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Twenty-one.When I saw this question, I instantly thought “The RN had more than enough to do the job!”. Lots and lots of light cruisers, all coming in around the 25–29 knot mark and mostly armed with 21″ torpedoes. Given that a naval battle of the first half of the 20th Century almost invariably involved closing the range to obtain good firing solutions (as long-range fire beyond eight to ten miles was almost universally hopeless in World War Two), there’s no way that a huge force of light cruisers would be kept at arm’s length by a single battleship, even if she is capable of steaming at 27 knots herself.But then I remembered the rules of naval warfare on Quora:Reality be damned.Tactics are unspecified but are assumed to be perfect, yet mindlessly uncreative.A speed advantage is 100% efficient; the faster ship always decides the range to the slower ship’s complete disadvantage.Long-range guns hit at their maximum range.The ship with the superior gunnery director always hits when firing, with the following effects:If using a visual director firing system, the ‘straddling’ technique results in two shells per salvo missing (the ‘over’ and ‘under’ straddles), with all shells in between these hitting the target. Thus, a four-gun salvo results in one round being short of the target, two rounds hitting the target and one round going over the target; a five- or six-gun salvo results in three and four hits respectively.If using radar directed fire control, all of the shells fired in a complete broadside may be assumed to hit the target.If using a gunnery radar which is deemed to be inferior to that of the opponent’s then the accuracy is reduced by fifty percent per salvo. Note that this same radar will yield a 100% accuracy against an opponent without radar gunnery direction.Hits against armour are always assumed to strike at a perpendicular angle to the plate, yielding optimal penetration of armour.Armour-piercing projectiles are considered to have the destructive potential of a High Explosive shell, always inflicting maximum damage.High Explosive rounds will destroy a target of equivalent standard displacement in long tons to the weight of the projectile in pounds, thus:One shell from the main armament of Yamato will always ‘annihilate’ a destroyer.A 35,000 ton battleship will require fourteen hits by 2,500-pound projectiles to destroy it, barring ‘special’ damage (see rules 9, 10 & 11 below).Damage effect is doubled if the author has a hard-on for the firing ship.Armoured locations are considered to be magnetic, drawing in enemy heavy AP projectiles; the majority of hits (author’s choice) are dispersed between main armament turrets and armoured citadel.Citadel hits are considered to mainly reduce engine power and buoyancy, but have no effect on trim (thus do not reduce the damaged ship’s maximum firing range).Magazine hits may only be applied if a good historical precedent is argued with authority. Other magazine hits result in the invalidation of the scenario.Conclusions to scenarios must always assume that, whatever was discussed previously, the more powerful ship wins and that the loser is totally destroyed.So obviously the Yamato cannot be destroyed by a force of WW1 light cruisers!Then, however, I considered the following alternative set of rules:Real life.Using this set of rules, the ‘Top Trumps’ system of moderating battle outcomes is replaced by a consideration of:The practical course of naval gun battles in history.The potential of ships to sustain damage and keep fighting, or not.The potential of weapons to inflict damage.Thus, I arrived at my decision. I will defeat a lone Yamato with… twenty-one light cruisers from World War One. Note that I would have taken thirty-two, but I decided to play really fair and not include the five units of the Carlisle class or the last six units of the Danae class, as these eleven ships did not complete in time for service during WW1.Order of battle - Imperial Japanese Navy:YamatoOrder of battle - Royal Navy:Scouting force and main ‘gun line’ -HMS Birmingham[1]HMS LowestoftHMS NottinghamHMS Chatham[2]HMS DublinHMS SouthamptonHMS Weymouth[3]HMS YarmouthHMS DartmouthHMS Falmouth2) First attack division -HMS Danae[4]HMS Caledon[5]HMS CalypsoHMS CaradocHMS Cassandra3) Second attack division -HMS DragonHMS Cardiff[6]HMS CeresHMS CoventryHMS CuracoaHMS CurlewAs previously mentioned, I would have liked to have included two further ‘attack divisions’, comprising HMS Dauntless, Cairo, Calcutta, Capetown, Carlisle, Colombo and HMS Delhi, Despatch, Diomede, Dunedin & Durban, but them’s the breaks. I’ll just have to make to with what I’ve already got, as any naval commander must!According to the Quora Big Book of Battleship Warfare, when confronted by old cruisers thirty years her senior and capable of two knots speed less than herself, the battleship Yamato should present her stern to the enemy and steam away from them so as to maintain the range advantage which her main battery granted her. She can then use her superior fire control equipment to target and destroy each cruiser in succession, requiring only a few salvoes for each victim since two or three hits will sink a Town class cruiser of 5,000 tons displacement.Of course, this assumes that the mindset of the Japanese captain is in line with the author’s rules lawyering.As we see, this might not necessarily be so. A real-world captain of the Imperial Japanese Navy might be reluctant to run from the enemy, considering it cowardly or