Could A Single F-15E Have Stopped The 1941 WWII Pearl Harbor Attack? (Naval Battle 46a) | DCS

Re-try Vid: • Could A Single F-15E H...
0:00 Overview
3:40 Predictions
5:14 Attempt 1
14:36 Attempt 2
19:41 Attempt 3
21:54 Summary
Binkov: • A single F-15 time tra...
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[@grimreapers]

Retry Vid: kzbin.info/www/bejne/qpKnoK2OpruahNE

[@chalion8399]

Japanese WWII carriers did not have armored decks. They considered them stand-off assets that used the aircraft to attack, so why have the added weight? The actual problem I see is that DCS probably didn't model the ships vs modern weapons.

[@lostsoul4680]

But kaga and akagi were modified battleship and battlecruiser respectively so they may well have had at least vestiges of armoured decks left in them.

[@TTMR1986]

@@lostsoul4680 Kaga had 1.5in of deck armor so nothing to a delayed fuse bomb

[@NvrchFotia]

Shokaku and Zuikaku did

[@Power5]

Shinano and Taiho class had 3" armored decks. Not sure when those became operational though. Pretty sure after Pearl.

[@allangibson2408]

@@TTMR1986 A GP bomb casing would split if it hit 1.5” of face hardened armor. Basically the bomb would go splat. A AP bomb would be needed.

[@Decrepit_biker]

COMRADE BINKOV APPROVED! I literally watched this vid earlier... and was going to suggest exactly this 🤣 Edit. The 2000lbs bomb would decimate the Japanese carrier. A couple of bomb hits at midway with smaller bombs on each carrier destroyed them. No Japanese carrier had true armoured decks until '43. The decks on these carriers are mostly wooden. Smaller munitions of the time went through them like butter. Edit edit. Use a real pilot. Even real Damp.... if you REALLY must. 😉🤣

[@warbuzzard7167]

How did you manage to type exactly what was in my head?!?

[@Decrepit_biker]

@@warbuzzard7167 great minds think alike?

[@Decrepit_biker]

@@tc1817 in this case using literally in the sentence implies that the Binkov video was the last video I had watched earlier that day, before I had closed KZbin. This was the first video I saw when I opened it again. It implied a large sense of amusement at this coincidence. It is a more emotive use of language than just stating the fact I had watched the Binkov video, with no implied context. Have to say though what a truly strange hill to plant your flag on, the fact I used literally in a sentence. Some how this offended you? 🤷‍♂️ Also what does swearing add to your comment?

[@Decrepit_biker]

@@tc1817 again, an odd choice of complaint to make. Language can be literal and emotive for the same word. I could of said that the acronym WTF is overused. Indeed I only mentioned it because you felt the need to comment upon my original post with profanity, why did you feel that need? Oh, wait I don't actually care. I chose to use the wording I felt best conveyed my feelings at the time. You feel different, fair enough. I was then polite enough to explain why I felt it was appropriate, whether you choose to like that or not is none of my concern. In short if you don't like it, ignore it and move on. I really don't really have a strong enough opinion on this now frankly trivial, petty thread. 🤷

[@Decrepit_biker]

@@tc1817 ah, I see you have chosen the childish route. Much as I suspected you might. I can only conclude that you come from Norwegian fairy tales, and live under a bridge bothering innocent travellers. I choose not to waste any more time on you nor your pointless and infantile behavior, you really should find something more productive to do with your time. I bid you adieu.

[@overkill1340]

I suspect the lack of satelites might be the bigger problem when using JDAMs during WWII.

[@grimreapers]

good call!

[@mystyle_jm8997]

Unless JDAMs have been upgraded into Laser JDAM for Laser-guidance.

[@pahtar7189]

An F-15 could also carry some B83 nuclear bombs and take out more than just the carriers!

[@muhamadhazman2247]

F15 pilot: Screw the Naval fleet. Setting course for Hiroshima. Its time to speedrun the pacific theatre

[@schweizerluchs7146]

@@muhamadhazman2247 🤣

[@mro9466]

Japanese leaders in Tokyo : Ah ah ah our attack on Pearl Harbor will soon - * atomic blast *

[@SeminarChauffeur]

B83 is overkill and will probably also hit Pearl Harbor. A B61 dialed down to 50-100kt would be enough for the job

[@MattH-wg7ou]

Yea, but the F15E can only carry the B61 not the B83. Not that it really changes anything lol 😆

[@johnkendall6962]

A strike eagle would be almost immune from attack by the Japanese fleet of the time. Sinking at least 4 should be a piece of cake. The Japanese most likely would turn and run for home after watching even four of their carriers sunk by single aircraft that blew by so fast they almost had trouble seeing it while the engines screamed a sound they never heard before and probably never wanted to hear again. I could just see the survivors watching and hearing a now clean eagle go through the sound barrier going straight up and out of sight. They would all be going OH shit this isn't good.

[@Rover200Power]

Why fly low at risk of gunfire when you can drop your bombs from a safe altitude?

[@canofsoup79]

The final countdown is a movie about this exact senario.

[@N0T_R3HN1L]

@@Rover200Power the AAs can't keep up with a jet that is fast than the speed of sound

[@stephenbingham5935]

Perhaps if the Native Americans had one, Custer would not have been the only story.

[@johnkendall6962]

@@stephenbingham5935 It's a fantasy so what's your point. If you don't want to join in then don't. No one with a brain thinks it's real but almost every movie is a fantasy of some sort or another. We know there's no Superman and Spidy isn't swinging from buildings in New York.

