What nationality will you most commonly sail? Why?

[MaximilianvonSpee]

This question has less to do with preference for individual ships than the overall 'feel' of the nations involved. I am limiting the poll options to nations that possessed dreadnoughts -- if a country didn't have capital ships or BCs, they got put under 'other.' Also, I grouped all of Australia/NZ/Canada/Etc. under Great Britain.

 

As far as my own selection is concerned, I will focus on Germany (with an occasional dabble into Great Britain) exclusively with WWI era vessels, as I really like the simple designs that the Kaiserliche Marine favored. I don't much care for the German ships of WWII (in that conflict, I mostly favor the Italian designs, or HMS Vanguard). I'm going to primarily stick to BBs and BCs no matter what, so it doesn't much matter if, for example, I like the American light cruisers better than those of other countries, etc.

[NGTM_1R]

As I'm far more interested in light forces than heavy ones and my main theater of interest was the Pacific, it's very likely I'm going to end up spending the most time with USN/IJN, and ships that would have done well if required to take a place in the formation of one of those navies.

 

The European experience for such is...patchy.

[Crag_r]

USN and RN for me, i want to be getting everyone raging so im going carriers. Mind you i may have to wait awhile for the RN but USN will be out straight away.

[mrlazorz]

NGTM_1R, on 13 January 2013 - 02:07 AM, said:

As I'm far more interested in light forces than heavy ones and my main theater of interest was the Pacific, it's very likely I'm going to end up spending the most time with USN/IJN, and ships that would have done well if required to take a place in the formation of one of those navies.

The European experience for such is...patchy.

Change that last line to "uninteresting" and I'm set.

[BattlestarGalactica]

USN until they release subs  :Smile_popcorn:

[Wake_Island]

Canada should have its own on the poll it was the third largest navy in the ally's.

[Crag_r]

BattlestarGalactica, on 13 January 2013 - 02:26 AM, said:

USN until they release subs  :Smile_popcorn:

So im guessing you will play the USN indefinitely then?  :Smile_trollface:

Wake_Island, on 13 January 2013 - 02:31 AM, said:

Canada should have its own on the poll it was the third largest navy in the ally's.

Australia had the 5th But what ship classes did they both use? (English and American)

[BattlestarGalactica]

Crag_r, on 13 January 2013 - 02:32 AM, said:

So im guessing you will play the USN indefinitely then?  :Smile_trollface:

Yep there cool  :Smile_glasses:

[MaximilianvonSpee]

mrlazorz, on 13 January 2013 - 02:22 AM, said:

Change that last line to "uninteresting" and I'm set.

For light forces, absolutely.

To be fair, though, the European theater did have a few very exciting moments -- the Battle of the North Cape, the Battle of the Denmark Straight, the Sinking of the Bismarck, Scharnhorst and Gneisenau surprising HMS Glorious, the Channel Dash, and the Invasion of Norway. There were also a couple of highlights in the Mediterannean, like the Battle of Taranto and Cape Matapan.

But you're right: the European theater is less appealing to many people because it was mostly fought by U-Boats, and featured a lot less of the destroyer/light cruiser and carrier action that figured so large in the Pacific.

[Snakehead1234]

Wake_Island, on 13 January 2013 - 02:31 AM, said:

Canada should have its own on the poll it was the third largest navy in the ally's.

The largest navy consisting of canoes, paddle boats, and pontoons. :Smile_trollface:
but seriously, the biggest ship they had was cruiser size, they didn't have any battleships or carriers that I can think of so they wouldn't
really fit into the game.

[Schwieger]

There are more than a few American and German warships that I like, but I find overall that Japan has the largest amount of warships that I find aesthetically pleasing.

[Crag_r]

Snakehead1234, on 13 January 2013 - 02:55 AM, said:

The largest navy consisting of canoes, paddle boats, and pontoons. :Smile_trollface:
but seriously, the biggest ship they had was cruiser size, they didn't have any battleships or carriers that I can think of so they wouldn't
really fit into the game.

They had 5 carriers, but all were either British or US classes.

[mrlazorz]

Crag_r, on 13 January 2013 - 03:02 AM, said:

They had 5 carriers, but all were either British or US classes.

That's like claiming the Tu-4 is a Russian design.

[NGTM_1R]

mrlazorz, on 13 January 2013 - 02:22 AM, said:

Change that last line to "uninteresting" and I'm set.