dishonourable. There is also the issue of gunnery accuracy. Battleship gunnery during World War Two typically produced a five to ten percent hit rate, with the lower percentage being by far the most normal.With this in mind, here is my version of events, with apologies for the quality of the drawings. This scenario assumes that there is a reason for the two opposing forces to meet; perhaps the Yamato is going somewhere and perhaps the British want to stop her from getting there.Yamato sights smoke on the horizon ahead. Unsure of the enemy’s identity, she turns to port and tries to get a clearer picture of what she’s facing; six small warships in a loose line abreast (actually Town class light cruisers of the Chatham & Birmingham types).The Japanese commander orders a turn towards the enemy, keeping broadside arcs open, and instructs his guns to commence firing at 25,000 yards. The British warships, thus engaged, turn away and begin to zig-zag under cover of smokescreens; their antagonist is beyond the range of their own guns.The British know they are completely outgunned but have a plan. The six scouting cruisers fall back towards four more 5,000-ton light cruisers of the Weymouth class, with whom they will form a skirmishing line to delay the enemy. Meanwhile, the cruiser force’s lighter elements, two divisions of C class cruisers each led by a Danae class, turn outward from the force’s centre and begin two large flanking moves, forewarned by the scouting group. The Weymouths and the two Attack Divisions are about 40–35,000 yards distant from Yamato at the start of the manoeuvre.As the retreating cruisers weave evasively at their maximum speed of 25 knots, the faster Yamato slowly begins to overhaul them. As the range falls below 20,000 yards, so the battleship’s firing becomes more accurate. She is dividing her fire between two targets, scoring a couple of very damaging hits on both. The ten British Towns form into line ahead and lay another smokescreen as they prepare to come about and face their foe.With HMS Dublin sinking and HMS Lowestoft falling out of line heavily afire and listing, the remaining eight 5,000 ton light cruisers weave between huge shell splashes and spit hundred-pound shells back at their tormentor. At 12,000 yards their guns are now well within range and, although they lack power, they are falling in great volume around the huge Yamato. Each Town class cruiser has a broadside of five 6″ guns, and is capable of firing six salvoes per minute. Every one and a quarter seconds, five high explosive shells shriek through the sky toward Yamato.HMS Nottingham is soon hit by an 18.1″ projectile; she shudders but continues steaming and shooting, until a second hit (A) forces her to break off and retire, wallowing under black smoke. Yamato is now being hit by a rain of 6″ shells; her captain orders a little helm to open the range as a precaution. Shortly afterwards HMS Falmouth, hit four times in succession, breaks in two at the mainmast and rolls over onto her beam ends (B). Yamato successfully opens the range to a point where the light British guns are no longer hitting her (C).During the hard-pressed Towns’ heroic action, the two Attack Divisions of C & D class light cruisers have managed to achieve tactical surprise, successfully positioning themselves for a double envelopment of the enemy battleship. They had not been spotted by the single floatplane which Yamato had sent aloft to spot for her big guns; it was not the aircrew’s responsibility to maintain situational awareness over the surrounding ocean for the bridge crew, but rather to keep eyes on friendly shell splashes and radio back to the gunnery controllers. They would, in any case, have been unable to do so as the plane had been hotly engaged by anti-aircraft fire in addition to carrying out its assigned duty. Thus, the first that Yamato’s captain knows of their approach is when his lookouts spot the 2nd Attack Division at just over 20,000 yards distance.Recognising a trap when he sees one, the Japanese captain hastily reverses course to evade what he assumes is a torpedo attack by yet more enemy destroyers. He is not very far wrong; the 2nd Division is indeed intent on using their most effective weapon - the Mark IV 21″ torpedo[7] - against the heavily-armoured Japanese leviathan. Bringing her guns to bear on her new assailants, Yamato soon scored hits on several of the light cruisers with 6.1″ & 5″ fire, but this is nothing the little armoured ships can’t handle! Even when HMS Curacoa is struck by an 18.1″ shell at the break of her forecastle, the surviving bridge crew and torpedomen strive heroically to keep the ship in action for as long as it takes to deliver their attack. Meanwhile, the six British Towns have also reversed course to try and maintain contact with the Japanese giant and split her fire.Yamato finally presents her stern to the enemy in an attempt to outrun, or comb the tracks of, the expected torpedo attack. The Towns launch a few torpedoes at their longest range setting, running at 20 knots in case Yamato turns towards them as they continue to skirmish at a distance. But Yamato’s course has taken her straight towards the swiftly-advancing Caledon class cruisers of the 1st Attack Division. ‘Tyrwhitt’s Dreadnoughts’ ready their torpedoes and bravely press home their attack amidst what seems to be confused Japanese shellfire.Checkmate: Yamato is in excellent fighting condition, albeit she has expended a lot of her main ammunition for 8 or 9 enemy vessels badly hit (with two of those