[@vincebagadonis8016]

Ackchyually....After watching many of your videos involving WW2 ships mods, it's clear these mods are unrealistically built of Stalianium. No carrier with a wooden deck is gonna be able take a 2000lb bomb, or even a crappy subsonic harpoon at that, which they easily seem to shrug off on every video. They are NOT armored like WW2 battleships, but instead are full of fuel and bombs, so they are quite flammable - it seems to have taken way less to sink them IRL in WWII. (sometimes only 3 or 4 1000lb bombs) Just sayin.

[@canofsoup79]

Or even less than that. We saw at the battle of midway that one 1000lb bomb with a couple 500lb bombs was enough to sink these exact carriers. Those bombs probably had way less velocity hitting the deck too and wouldn't penetrate as well. I agree one modern 2000lb would be more than enough to permanently put a carrier out of commission for this battle. In fact, it would probably sink most of them too.

[@realburglazofficial2613]

@@canofsoup79 even if it didn’t detonate on the deck, the shape of modern bombs having fins and pointy ends means it would possibly punch a hole through the deck and possibly the hull and cause flooding.

[@genericnamehere7602]

​@realburglazofficial2613 And given the speed of the aircraft and the sheer Velocity that imparts onto said bomb, the kinetic Force ALONE would let it punch right through.

[@marcel4821]

Wee need this scenario with several F15s piloted by humans!

[@kyriakos2706]

Unfortunately there isn't a F-15E module in DCS, only the air to air version the F-15C

[@ZacLowing]

Definitely!

[@davidwinter3591]

It’s less about the jet and more about the 2k bomb drop. There is no way that bomb would allow for any additional aircraft takeoff, even if it burst on contact (which seems unlikely given wooden decks of the time)

[@dododostenfiftyseven4096]

Wee

[@ThatTempesTGuy]

@@kyriakos2706 The F15E is coming to dcs soon by Razbam

[@MDOReilly]

I think with a laser guided bomb you can literally fly the bomb into an open hangar down the flight elevator. In addition the Japanese carriers did not use Armored flight decks at this time, so one 2000 pound Paveway II should have been able to do more damage than what the game allowed for here.

[@ryz_vik]

a 2000 pounder will absolutely destroy a carrier if they didn't have armored decks, however I'm not sure if the SFW bombs will be more effective, I think not

[@joeysawdust]

Completely agree. If the bomb hit midships, it'd make the deck inoperable for flight ops. And then of course there are fires not to mention the concussion of a 2000 pounder. The casualties of the deck crew alone would render it unsuitable for flight ops.

[@allangibson2408]

Japanese carriers had an armored deck as part of the hanger deck floor. The timber flight deck was easily repaired.

[@doemacmonkey]

I couldn’t say whether the carrier deck was armoured, but isnt it on record that at least two of the carriers destroyed at Midway were destroyed by bombs? And if a bomb carried by a dauntless can do it I’d expect an LGB to have no trouble…

[@MDOReilly]

@@allangibson2408 So you're saying the bomb would go through the deck and explode in the hangar, am I getting that right... if you are, the hangar would be gutted, and 2000 pounds of upward explosion (deflected off the armored deck) would cause a really significant amount of damage to the flight deck above.

[@davidwinter3591]

As a munitions expert from the 1980-2005 (as a USAF munitions loader) I can tell you the modeling on the LGBU is not correct. I also believe that DCS modeling of bombs overall seems to be a bit off as bombs nose/tail fusing were preset based on the fuse used.

[@grimreapers]

thx

[@willie417]

A Munitions Expert, so you must have been one of those 462X0, now known as a 2W1X1

[@davidwinter3591]

@@willie417 absolutely 462! Lowry AFB tech school. Ah the old days….

[@willie417]

@@davidwinter3591 so you know about the "The Black Shack"

[@davidwinter3591]

@@willie417 if you’re asking about 461x0 which was just 100yards east of our barracks. Then yes

[@elmodiddly]

The problem with this modelling is that there is no way on earth a battleship would be operational after one hit with a modern bomb or missle. The wooden or metal decks would be opened like a can of tuna. Having one hit and causing 15% of damage but still able to launch aircraft is just silly and makes the entire scenario pointless.

[@RB-tl8cf]

My first thought exactly… BS

[@bewbies1]

I'm going to type out a needlessly pedantic reply because I'm bored at work. You're right that a 2000 lbs HE explosion on the deck of any carrier of the era almost certainly would've been crippling, if not catastrophic. This is doubly true for the early glass cannon IJN carriers. Battleships though -- especially the newest ones - were a lot less vulnerable to weapons of this type than we tend to think. The two best protected classes from a bomb of this type were, unsurprisingly, the Iowas (6” of deck armor) and the Yamatos (a ridiculous 9 goddamn inches of admittedly poorer steel). These ships were both designed to take high-angle plunging fire from 14-16” AP shells weighing a ton or more and keep on fighting. A one-ton HE bomb is a much, much less serious threat to a ship protected in this way Now, that being said, a ton of HE detonating on top of your ship is no joke, and would likely cause all manner of damage to unprotected topside systems and almost certainly start some fires, but the ship’s main fighting backbone would still be intact. You could probably drop enough bombs on it to functionally cripple the ship, but sinking it with HE detonations topside is going to be unbelievably difficult. A lot of the same principles apply to anti-ship missiles. The vast majority of modern ASMs are designed to rip apart lightly protected surface ships…an Iowa or Yamato would hardly even notice a Harpoon or Exocet splashing against its belt or deck armor. It might cause local damage to unprotected topside systems and, again, start a fire, but this is well within the damage level both classes were designed to fight through. Sidenote: this ASM calculus changes significantly when you look at the colossal plane-sized ASMs the Soviets fielded (ie, Kh-22 or P-700), both of which completely overmatch any passive protection scheme ever put to sea. Fielding missiles that big and fast comes at a huge price both financially and operationally, however.

