A what if

Discussion in 'Scenarios / Gameplay' started by gunner250, Sep 1, 2013.

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  1. gunner250

    gunner250 Active Member

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    i said full armament
     
    gunner250, Sep 2, 2013
    #21
  2. GregMcFadden

    GregMcFadden Facilitator RCWC Staff

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    on the original, the only hope of the PT would be to sufficiently pepper the superstructure and deck to render firefighting impractical and/or impossible, while using incendiary rounds/lucky hits to start fires topside... other than that, a draw, as the iowa would run out of ammo long before she ran out of pt boats... The PT boats could swarm and sufficiently suppress the small caliber AA rounds that could most effectively engage them on the iowa, although a great many of the AA guns would have a hard time getting enough depression to hit close in PT boats due to their mount positions and surrounding armor.. the armored 5" and 16" guns would run out of ammo a long time before running out of PT boats... (for reference, she only carried about 1200 rounds of 16" total and about 500 rounds of 5 per gun, and even with a swarm, hit percentages with 5 and 16" would be low... best case one hit per salvo would put her at 133 hits before running out of 16") Heck. they could score a 100% hit ratio for every shell fired and still only take out around half the swarm

    people are forgetting that armor is meaningless if the topside is on fire and there is no effective way to control the fire... sooner or later the fire will either reach something critical if the folks onboard are unable to effectively fight the fire.
     
    GregMcFadden, Sep 2, 2013
    #22
  3. NASAAN101

    NASAAN101 Well-Known Member

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    gunner250,
    I like your idea, but it would never work!!! Look at the armament that the Iowa's had, they can blow anything out of the water!!! I'm like you, I can do the what ifs til the cows come home, But it would never work!!
    Nikki
     
    NASAAN101, Sep 4, 2013
    #23
  4. Bob

    Bob Well-Known Member

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    I played a WWII sim called Fighting Steel a lot, it was pretty fun.
    One of the scenarios I made was a Yamato sitting still and 16 US DDs at full speed ramming it. They were set up in four line ahead formations, two on each side. It took 12-13 of them ramming Yamato to sink the ship. I ran it several times, once there was a magazine explosion at ram 4-5, it sank a few dds that were close to Yamato at the time.
    Anyhow... Like the case above sinking a large ship like that is not easy. 20,000 PT boats without torps could not sink it. Maybe kill a bunch of people, but they can't do anything a couple months in drydock can't fix.
    See if you can find Naval Warfare Simulations at navalwarfare.org (blocked at work for me), maybe they still have a sim you can download and try your what if in.
     
    Bob, Sep 4, 2013
    #24
  5. WillCover

    WillCover -->> C T D <<--

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    ......the hours of sleep lost playing that game....did that scenario with 4 stackers...o_O
     
    WillCover, Sep 4, 2013
    #25
  6. Beaver

    Beaver 2020 Rookie of the Year Admiral (Supporter)

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    Nikki, there is one way that 30,000 PT boats could sink an Iowa. Each PT boat had a crew of 14 men. Now, if 12 of the PT boat's crews were to board the Iowa, that would be 360,000 boarders! An Iowa class carried about 2800 men. If the PT boats' crews could get on the Iowa, they could overrun it.

    Beaver
     
    Beaver, Sep 4, 2013
    #26
  7. gunner250

    gunner250 Active Member

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    think it would work with my computer I got a newer computer
     
    gunner250, Sep 4, 2013
    #27
  8. NASAAN101

    NASAAN101 Well-Known Member

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    Beaver.
    The pt boats would have been sunk.
    Nikki
     
    NASAAN101, Sep 6, 2013
    #28
  9. Beaver

    Beaver 2020 Rookie of the Year Admiral (Supporter)

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    By what.....? PT boats were very hard to sink. Look at Pt 109, she was cut in half and still remained afloat. :)

    Beaver
     
    Beaver, Sep 6, 2013
    #29
  10. NASAAN101

    NASAAN101 Well-Known Member

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    She was one of the lucky ones.
    Nikki
     
    NASAAN101, Sep 6, 2013
    #30
  11. Beaver

    Beaver 2020 Rookie of the Year Admiral (Supporter)

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    I don't think luck had anything to do with it. :) They were built mostly out of wood, and wood boats rarely sank. Look back at history, in the Age of Sail, those ships usually sank because they were burnt.

