Why can't strategic bombers carry out port strikes? Have I missed a tech? It seems strange they can do ground attack missions but not port strikes.
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Japanese used medium bombers (with honking long range) like the Betty and others. No heavy bombers in Japanese airforce (unless you design and build
em)
em)
I thought Japan had almost no heavy bombers. By that I mean less heavy bombers than Poland had Los bombers in 1939. As far as I know the only heavy bomber Japan had was the Mitsubishi Ki-20.
http://www.return2style.de/swingaring/amig38.htm
Apperantly they only had 6 of these, early 1930s design. AFAIK they had no other heavy bombers in service but I may be wrong, not my area of expertise.
http://www.return2style.de/swingaring/amig38.htm
Apperantly they only had 6 of these, early 1930s design. AFAIK they had no other heavy bombers in service but I may be wrong, not my area of expertise.
When I read 'long range' I must have also assumed that 'heavy bomber' too. Still you would think that STR could be effective against ports.
The main function of port strikes is to damage the ships in port, not the port itself. It would actually be better if the mission would use strat attack against the port facility and sea attack against the ships in port. Unfortunately, it does not do so. (I have a hard time imagining either heavy bombers seriously hitting ships or dive-bombers destroying docks...)
The Tirpitz was sunk in her mooring by heavy bombers.
However yes, for the port strike to sink ships then STR units would need a higher Sea Attack value and that too would apply to attacking ships at sea. Heavy bombers vs seaborne vessels would have a hard time hitting anything I think.
However yes, for the port strike to sink ships then STR units would need a higher Sea Attack value and that too would apply to attacking ships at sea. Heavy bombers vs seaborne vessels would have a hard time hitting anything I think.
Heavy bombers are well suited for bombing PORTS. If you can bomb a factory, you can bomb a port. A port is not magically immune from bombs dropped in mass from an heavy bomber formation.
On case example, bombing of submarines in port by heavy bombers
http://www.usaaf.net/ww2/uboats/uboatspg6.htm
The US used B17's to bomb the Japanese fleet at midway, without hitting anything I'm aware of, but they took some very nice high altitude pictures of the jap ships!
Although to be honest, you'd be pretty lucky to hit a specific factory rather than just the city it's in. It's the same with a port, if you drop enough bombs in the area hopefully you'll hit something important, but don't bet on it.
Well, that is kind of the point of heavy bomber formation. Part of the reason why it was hard to pick out a given factory is that you often had very limited land marks to go by. A big open body of water is a nice land mark, and ships would actually stand out a lot more than 'yet another building in a bombed out city'.
Saturation bombing against ships at anchor would work nicely, especially with fairly heavy bombs with decent delayed detonation. (That way if they were near misses, they could still do surprising damage to a hull.)
I wouldn't really think that. They were never used effectively for that purpose, as far as I am aware. NAVS and CAGS were the preferred weapons for that purpose.
the US 8th Airforce ("The Mighty Eighth") was tasked early on in bombing German ports using their B17s/24s. It was done. You would have have
a port facility large enough tho that high altitude bombers could hit it. Not
some little Marina filled with some coastal boats.
a port facility large enough tho that high altitude bombers could hit it. Not
some little Marina filled with some coastal boats.