[@throngcleaver]

@@bewbies1 I agree with your assessment. Most people have no clue how heavily armored BBs were, nor how lightly armored carriers were, especially in the early stages of that war.

[@throngcleaver]

@G E T R E K T Lol! For sure!

[@sotiredoflies]

@@bewbies1 the Yamato class ships look far more impressive on paper than they were. The Japanese did not possess the technology to weld the thick sheets of steel. So the armor was stacked, riveted, and the welds did not fully penetrate. This resulted in seam separation with far less force one would expect. In addition all of the Yamato class ships capsized and their magazines detonated. The last of the class was finished as a carrier that was easily sunk by a submarine due to the fatal flaws in its armor design and manufacturing

[@Delta36A1]

It's worth noting that at the Batlle of Midway a single hit from a SBD Dauntless dive bomber with what I assume was an M52 1000 lb bomb caused such severe damage and fires on Akagi that it was completely out of the fight and shortly thereafter had to be scuttled. So on that basis, I don't think it is difficult to imagine that a 2000 lb modern bomb could put a WWII carrier out of action with a single good hit.

[@giupiete6536]

The trouble with untested assumptions like these is that a bigger weapon really doesn't always produce a better result.. this goes all the way from arrows having better penetration characteristics in some mediums than ap bullets..to the naval standard of very deliberately not firing ap at unarmoured targets because of overpenetration.. to missiles closing too fast to detonate on target to great big bombs going straight through ships and causing minor damage because they're just so heavy - to bombs that hit so hard they disable their own detonation mechanisms. Sometimes good enough is a very great deal better than the more 'advanced' option because the more advanced option just doesn't behave as expected..

[@Delta36A1]

​@@giupiete6536 My comment never said it was certain that a single 2000 lb modern bomb could put a WWII carrier out of action 100% of the time. Just that it was reasonable to assume that in certain cases it could. For example just because Akagi was taken out by a single hit from an M52 1000 lb bomb shouldn't be construed to mean that that would happen 100% of the time under all circumstances. Rather it illustrates that under certain circumstances it can happen. (There were fairly specific circumstances at the Battle of Midway that contributed to this. If anyone reading this is unfamiliar with the Battle of Midway I would recommend the excellent three-part series covering it by Montemayor as a starting point if you want to know more.) This is something that for example a simple health bar in a game can't really represent. With all that in mind, I would have to contend that it wasn't really an untested assumption. While for obvious reasons we don't to my knowledge have an example of a World War 2 Japanese carrier getting hit by a modern bomb we do have plenty of examples of modern bombs hitting ships in the form of US Navy ship sinking exercises including at least three helicopter carriers (USS Okinawa, USS Guam, and USS Inchon) and potentally one supercarrier in the form of USS America although what all USS America was struck with seems to be classified or otherwise not publically available. There are also even pictures of the aftermath of a ship getting hit by 4x GBU-31s which uses either a 2000 lb MK84 or a 2000 lb BLU-109 as the base bomb that the JDAM guidance kit is attached to. Could go further into the minutia of the issue including things like fuzes, fuzing options, etc... but I think this is enough. So needless to say I don't think it really was much of an untested assumption. I don't think I have ever seen anything that compared actual armor peiricing bullets with hardened steel or tungsten cores to arrows although the only sort of thing I can imagine an arrow going further in would be a fluid such as water and even that I am not certain of, but for a similar example an arrow will generally be able to penetrate a soft level IIIA Kevlar vest whereas many pistol rounds would not be able to because of various well understood factors. Basically arrows generally have a much finer sharper point than pistols bullets which are most commonly round nose or hollow point. So the arrow tip can either slip between kevlar fibers or only contact a few fibers. Additionally Arrow tips are often made of hard materials such as steel so they cannot be deformed like a soft pistol round made of copper jacketed lead would be.

[@giupiete6536]

@@Delta36A1 Re: arrows vs ap, it's often the case that a high velocity rigid article will destroy itself when the impact face is slowed by a change in medium(be that medium armour or fluid or whatever) at a rate faster than the rigid body can adjust to (aka the ass-end is acting a projectile upon the front end of the projectile) this is as much an issue in powered flight as it is in unpowered. Still, that was simply to demonstrate the point - that hitting harder and faster is not always a good thing, indeed very often it means the target avoids being damaged significantly. To the rest, you're obviously not wrong that the assumption is that a bigger bomb will do more damage.. and I am very much not wrong to point out that weapons designed to penetrate armour... that never encounter armour.. will almost always do insignificant damage. The initial 'reply' was not really 'at' you anyway, but at a series of claims by various people, thus a broad caveat. Pretty much the definition of a ww2 era warship was 'a ship designed to have hundreds of holes punched in it and stay afloat.' As such, eg, the assumption that a hole below the waterline would sink a ship (not, I believe, your proposition, but certainly written here) is more often than not.. not true.

