Correction: It took only 7 minutes for the brand new USN battleship to leave the IJN modernized WW1 battlecruiser a burning cripple. The question is what happens if she runs into a brand new BB twice her size?
Markus,
No. The
actual question was about the admittedly superior Japanese optics and night fighting tactics and their effects on a
Yamato sortie into the Slot.
My answer to
that question described how
thirteen IJN ships somehow missed spotting USS
Washington as she closed to under 9,000 yards from IJN
Kirishima, somehow never opened fire on
Washington has she pounded
Kirishima, and somehow let
Washington retire unmolested after
Kirishima was a burning wreck.
I was attempting to point out that, like USN radar, IJN optics and night fighting training wasn't
perfect. I was not commenting on the relative merits of a new USN battleship and an elderly, "modernized", IJN battlescruiser/battleship upgrade. I was commenting on the "ambush" that occurred and not the participants in that ambush.
I'm well aware of the differences between
Washington and
Kirishima. The former was a far superior vessel as proven by her sister ship, USS
South Dakota, who was fired upon by the same squadron that somehow missed
Washington and suffered relatively minor damage.
This thread is about whether a sortie by
Yamato-class battleship into the Slot would materially effect the Guadacanal campaign and is not about the warship trivia genitalia sizing contest that too many of these topics devolve into.
If you follow the link I provided, you can read an essay by an actual naval historian who opines that a single sortie by
Yamato;
- Would not damage Henderson by any significantly greater amount than occurred historically,
- Would also use over 5% percent of the IJN's monthly fuel budget during the period and,
- That multiple sorties would still not guarantee the airfield's destruction.
Bill