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Wednesday, August 04, 2004

Large, fast ships

I like very large fast ships, preferably battlecruisers. The reason is simple: strategic mobility. Strategic mobility requires the ability for sustained speed. Tactical speed is of less importance, although it is useful in pursuit or in escape. Large, fast ships often will outrun their escorts. That is why their escorts need to be large, for their type, and fast. Still, in increasingly rough seas, the large battlecruiser will be able to maintain speed longer than smaller ships. It could well be that the large battlecruiser will have to slow to allow their escorts to keep pace. In operations such as the Falklands in 1914, the battlecruisers were able to cross from Britain quickly to bring Von Spee's squadron to action. This was just the sort of employment envisioned by Admiral Fisher, when he conceived of the battlecruiser type.

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