[@Delta36A1]

@@giupiete6536 The arrow vs AP comparison just seems weird to me. If it was Arrow vs a normal bullet I would understand the comparison, but any armor that justifies the use of an AP round is far too strong for an arrow to have any hope of penetrating. Additionally, I don't recall ever seeing the hardened steel or tungsten core of an AP round significantly damaged by softer mediums such as ballistics gel, water, or even some soft metals so I don't really think the comparison works there either. That's sort of the point of AP rounds they are supposed to be able to hit hard armor and not instantly fragment or deform and lose all their energy so they can penetrate said armor. Ultimately though it is irrelevant I agree that in certain circumstances a faster projectile can sometimes penetrate less than a slower one. I don't get where the idea of a bomb designed to hit armor and not hitting armor is coming from. First, who says that modern 2000 lb bombs are explicitly designed solely to penetrate armor? Yes, they can be used against targets with armor, but they don't have to be. Regardless it is irrelevant because the target we are talking about is a WWII Japanese carrier that has armor. For example, Akagi had 3.1 inches of deck armor. What I wrote here was not that "a hole below the waterline would sink a ship". I wrote that there is an example of a Japanese Aircraft Carrier that was ultimately sunk as the result of a single 1000 lb M52 AP bomb hit and it is therefore not unreasonable to think that a single modern 2000 lb bomb COULD theoretically result in the sinking of the same carrier given the right set of circumstances. Ultimately as can be noted from reading all my comments Akagi was scuttled due to uncontrollable fire caused by the bomb I never said it sunk due to a hole or anything of the sort. In fact, not a single Japanese carrier at Midway was sunk due to a hole below the waterline caused by the bombs that hit them. Rather they all suffered uncontrollable fires and were scuttled by destroyers using torpedos.

[@giupiete6536]

@@Delta36A1 Let's be clear. You explicitly stated that the (more) modern, heavier bomb would have a good(implying better) chance of achieving the same result... I then said there are dangers(the actual physics) with such assumptions. I didn't say you were wrong, I gave examples(not theories, arrows do penetrate some (armour)materials much better than ap rounds) (not theories - overpenetration is a known 'quantity') of some of the general factors that might be relevant to the contrary. [re 'justifies the use of ap rounds' - armour justifies the use of ap rounds, that most people with any opportunity to fire an ap round have no idea of the penetrating characteristics of arrows does not change the physics] Obviously, your proposition cannot be strictly excluded - 'a good chance' could be one in a million if you[one] want it to be so, there's no point arguing with chance. I simply offered caveats, other things to consider. Now, given that my reply was simply to adjust away from a potential assumption (not in you specifically, but in other readers) that more/bigger is better - and that your reply was pointless making my reply to you even more pointless. I'll drop my part of this dialogue here. Have a great day.

[@evilassaultweaponeer]

I’m afraid all these WWII simulations are telling me is that DCS isn’t capable of simulating these scenarios accurately :-(

[@drinksnapple8997]

Better question: Could a single UMG-133A missile, equipped with 14 Mk-5 RV/W88 vehicles, have stopped the 1941 Pearl Harbor attack? Do a video on that.

[@ecleveland1]

The ultimate trick would have been one F15E with 2000 pound laser-guided bombs hitting the 6 Japanese aircraft carriers before their planes had taken off and they were all on deck fully loaded with bombs. Only one laser-guided bomb per carrier would be needed. Nothing else would have mattered after that.

[@ecleveland1]

@Patrick Brinkmeier Yeah, today's bombs make a large boom than the older WW2 ones did.

[@genericnamehere7602]

True. At that time, their AVGAS lines would have been full of fuel from readying their strike wings and they had notoriously poor DamCon.

[@SpamSucker]

Detailed info is available on the damage incurred at Midway vs some of these same carriers… if memory serves, one of them was SUNK from a single 500 lb hit (most due to fire overwhelming the damage control teams). Pretty sure a 2k bomb would decimate those things.

[@SilverHwk7]

What occurred at MIdway was mostly likely because the carriers only launched half their force, and the remaining forces were switching between configurations and never properly stowed the ordnance. Yorktown was also hit by a bomb, I believe in a similar fashion to Akagi or Kaga, but survived and was able to be repaired and underway again before Hiryuu's second strike came on. This actually led Hiryuu's fighters to believe they had actually found a different carrier.

[@everettreimers148]

I’m pretty sure we had 1000 pound bombs at midway

[@manticore4952]

@@SilverHwk7 The reason the US carriers survived was because they were armoured, the Japanese carriers didn't armour their decks well enough.

[@drudriver3660]

Roger that a 2000 GBU on the Akagi would have cut it in half. In part the bomb the real damage would be fuel and weapons stores. Parts of the Akagi would have landed in the Aleutian Islands.

[@starrionx1]

@@SilverHwk7 Yorktown had superior firefighting capability, and no air group onboard. Her damage control teams had lots of experience as well.

[@Subh8081]

As someone with a military historian as room mate while doing Uni, I can say for sure 1 2000lb bomb hit in the correct location like at 9:00 would have been enough to disable a carrier of that era for hours and days (stopping operation) and would sink it in the best case. We discussed this exact scenario of modern bombs vs older ships.

[@MagpieOz]

It is however a guess as a "Military Historian" doesn't know the technical details of modern weapons.

