Military Literature

[belisarius]

you wanna see how the bridge area of the new jersey looks like? that wall's 17 inches thick made of high carbon steel. no other type of warship today has that.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.battleship.org/images/BN/armor2.jpg

[Dr_PepPeR]

Just curious. Are battleships a thing of the past? No new ones for a long long time.

[belisarius]

as we knew them, most probably. but a new generation of 'battleships" are being designed and some possibly in the works.

 

you could still call it "battleship" in that it still incorporates the three basic defining components: speed, armor protection and firepower.

 

land attack ships (for littoral warfare and ground support) are being seriously studied, as are weapons requirements. the basic findings:

 

1. current ships (corvette to destroyer size) lack armor protection for close-in action. direct armor plating is considered (similar to new jersey and yamato). indirect protection, basically building miniscule internal compartments, like in the bismark, is not likely.

 

2. the current guns, the 76mm and the 5"x54, lack power and range. currently studying to extend the 5" range to 70 miles and develope a new 8" long range gun.

 

land attack ships will still be using long-range cruise missiles as primary attack weapons but they will need guns. unlike missiles, it's so easy to saturate a target within range using gunfire. a spotter relays extent of damage and change in target locations, the gunner adjusts, and then pours it on again. nothing plasters a target better than large guns.

[Dr_PepPeR]

as we knew them, most probably. but a new generation of 'battleships" are being designed and some possibly in the works.

 

you could still call it "battleship" in that it still incorporates the three basic defining components: speed, armor protection and firepower.

 

land attack ships (for littoral warfare and ground support) are being seriously studied, as are weapons requirements. the basic findings:

 

1. current ships (corvette to destroyer size) lack armor protection for close-in action. direct armor plating is considered (similar to new jersey and yamato). indirect protection, basically building miniscule internal compartments, like in the bismark, is not likely.

 

2. the current guns, the 76mm and the 5"x54, lack power and range. currently studying to extend the 5" range to 70 miles and develope a new 8" long range gun.

 

land attack ships will still be using long-range cruise missiles as primary attack weapons but they will need guns. unlike missiles, it's so easy to saturate a target within range using gunfire. a spotter relays extent of damage and change in target locations, the gunner adjusts, and then pours it on again. nothing plasters a target better than large guns.

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Good points. I was thinking of how the Navy would support a large scale amphibious invasion, similar to those staged in WWII. AFAIR the Navy used battleships, cruisers and destroyers as floating artillery to reduce beachhead strongpoints. As you said, land attack ships would really need guns, as there is still no substitute for artillery to saturate targets. So this means there are no dedicated ships that can serve as floating artillery in the same manner that battleships used to do in the Pacific in WWII?

[belisarius]

well, land attack ship design follows a logical course. right now, the ships given this duty are the large destroyers that mount both harpoon and tomahawk missiles. but they are designed to rush in fast, fire their liong range missles to hit precision targets inland and scoot out fast. littoral warfare really harks back to old ship concepts because things could easily turn into a slugfest that can be decided by guns and short range missiles.

 

what i'm trying to research is how guns could possibly return to primary status in open sea warfare. every armchair strategist i ask doesn't believe that guns will ever take the place of missiles in that aspect. the longest ranging naval gun right now can go 50 miles. plans are afoot to extend this to 70 miles. magnetic rail guns in the future could reach more than 200 miles.

 

my idea is to match a 50-70 mile range gun to a sturdy and stealthy ship. you know, those slanting catamarans like the one in the james bond movie "tomorrow never dies". an alternative is a big surface effect ship that could go faster than 60 knots. if either one of those ships could slip in within 50 miles of a carrier task force, or even just a convoy protected by destroyers and cruisers, then maybe surface naval warfare could again be settled by gunfire.

[Yuex]

I have this book by readers digest. Its all about WW II. It gives you an account on critical things that happened before the pre -war time to the victories of the Allies. It gives details on on how the war started, characters who performed critical roles in the war, and deciding battles that shifts the tides of victory and what blunders and miracles prolonged the war. A great book i would say. :thumbsupsmiley:

[willow_boy]

I have this book by readers digest. Its all about WW II. It gives you an account on critical things that happened before the pre -war time to the victories of the Allies. It gives details on on how the war started, characters who performed critical roles in the war, and deciding battles that shifts the tides of victory and what blunders and miracles prolonged the war. A great book i would say.  :thumbsupsmiley:

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Hi Yuex,

 

Were you referring to Readers' Digest's "Illustrated History of World War II"? If so, maganda nga iyang librong iyan. I badly wanted one when I was a kid pero medyo mahal. Aside from Readers' Digest, Time-Life also has great books and photo collections on the war. Regards.

