A question for the WW2 nuts.
- Thread starter trekchu
- Start date
Not terribly far. The British had worked out how to do it in 1940 (iirc), but it needed development of miniature valves that could stand the acceleration, and, oddly, a workable battery! The battery issue is solvable early, but I odnt see how youd get the vavles earlier, youd have to move all radar research forward in order to know youd need them earlier than 1940...
BlairWitch749
Banned
Tsouras had them moved up in a short story where the Japanese won bigtim at Midway and then launched a naval strike against California... the national emergancy spurred their development to be ready for mid 1942 and they used prototype rounds in the defense... didn't feel unrealistic as a measure that would be taken
Thanks, I'm only off by about a year or so, then, pretty good for someone who concentrates on the big stuff like planes and ships.
On the nose.
The VT shell was rightly seen as a war changer. The Allied bomber offensive would have been severely impacted if the Axis had managed to get the VT tech. I'm pretty sure it wasn't even shared with the Soviets via Lend Lease.
The Allies finally let it into the ground role after the Germans were incapable of reverse engineering the system (first ground use was very late 1944 wne the Germans were barely able to produce basics).
BlairWitch749
Banned
Its from the compilation book "Rising Sun Victorious" by Peter G Tsouras. It has (10) 25 page or so short ATL's where Japan wins the war and there was one called Nagumo's Luck where the VT proximity rounds were used in the manner I described... less than 5 bucks on ebay or amazon... some of the stories are interesting although others get pretty wankish
Interesting - Danish WWII 20mm cannon HE rounds was fitted with a device to have it detonate when exceeding max effective range to avoid duds spread all over the landscape.
Might have been used to avoid duds... of course if you're persistant you might still recover something to reverse engineer but having to rely on minor and missing fragments will slow your work.
You still wouldnt risk it, these self-destructs often fail, especially wen you are looking at mass produced war items (poor quality control).
In any case, the VT fuse wasnt really needed for land use, and they could afford to use it safely for AA use. The only theatres they might have used it in, northern europe and italy, they had massive fighter superiority.
So it was reserved for use at sea, and air defence of the UK (against the V-1).
No need to even risk something that would have been so useful to the germans when there isnt much call for it.
Hmm
Would the possible early introduction of VT fused anti-aircraft defences onto British vessels, making them substantially more survivable in the face of air attack, delay the recognition of the superiority of the aircraft carrier. I can imagine a scenario in which Force Z survives because of them, particularly if this is paired with a general improvement of the British implementation of radar.
Would the possible early introduction of VT fused anti-aircraft defences onto British vessels, making them substantially more survivable in the face of air attack, delay the recognition of the superiority of the aircraft carrier. I can imagine a scenario in which Force Z survives because of them, particularly if this is paired with a general improvement of the British implementation of radar.
As a matter of fact the TL I am doing this for is the AAR linked in my sig. In said TL the Germans managed to finish the Graf Zeppelin which then promptly went on to smash part of my blockade Squadron. I had all my starting CVs in the med and not yet produced any more because I had forgotten that the Germans have a CV in the starting build queue in the scenario I based it on. Trust me, the RN knows Carriers are the way to go.
That may be true, but the Fleet Air Arm had been sadly neglected during it's time in the 'care'
of the Royal Air Force.Bearcat
Banned
Unfortunately the gain is only incremental. The VT only makes AA a little more accurate - not anything remotely like one shot, one kill. Also, the RN destroyers are woefully undergunned for AA until 1945. Also without the remarkable fire control system of the American' 5"/38, its even harder to get hits.
So the capital ships of Force Z kill a few Nells and Bettys, but eventually a few get through. IOTL they survived a couple of attack runs, then Repulse (?) got 'anvilled' from two directions and it was downhill from there.
WW2 AA fire, even with the VT, wasn't a panacea. Part of the American success in the second half of the war was the layering of defenses (CAP, BARCAP, 5" guns, 40mm and 20mm). Attackers were attrited all the way into the target.