Quote:
Originally Posted by OpanaPointer
Taking a Baka to the bridge would hamper the fighting ability of most ships, regardless of size.
A better plan, IMHO, would have been to strengthen the "first line of defense" and use more small boys. Six destroyers, separated enough to present individual targets but close enough to provide mutual support, would have been vastly better than one lone picket. I think the assumption was that the Japanese would fly over the picket and proceed to better targets. They didn't allow for the pilots who just wanted to get it over with and struck at the first target they saw. RP1 needed a squadron of destroyers, not just a single ship.
Another possibility would have been offsetting pickets that would deflect the attacks from the main fleet at Okinawa. Lure them away from their chosen line and into a kill box.
Ah, I love Monday Morning Quarterbacking, it's far less hazardous.
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Good point. I was also thinking along a similar line. I was thinking about two DD's in mutual support instead of your six because I preferred to have most of the DD's closer to the heavies and carriers to serve as an AA screen. It's a tough choice and a lot of those lone pickets paid a heavy price.
As for using OBBs as pickets, they can take a lot more punishment, that's true. Given some escorts, they can form the kill box and probably could serve as magnets for those suicide attacks, thus serving as a lure to divert such attacks from the main fleet just like you said.