Comments by "William Cox" (@WildBillCox13) on "IJN Mogami - Guide 133" video.

  1. Reflecting on this reminded me that the Devastator's main vulnerability was the tactic used to deliver torpedo attacks. Wavetop height and no faster than 150mph. The wooden shrouds later used with the USN's air dropped torpedo allowed release at higher speed and altitude. Not much, but a bit.
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  2. The 25mm is often held up as a reason our attacks got through. Early battles seem to confound this premise. Tactics evolved to a certain extent, and ships or planes sometimes got lucky, but the Dive Bombers and Torpedo planes didn't suddenly grow substantially faster. Likewise, torpedo and bomb attacks continued to be pressed home at the same ranges, because no fundamental change in the weapons occurred. This line of thought leads me to wonder wonder why they (IJN) stopped getting dependable results against our planes, circa '44-45. 25mm had knocked plenty of Dauntlesses and Devastators out of the sky. Avengers and Helldivers weren't much faster. Wonder what changed. Note: putting the wooden boxes around the nose and tail of air-dropped torpedoes did lead to a change in release speeds, but torpedo range did not change. Torpedo bombers had to press close for a hit.
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