to try and blow up beneath it. Except except for night attack though they were developing a Fw 190D variant that could carry a torpedo by virtue of an extended tail yoke.
after Midway, you don't hear a whole lot about Torpedo bombing, although the practice remained though out the rest of the war.
Elvis
The torpedo armed version of the Beaufighter was just being introduced in 1942 after Midway took place. The carrier version of the "sea Mosquito" only started to be built after March 1944. There are many types of ship on the sea, torpedoes were very effective against them. Maybe not so effective against a battleship but did manage to cripple/damage Bismarck and Lutzow and also Gneisenau in Brest harbour. The Beaufighter acted as its own defence with fighter versions flying with torpedo versions as escort and flak suppression.Torpedo bombing against ships protected by fighters sounds like a terrible idea unless protected by a string fighter force which will fail on occasion. I wonder when it was realised it was a bad idea. The Germans seem to have almost given up on the idea and preferred to aim a time delayed bomb at the ships waterline to try and blow up beneath it. Except except for night attack though they were developing a Fw 190D variant that could carry a torpedo by virtue of an extended tail yoke.
Torpedo bombing against ships protected by fighters sounds like a terrible idea unless protected by a string fighter force which will fail on occasion.
It's been a while since I studied the Pacific War but didn't the USN do something along these lines later in the war? I think I remember reading where Enterprise came out of refit as the night fighter carrier tasked with just that, after hours protection of the fleet. She embarked an almost all Hellcat -N load out if my memory serves me correctly (which I doubt).If there's one thing the Kido Butai should have done is to operate all four carriers as an organic unit, by which I mean stop operating each carrier as a stand-alone combatant. Instead of each fighter having to return to its home carrier to replenish ammunition and fuel and thus block counterstrike launches, assign one carrier for fighter rotation and the other three carriers for strike launch. If the fighter carrier is disabled, rotate the fighter rotation to another carrier, whilst the two remaining continue strike prep.
Seems like after Midway, you don't hear a whole lot about Torpedo bombing, although the practice remained though out the rest of the war.
Out of curiosity, would that "mid-1942" have been concurrent with the battle of Midway?Or you take the RN's approach, fully developed by mid-1942, of pairing radar-equipped and torpedo-carrying and operating them at night. AFAIK, the IJN didn't have any effective means of operating fighters at night from their carriers.
Out of curiosity, would that "mid-1942" have been concurrent with the battle of Midway?
Concurrent but not really connected. The RAF and R Navy had already seen how vulnerable torpedo bombers were and how difficult ship were to find by sight.Battle of Midway was 4-7 June 1942...so, yes, IMHO.
Was the Swordfish not removed from torpedo bomber duties following the Channel Dash debacle? So it wouldn't have been carrying torpedoes at the time of the Battle of Midway?
I would imagine the Swordfish would be considered lacking the necessary endurance for service in the Pacific Ocean?
Just wondering if mid-1942 could have been by July 1,1942. I did notice the phrase "well developed". Now if HMS Formidable had been there (stealing Admiral Beez's idea), that would've been interesting. I'm throwing in those radar equipped Stringbags.
Was the Swordfish not removed from torpedo bomber duties following the Channel Dash debacle? So it wouldn't have been carrying torpedoes at the time of the Battle of Midway?
I would imagine the Swordfish would be considered lacking the necessary endurance for service in the Pacific Ocean?
The Albacores could have also flown a similar dive bomber attack profile to the SBDs, with an even bigger bomb load.According to this link Admiral Beez posted earlier, Formidable had Albacores not Swordfish embarked by April 1942 but did have 1 Swordfish aboard. The Albacores were apparently radar equipped and capable of delivering a night torpedo attack. Now wouldn't THAT have been a nice surprise for the IJN about June 4, 1942.
I never stated it was.The USN was not the rest of the world.
Were there any allied air dropped homing torpedoes in WW2? I thought they were all unguided other than the depth and speed set before take off on board ship?KNOTS!!...maybe that's what it was, and not mph.
90 kts is almost 104 mph, so that's a little faster.
From what I'm learning here, it seems the torpedoes had wood shrouds over the nose and tail that helped protect and stabilize the torpedo in the air. They sheared off upon impact, but they also slowed the torpedo slightly and that helped them home in on the target.
I guess it was this that allowed launch speeds to increase.
Were there any allied air dropped homing torpedoes in WW2? I thought they were all unguided other than the depth and speed set before take off on board ship?