![]() That means the Japanese would have needed a lot of luck and some American incompetence to succeed. By the time the Iowas started arriving, the US had the luxury to bring very large forces to a fight. That usually requires one or more critical mistakes on the part of the stronger opponent and a good dose of blind luck. It's always possible for the weaker force to win. In the end it's all just armchair admiral talk. That is if Halsey had chosen to pass on the carriers off Cape Engano to the north which was just there for bait anyway. A day combat would have meant facing a numerically superior enemy force at the top of its game on the surface while dealing with a huge strike force coming from above. It would have meant a much smaller strike force available, but the US still had air assets it could have employed against the Japanese force. ![]() If this battle happened at night, which would give Japan the best advantage, TF 38 still had night attack Avengers with radar. As for age of design, all 6 American BBs were contemporaries with the Yamato or a little newer.Īdd to this the superiority of the rest of the US force. The total Japanese force would have been 4 BBs, only one designed after WW I against a US force built around 6 fast BBs, the oldest having been commissioned in 1941. The Yamato, if it had realized the threat in time would have only been able to bring it's front two turrets to bear on an enemy it couldn't see. The battle, if Halsey had read the tea leaves correctly, would have happened at the exit of the San Bernadino Strait where the Japanese force was line astern and the US would have been waiting with the T already crossed. I believe most of the fast BBs had this radar setup by then. At Surgio Strait the couple of old BBs with it devastated the last of the Southern Force without ever getting a visual contact. By Leyte Gulf many US ships had advanced fire control radars. ![]() ![]() The only time the two may have met in combat was at Leyte Gulf where many factors would have worked against Japan. The US still hadn't perfected night fighting on the surface and there were few air units trained to operate at night. Battleships never engaged without other forces in the area.Ī battle in 1943 at night would have favored a force built around Yamato. Basically the conclusion of that article makes this debate sort of moot. ![]()
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