Bill Cameron
Banned
Bill's point wasn't about Ranger though...
Bearcat,
Thank you for that. My point wasn't about Ranger at all. I was using that vessel's actual wartime experience to show how limited Nazi air defenses in Norway actually were.
... it was that Tirpitz plus GZ and perhaps another Bismarck would not draw only Ranger, but also two new shiny Essex-class ships, with Hellcats and Helldivers and Avengers.
That was my point. More KM capital units in Norway don't do a damn thing in the long run. All they do is ensure the Allies take steps to permanently rid themselves of the problem instead of nibbling at the problem with "funnies', obsolete units, or the second string.
An operation involving a pair of real carriers with real aircraft aboard them would have solved the problem once and for all, but Tirpitz wasn't enough of a real problem to require diverting an Essex or two for a couple of months. Instead, Tirpitz could and was held in check with the marginal operations I listed before.
If the Graf or another Bismarck-class vessel was stationed in Norway along with Tirpitz, the problem they posed would have then exceeded the threshold needed to send in the first team.
Bill