soc.history.war.world-war-ii

in article 47e9a20c$0$15754$afc38c87@news.optusnet.com.au, YMC at
nospamhere_yauchiam@gmail.com wrote on 3/25/08 9:40 PM:

> The scouting plane can be used to approach the suspect vessel- fly over it
> and with the aid of binoculars check it out for possible weapons.

And if the weapons are effectively hidden, as one might expect from an armed
merchant raider?

> If it has a aldis lamp, it can use it to message the suspect vessel using
> morse code.

The cruiser can also signal via lamp from a reasonably safe distance,
supposing no fog, haze, ot other weather condition prevents that. If the
weather is clear enough for the plane to fly, it likely is good enough for
signaling from the ship.

> All this would save the mother ship - cruiser - the trouble and danger of
> approaching the suspect vessel at a closer range.

It still would have to approach sooner or later in order to check the
suspect ship's papers and cargo.

It's not that flying the plane would have been a bad idea necessarily, given
that there was enough light left in the day for all this to happen (the
plane fueled, launched, fly its mission, and return to ship and report). I
just don't see it obviating the Sydney moving in to complete the inspection.

Michael