[@bitzs]

@@MagpieOz 500 pounds of explosive is 500 pounds of explosive, the only difference would be in the exact penetration depths of penetrating bombs or the exact accuracy of JDAMS but simply the idea of how much explosive (insert size here) would do to a carrier is not to hard to speculate

[@MagpieOz]

@@bitzs speculation remains speculation though

[@jameson1239]

@@MagpieOz Jesus Christ yeah it’s speculation but it’s like speculating on weather a 120mm armour piercing round will kill someone while it has never been directly tested it’s pretty dam obvious as to the result

[@MagpieOz]

@@jameson1239 2000lb v Aircraft Carrier is a completely different situation to a 120mm hitting a human, you give a ridiculous comparison. However my comment was mainly pointing out that a historian is not especially qualified to say what might happen when a modern 2000lbr hits a WW2 carrier

[@jg3167]

I think you were too focused on taking out the carriers, when the real target is the air wings. Go in cluster munitions first pass to destroy the fully-fueled and armed air wings covering the flight deck, waiting to launch. Problem solved.

[@CrotchRocket78]

If you kill the carrier, you kill the air wing. Its harder to kill 300 planes, not all will be on deck. Disable the carrier and no planes launch.

[@NH2112]

The initial Binkov post had the F15 appearing after the attack was launched. The best plan would be allow the strike to take place and take out the carriers, this would completely change the course of the war in the Pacific. The loss of 6 fleet carriers would have crippled the IJN - no Battle of the Coral Sea, no Midway, no loss of the Lexington and Yorktown, subs and small CVE/cruiser task forces roaming around could have kept the remains of the IJN bottled up and starved the Japanese army out of existence. The Pacific fleet CVs and BBs, along with the USMC could have all been shifted to the ETO/North Africa instead of invading Guadalcanal and starting the take-back of Japanese-held islands.

[@jg3167]

@@NH2112 But that's not what Cap simulated. Cap simulated the F15 arriving as the carriers were launching their planes, and intended to use cluster bombs to destroy planes on deck. Only the AI couldn't follow orders. If the cluster bombs destroyed most of the planes while still on deck, the attack is thwarted, and there is no war in the Pacific. The Japanese would be too shocked by the US knowledge of their secret attack and the wonder weapon employed against them to try again. And would instead focus on China.

[@NH2112]

@@jg3167 Oh, there’s still a war in the Pacific, just not with the US involved. Or did you forget about British/Commonwealth nations & territories? And what about Germany? Without 8th Air Force to do the daylight bombing is Germany’s industrial capacity damaged enough? Do Operations Torch and Overlord ever take place without American troops? What happens on the Eastern Front when Hitler realizes the Commonwealth can’t dislodge him from Western Europe and he can move 100 or so FRESH divisions to fight the Soviets? When Germany develops the atomic bomb instead of us, then what? Pearl Harbor resulted in a minuscule loss of life, and most of the ships lost wouldn’t have been of much use in the carrier war that ensued. It was a weak slap in the face, not a haymaker. Knowing what we know today, which is the premise of both of these videos, stopping the strike from launching and keeping America out of the war would have led to an Axis-dominated world. Think “The Man In The High Castle” or Greg Iles’ “Fatherland.”

[@jg3167]

@@NH2112 UK had their hands full with Germany, they write off their Pacific territories to save the homeland. US stays out of the war, Canada tries to help as best they can. But Europe is ultimately a fight between USSR and Axis Germany and Italy, USSR wins. They have 10x the population and manufacturing rate to throw at the problem, and Germany still doesn't learn the lesson of never fight Russia in the winter. Germany tries to counter with their "wonder weapons," but as happened in history, only serves to suck resources away from things that actually win wars. Even supposing Germany does develop a nuke, they can't deliver it, and you think Stalin, who murdered 10s of millions of his own people gives a F if a few thousand die in a nuclear blast? Hitler is a rookie compared to Stalin, USSR wins. Gains all German technology and is in the position of the US in the actual time-line. The premise of Cap's video is if an F-15E could stop the attack on Pearl Harbor. And as I pointed out originally, you stop the attack by killing the planes while still on deck. They are the threat, not the carrier.

[@KRDecade2009]

I just love this little scenario. However, I can take an educated guess on how the Japanese high command would feel about the F-15E strike. The original attack on Pearl Harbor relied on secrecy, it relied on it while in transit to Pearl and just before the attack. The fleet stopped using shipping lanes because of this, any small boats with radios were sunk, any planes shot down. Because the F-15E was able to enter the AO of the fleet and was not shot down and was able to drop its ordinance onto the decks of each carrier then the operation is already a failure. Because the F-15E was not shot down this means the F-15E had radioed Pearl about this fleet which then started getting the various air assets at the bases on the island to scramble, the carriers that were not at port would be getting vectored into the Japanese fleet with their air assets scrambling as well, the fleet in the harbor if possible would be getting underway. Basically the strike which already wasn’t going into their favor with the carrier not in port would be turning into a land, air, and sea battle that they weren’t prepared for and with 6 damages carriers the chances of victory are slim. Irl the carriers would’ve been sunk before pearls air assets even got off the ground because of the F-15E turning the odds into the Americans favor

[@alexapplegate619]

Agreed. Sorry to nit pick, but it's Ordnance, not Ordinance. 2 very different words lol.

[@canofsoup79]

The final countdown is a movie about this exact scenario. Seeing jet aircraft when they probably can't even comprehend what a jet engine is would be more than enough to cancel the attack. It's hard to imagine what they'd think.

