Wirraway_Ace -> RE: Game is not broken, History is! (1/2/2010 3:48:46 AM)
|
quote:
ORIGINAL: fbs It's not only the in-game random number generator that produces freak results... sometimes the Cosmical Random Number Generator also produces completely unexpected outcomes. So, which battles have freak, unexpected results? My pick: Midway... if only that search plane had gone out... Cheers fbs sorry, while I agree that 'history can be stranger than fiction', I don't feel Midway is a good example. Yamamoto put Nagumo's carriers in a very difficult situation. Nimitz (with the benefit of excellent intel) but Spruance and Fletcher in a very good situation. Blame often gets placed on a single float plane, but the whole search pattern to the NE was weak because Nagumo did not expect the US CVs to be there--which is why Nimitz had put them there... While the KB was a suberb offensive weapon, the 4 CVs were very fragile and CAP coordination was rudimentory. The US pilots and were adequately trained and the SBDs were a very good offensive weapon. Although the US CVs were not well trained in multiple carrier strike coordination, the size of the airgroups were adequate to overwhelm the rudimentory IJN CAP coordinaton even with poorly coordinated strike packages. Predictable outcome in my book. Luck always plays a role, but remember the USN came very close to not losing a single carrier. It would have been more of a miracle if Nagumo had been able to pull off any sort of victory in the situation in which his boss placed him.
|
|
|
|