    I still think the boarding idea would work.

    Beaver
     
    Beaver, Sep 6, 2013
    #31
  12. NickMyers

    NickMyers Admin RCWC Staff

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    its a long way from the deck of a PT to the deck of an Iowa class
     
    NickMyers, Sep 6, 2013
    #32
  13. Anachronus

    Anachronus Well-Known Member

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    An Iowa only needs to head to sea at flank speed. The PT boats would run out of gas before too long.
     
    Anachronus, Sep 6, 2013
    #33
  14. Beaver

    Beaver 2020 Rookie of the Year Admiral (Supporter)

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    At the Normandy landings, the troops had rocket propelled grappling hooks. I think those would work sufficiently to get the men up to the deck. Anachronus, the Iowas went at a top speed of 33knts, PT boats went at a top speed of 41knts with a maximum run time of six hours. If the PT boat went at 33knt I think they would be able to last a few hours longer, and have plenty of time to board.

    Beaver
     
    Beaver, Sep 6, 2013
    #34
  15. NickMyers

    NickMyers Admin RCWC Staff

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    It might get a line up to deck, but it wont carry the men. I'm no specialist in naval boardings, but do you want to try to climb up a rope, tenously attached to the battleship, from a pt boat, going 30+ knots? Seems a bit of a task.
     
    NickMyers, Sep 6, 2013
    #35
  16. Anachronus

    Anachronus Well-Known Member

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    It would depend on the sea state wouldn't it? Iowa could work up to 30+ knots in ocean conditions that would leave a pt boat combat ineffective
     
    Anachronus, Sep 6, 2013
    #36
  17. NickMyers

    NickMyers Admin RCWC Staff

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    i wonder how difficult it would be for a little pt boat to hold station (close enough for a man to shimmy up a line) next to a battleship doing 30 knots in general, even in flat seas
     
    NickMyers, Sep 7, 2013
    #37
  18. DarrenScott

    DarrenScott -->> C T D <<--

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    Especially if somebody dropped a molotov cocktail overboard, right onto the PT boat's fuel tanks.
    Or threw potatoes.
     
    DarrenScott, Sep 7, 2013
    #38
  19. Anachronus

    Anachronus Well-Known Member

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    I don't know that I've seen a photo of an Iowa's decks when traveling at speed. Hood's got quite damp under such conditions. I would imagine it would be hard for the PT to get close enough due to the Iowa's wake.
     
    Anachronus, Sep 7, 2013
    #39
  20. Jeromy

    Jeromy Member

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    Now finally something I know about on this forum!!!! Having have been on both ends of the exchange of boarding a ship under way( executing navigation from ship and pilot vessel) it is not a simple feat to receive personnel from one moving vessel to another. Even with ladders and partial stairways extending from ship side. There are many factors to be considered course , speed, sea state and displacement of vessel to be boarded. Optimally course would be a following sea and a steady speed about 4 kts faster than driving force of sea state ie. current,wind or tide. With the smaller vessel positioning itself directly amidship to minimize the force of bow displacement and return flow to stern. I can tell you from first hand experience that a 25 meter pilot vessel can be swamped and shoved away with a 12 degree turn and reduction of speed of 1.7 knots . So if the Iowa knows they are there and attempting to board and executes a weather pattern route ( basically a large figure 8) there is no way to get a small vessel along side to board. This tactic is used in known pirate waters to prevent anyone from boarding vessels that are doing considerably less than Iowas flank speed.
     
    Jeromy, Sep 7, 2013
    #40
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