[@KRDecade2009]

@@canofsoup79 plus almost all do the aircraft carriers and ships in that fleet didn’t have radar, the few who did had very basic radar sets so there wouldn’t be much of a Japanese response till it was too late

[@wanyelewis9667]

@@canofsoup79 military people of that day knew what a jet engine was. The technology had been known for at least a decade before Pearl Harbor. But the metallurgy and other specific items simply weren't ready in the early 40's. But informed military personnel would have known what it was. The whole point of this is really silly. Could someone with a .50 cal machine gun and a few thousand rounds save Troy from the Greek armies?! Sheesh.

[@tomriley5790]

HMS Victorious was hit by a 2000lb bomb in the Med - it exploded on the elevator and set her on fire, she survived (although the hull was glowing red hot when she made it into Valetta), however she was hit on the elevator with the elevator between decks, she also had an "armoured Box" so not just and armoured flight deck but an armoured hanger deck too - much toughter than US or Japanese carriers. Given the much lighter construction of the Japanese aircraft carriers and the much higher power of the explosives in the modern GBUs I think the damage modelled from those 2000lb bombs is far too little. Had the Japanese carriers taken one of those hits each there's probably a reasonable chance some of them would have sunk (given it's early in the war and Japanese damage control was pretty poor), plus the F15 would know where the carriers were and therefore they'd likely be intercepted on the way back to Japan. The destruction of all those carriers - which is likely to happen would have hugely altered the course of the war, even if they'd made it back and had to be repaired. AI fail not withstanding :-)!

[@tmo_117]

Yeah the light decks of those carriers would not withstand those bombs, the decks would at least be out of operation with a direct hit

[@allangibson2408]

The GP bomb would split if it hit a armored deck (like the Japanese hangar floors) and not even detonate.

[@tomriley5790]

@@allangibson2408 I think it's unlikely it wouldn't detonate - it has 2 fuses nose and tail and is designed to detonate on hitting something hard - whether it can penetrate it or not. I also suspect that a 2000lb bomb which is going to be well over mach 1 when it hits might well be enough to punch through the armour of those carriers taht did have hanger deck armour - none of them had armoured flight decks. Either way as mentioned once they detonate you've blown a big chunk out of the middle of the ship and started a load of fires, followed probably by secondary explosions from the fuelled up aircraft that were waiting to launch (similar to midway) early in the war Japanese damage control was pretty poor so I stand by what I've said - a hit would incapacitate a carrier and likely lead to them sinking directly, if not then their position is known and a very angry US carrier group is not that far away. The loss of the 6 carriers would have devastated Japans war effort.

[@allangibson2408]

@@tomriley5790 When the bomb casing splits (which happens fairly often even for armor piercing shells (refer to the British experience at the battle of Jutland)), you get a greatly reduced yield because containment is lost - you get a lot of flash but not much bang.

[@tomriley5790]

@@allangibson2408 Jutland is different - because you're talking about AP shells detonating on the outside of armour and therefore not penetrating which as you say causes a lot of flash and not much bang. It's rather different if you have 2000lb of explosive (roughly 8-10 times as powerful as 2000lb of world war 2 explosive) detonating in a flight deck of bombed up fuelled aircraft.

[@frankxu2321]

Ah the hit point system... One bomb should knock out one carrier, I don't think they can repair that big hole on the deck lol

[@allangibson2408]

Actually decks are easy to fix. The engines below them are a different question - but first you need to punch through the 50mm of armor below the hangar. Lots of carriers caught bombs on the deck and were operational within an hour.

[@allangibson2408]

A 2000lb GP would even put a hole in the deck. It would explode above the deck…

[@frankxu2321]

@@allangibson2408 GBU seems to be AP bomb, IMO a 2000lbs AP drop at 500 knts either goes down in hanger and blow up everything inside or the shockwave twists the deck outward, which makes it unrepairable at sea.

[@allangibson2408]

@@frankxu2321 A GBU-28 bunker buster might have a chance to penetrate to somewhere fragile. A GBU-43/B would cause sufficient blast damage to take an aircraft carrier offline. The GBU-12 is smaller than the bombs the US Navy used during WW2 (and not armor piercing). The GBU-27 uses a 2000lb BLU-117 but again this is a thin case bomb and is rated to penetrate 15” of mild steel. How it would manage against two 3” armored decks separated by 15’ of air is another question.

[@Quattro_Joe]

A lot of wood used on the decks I think. That wouldn’t fair too well. I’m going with 1 bomb would be a mission kill

[@doemacmonkey]

“Would a single Mig21 with a Nuke have stopped the Pearl Harbour attack?” Why yes, I do believe it would

[@ancaplanaoriginal5303]

Even if it didn't sink the ships, everyone inside them would be instantly microwaved

[@Sorain1]

Problem is unless that's a REALLY big nuke, the fact it was two groups of carriers means you can only get 1/2 the fleet. Mind, the other half might simply abort when half their force vanishes in the face of a newborn sun.

[@shannonbunch1003]

The time and effort you guys put into this must have been unreal... I hope everyone appreciates this as much as I do, this was extremely cool and I totally enjoyed watching this.... no matter what the outcome was

[@maartenverbuijs]

Everyone said “use live pilots” which obviously would be better as the AI in DCS is weird. However, as cap stated there are player models for the f-15E. Plus the challenge was from a Binkov battlegrounds video which used the F-15 so there is no purpose using other aircraft or more than one.

