The idea is to continue the discussion, assuming anyone is interested in reahashing this very well thread grounf, without polluting the Garibaldi cruisers therad. BTW I'm in no need of a "who won at Skagerrrak" fix so hopefully it won't turn to that.
from previous thread
There was nothing in the North Sea that would induce the HSF to a fight to the finish against the numerically superior GF, even without considering the peculiar relationship of the German Emperor with his "toys" so after implementing the strategic choice of the legally questionable distant blockade the RN had to create one if it wanted a battle, and that involved running some risks, planning that relies on enemy cooperation usually fail.
Historically the RN leadership was risk adverse, after loosing a couple of cruisers in the August "non battle" they didn't come South again.
The naval Naval battlefield is very different fom land, normally there is no terrain that will allow a weaker force to succesfully hold ground against a stronger one and, more importantly, no defender advantage from cover that shaped tactics in the rifled weapons era, and even more do in the faster firing smokeless powder era.
At sea the options for the weaker force are usually limited to in which direction to run. Extreme weather/visibility might change that and OFC there is always the infamous smoke+torpedo threat ploy. Regaring the later Jellicoe's well documented semi-automatic response to that is another element that makes a RN victory unlikely as it basicaly gives the HSF a "get out of jail free" card.
from previous thread
There was nothing in the North Sea that would induce the HSF to a fight to the finish against the numerically superior GF, even without considering the peculiar relationship of the German Emperor with his "toys" so after implementing the strategic choice of the legally questionable distant blockade the RN had to create one if it wanted a battle, and that involved running some risks, planning that relies on enemy cooperation usually fail.
Historically the RN leadership was risk adverse, after loosing a couple of cruisers in the August "non battle" they didn't come South again.
The naval Naval battlefield is very different fom land, normally there is no terrain that will allow a weaker force to succesfully hold ground against a stronger one and, more importantly, no defender advantage from cover that shaped tactics in the rifled weapons era, and even more do in the faster firing smokeless powder era.
At sea the options for the weaker force are usually limited to in which direction to run. Extreme weather/visibility might change that and OFC there is always the infamous smoke+torpedo threat ploy. Regaring the later Jellicoe's well documented semi-automatic response to that is another element that makes a RN victory unlikely as it basicaly gives the HSF a "get out of jail free" card.
statistics: Posted by TOS1956 — 7:09 AM - Today — Replies 0 — Views 54