[Wanderer]

Originally posted by Thermodyne:
So long as the location of the Bismarck was known, the problem was manageable. IMHO, the reason for the Battle of the Denmark Strait was political, not strategic.

Not really. Whereas the Kriegsmarine had strict instructions not to risk their heavy ships, the Royal Navy's spirit was to attack, even in unfavourable circumstances. This was partly due to the Germans being out-numbered, partly due to the traditions of the two navies. Control of the sea was more important to the British than the Germans.

I must point out that the situation was pretty critical. The shadowing cruisers lost contact with Bismarck shortly before the Denmark Strait battle and did so again a few days later. The second time that she disappeared off the radar screens, she didn't reappear. Naval radar was still in its infancy, and the cruisers couldn't shadow her visually for obvious reasons.

As contact could have been lost at any time, it was imperative that Bismarck was enaged quickly. Having her roaming the Atlantic was not an option, as it meant suspending the convoy operations without which Britain would quickly run out of various supplies (which of course was the aim of Bismarck's voyage).

One point that should be made here is that the big gun ship was probably obsolete at the time the Hood was laid down.

In 1916? That's just silly! Even in WWII the big gun warship wasn't obsolete, although it was frequently mis-used by people who believed it was (especially by the Japanese).

Note that had the Japanese decided to use their battleships properly, their American counterparts would have led much more interesting (=useful?) lives. At Midway, what if Admiral Yamamoto (who was air-minded to say the least) had placed his array of battleships in the van rather than hundreds of miles behind his carriers? The US carrier force would not have been able to sink all nine, hold the island and defeat the four Japanese carriers without significant battleship support.

After Midway, the US fast battleships were recalled from the Atlantic and added to the carrier task forces.

As to the quality of British carrier aircraft at the start of the war, I am speechless.

Between the wars, the RAF top brass believed that they needed lots of heavy bombers and refused to allocate much funding to the Fleet Air Arm. Something similar happened in Germany - even had they finished their carrier(s) it's unlikely Goering would have furnished the Kriegsmarine with any aircraft. Inter-service rivalry was a sad fact of life.

The result was that the Swordfish aircraft that attacked the Bismarck and the Italian fleet at Taranto were slow bi-planes that wouldn't have looked out of place in WWI. In fact, it's said that the Bismarck's gunners couldn't hit the Swordfish as they were flying so slowly the gunners couldn't calculate the proper lead required*.

Although British designs improved during the war, the Fleet Air Arm was eventually equipped with American planes.

Now to address the game we all love to play, I think that the fighter needs a bigger punch.

I agree. I'd like to see fighters armed with seeking weapons whose range is long enough to allow them to attack a target from outside it's anti-fighter defences, but is short-ranged enough to make the attacking fighters vulnerable to defending fighters/escort ships.

But if you mod a fighter-launched missile, the ship under attack can simply move out of range once it's been fired. If the game had a setting, Seekers move immediately after being fired := True/False, I think I'd actually sit down and try to write a mod rather than just think about it.

* disclaimer - might not be true.