[@grimreapers]

Yup agree

[@eaofdeath187]

A modern bunker buster would make it deep into any WW2 carrier, armored or not. When penetration is measured in meters of reinforced concrete and a thick WW2 deck was ~3 inches of steel I can't see it stopping anything.

[@alexapplegate619]

Correct, even the Taiho, Japan's only WW2 aircraft carrier with an armored flight deck was only rated to stop a 500kg (1100lbs) bomb. A modern 2,000 pounder would almost tear the ship in half.

[@mpeugeot]

Actually, it would take to the air all the way to 88,000 lbs. I was there at Edwards when one of our aircraft (87-0180, 86-0183, 86-0184) took off at 88,000 pounds, I can't remember which one for sure, but I thought it was 87-180.

[@grimreapers]

Thanks!!

[@Kevin-hb7yq]

The penetrator version or 'bunker buster' is a vast improvement in bomb technology. It's as heavy and fast as a shell from the era's largest battleship, in vertical plunging fire. with laser aim, these bombs would slam through and be exploding under the ship.

[@snake57]

Most likely break the keel

[@palindari]

Since these are llaser guided munitions if you take out the command towers it will seriously hinder the operational capabilities of the carrier with the added bonus of possibly taking out their command staff as well. This is a very viable scenario.

[@cjinasia9266]

Yes, with one nuclear device, otherwise they could use a stack of harpoons. An F18 might be a better choice, or maybe an A6. More interesting would be what could a few A10s do against the blitzkrieg. Air cover might be a problem though.

[@trottheblackdog]

Its possible, if this attack was carried out at night, the IJN would not even know it was bombed. They would have these unexplained explosions on their carrier decks. At any rate they'd have to return without attacking.

[@SavedByFaithInJesus]

I think one F-15E would have DEFINATELY prevented Pearl. Japanese carriers did not launch strike planes while under attack; only CAP fighters had access to the deck for reloading/refueling. The carriers would have also been wildly trying to evade the attack. If the Eagle had dropped the cluster bombs first and sent the carriers into this defensive mode. Then dropped the laser bombs to finish them off. At Midway, the Kaga took 4 bombs, Soryu took 3, Akagi only took 1... the fueled and armed planes in the hanger exploding took all these carriers out. The Hiryu taking 4. Love the concept of your channel.... and the execution.

[@andrewmorke]

I'd love to see a single B-52 fully armed with ALCM/AGM-84 on external pylons, 5,000 lb. smart PGMs in the bay, and some extra 20mm reloads for the tail turret take the IJN task force to pieces.

[@cichesty]

The F-15E loadout is unrealistic in a few ways, takeoff weight being the least of them (could take less fuel on the ground and AAR, has been done operationally, although I suppose that wouldn't be possible in 1941) Can't mount CBU-105s (or any JDAM/WCMDs) on the upper pylons of the conformal fuel tanks. CBU-97s would be fine. Can't have weapons of different types on the same CFT (if left CFT has a GBU-10 then it can only have GBU-10s on that side. No mix/match, only exception being GBU-38 and GBU-54) Just remove the CBU-105s from the loadout you used and it would be realistic, and let's be honest one 2000lb bomb on each carrier deck would realistically be plenty to make them non-operational in terms of launching aircraft.

[@torjones1701]

Of the carriers in the Kido Butai, only the Hiryu (1.0-2.2"), Kaga (1.5"), and Akagi (3.1") had any deck armor, but as you can see, it was pretty thin.

[@grimreapers]

thx

[@willie417]

"The Final Countdown" is a 1980 American science fiction war film about a modern nuclear-powered aircraft carrier that travels through time to the day before the December 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor A Pacific aircraft carrier enters a time warp and finds itself transported from 1980 to 1941 - just before the attack on Pearl Harbor. The captain is forced to decide whether to strike at the approaching Japanese fleet and change the entire course of the World War II.

[@TSD4027]

Honestly, the F-15 doesn't even need to sink a single ship. Simply doing some damage would have the Japanese knowing the element of surprise has been lost and they might simply turn around rather than risk the engagement with so many unknown factors.

[@fionam3554]

well, also look at it this way - if you take out all the flight decks.... you have sealed the fate of ALL THE PLANES! They can't land anywhere! They can bomb Pearl until they run out of bombs or fuel, then the planes drop into the ocean.

[@artonline01]

Just saw this on Binkov!

[@farmerphilosopher2493]

Another interesting & funny vid Cap! All you Reapers keep doing what you do... best damn channel for DCS content on the YooToobz, hands down. 🍻 😎👍 [ PS- Requesting more 1st person vid of Kortana flying, whenever possible. That sh*t was off-the-scale impressive 🤯 ]

[@grimreapers]

:)

[@drexchan]

Watched Binkov last night, and I know I will watch a sim from GR soon. Didn't expect this soon. Good afternoon there! (8:35pm here).

[@darrenvanderwilt1856]

One of the primary conditions for the Japanese to commit to the attack at Pearl Harbor was surprise. The instance they're discovered and attacked, while in the process of launching their first wave would've caused a mission scrub, and preparations to meet the U.S. Pacific Fleet counter attack. As a retired Air Force F-15 mechanic, I'm quite sure the single Mud Hen would knock out all the Japanese carriers with ease, and completely unscathed, while the Japanese wouldn't know what was doing it.

