soc.history.war.world-war-ii

In article ,
Jerry wrote:
>On Tue, 11 Mar 2008 15:28:35 UTC, Louis C wrote:
>
>I don't know that I agree with this line of thinking. Launching a max
>effort at the time they did toward a target location that was poorly
>known at best and using aircraft with entirely different
>flying/cruising characteristics, I can't figure out how it could have
>come out better coordinated. Maybe if they had delayed the launch to
>further close the target...but then that would have allowed the
>Japanese to get off an anti-ship strike.
>
Except that Fletcher, with Yorktown, launched a strike later that
went straight to the Japanese carriers and arrived at the exact
same time as the Enterprise dive bombers. Of course, this was
a half-strike. I don't know if an all-out attack like Spruance's
could have been done in that time frame.

IIRC, Parshall and Tully also claim that sending the strike against
Hiryu with insufficient fighter escort was dumb. The Japanese were
way short of attack aircraft by then, and Hiryu had had the opportunity
to pick up lots of fighters.

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David H. Thornley | If you want my opinion, ask.
david@thornley.net | If you don't, flee.
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