mlees
Posts: 2263
Joined: 9/20/2003 From: San Diego Status: offline
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Battle of the Coral Sea (7-8 May '42) USN: CV's Lexington and Yorktown (Lexington sunk, Yorktown hvy dmg) IJN: CV's Shokaku, Zuikaku CVL Shoho (Shoho sunk, Shokaku hvy dmg) Battle of Midway (4-6 June '42) USN: CV's Yorktown, Hornet, Enterprise (Yorktown disabled by air attack, later sunk by sub) IJN: CV's Akagi, Kaga, Soryu, Hiryu (All sunk by air attack), plus 2 CVL's that did not engage. (They were with invasion force.) Battle of the Eastern Solomons (23-25 Aug '42) USN: CV's Enterprise, Saratoga (Enterprise hvy dmg) with Wasp not engaged (refeulling) IJN: CV's Shokaku, Zuikaku; CVL Ryujo (Ryujo sunk, an AP sunk, 75 aircraft lost vs. 25 us airmen) Battle of Santa Cruz (25-27 Oct '42) USN: CV's Enterprise, Hornet (Hornet sunk, Enterprise hvy dmg, 81 aircraft lost) IJN: CV's Shokaku, Zuikaku; CVL's Junyo, Zuiho (Shokaku and Zuiho hvy dmg, 91 aircraft lost) http://www.combinedfleet.com/map.htm My long winded point: Not all carrier battles were so one sided. 2 CV's vs 5 CV's and 1 CVL, you should have been toast! You should never pin your hope on not being spotted. Where the forces were even, both sides seem to suffer roughly the same damage. Pick fights only where you absolutely NEED to, not because your sick of getting your butt kicked for the first six months of the war. As a further illustration: Battle of the Philippine Sea (19-20 June '44) USN: CV's Hornet, Yorktown, Bunker Hill, Wasp, Enterprise, Lexington, Essex; CVL's Belleau Wood, Bataan, Monterey, Cabot, Princeton, San Jacinto, Cowpens, Langley with 950 aircraft. (130 aircraft lost, BB South Dakota dmg) IJN: CV's Zuikaku, Shokaku, Taiho; CVL's Hiyo, Junyo, Ryuho, Chiyoda, Chitose, Zuiho with 480 aircraft embarked, another 1200 (!) LBA. (Hiyo sunk by air, Shokaku and Taiho sunk by subs, approx half of the air assets lost.) Despite this result, Spruance was accused of being too timid. In his defence, he felt that it was more important to stay near the invasion area and protect the transports from any surprise "end arounds" by IJN surface units.
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