Oh, I don't think so. Some of them could probably stand in formation at Guadalcanal and acquit themselves reasonably well; British light cruisers and German destroyers, a Tribal-class or Prinz Eugen. Dido, at least as intended to be armed, wouldn't have let down the team too badly operating with an Akizuki or an Atlanta.

Problem is a lot of these ships are probably going to be fairly deep in the tree.

[Crag_r]

mrlazorz, on 13 January 2013 - 03:05 AM, said:

That's like claiming the Tu-4 is a Russian design.

Thats why i said they were British or Russian clases

[Lemelisk1]

yeah, i would like to see a Canadian tree, but i realize that we wouldn't have tier 9-10 ships

and over half of the ships would already be in american or british tech trees

[error_3]

Probly Japan because i like there history of there navy and how they never suranderd a fight.

loyalty

devotion

obedience

duty

filial piety

respect

self sacrifice

honor to the death

:Smile_honoring:

[Wunderwaffen1945]

Kriegsmarine (Germany) and do i even need to say why....

[mr3awsome]

The Royal navy!

and the IJN, RM and MN

[LtCDR]

Being a US Sailor, it wouldn't be natural to drive a ship of any other nation.  USA all the way baby!

[generyx]

Kriegsmarine aka Germany......why? Hello! Bismarck, Tirpitz, Graf Spee, Prinz Eugen.....best looking ships ev0r! Can't wait....

[Crag_r]

If i hear Bismark one more time...  :Smile_trollface:

http://www.mysticrea...y-swordfish.jpg

 

And to some extent Tirpitz :Smile_trollface:

http://www.milavicor...os/image003.jpg

 

But seriously people, dont get too excited, they will only be teir 8

[Jager_Panther1]

Lemelisk1, on 13 January 2013 - 03:37 AM, said:

yeah, i would like to see a Canadian tree, but i realize that we wouldn't have tier 9-10 ships
and over half of the ships would already be in american or british tech trees

Abit like the chinese with there tanks.....   wait a minute.

[MaximilianvonSpee]

Crag_r, on 13 January 2013 - 10:43 AM, said:

If i hear Bismark one more time...  

I think the Bismarck was cool, but simultaneously I think she was in too many ways just an enlarged Baden. Particularly in terms of deck armor, the Germans really didn't do well keeping with the times. Bismarck's side armor was, according to most people, absolutely excellent, but I've read a lot of complaints about her ability to stand up to plunging fire at ranges greater than about 22,000 yards. Her AA armament was also wholly insufficient for a surface raider that was -- if things went as the Germans hoped -- going to have to fight off encounters with airplanes far more often than other warships.

The biggest 'flaw' with the Bismarck, however, was the way Hitler started the war -- forcing a line-of-battle vessel into a surface raiding role she wasn't really designed to handle. Had he been smart about things (probably an impossibility) and bided his time for 5-6 more years after the Anschluss, the innevitable war in Europe probably would have been very interesting indeed. Germany would have had a real fleet of her own, the British would have built the Lions, France finished off the Richelieus, and there might even have been a few more Littorios in the Med to contend with.

I'm not saying that, ultimately, that war goes any differently than it did in real life, because the Germans lost it in three non-naval moments: 1) 1940 when Hitler and Goering ordered the Luftwaffe to switch from attacking RAF bases to bombing the cities. There's fairly strong evidence out there that, when that decision was made, Germany was 4-6 weeks from crippling Britain's air forces permanently, which would have made Sealion a very real possibility. The others are: 2) Declaring war on the U.S. -- a power that might have been content to merely continue lend-lease and largely stayed out of Europe and focused only on Japan for the next 2-3 years had Hitler not joined the Rising Sun in the war declaration, and 3) invading Russia, which should have been delayed until Germany developed nuclear weapons (they were on their way, and almost certainly would have beat the USSR to the punch).

The problem with the Germans from about 1930 through the second world war is that, overall, I think they just didn't 'play it cool.' A lot of their decisionmaking seems either panicked or downright insane (and, given who was driving the boat, is there much surprise in that?). The what-ifs of WWII are fascinating, but they're both much darker than those of WWI, and (probably) much more far-fetched because the leadership involved likely would have ultimately doomed the Third Reich no matter how things progressed. I would take Hindenburg and Ludendorff over idiots like Goering and Goebbels any day of the week.

[Ross486]

The USN will be the side i play for the most of the time.  There are several classes of American warships that i want to use like the Northampton Class CA, Iowa Class BB, Allen M. Sumner DD,  Des Moines Class CA, and the Cleveland Class CL.   I might also play as the Royal Navy too and maybe the French with their battleships.