From: Darrell Ramsell (daram@comcast.net)
Date: Wed Nov 17 2004 - 00:20:54 PST
Jack
One of the guns I saw in Singapore was not capable of firing in a 360 arc.
It was blocked by a bunker. I'm not sure if it was a 15' but it was big. I
think I might even have a picture of it in my navy photo album. If I can
find it I'll send you a digital pic.
Darrell
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jack" <milveh@sbcglobal.net>
To: "Military Vehicles Mailing List" <mil-veh@mil-veh.org>
Sent: Tuesday, November 16, 2004 8:47 PM
Subject: Re: [MV] Souping up a MUTT-Singapore thread
>
>
> Yep Patrick, they did have some big guns, and like you
> said, its commonly thought they could only fire
> seaward. Not true. I quote, "These 15" guns had all
> round traverse and could be fired landward. But
> equipped only with ammunitions to counter armoured
> ships, they were not effective against land troops and
> field artillery."
>
> So the British had brilliantly designed the 15 inch
> guns to swing around 360 degrees, but failed to order
> ammo for a possible land assault! That was just the
> begining of the screw ups that eventually caused the
> fall of Singapore.
>
> Seems to me there was a cruiser that was heavily
> damaged by aircraft that they beached in order to use
> the ships guns. Can't find that in my reference
> material at the moment. Would have been a good idea,
> one of the very few good ideas Waverly had... if my
> memory serves me correctly.
>
> "The Imperial Army was convinced of its absolute
> supremacy in the war of the Pacific. After the strike
> at Pearl Harbor, the flag of the Rising Sun had
> obtained easy captures of Singapore, Hong Kong, the
> Philippines and Java and Sumatra. The Western fleets
> had been crippled, and the Japanese military term
> "hakko ichiu", to bring all the corners of the world
> under common Japanese control, seemed possible."
> http://www.s1942.org.sg/dir_defence2.htm
>
> Another battle in the area was the Java Sea Battle, if
> you have an interest in the fall of Singapore, you
> should read what happened in the Java naval battle.
> The Japanese outgunned and outmanuevered Australian,
> Dutch and American warships. It was a rout and it
> caused the Japanese to feel invulnerable and almost
> cocky-reckless toward future battles with the allies.
> In the coming months this was to prove a fatal
> mistake.
>
>
>
>
>
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