sunk). But now she finds herself in the middle of a web of converging and criss-crossing torpedo tracks. Her best bet is to steer to Starboard, towards the slow-running torpedoes launched by the Town class. This might take her clear of most of the C class’ weapons. However, with eleven light cruisers acting like destroyers and swarming all around her at less than 10,000 yards, the huge battleship will do very well to shoot her way out of a very deadly follow-up attack. Can her helmsman evade a rapid succession of up to 54 torpedo tracks from all directions? It seems very doubtful…So there it is. A not improbable outcome, as long as the Royal Navy get their tactics right (and they might do better with much braver and simpler tactics than my convoluted plan). But what was the basis for my assessment?Firstly, the legendary performance of Taffy Three at the Battle off Samar in 1944 should be enough to convince any doubters of the ability of light torpedo craft to press home an attack in the face of seemingly overwhelming enemy firepower.Secondly, US destroyers at the Battle of Surigao Strait (another of the Leyte Gulf actions, along with Samar) were able to score several hits on a battleship in a division-level torpedo attack on a lesser scale than the one described here - and with deadly results - albeit against a smaller and weaker target.Thirdly, both of the Yamato class battleships were sunk by repeated hits from torpedoes - and only comparatively lightweight 18″ aerially-launched weapons at that.Finally, during one of my most interesting war games with my esteemed Royal Navy officer friend, I was able to draw a Queen Elizabeth class battleship into a crossfire of 21″ torpedoes launched from just two light cruisers of the Italian Montecuccoli[8] & Duca D’Aosta[9] types, with such effect that a skilled tactician was forced to ‘crash-stop’ his battleship under the guns of a heavy cruiser and the aforementioned light cruisers with just two British cruisers for support nearby!Repeated contests between us demonstrated the deadly nature of a well set-up torpedo attack from multiple directions at even medium range. If a battleship is deprived of an obvious direction to steer in order to evade all torpedo tracks, it is likely to fall victim to such a trap.And, while it is all very well to say that a good commander would never fall into such a trap, one must remember that sheer force of will is not enough to offset the enterprising enemy’s cunning plan. Give a good commander twenty-one light cruisers and he can give you a battleship scalp.Footnotes[1] Town-class cruiser (1910) - Wikipedia[2] Town-class cruiser (1910) - Wikipedia[3] Town-class cruiser (1910) - Wikipedia[4] Danae-class cruiser - Wikipedia[5] C-class cruiser - Wikipedia[6] C-class cruiser - Wikipedia[7] British 21 inch torpedo - Wikipedia[8] Italian cruiser Raimondo Montecuccoli - Wikipedia[9] Italian cruiser Emanuele Filiberto Duca d'Aosta - Wikipedia

Alfred Wehring, a German naval office took revenge of World War I in the World War II .It started in 1916 when Britishers found german code-book which is used to encode the messages in the Magdeburg - A German cruiser destroyed in 1914.Now Britishers can decode every message from German and they planned to attack them and 151 warships started progressing towards Jutland in Denmark and one of the biggest naval war was written in the history of Battle of Jutland (June 1916) between 99-strong German fleet and 151-strong British fleetAt the time of Jutland war, there was one destroyer(smallest type of warship at the time of WW-I) and its captain’s name was Alfred Wehring. He has a small destroyer but he chooses to fight against 29,970 ton HMS Royal Oak(known as the mighty oak newly commissioned on 1st may 1916).He started firing against Oak but its all waste as small destroyer couldn't even break 13'' armor. It was a matter of moment that oak is going to sink Alfred's destroyer but German admiral Reinhard Scheer decided to escape and ordered fall back.After war lieutenant Alfred Wehring decided to take revenge and sink royal oak(which is in Scapa flow - Base for the British Grand Fleet) which destroyed 3 German ships(perhaps four with Alfred's ship if fallback was not ordered).He left the Germany and as there was no way to enter in England for a German so he moved to the Switzerland. He started living there with few other germans doing odd jobs, learning English. then he studied there at one of the best watchmaking schools and graduated as an expert watchmaker. He took a solid swiss name Alfred hotel.Then he emigrated to England with the newly forged passport. He decided to stay at Kirkwall, the village near Scapa flow and started jewelry and watch shop in little time.Naval officers were using swiss watched(he came to know this from coworkers in Switzerland when he used to work in mines) so they started coming to his shops for a repairing. In a meantime, he became popular watchmaker among all the naval officers and few of them became friends also. He was even getting invites in parties at warships.He started collecting every small information about Scapa flow in any possible manners. He started going for a fishing near Scapa flow and unknowingly officers instructed him about mines and where not to go.When second world war started he hoisted Union Jack at his house. No one knew his intentions. He got one scrap wireless system from royal navy repaired it and messaged german embassy in Netherlands. There were in shock as someone spent 16 years of his life for this and they