Really good. Alas, this action was not in the primary theater of operations (European) so the good Commodore is not as famous as he should have been. OTOH, East India Comp;any did reward those who saved them money, so maybe he was actually rewarded after all.
To be frank, the first thing that came to mind is Lord Viscount Slim, who lead the Allied forces in the China-India-Burma theater. His book, "Victory from Defeat" was required reading at Command and Staff. This man did the impossible, holding the Japanese, despite being the last priority in terms on men and materiel.
Slim was the very best of the British Generals. Unfortunately he was "tainted by the tar-brush" as the Brits said (they'd be shocked! Shocked! to see their society and military today) and was not suitable for the London scene.
If the topic is GOFOs rather than just GO's, though I agree on Slim as the best GO, my vote goes to Adm. A B Cunningham who was CINC Med during the Crete evac...
"Without air cover, Cunningham's ships suffered serious losses. Cunningham was determined, though, that the "navy must not let the army down", and when army generals feared he would lose too many ships, Cunningham said,
It takes the Navy three years to build a ship. It will take three hundred years to build a new tradition. The evacuation will continue."
I read this and I’m struck by how spoiled we can be for information. His bold tactics worked because of imperfect information to the enemy. In many cases, a ruse like that would fail.
"That is pathetic" This is French. Hundreds of years of naval conflict with the British and as near as I can tell, the only decisive victory by the French was Chesapeake Capes, clear evidence that God loves America. The French did win at Beachy Head but the victory was indecisive and was mostly over the Dutch anyway. The French Admiral was relieved. Bantry Bay was indecisive. Lagos was mostly beating up a Dutch convoy. La Rochelle was another victory but the "French" force was mostly Spanish. The British had to encourage the others after Minorca but it was pretty indecisive.
Land powers have a difficult time dominating at sea. Spain and the Ottomans failed. Russia failed several times. Dutch had to devote so many resources to holding their land borders that their fleet wasted. Germans changed the paradigm enough to almost but not quite win. Japanese changed it enough to run wild for 6 months.
So, in worry about the Chinese, we should watch very closely as to attempts to change the nature of naval warfare.
When you look at that RN attitude in those days: "outnumbered 5 to 3? Engage more closely, we're sure to win", it gives me a glimmer that an outnumbered but in theory better trained USN can at least fight the PLAN to a draw...At least till we have to reload...
Like those glorious Dane patrol boats from squadron 1 protecting all of Greenland, because one is seriously going to scare away a Chinese navy or Russian corvette or mega icebreaker with .50 cal and 76mm deck gun death!
This basically sounds like the dilemma we face, moving convoys of supply goods by ship, all destroyers tied up nearly in battle, if lucky 1 or 2 to spare for multiple convoys, ditto with an attack sub. May well indeed in the Pacific have Independence class LCS ships, with some lead MD-USV's doing sub detection ahead of the convoy to avoid at all costs any subs (before the MD-USV gets sunk being defenseless) and using the LCS to lob some NSM's at any Chinese surface threats hoping for a mission kill while having the convoy maneuver to avoid them as well (Atlantic and Freedom class worse off, have no threatening missiles to shoot), and any large scale threats minus a destroyer on hand meaning the LCS and it's chopper/drones will try to pain EW fake targets and last resort saddle up to the merch ships using RAM's as the final measure. Ouch. Need those damn frigates...
I recognized the setup from Patrick O’Brian’s “HMS Surprise” but never knew the historical events inspiring the story of Capt. Aubrey defeating Linois. Fullbore either way!
Most military deception is based on showing the enemy that which he expects to see which isn't.
Really good. Alas, this action was not in the primary theater of operations (European) so the good Commodore is not as famous as he should have been. OTOH, East India Comp;any did reward those who saved them money, so maybe he was actually rewarded after all.
Underarmed? The X-47 with PrSM Increment 2 is a good solution: https://wentworthreport.com/the-f-47/
To be frank, the first thing that came to mind is Lord Viscount Slim, who lead the Allied forces in the China-India-Burma theater. His book, "Victory from Defeat" was required reading at Command and Staff. This man did the impossible, holding the Japanese, despite being the last priority in terms on men and materiel.
Slim was the very best of the British Generals. Unfortunately he was "tainted by the tar-brush" as the Brits said (they'd be shocked! Shocked! to see their society and military today) and was not suitable for the London scene.
If the topic is GOFOs rather than just GO's, though I agree on Slim as the best GO, my vote goes to Adm. A B Cunningham who was CINC Med during the Crete evac...
"Without air cover, Cunningham's ships suffered serious losses. Cunningham was determined, though, that the "navy must not let the army down", and when army generals feared he would lose too many ships, Cunningham said,
It takes the Navy three years to build a ship. It will take three hundred years to build a new tradition. The evacuation will continue."
I read this and I’m struck by how spoiled we can be for information. His bold tactics worked because of imperfect information to the enemy. In many cases, a ruse like that would fail.
"That is pathetic" This is French. Hundreds of years of naval conflict with the British and as near as I can tell, the only decisive victory by the French was Chesapeake Capes, clear evidence that God loves America. The French did win at Beachy Head but the victory was indecisive and was mostly over the Dutch anyway. The French Admiral was relieved. Bantry Bay was indecisive. Lagos was mostly beating up a Dutch convoy. La Rochelle was another victory but the "French" force was mostly Spanish. The British had to encourage the others after Minorca but it was pretty indecisive.
Land powers have a difficult time dominating at sea. Spain and the Ottomans failed. Russia failed several times. Dutch had to devote so many resources to holding their land borders that their fleet wasted. Germans changed the paradigm enough to almost but not quite win. Japanese changed it enough to run wild for 6 months.
So, in worry about the Chinese, we should watch very closely as to attempts to change the nature of naval warfare.
Well, yes - you fight with what you have.
Hopefully what you have will make up for your poor tactics and the fog of war. It does not always - cf Admiral John Byng and the Battle for Minorca
When you look at that RN attitude in those days: "outnumbered 5 to 3? Engage more closely, we're sure to win", it gives me a glimmer that an outnumbered but in theory better trained USN can at least fight the PLAN to a draw...At least till we have to reload...
Until we have to reload. So, H-hour plus 4?
unfortunately yes
then we can fall back on those deadly 76mm deck guns
No, the far more awesome 57mm.
Like those glorious Dane patrol boats from squadron 1 protecting all of Greenland, because one is seriously going to scare away a Chinese navy or Russian corvette or mega icebreaker with .50 cal and 76mm deck gun death!
This basically sounds like the dilemma we face, moving convoys of supply goods by ship, all destroyers tied up nearly in battle, if lucky 1 or 2 to spare for multiple convoys, ditto with an attack sub. May well indeed in the Pacific have Independence class LCS ships, with some lead MD-USV's doing sub detection ahead of the convoy to avoid at all costs any subs (before the MD-USV gets sunk being defenseless) and using the LCS to lob some NSM's at any Chinese surface threats hoping for a mission kill while having the convoy maneuver to avoid them as well (Atlantic and Freedom class worse off, have no threatening missiles to shoot), and any large scale threats minus a destroyer on hand meaning the LCS and it's chopper/drones will try to pain EW fake targets and last resort saddle up to the merch ships using RAM's as the final measure. Ouch. Need those damn frigates...
Damn Good sailors and Officers all.
I recognized the setup from Patrick O’Brian’s “HMS Surprise” but never knew the historical events inspiring the story of Capt. Aubrey defeating Linois. Fullbore either way!