When secondary batteries do the killing
Pre-dreadnought secondary guns supplied the volume of fire that slow-firing main batteries could not provide alone.
From A Rumble in the Tumble: A UAD infused discussion (Long Patrol) ·
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Six-inch guns and battlecruiser risk
A battlecruiser's secondary battery could matter when speed failed to keep an opponent at the preferred range.
From A Rumble in the Tumble: A UAD infused discussion (Long Patrol) ·
The War of the Worlds in night-fighting thought
Prewar Royal Navy papers even drew on science fiction while officers explored night action as an answer to local numerical inferiority.
From A Rumble in the Tumble: A UAD infused discussion (Long Patrol) ·
Night fighting and the value of volume
Tiger's six-inch guns illustrate how rapid secondary fire could overwhelm exposed positions during a close night action.
From A Rumble in the Tumble: A UAD infused discussion (Long Patrol) ·
The pre-dreadnought as a floating fortress
A fortress analogy explains why pre-dreadnought designers assigned different weapon tiers to long-range fire, close destruction, and self-defense.
From A Rumble in the Tumble: A UAD infused discussion (Long Patrol) ·
Casemates, turrets, and usable firing arcs
Moving secondary guns from casemates into turrets improved firing arcs and let several mounts concentrate on the same target.
From A Rumble in the Tumble: A UAD infused discussion (Long Patrol) ·
From mixed gun batteries to VLS loadouts
The pre-dreadnought problem of carrying a weapon for every contingency has a modern parallel in choosing VLS loadouts and missile-carrying hulls.
From A Rumble in the Tumble: A UAD infused discussion (Long Patrol) ·
Cuniberti, Percy Scott, and William Sims on battery standardization
The all-big-gun idea also promised to simplify crew training and tactical decisions by replacing a weapon for every occasion with a standardized main battery.
From A Rumble in the Tumble: A UAD infused discussion (Long Patrol) ·
Heavier firepower and fleet contributions
The British simulation win leads from a simple advantage in gun weight to the harder question of what each ship contributes to a fleet.
From A Rumble in the Tumble: A UAD infused discussion (Long Patrol) ·
Specialists, generalists, and fleet composition
Anti-aircraft cruisers and wartime destroyers show why fleets need both high-performance specialists and adaptable ships that can fill several roles.
From A Rumble in the Tumble: A UAD infused discussion (Long Patrol) ·
Dreadnought moves killing power to the main battery
HMS Dreadnought concentrated enough 12-inch guns to make the main battery the ship's principal means of destruction.
From A Rumble in the Tumble: A UAD infused discussion (Long Patrol) ·
Why Kimmel took Pacific Fleet command
A viewer asks how Kimmel reached Pearl Harbor, leading to the story of a reluctant appointment after Nimitz declined it.
From Patron 49: Admiral Kimmel: A Failure of Leadership? (Live) ·
Did the US Navy study Taranto?
A question on Taranto highlights the difference between holding a warning report and getting it to the officers who need it.
From Patron 49: Admiral Kimmel: A Failure of Leadership? (Live) ·
The patrol-aircraft constraint at Pearl Harbor
The case against simple blame begins with the Pacific Fleet's shortage of patrol aircraft, trained crews, and sustainable search coverage.
From Patron 49: Admiral Kimmel: A Failure of Leadership? (Live) ·
Would warning Kimmel have saved the battle fleet?
A counterfactual answer explains why timely warning could have produced a tactically alert fleet but also more permanent ship losses.
From Patron 49: Admiral Kimmel: A Failure of Leadership? (Live) ·
Kimmel's practical readiness measures
Halsey's account credits Kimmel with training, radar experimentation, task-force coordination, and preparations for an expected war.
From Patron 49: Admiral Kimmel: A Failure of Leadership? (Live) ·
Kimmel's reputation before Pearl Harbor
Kimmel appears as an experienced, comparatively young flag officer respected by officers and sailors before Pearl Harbor made his name synonymous with failure.
From Patron 49: Admiral Kimmel: A Failure of Leadership? (Live) ·
Was Kimmel only a peacetime officer?
A challenge to Kimmel's wartime ability is answered with his service during the Veracruz occupation and the First World War.
From Patron 49: Admiral Kimmel: A Failure of Leadership? (Live) ·
Kimmel's interconnected military family
Kimmel's family links connect the Pacific Fleet commander to Thomas Kinkaid and to a father who served on both sides of the American Civil War.
From Patron 49: Admiral Kimmel: A Failure of Leadership? (Live) ·
Marius Kimmel and the killing of prisoners
The story of Kimmel's submariner son adds a severe personal cost to the family's Pacific War experience.
From Patron 49: Admiral Kimmel: A Failure of Leadership? (Live) ·
Did scapegoating Kimmel conceal wider failures?
A viewer asks whether concentrating blame on two commanders obstructed scrutiny of the institutions above them.
From Patron 49: Admiral Kimmel: A Failure of Leadership? (Live) ·
Kimmel's early sea service and gunnery reputation
Kimmel's service in USS Georgia and the Great White Fleet becomes a starting point for his reputation as a capable gunnery officer.
From Patron 49: Admiral Kimmel: A Failure of Leadership? (Live) ·
Which ships received the best junior officers?
Ship assignments explain why Kimmel's Great White Fleet posting signaled professional confidence in a junior officer.
From Patron 49: Admiral Kimmel: A Failure of Leadership? (Live) ·
The Virginia class's turret-on-turret arrangement
A photograph of USS Georgia prompts confirmation that the Virginia class mounted 8-inch turrets directly above its 12-inch main turrets.
From Patron 49: Admiral Kimmel: A Failure of Leadership? (Live) ·
Which Royal Navy officers went on diplomatic cruises?