confirmed detail and told to stay in contact.He started collecting information about which ship left, where are all mines, which submarine progressing to where and then broadcasted information to German HQ.Germans were hitting hard in the ocean but Alfred wanted to sink THE ROYAL OAK. so he messaged admiral about royal oak and she may leave for war in few days so we should attack immediately.It was the hard decision for the admiral to go and attack into Scapa flow as its almost unbreakable and has mines, warships, and secret entry points. still, admiral sent one U-boat U-47(submarine) captained by Gunther Prien.He picked up Alfred few miles away from Kirkwall (He gave the signal with light flashing).To everyone's surprise, the old man lied down the map and it was not just a simple map. It had every small detail about Scapa flow - fence and their entrance, mines, Floating charges, Old ship's scrap etc.They entered into Scapa flow with the help of those resources from Alfred and they have fired three torpedoes and all had hit the HMS Royal Oak and sunk her and that was the moment for life for Alfred who waited, who dreamt this moment for almost 16 years.Edit 1:The sinking of HMS Royal Oak was a notable German propaganda coup. However, there is conjecture that she may not have been the only British ship struck by the German forces that night.Prien's account stated that he hit another ship – the battlecruiser HMS Repulse. This warship had, in fact, left that day with the rest of the fleet. However, it is possible that U-47 hit the British Atlantic Fleet's Flagship, HMS Iron Duke. On 17 October a Luftwaffe squadron attacked HMS Iron Duke as she lay beached at Lyness. When the attack commenced it is claimed that the ship was already listing heavily and had a large hole in the bow. Metal Industries was engaged in pumping out the vessel and patching the hull. The British Admiralty never confirmed that HMS Iron Duke had been hit but it has been argued that it was deemed too sensitive to report that the Fleet's Flagship had also been torpedoed on the same night as Royal Oak was lost.Resources:Complete World War Robot: Ashley Woodhttp://www.oldmagazinearticles.com/draw_pdf.php?filename=Royal_Oak.pdfSafari MagazineCheers, Happy reading

Not one that I pulled off, but that was pulled on me.I had just graduated Navy Bootcamp, Got married on leave between Basic and A School and was now at A School to start my training as an EW.EW A School is divided into two parts. The first half is learning about Electronic warfare and its principles in general, the second part is learning about how to use our specific equipment as an EW.My instructor for the first part was EW1 Davis.Before any actual training (much of which was classified) got started, we had to get indoctrinated into the rules and requirements about having a security clearance and the protection of classified information. As a member of the USN with a security clearance, we would likely find ourselves in situations where we would be approached by foreign intelligence types and attempts to either overtly or covertly garner information from us.So part of what we are required to do is that we must report and document any contact, no matter how unassuming and non-threatening the contact may seem, with any citizens of certain foreign nations considered at the time to be adversarial to the USA.At that point I had a question. You see… my New Bride was of Ethnic Chinese but of Vietnamese Nationality. Both China and Vietnam were countries on that list.She is a legal permanent US Resident (Green Card Holder) and grew up here in America (coming here when she was 11 years old with her family) but technically her “citizenship” was still that of Vietnam. My question was how would that affect my security clearance if at all.EW1 Davis told me not to worry. It should not be a factor at all given that she grew up here in the USA as a resident alien. But that to allay my fears that he would check on it just to make sure. Weeks passed and not another word was heard on it and the matter forgotten about.Nearly 15 weeks latter and we are nearing graduation and I am near the top of my class of 12 and we are under the instruction of EW1 Lynchard in how to operate and use the SLQ-32 system we would be operating in the fleet.It is our final week and we have already covered all the actual course material and were spending our final few days before graduation just hanging out in class and watching training films from the classified library in the school building.There is a knock on the classroom door and it was EW1 Davis whom outside of passing in the halls, we have not seen in several weeks since the first half of our training was completed.He asks to see both myself and EW1 Lynchard out in the Passageway (Hallway for you landlubbers)He said he had heard back from BUPERS in Washington concerning my final SECRET Security Clearance and due to my marriage to a Foreign national, that the clearance would be denied. I would not be allowed to graduate as an EW and that because I did not fail at the A School, I would be given a chance at another A School rather than be shipped to the fleet as an undesignated Seaman, Only that whatever new A school I chose could not have a security requirement and must currently have an open billet.I was utterly devastated!He even had paperwork for me to sign, and before signing, made sure I checked to make sure everything that was pre-filled in was correct, including the date.April 1st 1991.DO’H!!!!!If you ever read this Davis… Good one!