[Dr_PepPeR]

I have this book by readers digest. Its all about WW II. It gives you an account on critical things that happened before the pre -war time to the victories of the Allies. It gives details on on how the war started, characters who performed critical roles in the war, and deciding battles that shifts the tides of victory and what blunders and miracles prolonged the war. A great book i would say.  :thumbsupsmiley:

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Where did you get it?

[cocoy0]

May vintage na nahukay akong book from the Marcos era. It was published in celebration of the anniversary of the AFP. The book featured the strengths of the AFP. Syempre, pagmamayabang yan. Propaganda, pampataas ng morale. But what caught me reading it still was the "handbook" at the appendix teaching soldiers jungle survival. The recipes were funny, including cooking adobong palaka for 50 people (imagine the effort!), and including nutribun in the recipes.

[UNDergroundX]

Anyone who has a book or war stories regarding the battleship Musashi in Japan during world war 2?

I heard that its the biggest battle cruiser or ship in its time with the biggest cannon seen in this side of the world. Is this true? or is this just a myth?

[belisarius]

google the battle of leyte gulf, "turkey trots to water". it's the best account of the battle and tells of the musashi's final foray.

 

the yamato and musashi were the biggest, most heavily armored battleships on record. theirs was the biggest guns mounted on a ship.

[UNDergroundX]

google the battle of leyte gulf, "turkey trots to water". it's the best account of the battle and tells of the musashi's final foray.

 

the yamato and musashi were the biggest, most heavily armored battleships on record. theirs was the biggest guns mounted on a ship.

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Did it participate in the battle of Leyte Gulf? I heard it was just out from docking bay a few kms before it was bombed like baghdad by the U.S forces? Tnx belisarius

[shadowspy]

i do not know if this counts as military literature but Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the classic Chinese epic drama, has some very good war tactics. Also, A Swift, Elusive Sword is an interesting read.The basic idea of the book was what if Sun Tzu and John Boyd did a review of the US national defense. For those interested, here is the link http://www.cdi.org/mrp/swift_elusive_sword.pdf

[istaksamson]

Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield is a fictionalized account of the Battle of Thermopylae. Nice read.

[willow_boy]

I'm currently reading "The Forgotten Soldier" by Guy Sajer. It's a true story of a German soldier's experiences on the Russian Front during WW2.

[ken_2_10_nah]

Did it participate in the battle of Leyte Gulf? I heard it was just out from docking bay a few kms before it was bombed like baghdad by the U.S forces? Tnx belisarius

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The Musashi and Yamato were sister ships. They both participated in the Battle of Leyte Gulf. The Musashi was sunk during the battle by US aerial attack in the Sibuyan Sea (that's in the Philippines) on 24 October 1944. Yamato survived the battle and was later sunk near Okinawa by US aerial attack on 7 April 1945.

[belisarius]

one of the best novels i've ever read is a war book, "the caine mutiny" by herman wouk.

[ganjaman318]

for you military buffs try getting the autobiography of david hackworth entitled "about face"...it chronicles his rise from a private to a full colonel...and how he grew to be a peace activist as a result of the vietnam war...real good read!

[Dr_PepPeR]

for you military buffs try getting the autobiography of david hackworth entitled "about face"...it chronicles his rise from a private to a full colonel...and how he grew to be a peace activist as a result of the vietnam war...real good read!

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Where is it available? I'd want to read it just because Col. Hackworth is such an extraordinary soldier and person.

[belisarius]

among the world war two air war books, the most informative i've read was "wing commander", written by a british pilot. i forgot the author's name but he debunked many of my old notions about air warfare. books by galland, sakai and boyington spoke more about personal experience rather than the science of aerial combat.

[Podweed]

one of the best novels i've ever read is a war book, "the caine mutiny" by herman wouk.

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I like his books, too. Two of them, at least. I've only read "The Winds of War" and "War and Remembrance" though.

[naked_angel]

i loved james clavell's king rat and pat conroy's lords of discipline

[Dr_PepPeR]

I like his books, too. Two of them, at least. I've only read "The Winds of War" and "War and Remembrance" though.

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Herman Wouk has always been one of my favorite writers. Sometimes I just find the characters a bit distracting but I could hardly put down his books. His Trinity is also good as well as the book about US Marines in the Pacific I forgot the title.

[ken_2_10_nah]

Herman Wouk has always been one of my favorite writers. Sometimes I just find the characters a bit distracting but I could hardly put down his books. His Trinity is also good as well as the book about US Marines in the Pacific I forgot the title.

 

Trinity and Battle Cry (the book about the US Marines) were written by Leon Uris, not Herman Wouk. Uris also wrote Exodus, Mila 18, and QB VII, among others.

[chillout416]

I like Clancy's "Red Storm Rising".

 

If you like Red Storm Rising, try to check out the books by Howard Coyle (Sword Point, The Ten Thousand, Team Yankee and Bright Star) or Red Army by Ralph Peters....pretty good stuff. :thumbsupsmiley: