Search results for query: *

Forum search Google search

  1. Not James Stockdale

    How "should" WWII in 1940 have gone?

    The Belgians must have known that the French planned to fight their next war with Germany almost entirely on Belgian territory. The Belgians would have compared the human and economic toll of another German occupation with the cost of seeing Brussels destroyed in a Stalingrad- or Verdun-style...
  2. Not James Stockdale

    Sir John Valentine Carden Survives. Part 2.

    Sable and Wolverine were far more useful as training platforms than in any kind of combat capacity. It would have been easier and faster to put flight decks on tankers being built on the West Coast and get them into combat as escort carriers.
  3. Not James Stockdale

    A Sound of Thunder: The Rise of the Soviet Superbooster

    That looks like the kind of quasi-aerospike that Stoke is building. The article says five engines on the first stage, but the diagram appears to show eight in an octagonal arrangement around the perimeter of the vehicle and one in the center. VTVL and air relight of a GG hydrolox motor would...
  4. Not James Stockdale

    How "should" WWII in 1940 have gone?

    The dysfunction in the French Army was such that the first German breakthrough that could get to operational depths would collapse the entire front for 2-4 weeks. It just happened that IOTL the Germans went with the high-risk, high-reward Sickle Cut. If the Germans had concentrated their armored...
  5. Not James Stockdale

    WI: No Sino-Soviet Split - Two Scenarios

    Because the Chinese would be unable to contribute to a large ground campaign except in Korea, they would be unlikely to create a significant change to the correlation of ground forces, globally speaking. NATO would still concentrate the vast majority of their forces for operations in Europe. US...
  6. Not James Stockdale

    Battle of Britain - Big Wing - opinions

    What the British needed was a single theater-level air defense commander (like a JFACC) and battle staff (like a US CAOC) to coordinate fighter operations across the entire Channel-North Sea front. A functional GCI system would be able to emulate the Big Wing tactic in the aggregate by vectoring...
  7. Not James Stockdale

    Alternative History Armoured Fighting Vehicles Part 4

    If they are anything more than a security unit, like the Air Force Security Police units that used Cadillac Gage armored vehicles in Vietnam, you are going to want more off-road mobility than what a 4x4, especially an armored one, can provide. The GDLS LAV I and LAV II but probably the most...
  8. Not James Stockdale

    No F-104 Starfighter for Europe! Alternate designs instead.

    The F-105 is a monster compared to the F-104 or Mirage III. Aircraft Empty MTOW (kg) F-105 12 tons 24 tons F-104 6.4 tons 13 tons Mirage III 7 tons 14 tons The Thud was also not a fighter, and it was always escorted by real fighters during the strikes in Vietnam. The air-to-air...
  9. Not James Stockdale

    Military tactics ( that were never developed or employed )

    Considering the amount of stuff soldiers like to carry around in the desert, like water, food, and ammunition, the unpowered wheel on the sidecar, and the dust and sun in the desert, I would much rather have a 4WD Hilux than a motorcycle. The motorcycle only has an advantage in a...
  10. Not James Stockdale

    European NATO Army alternatives: 1950 - 1990

    It doesn't work that way. Tank guns fire unitary ammunition and artillery pieces use separate ammunition with a variable number of charge bags (whether the charge is then cased or the breech is self-obturating), so they wouldn't be compatible even if you wanted to fire the same projectiles out...
  11. Not James Stockdale

    Challenge: Fix the LCS Program

    This sounds a lot like the LCS without the speed requirement, so maybe it ends up designated as an FF or FMS (frigate minesweeper) unless Rumsfeld is set on creating an entirely new hull classification. The La Fayette class sounds pretty similar in terms of basic requirements, although this FMS...
  12. Not James Stockdale

    Challenge: Fix the LCS Program

    If we can offload the LCS program's anti-small boat role to helicopters and we don't actually need to worry about ASW because the Burkes and remaining OHPs can do that, then what does an armed MCM look like? Something like an Absalon would have plenty of space for the minehunting gear and can...
  13. Not James Stockdale

    Challenge: Fix the LCS Program

    All of the Osprey and Avenger class mine hunters were commissioned in the late 1980s and early 1990s, so they shouldn't have been retiring before 2010 at the absolute earliest. An OHP successor program in the 1990s shouldn't even have to worry about mine warfare.
  14. Not James Stockdale

    Challenge: Fix the LCS Program

    If you're going to drop the speed requirement, why do you still need the trimaran? Is this a role that you could do with the Expeditionary Fast Transport instead? A ~3,000 ton combatant like the MEKO 200 is going to be in a problematic capability valley. It would be substantially more expensive...
  15. Not James Stockdale

    Challenge: Fix the LCS Program

    If you look at these three requirements, you end up with three different types of ships. The FAC could be something like the Ambassador Mk III built by VT Halter for the Egyptians, with a 76mm gun, 8 Harpoons, Phalanx, and a RAM launcher. The second ship might be something like the Braunschweig...
  16. Not James Stockdale

    Challenge: Fix the LCS Program

    My opinion is that the problems associated with the LCS program have been caused primarily by the mix of requirements and prospective missions imposed on the program, which led to design decisions and compromises that have effectively crippled the platform. Ultimately, the problem goes back to...
  17. Not James Stockdale

    Alternate warships of nations

    I don't think you could reasonably justify the costs of an enormous AA ship at any time, and almost certainly not before the sinking of Repulse and PoW. In 1940, the Royal Navy desperately needs modern battleships to counter the new German and Italian battleships, so this is probably a...
  18. Not James Stockdale

    Early 6 inch DP gun

    The limit for manual loading has always been about 100 pounds, which is why early manually loaded 6 inch guns with 100 pound projectiles became standard. If you go over 100 pounds, you are going to make the crews struggle and they are going to get tired faster. The US 5"/38 and British 4.5 inch...
  19. Not James Stockdale

    Refusing to Retaliate: Nuclear War

    A question that I think is far more interesting is whether a nation would respond with nuclear weapons to a large-scale conventional attack aimed directly at its nuclear forces. For example, if a hostile power used conventional cruise missiles to destroy the Air Force's 450 MMIII silos and the...
  20. Not James Stockdale

    Alternate warships of nations

    This makes it sound a lot like you just shuffled around parts on Kirov, with the forward 155mm mount replacing the Silex launcher, and then swapping the Shipwreck and Grumble launchers around. The 76mm mounts could then be sitting on the small deckhouses that carried 4 x AK-630 mounts on Kirov...
Top