Available device
Posted: Wed May 07, 2008 3:27 pm
In EEO and EBO there are no Kaiten on submarines - and either none on surface ships or they can be got rid of. That would free up a slot for a naval weapon. Any ideas what we might want to put there?
In EEO and EBO it is assumed that the war may go better for Japan - so the politics of desperation which led to approval of Kaiten does not happen. [If adm Yamamoto had not been killed it also would not have been approved - he opposed suicide by naval officers] In this scenario subset - there is more cooperation with submarine officers at strategic planning levels - and more consultation with Germany (so Donitz ideas - focus on numbers and the smallest practical attack packages have more influence - in the context of the need for long range designs for PTO operations] What they settled on is the use of externally mounted 24 inch TT - in place of Kaiten - on most classes at the time Kaiten were introduced IRL. [A kaiten IS a 24 inch torpedo after all.] A few classes are modified so there are now versions with internal 24 inch TT. For example the KD7 is recast as KD8 with 4 forward 24 inch tubes (KD series could fit 6 21 inch tubes) - it had to be lengthened slightly - but otherwise was a nice fit. I-500 in these scenarios also fits 24 inch instead of the 21 inch of the C4 type.
We could fit an Allied ASW device - for example I think Limbo dates from this period - or some other naval weapon in EEO and EBO - if there is any interest. [Limbo is sort of Hedgehog writ large: it is a set of 3 (or two sets of 3) gigantic ASW mortars - firing DC through the air so they land in a triangle - at some distance from the ship - arriving sooner than is possible if the ship must pass over the target and only then drop DC.
Probably more useful would be a DC fitted with a detector - so it only goes off when it nears the target instead of needing a depth setting. I suppose we can get this by doing a DC with the right warhead but giving it better accuracy. Proxcimity fused DC were widely used by the Allies later in the war and another reason Allied ASW became more potent.
A more exotic application might be a wire guided torpedo. This was a German invention - and indeed not used at sea but for coast defense in its original form. But it might have been used - in particular on PT boats or destroyers - or even a submarine - if it had been shared with Japan in a closer cooperation scenario. If used it would have a significant dud rate - due to wire breaking this is STILL a problem.
In EEO and EBO it is assumed that the war may go better for Japan - so the politics of desperation which led to approval of Kaiten does not happen. [If adm Yamamoto had not been killed it also would not have been approved - he opposed suicide by naval officers] In this scenario subset - there is more cooperation with submarine officers at strategic planning levels - and more consultation with Germany (so Donitz ideas - focus on numbers and the smallest practical attack packages have more influence - in the context of the need for long range designs for PTO operations] What they settled on is the use of externally mounted 24 inch TT - in place of Kaiten - on most classes at the time Kaiten were introduced IRL. [A kaiten IS a 24 inch torpedo after all.] A few classes are modified so there are now versions with internal 24 inch TT. For example the KD7 is recast as KD8 with 4 forward 24 inch tubes (KD series could fit 6 21 inch tubes) - it had to be lengthened slightly - but otherwise was a nice fit. I-500 in these scenarios also fits 24 inch instead of the 21 inch of the C4 type.
We could fit an Allied ASW device - for example I think Limbo dates from this period - or some other naval weapon in EEO and EBO - if there is any interest. [Limbo is sort of Hedgehog writ large: it is a set of 3 (or two sets of 3) gigantic ASW mortars - firing DC through the air so they land in a triangle - at some distance from the ship - arriving sooner than is possible if the ship must pass over the target and only then drop DC.
Probably more useful would be a DC fitted with a detector - so it only goes off when it nears the target instead of needing a depth setting. I suppose we can get this by doing a DC with the right warhead but giving it better accuracy. Proxcimity fused DC were widely used by the Allies later in the war and another reason Allied ASW became more potent.
A more exotic application might be a wire guided torpedo. This was a German invention - and indeed not used at sea but for coast defense in its original form. But it might have been used - in particular on PT boats or destroyers - or even a submarine - if it had been shared with Japan in a closer cooperation scenario. If used it would have a significant dud rate - due to wire breaking this is STILL a problem.