Question: task force leaders and ship commanders

[DarkFib3r]

Does an Air Combat task force leader ride on the flagship if the flagship commander is different? If not, where does the TF commander hang out?

I found in my Guadalcanal game that I could switch my task force leader at port, but I could not find a way to reassign it so that the task force leader would also be the ship commander. Yet when the USS Hornet arrived, it automatically made the task force commander the ship commander as well. Is there anything special I need to do to force a ship commander to also be the TF commander? And related, are there benefits to having an Air Combat TF commander with high Air Skill and a separate CV commander with high Naval Skill versus having a CV commander who is also the Air Combat TF commander? It seems like the latter option is less efficient, but there may be benefits I am not aware of.

Thanks!

[obvert]

ORIGINAL: DarkFib3r

Does an Air Combat task force leader ride on the flagship if the flagship commander is different? If not, where does the TF commander hang out?

I found in my Guadalcanal game that I could switch my task force leader at port, but I could not find a way to reassign it so that the task force leader would also be the ship commander. Yet when the USS Hornet arrived, it automatically made the task force commander the ship commander as well. Is there anything special I need to do to force a ship commander to also be the TF commander? And related, are there benefits to having an Air Combat TF commander with high Air Skill and a separate CV commander with high Naval Skill versus having a CV commander who is also the Air Combat TF commander? It seems like the latter option is less efficient, but there may be benefits I am not aware of.

Thanks!

If you create an Air Combat TF without either choosing to have the auto-selct commander or choosing your own commander, the captain of the most important ship (CV) will be chosen as TF commander.

Much better to choose a TF commander from the list rather than use the ship captain usually. For the ships prioritize naval skill to avoid subs and dodge DB/TB strikes or handle themselves in a surface battle. For TF commander pick high air skill and chose whether you want them to be aggressive (and have the chance to react past ordered destination when engaging enemy CVs) or not.

[DarkFib3r]

Thanks for the quick reply.

If you manually select a different Air Combat TF commander and CV commander, is it assumed that the Air Combat TF commander is riding on the carrier along with the CV commander?

[LargeSlowTarget]

The TF leader always rides the flagship, together with the flagship captain (unless the flagship captain is also the task force leader, in that case he has the bridge for himself). Flagship selection is automatic and depends on type - usually the biggest. If two or more biggest ships of the same type are present, the last one added will become flagship. See manual for details.

[DarkFib3r]

Excellent, my questions are answered. Thanks guys!

[Revthought]

ORIGINAL: LargeSlowTarget

The TF leader always rides the flagship, together with the flagship captain (unless the flagship captain is also the task force leader, in that case he has the bridge for himself). Flagship selection is automatic and depends on type - usually the biggest. If two or more biggest ships of the same type are present, the last one added will become flagship. See manual for details.

Weren't flagships often not the carriers or largest battleship? There is some utility in this as--just as long as you have command and control capacity from the smaller ship--you are less likely to have a secondary combatant knocked out by enemy action than a ship of the line who is doing the fighting. And suddenly losing the flag/people managing the engagement before they can transfer to another vessel seems to me would cause huge organizational, logistical, morale and command problems

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: Revthought

ORIGINAL: LargeSlowTarget

The TF leader always rides the flagship, together with the flagship captain (unless the flagship captain is also the task force leader, in that case he has the bridge for himself). Flagship selection is automatic and depends on type - usually the biggest. If two or more biggest ships of the same type are present, the last one added will become flagship. See manual for details.

Weren't flagships often not the carriers or largest battleship? There is some utility in this as--just as long as you have command and control capacity from the smaller ship--you are less likely to have a secondary combatant knocked out by enemy action than a ship of the line who is doing the fighting. And suddenly losing the flag/people managing the engagement before they can transfer to another vessel seems to me would cause huge organizational, logistical, morale and command problems

What you say may be true (just ask Nagumo), but the game does not model it that way. OTOH, when the flagship is sunk there is a 50% chance the Captain will die with it, but I am not sure that applies to the Admiral in charge of the TF. Almost always he remains in charge of the TF and is presumed to be on the new flagship. Heck, sometimes they just show up back on the TF leader list several days later.

[LargeSlowTarget]

ORIGINAL: Revthought

Weren't flagships often not the carriers or largest battleship? There is some utility in this as--just as long as you have command and control capacity from the smaller ship--you are less likely to have a secondary combatant knocked out by enemy action than a ship of the line who is doing the fighting.

Like Kurita on Atago at the start of the Battle of Leyte? [:'(] [;)]

Some admirals did chose "secondary" ships because they had superior communications facilities or better radar than the bigger but not necessarily more modern brethren. Others made poor choices due to sentimental reasons, like Callaghan on San Francisco. Helena was more modern and better suited but Callaghan had been skipper of San Francisco before being promoted to Admiral. And he was born in San Francisco.

[Barb]

Spruance usually rode on USS Indianapolis - which thus served as Flagship of Task Force 58.

However I think most of the Carrier Task Force leaders usually rode on carriers - they were much roomier and have much better communication facilities than smaller ships (unless they were specifically build for the role like AGCs/Kashii class cruisers)...

[wdolson]

The Portland class were specially outfitted to be used as fleet flagships and I believe the Indianapolis was specially outfitted for the president. I know Roosevelt rode on her at least once before the war.

Bill

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: wdolson

The Portland class were specially outfitted to be used as fleet flagships and I believe the Indianapolis was specially outfitted for the president. I know Roosevelt rode on her at least once before the war.

Bill

I think FDR was on Indianapolis when he had his secret conference with Churchill on Prince of Wales at Placentia Bay, Newfoundland. The outcome was the Atlantic Charter which justified greater US pre-war participation in the Battle of the Atlantic.

EDIT: Correction - it was CA Augusta that took FDR to the conference.