This may not be such a bad thing, as in the real world ships (and especially groups of ships) rarely moved at the speeds most gamers will push them at. When Mikuma pushed into Ironbottom Sound for the Battle of Savo Island at "Flank Speed", he was doing 27-28 knots---as opposed to the 30+ all his ships were rated as capable of. It's not just a matter of fuel consumption, but of maintaining a "manuever reserve"
to enable the outermost ships to keep formation. Having the ships rated in knots, but moving in miles is actually an "error that works" insofar as keeping the game more historical.
This is a good point - but it misses a stronger variation on the reasons why. Ships have problems with wind and currents and navigation errors the sum of which usually means you don't go as far as you theoretically could go. [Rarely you may go farther than you theoretically could go, if you get into a current and stay there a long time]. The ship problem is not as bad as the air problem.
The significant point is this: IF the distances between land masses are not using the same units as the airplanes, you are "cheating" by about 1/6 by using the wrong units. Since game distances usually are already too short - you only make it worse.
Another point is that the databases are, well, inconsistent. They need review and revision in any case. No matter the unit, it is not used by all planes, and some have serious errors anyway, particularly in endurance. In no case should we consider leaving this bad data as is. And if we fix it, we should try to fix it properly - to line up with the land masses. Thus, if you use Brown's map, he has persuaded me that the distance from Truk to Rabual is correct - IF you use nautical miles.
