Sventex

But would it really make a difference if the Germans sunk 6 or even 9 RN Battlecruisers at Jutland instead of 3? They would still be heavily outnumbered in capital ships.

But would that even be physically possible? The opening half of Jutland is the 1st Scouting Group and High Seas Fleet wailing on the 5th Battle Squadron and 1st/2nd Battlecruiser Squadrons and all they had to show for it was 2 Battlecruisers sunk and Warspite nearly sunk. With the Germans already using up much of their ammunition in the opening part of Jutland and with the High Seas Fleet having smaller guns, would it even have physically been possible to defeat The Grand Fleet? Sinking Super-Dreadnoughts seemed to be a very hard thing to do.

Just because the gun wasn't as awful as some of the contemporaries doesn't change the the fact that it was indeed as bad as its reputation. The purpose of anti aircraft guns is to disrupt and destroy aircraft, not outperform the guns of other navies. The USN might have had some of the best AA guns in the world, but they too were also awful negating air power for several years of the war. Those 25mm guns got their reputation because the USN planes could walk all over Japanese ships with minimal casualties.

Medium to Heavy bombers are easy to target with flak guns because they fly in tight formations at predictable altitudes and they fly straight and level. This is completely unlike naval aircraft swarming around a Battleship with dive bombers peeling off at the last second and torpedo bombers on the deck dropping their payload.

It's the sheer disparity of force that's causing such lopsided casualties. Yamato was confronted by 11 CVs, if she survived long enough to engage in a surface action, she'd have been confronted 17 capital ships. What would it ultimately matter if she shot down a few more aircraft before she was destroyed? What changes? No ship would withstand a combined attack by 11 other capital ships.

USN pilots died taking down Yamato, it would have been no different against a surface fleet. Given Yamato's combat record that exposes poor accuracy, a highly damaged Yamato would be unlikely to score any hits, much like when Bismarck was executed. The effectiveness of surface ships goes down dramatically when they are harassed by nearly unchallenged air power.

Given the Russian influence in this game, I wouldn't be surprised if one of the USN Paper Battleships ends up being called "Russian America"

Given Britain's willingness to violate the sovereignty of neutral nations in both World Wars, I wouldn't read too deeply into the fact that Britain choose Belgium's neutrality specifically to go to war over. Belgium neutrality or no, Britain had cause to mobilize and they'd as soon as violate Belgium's neutrality in a blockade to prevent goods from reaching Germany. "Britain's reasons for declaring war were complex. The ostensible reason given was that Britain was required to safeguard Belgium's neutrality under the Treaty of London (1839). The German invasion of Belgium was therefore the casus belli and importantly legitimised and galvanised popular support for the war. The strategic risk posed by German control of the Belgian and ultimately French coast was considered unacceptable. German guarantees of postwar behavior were cast into doubt by her blasé treatment of Belgian neutrality. However, the Treaty of London had not committed Britain on her own to safeguard Belgium's neutrality. Moreover, naval war planning demonstrated that Britain would have violated Belgian neutrality by blockading her ports (to prevent imported goods passing to Germany) in the event of war with Germany. Rather Britain's relationship with her Entente partners, both France and Russia, were equally significant factors. Edward Grey argued that the secret naval agreements with France although they had not been approved by the Cabinet created a moral obligation between Britain and France. If Britain abandoned its Entente friends, it was feared also that whether Germany won the war or the Entente won without British support, Britain would be left without any friends. This would have left both Britain and her Empire vulnerable to attack. "Should the war come, and England stand aside, one of two things must happen. (a) Either Germany and Austria win, crush France and humiliate Russia. What will be the position of a friendless England? (b) Or France and Russia win. What would be their attitude towards England? What about India and the Mediterranean?" Domestically, the Liberal Cabinet was split and in the event that war was not declared the Government would fall as Prime Minister Asquith, Edward Grey and Winston Churchill made it clear they would resign. In that event, the existing Liberal Cabinet would lose their jobs. Since it was likely the prowar Conservatives would come to power, that would still lead to a British entry into the war, only slightly later. Wavering Cabinet ministers were also likely motivated by the desire to avoid senselessly splitting their party and sacrificing their jobs." - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Causes_of_World_War_I#Britain_declares_war_on_Germany,_4_August_1914

Clock in action in the Battle of Tsushima (from the show Saka no Ue no Kumo), used to tell the secondary gunners on the deck what the range to their target is on the Battleship Mikasa.

While Churchill is known for criticizing nearly everything Admiral Jellicoe did at Jutland, he did remark that he was “the only man who could have lost the war in an afternoon.” Now this got me wondering since the opening phase of the Battle of Jutland had given the Germans more than they could ever have dreamed of, a chance to cut down Beatty's 1st and 2nd Battlecruiser Squadron and to confront the 5th Battle Squadron with the full force of the High Seas Fleet. Despite this, the German gains were relatively minor, just 2 Battlecruisers sunk. Given that those capital ships only had about an hour worth of munitions on board and the opening skirmish had fairly lengthy artillery exchanges, would it even be physically possible for Admiral Jellicoe to have lost the war in an afternoon by the time the Grand Fleet got involved? Would the Germans even have enough shells onboard to even change the balance of power even if Jellicoe had truly screwed up? And even if the blockade is broken, does that truly mean that Germany wins WWI?

These old wooden world heritage sites should seriously consider some powerful fire suppression systems.

I'll give that a try.

I went to my profile page and noticed my strike counter had disappeared. When I looked for the World of Tanks forum rules, I noticed they referred to "sanctions" now. Has the strike system been removed or have I misunderstood things? I realize one of the rules on the page says "Do not discuss moderation and sanctions" but this puts me an in awkward position because it also says "Sanctions time out after 6 months. If the player receives more than 1 sanction within a 6 month period, he/she immediately receives the next level of sanction for each new strike. If a player doesn’t get any strikes for 6 months, his/her sanctions go back to 0." so I don't know if that means the strikes I've gotten years ago have been forgiven or not. I don't really know how to check if my account is in good standing or not since I haven't played World of Warships that much this year. I hoping someone can provide me information so I know whether or not my account has had it's strikes forgiven. I don't mean to cause any trouble asking about this, I'm just not sure if I missed a news update and don't know if things have changed.

I'll just have to agree to disagree there. There were comprises for balance sake, but the game wasn't totally divorced from reality. Even "pure arcade" games can be authentic. I know Extra Credits mentioned that if a game deviates even a tiny bit from history, it's no longer "historically accurate" but I consider that hogwash. Not every grain of sand can be in the correct place when recreating the Normandy Invasion, it's just the nature of historical recreations. Everyone has a different threshold and I suppose WoWs broke yours since the 2015 but that wasn't important for you. A far more historically accurate arcade game can be made and it doesn't need to be a simulator.

Being an artist with a love for history, I would design a Battleship to be both uniquely distinctive and visually interesting. That inherently would make it more interesting to talk about 80 years later. In this case, I designed a battleship that took the Alsace design another step further so it could boast having the most number of Battleship guns over any other vessel. If your going to make a design interesting, it's gotta have a shtick.