Destroying Suez Canal

[potski]

The Dnieper Dam in Ukraine wasn't the work of the RAF, it was done by retreating Soviet troops. IIRC the RAF never flew missions in Soviet airspace except in late 1941 in the Murmansk region, mainly for training purposes when the first British fighter planes arrived as lend lease by the Arctic convoys.

You are confusing the destruction of two dams and minor damage on a third in the Ruhr region of Germany, by the RAF using bouncing bombs in 1943. One of the most remarkable feats of skill by the pilots.

 

[Ryltar]

People with the tendency to play sitting duck always want to destroy things so they can wait for their enemies to get air superiority and dropping a-bombs on their captials. But destroying the Suez or Panama canal just to do so is absolute nonsense. Especially if blocking can also much more cost effectively be achieved by mining it, using artillery or even waterside based torpedos which is featured by game mechanics.

 

[keynes2.0]

are you sure about the 7 metres?

Not nearly so sure as I was. So either they dredged it deeper at some point prior to '56 or they were able to make a battleship float much higher in the water by lightening it or adding flotation.

 

[Secret Master]

It's like saying you could destroy the River Nile.

Destroying it through air power is silly.

But there are things called blockships....

EDIT: Oooh, I know!

Tirpitz spent the war not doing anything. Let's use her as a blockship in the Suez. Good luck clearing her wreckage in a timely fashion.

 

[CV10]

Destroying it through air power is silly.

Tirpitz spent the war not doing anything. Let's use her as a blockship in the Suez. Good luck clearing her wreckage in a timely fashion.

I'd go with the Hessen or another of the pre-dreadnoughts still around in the 1930s (Germany got to keep a few of them under Versailles Treaty), the Tirpitz could conceivably be useful, if you got it into the med, against the British fleet.

 

[agus92]

What exactly do you expect your bombers to do? Drop enough dirt or sand in there to fill up the suez?

Cheapest bombs ever.

 

[agus92]

Destroying it through air power is silly.

But there are things called blockships....

EDIT: Oooh, I know!

Tirpitz spent the war not doing anything. Let's use her as a blockship in the Suez. Good luck clearing her wreckage in a timely fashion.

You are truly lacking foresight: both the ideas encouraged and dismissed by you, sir, are doable. And at the same time! It would be devastating to the Tommies to airlift the Tirpitz and drop it on the canal, guns blazing!

 

[sakk]

The only way to block the Suez canal is to scuttle ships in it (Egyptians did this in '56 and again in '67 when it remained blocked until after the next war in '73) or drop aerial mines in it.
To do the former you would have to occupy it first (though it wouldn't make sense to do this if you plan to keep it. Possible scenarios would either be an axis daring raid when most Brit. forces are in Libya for example, or perhaps a retreating British player wanting to ruin it for the axis).

Scuttling ships would have to be far more effective than aerial mines- it took more than 4 months to clear the canal in '56-'57 and about 8 months in '74.
When the Germans tried to drop aerial mines in it during WW2 they suffered heavy losses and it took only about a week to clear.

But I agree it would be a nice feature if included somehow.

 

[Secret Master]

You are truly lacking foresight: both the ideas encouraged and dismissed by you, sir, are doable. And at the same time! It would be devastating to the Tommies to airlift the Tirpitz and drop it on the canal, guns blazing!

I yield the floor to your superior understanding of logistics and tactics. Obviously, Tirpitz should be airlifted to the canal.

And if the British sink her with tallboy bombs, then she still blocks the canal!

 

[Mannstien]

I yield the floor to your superior understanding of logistics and tactics. Obviously, Tirpitz should be airlifted to the canal.

And if the British sink her with tallboy bombs, then she still blocks the canal!

Spoiler: Battleship Incoming, Bombs Away!!!

 

[panzerzombie]

This is a job for the space Yamato

 

[Wyrm]

I yield the floor to your superior understanding of logistics and tactics. Obviously, Tirpitz should be airlifted to the canal.

And if the British sink her with tallboy bombs, then she still blocks the canal!

Hm, this makes me wonder... what would a couple of tallboy bombs have done to the canal? Would they displace enough earth to cause it to partially collapse?

 

[Hikuran]

I would think to sneak attack Panama and destroy Panama Canal, that would do more damage

 

[Arailies]

It could be possible to do 4 things.

1. Control all provinces that the canal moves through. Making all naval movement of the enemy impossible.

2. Deploy mines in the canal. Movement is still possible to all but increased attrition in the mined areas.

3. Deploy artillery or/and spg to the provinces to destroy enemy ships

4. Deploy cruisers and destroyers at the entrances to destroy merchant ships and submarines.

With superior deployment and troop types both suez and Gibraltar could be blocked. Reducing supply in the Mediterranean for enemies. It could also slow down naval and amphibious offensives through travel length increases.