Comments by "" (@BobSmith-dk8nw) on "Battle of the Komandorski Islands - Forced to run, yet still they won" video.

  1. A few things ... First off - this was very well done. Next, it's the "Battle OFF Samar" which you adamantly refuse to say to the point where it is obviously an intentional mis-statement of the name of the Battle. YOU don't get to name the Battle. Your continuing refusal to say the name correctly is something you SHOULD be ashamed of. One thing about the Japanese - was there were a few battles - such as Savo - where they could have done much more than they did - but then they left. Here - you have Japanese Admirals reluctant to lose their ships. It isn't that they are afraid of being killed - it's that they know - that if they lose a ship - it can't be replaced - and they were right, it couldn't. The Americans on the other hand - once under Halsey - were not in the least bit afraid of losing ships (though much more reluctant to have their people die than the Japanese) since they knew - that any ships they lost - could be replaced - and - replaced by newer better ships. Thus - 1942 was an utter disaster for the Japanese. To be sure - they inflicted serious, painful losses on the Americans - but - all those ships the Americans lost were replaced whereas few of the Japanese ship losses were ever replaced. The most glaring of these incidents is the Battle OFF Samar - where Kurita elected to preserve his fleet - to no purpose. The entire operation was conceived of as a Death Ride for the Japanese Navy. Their objective was to destroy the American Invasion Fleet off the Philippines and they expected to sacrifice their fleet to do so. Given that the ships in Japan had no fuel and the ships in Indonesia that had fuel could not be maintained - their Navy was becoming impotent - and this was SUPPOSED to be it's Last Hurrah. Yet - having his ship sunk from beneath him and being somewhat injured in the process - Kurita seems to have lost track of what he was there for - and fell back - when there was little between he and the Invasion Fleet. So - here - these Northern Islands - which were not worth keeping - were not something the Japanese Admiral wanted to take a chance on losing any ships over. Once he was sure he had protected the transports - he and they retired. .
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