
John Dudek
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About John Dudek
- Birthday 04/15/1957
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History, military, or whatever The culinary arts. Good- looking women. Fine spirits, beer, wine, hard-cider, vodka or whatever trips yer' trigger
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The Solomon Islands And King Sargent
John Dudek replied to Richard Lindquist's topic in King Sargent Military History Forum
All very true, but in the timeline we're talking about, the US seeks to invade the Marianas in 1943, rather than in 1944. Truk has not yet been neutralized by the USN and is still the main fleet base of the IJN in the Central Pacific. In addition, there are close to a thousand fighter and bomber aircraft on the atoll's airfields -
The Solomon Islands And King Sargent
John Dudek replied to Richard Lindquist's topic in King Sargent Military History Forum
Japanese "Judy" dive bombers were relegated to land service because of their liquid cooled engines. A single Judy sank the US light carrier Princeton. "USS Enterprise and Yorktown were damaged by D4Ys of 701 Wing on 18 March. On 19 March, the carrier Franklin was hit with two bombs from a single D4Y, which then escaped despite heavy anti-aircraft fire. Franklin was so heavily damaged that she was retired until the end of the war. Another D4Y hit the carrier USS Wasp. On 12 April 1945, another D4Y, part of Kikusui mission N.2, struck Enterprise, causing some damage. During Kikusui N.6, on 11 May 1945, USS Bunker Hill was hit and put out of action by two kamikazes that some sources identify as D4Ys. This was the third Essex-class carrier forced to retire to the States to repair." -
The Solomon Islands And King Sargent
John Dudek replied to Richard Lindquist's topic in King Sargent Military History Forum
I don't believe an earlier USN drive to the Marianas would have been possible given the number of US aircraft carriers available in the latter part of 1943. In addition, Truk had not yet been neutralized by the USN, so there were still several hundred Japanese combat aircraft there that could have been shifted to Saipan, Guam, Rota and Tinian to counter any US invasion there. While the numbers of US vs. Japanese Fleet and light carriers and their available aircraft were roughly the same, the overwhelming weight of land based Japanese aircraft could well have tipped the balance of power to the Japanese during a much earlier1943 Battle of the Philippine Sea. Hence a more equal contest, but you are overestimating the efectiveness of land based air, and I would expect there would be plenty of preparatory attacks on outlying islands and even Truk itself. Betty Bombers of the 22nd Air Flotilla sank the HMS Prince of Wales and Repulse at the start of the war. -
The Solomon Islands And King Sargent
John Dudek replied to Richard Lindquist's topic in King Sargent Military History Forum
I don't believe an earlier USN drive to the Marianas would have been possible given the number of US aircraft carriers available in the latter part of 1943. In addition, Truk had not yet been neutralized by the USN, so there were still several hundred Japanese combat aircraft there that could have been shifted to Saipan, Guam, Rota and Tinian to counter any US invasion there. While the numbers of US vs. Japanese Fleet and light carriers and their available aircraft were roughly the same, the overwhelming weight of land based Japanese aircraft could well have tipped the balance of power to the Japanese during a much earlier1943 Battle of the Philippine Sea. -
The Solomon Islands And King Sargent
John Dudek replied to Richard Lindquist's topic in King Sargent Military History Forum
Agreed. The Carrier air battles throughout the Solomon Islands during the latter part of 1942 and into 1943 spelled the death knell for Japanese naval aviation. The Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands alone, although technically a draw, resulted in the loss of large numbers of irreplaceable Japanese pilots and air crews. This was the last major air battle of attrition between the US and the Japanese in the southern Solomons. To add insult to injury, a large number of Japanese carrier aircraft and their experienced crews were flown off to defend Rabaul and other islands, to be attritted even further in combat, while their now empty carriers returned to home waters to begin training replacement pilots and crews. The results of this soon became readily apparent during the Battle of the Philippine Sea where the US racked up a 15 to 1 kill ratio over Japanese carrier aircraft. -
A traditional "Detroit Coney Island Hot Dog" for me. A steamed bun, natural casing hotdog with lots of mustard, onions and extra chili. I need nothing more, other than a couple more after the first one goes down my gullet.
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We've got a small, local potato chip factory nearby and they make the best salt and vinegar chips. As soon as you tear into a bag of Downey's vinegar chips, you know two things. You're going to eat alot of them and you're going to feel your mouth begin puckering-up from the vinegar.
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Yes, I'm quite aware that it occured after the treaty was signed. But, as it was fought before the US Senate ratified the treaty, the point may not have been so moot. If Pakenham had captured New Orleans would the US not have ratified the treaty? Would the Brits have 'revoked' their ratification? The British sent an empowered political emmisary with the treaty aboard ship to the US. If he'd found out that Packenham had beaten Jackson and taken New Orleans, he had the power to revoke the British ratification and begin negotiations anew.
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Funny you should "discover" these..... As long as they're 'inverted' they're ok!.
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No worries! Just throw back a couple litres of good, red wine and flush out your arteries of all that extra fat. The French seem to do that on a daily basis and they've got great coronary heart health. Of course, by midlife, their livers have the denseness of a common street sewer lid, but you can't have everything, can you?.
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A British Engineer just started his own business in Afghanistan. He's making land mines that look like Muslim prayer mats. It's doing rather well. He says prophets are going through the roof.
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Spam sliced paper-thin and fried up in a frying pan, along with hash brown potatoes and eggs. Makes for a great fishing trip breakfast, as the crisp fried spam tastes alot like bacon.
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Agreed on all counts. "Iron Mike" Edson was the epitomy of a Marine officer. His combat record on Guadalcanal speaks for itself.
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Many if not most of the British sailors went into the American merchant fleet, not Navy. And many of the sailors impressed by the Brits were Americans born in New England. AIUI, the RN used dialect and pronunciation to choose who got impressed, and there were some regions like Maine where the coastal locals spoke a very English flavor of English. As for cause, along with the impressment thing, the Chesapeake-Leopard battle, the President-Little Belt battle, and the real or perceived British machinations with the tribes of the Indian Territories west of the Alleghenies all pretty much guaranteed a war. In the 18th and 19th centuries, you just can't sail your naval ships within sight of the beach of a foreign nation and kidnap thousands of citizens without some response. For all of Jefferson's dreams of an isolated, agrarian society, the American economy relied very much on trade with Britain, France, and Spain. Recall that the US had already fought two small naval wars with the Barbary pirates to deal with the impact of the pirates on American merchant shipping around Spain and the Med. Quite erroneously, most in Congress were certain that an American incursion into Canada would be well received. I dunno where they got their info from, but they really thought they were going to be liberating those poor oppressed Canucks (both English and French). Even odder still was the fact that a large percentage of the settlers of Upper Canada, today's Ontario, were former US citizens who'd emigrated across the border to escape US taxation policies in the years following the Revolutionary War.
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WWII Battleship bunker oil had the consistancy of liquid ashphalt and was hard to get alight. To get a battleship's boilers from "Cold Iron" to be capable of movement took a minimum of two to two and a half hours. There were some tricks the blackgangs could do to shave minutes off this time, but they were still faced with roughly a two hour time frame to enable movement. The battleships also needed 4 tug boats to assist and get them into the stream and a Captain on the bridge to oversee the whole intricate operation. All of the battleships on Battleship Row had one boiler providing ship's power and plant service. USS Nevada was fortunate. As I mentioned before, she already had two hot boilers online when the Japanese attacked, so she was able to get underway in 45 minutes. The Nevada was also the last battleship on Battleship Row and even though without a captain on board was still able to back away from her mooring quay unhindered by any warships astern and was able to get underway unassisted by any tugboats.