The Royal Navy preferred officers who combined fighting ability with diplomacy for politically sensitive overseas cruises.
From Patron 49: Admiral Kimmel: A Failure of Leadership? (Live) ·
Kimmel's operational service at Veracruz
Kimmel's alternating battleship and destroyer assignments placed him inside the US naval force throughout the 1914 Veracruz operation.
From Patron 49: Admiral Kimmel: A Failure of Leadership? (Live) ·
Did timing make Kimmel uniquely unlucky?
Kimmel was unlucky that the battleship group was in port, but his task-force rotation kept the carriers away from Pearl Harbor and preserved the means to respond.
From Patron 49: Admiral Kimmel: A Failure of Leadership? (Live) ·
Why the United States occupied Veracruz
The Tampico Affair and a circuitous arms shipment show how an apology dispute, embargo policy, and naval force combined in the 1914 seizure of Veracruz.
From Patron 49: Admiral Kimmel: A Failure of Leadership? (Live) ·
How many carriers were planned before Pearl Harbor?
The United States had begun planning the Essex-class expansion before December 1941, although the final number was still unsettled.
From Patron 49: Admiral Kimmel: A Failure of Leadership? (Live) ·
Kimmel as Franklin Roosevelt's naval aide
A short 1915 assignment with Assistant Secretary Franklin Roosevelt shows that Kimmel could work in politics even though the Navy preferred him at sea.
From Patron 49: Admiral Kimmel: A Failure of Leadership? (Live) ·
A coal-logistics trap for Imperial Germany
A prewar US-German conflict over Mexico prompts a counterfactual in which Britain stays neutral while coal logistics strand the German fleet across the Atlantic.
From Patron 49: Admiral Kimmel: A Failure of Leadership? (Live) ·
Why submarines avoided Great White Fleet-style cruises
Submarines could prove endurance between friendly bases without advertising their true range through a public international voyage.
From Patron 49: Admiral Kimmel: A Failure of Leadership? (Live) ·
Why did Roosevelt not defend Kimmel?
Kimmel's earlier relationship with Roosevelt offered no protection once blaming the fleet commander helped shield the administration.
From Patron 49: Admiral Kimmel: A Failure of Leadership? (Live) ·
When no one owned intelligence distribution
The missing Magic-derived assessment reveals an organizational failure in how secret intelligence reached operational commands.
From Patron 49: Admiral Kimmel: A Failure of Leadership? (Live) ·
Improving US battleship gunnery with the Grand Fleet
Kimmel's wartime assignment with Battleship Division Nine is presented as evidence of his ability to improve a fighting formation.
From Patron 49: Admiral Kimmel: A Failure of Leadership? (Live) ·
Evaluating A Matter of Honor
A modern Kimmel study is useful, although its argumentative framing still requires critical reading.
From Patron 49: Admiral Kimmel: A Failure of Leadership? (Live) ·
How the Royal Navy regarded Kimmel
Royal Navy gunnery officers respected Kimmel, whose postwar assignment in USS Arkansas continued an unusually sea-going career.
From Patron 49: Admiral Kimmel: A Failure of Leadership? (Live) ·
Did Roosevelt knowingly allow Pearl Harbor?
A deliberate let-it-happen theory is rejected in favor of unverified assumptions and possible bureaucratic avoidance in the distribution of intelligence.
From Patron 49: Admiral Kimmel: A Failure of Leadership? (Live) ·
Why Renown was refitted before Hood
Hood could have become much more capable with an earlier reconstruction, but the older Renown was chosen as the test bed for the work.
From Patron 49: Admiral Kimmel: A Failure of Leadership? (Live) ·
Was Kimmel forced to micromanage?
Repeated checking became necessary because senior officers under Kimmel still doubted that war with Japan would occur.
From Patron 49: Admiral Kimmel: A Failure of Leadership? (Live) ·
Why the Royal Navy resumed showing-the-flag cruises
Britain did not need a Great White Fleet while permanent stations already displayed its power, but treaty-era reductions made deliberate presence cruises more useful.
From Patron 49: Admiral Kimmel: A Failure of Leadership? (Live) ·
Why command of USS New York mattered
Command of the recently modernized USS New York was a prestigious interwar assignment that marked the high point of Kimmel's shipboard career.
From Patron 49: Admiral Kimmel: A Failure of Leadership? (Live) ·
Why compare official treaty tonnages?
Officially declared treaty figures provide a consistent comparison even when every navy's published displacement contains distortions.
From Patron 49: Admiral Kimmel: A Failure of Leadership? (Live) ·
Could the Standard-type battleships gain more speed?
A larger speed increase appears technically plausible if the United States had devoted enough time and priority to the refits.
From Patron 49: Admiral Kimmel: A Failure of Leadership? (Live) ·
From cruiser command to temporary admiral
Cruiser commands and the Navy's temporary-rank system explain how a substantive rear admiral acquired the authority to lead the Pacific Fleet.
From Patron 49: Admiral Kimmel: A Failure of Leadership? (Live) ·
Did Britain and America share treaty definitions?
Treaty enforcement required Britain and the United States to use agreed definitions even when their individual declarations were imperfect.
From Patron 49: Admiral Kimmel: A Failure of Leadership? (Live) ·
What could Kimmel have changed with better intelligence?
Accurate warning could have changed alert levels, aircraft dispersion, reconnaissance, and carrier coordination even if it did not guarantee victory.
From Patron 49: Admiral Kimmel: A Failure of Leadership? (Live) ·
Did Richardson's removal make Kimmel less vocal?
Kimmel was already vocal, but unlike Japan specialist James Richardson he lacked the intelligence context needed to make the same detailed case.
From Patron 49: Admiral Kimmel: A Failure of Leadership? (Live) ·