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  1. Possibility of getting the US and Japan on the same side in an alt-WWII?

    You need a POD back to 1905, at the latest. The 1890s would be better. The U.S. and the Japanese Empire were more or less doomed to be enemies, their national strategic needs overlapped in too many places to avoid it. This was made worse by the utterly deplorable way that Japanese immigrants...
  2. WI: Yu-Go sakusen successful

    As noted an increasing percentage of the long range boats were being devoted to supply missions. There was also some notable fuel issues that caused problems, and probably most importantly, the IJN's strategic philosophy. From Combined Fleet.Com So you have a dwindling number of hulls, a...
  3. WI: Yu-Go sakusen successful

    Morison does, however, suffer from not having all the facts in hand. Enigma was not declassified until three decades after his 15 volume History of United States Naval Operations in World War II was written. Even the true depth of the Purple effort wasn't clear at the time, although he was able...
  4. WI: Yu-Go sakusen successful

    It is remarkably difficult to give balanced input into something as hare-brained as most post 1942 IJN planning. While there were notable successes with small scale efforts, the attack you mention on Randolph, the remarkably daring commando raid on Luzon, and other small unit action that...
  5. Atomic bomb dropped on Tokyo

    Tokyo was already pretty much a burned out ruin. You could drop directly on the Imperial Palace, but that would likely have had the exact opposite effect that was desired, namely shocking/over-aweing the Japanese into surrender. Killing the Emperor would have made any surrender utterly...
  6. A realistic Red Dawn scenario

    Laughable. Well, it would be if it was even slightly better thought out. The change to the DPRK from the PRC, made in hopes of ticket sales in China, took it from ridiculous to asinine.
  7. A realistic Red Dawn scenario

    Actually, the initial set-up for the 1984 version of the film was "worst case" but slightly possible given the geo-politics of the day. It was a progression of different events (the Green Party gaining the majority in the BDR and withdrawing from NATO, which results in NATO falling apart...
  8. India annexes Pakistan

    The reason for the partition was that the Indian government was unable to find a method of keeping the Muslim regions of the country as part of a democratic, peaceful, India. Annexing AFTER the Partition would be infinitely worse than never allowing the Partition to take place initially. It...
  9. Tohoku, Hokkaido, Sakhalin and Ryukyu taken from Japan after World War II

    Possible? Sure, anything is possible. Likely is a different matter, especially Hokkaido, which is recognized as one of the "Home Islands". The same goes for the portions of Honshu that are populated by the Tohoku minority. The Ryukyu's and Bonins were effectively taken from the Japanese...
  10. WI: Yu-Go sakusen successful

    I am always fascinated by the IJN's love for the overly intricate and sublimely ridiculous. From proposing to attack the most heavily fortified position in the Western Hemisphere with 12 seaplanes to sending the largest warship constructed to that time on a mission to fight through the entire...
  11. Casualty total for Hiroshima and Nagasaki

    No really hard number exist for either case. It was the conclusion of the USSBS (Pacific) that Tokyo was the deadlier than either nuclear strike. Even that is very much a SWAG, since no reliable Japanese government figures exist on population for any of the three targeted cities. It is...
  12. When Did Aircraft Surpass Ships in Naval Combat Capabilities?

    In that case, they never have. Probably never will. By far, the most lethal bit of kit in naval warfare remains the submarine. A well handled, first level tech, SSN is close to unstoppable and it can kill anything afloat. With the most recent breakthroughs in torpedo tech a boat can kill you...
  13. When Did Aircraft Surpass Ships in Naval Combat Capabilities?

    One Ohio or Typhoon can effectively destroy every city with a population over 500,000 in North America or Europe. Pretty sure there are no single aircraft that can manage that. One well handled SSN could wipe out the entire Royal Navy (not that it would be easy, or even likely, just...
  14. Midway: Without the 5 lucky minutes

    While this scenario is... what it is, I need to point out that a significant fraction of the forces that were designated for Operation FS, the 2nd Combined SNLF and the Ichiki Detachment, have been, at the least mauled in taking Midway. In the list of the butcher's bill I do not see any listing...
  15. Which army had the most effective/deadly grenades during WW2?

    Effective and deadly are not at all the same thing. Grenades can definitely kill at very close proximity, but their big advantage is the shrapnel and blast/shock effect (the famed German "potato smasher" grenade is actually a concussion weapon, doing its work with blast effect and not...
  16. ISIS vs Imperial Japanese Military in terms of fanaticism

    Chat subject. Can not move due to poll. Locked.
  17. WI Ryujo, Hiryu and Soryu are larger?

    The Ryujo was supposed to be a light carrier, not a fleet carrier, so her tonnage was about right, here existence was due to a quirk in the original Washington Treaty. There was no chance that they could have beefed her up to full size, been far too obvious. The Soryu could have been built...
  18. AHC: Shorten the Pacific War

    Hmmm... Is that Skippy I hear calling...
  19. Un-screw the U.S. Sub Force?

    Actually, tragic as it was for the crew and their family, Thresher may have been the best thing that could have happened to the USN. The hyper-Nuc, perfect is below minimal standards, super safe Nuclear Navy is pretty much a direct result of the Thresher, and to a lesser degree the Scorpion...
  20. Late 1943 carrier battle

    The D4Y was a serious problem in development as well as once in the field. It had a number of great features, especially over the D3A, but the chances of them being the main, much less only dive bomber operating from the big decks is minute, and if they were somehow deployed, it would have a...
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