[@jameshewitt8828]

Gagging to see how good the radar is in the strike eagle considering it is a multi mode radar capable of TWS, Ground mapping, Inverse Synthetic Aperture at the same time

[@nicomeier8098]

2000 Lbs bomb hits fly deck of a carrier, result must be a massive hole in the fly deck. 2 Seconds later two heavily damaged Zero's take of, like nothing had happened. . No that is DCS!

[@danimal1306]

FYI, The Pearl Harbor attack had no carriers with armored decks. The first with an armored deck was the en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_aircraft_carrier_Shinano Shinano class which was first in battle at Midway. A 2000 pound bomb espeicially with a delayed fuse, would do incredible damage to an un-aromored carrier deck. At Midway, Carriers were sunk with 1-3 reported hits with 1,000 pound bombs. The reported hits have a fog of war variance, but a delayed fuse GBU should be tested.

[@TimLewallen]

Reminds me of this scene from "The Final Countdown" - kzbin.info/www/bejne/baDXmImOf86FobM

[@grimreapers]

thx kzbin.info/www/bejne/r4SZq4yjit9lf6M

[@OverlordGrizzaka]

I still wanna see that alpha strike hit the kido butai.

[@jasonforsyth5015]

aircraft can be overweight on the ramp, but they need to be at MTOW when they enter the runway. So they might configure an F-15E like that in real life.

[@georgesandoval8311]

That was an entire carrier, this is just 1 plane. Frankly I don't understand why they even put out this video, it's absurd. Even a carrier battle group, with its Aegis defense system, can be overwhelmed by a Mainland Chinese missile barrage. It's cheap accounting, missiles cost millions of dollars, so there's nothing like "wasting" a few tens or hundreds of missiles to attack or sink billions of dollars' worth of navaal hardware. Which is why it's very dangerous for American carrier strike/battle groups to venture within the 1000+ mile range of Chinese DF-21 and similar "carrier killer" ballistic missiles, and the Navy is scrambling to get its FA-XX 6th generation fighter made. The US should copy the Chinese strategy and make tons of missiles to strike the Chinese mainland.

[@ghostraz6868]

Never thought I’d be this early to a video. Love the content!

[@globalcitizen8321]

Yeah, Binkov's proposal came to my mind just by looking at your video's title... Good one.

[@zachsherman7193]

its interesting you put up a video on this bc yesterday binkovs battlegrounds just put out a video on this same topic

[@WhiskeyTango84]

Binkov!!!

[@Joe_Friday]

I'd like to see a pair of A10s with bombs or mavericks running this same scenario.

[@dlbracer56]

When I was in the 335thTFS "Chiefs" they flew F4G (Wild Weasels) and F-16C 1984-1988 NCOIC Squadron Ops Seymour Johnson AFB NC. USA.

[@Quattro_Joe]

Can you imagine being in a Zero and seeing an F15 coming towards you. “Ok lads Bye”

[@gorflunk]

Given their poor damage control abilities, the likelihood of one bomb sinking or even disabling it is very high. Okay, technically, it would be the resultant fires and explosions that would do the most damage but hey.

[@TheDavcrz5]

If 1000lbs bombs dropped at subsonic speed 275mph by SBD Dauntless from just 1500 feet above target sunk 4 Japanese carriers during battle of midway than 2000lb bomb dropped at 20000ft would devastate Japanese carriers just kinetic energy alone would do massive damage let alone combined with explosive warhead

[@spacekraken666]

This is not a possible F-15E loadout. Different weapons cannot be mounted on the same CFT at the same time, so if it's GBU-10, it's only GBU-10. And the upper row of CFT pylons cannot be used for smart weapons such as JDAM, or in this case CBU-105. It will be completely realistic if you remove the cluster bombs, though. When RAZBAM F-15E releases, i'm sure a lot of people will create non-working loadouts and then complain about RAZBAM being bad ;P

[@Him.TheOneAndOnly]

In the battle of midway 1 1000 lb bomb dropped from less than 1000 feet, completely disabled the Akagi, and ultimately sunk it (I think it was the akagi, but I'm not certain) there were also instances in the same battle where 500 lb bombs dropped from a similar height blew holes in the flight deck big enough to end flight operations, so a 2000 lb bomb dropped from 20,000 feet would certainly disable flight operations, if not sink a 1941 IJN carrier.

[@verdebusterAP]

The simple answer is the one F-15E with eight 2000lbs GBU-10 could target the 6 carriers and 2 battleship that the IJN sent The GBU-10 can be precisely targeted on the carriers and battleships weakest points which means that ships will either be sunk or crippled Without the carriers , the IJN has no strike force no air cover Without their battleships, they have little firepower against the USN ships So their only choice is to withdraw The F-15E could strike more targets with 500lbs GBU-12s however wiping out all 6 carriers and 2 Battleship is still a crippling blow to the IGN

[@signore1]

in real a single bomb destroyed the Akagi when it detonated among armed and fueled airplanes in the hanger. I think 1 2000 lb bomb is totally enough. Even without secondaries it would render the deck unusable, ship would have to return to port for repairs.

[@No1sonuk]

And those were 500 pound bombs...

[@Northpole666]

According to Wikipedia the Hiryū had a waterline belt with a maximum thickness of 150 millimeters (5.9 in) over the magazines that reduced to 90 millimeters (3.5 in) over the machinery spaces and the avgas storage tanks. It was backed by an internal anti-splinter bulkhead. The ship's deck was 25 millimeters (0.98 in) thick over the machinery spaces and 55 millimeters (2.2 in) thick over the magazines and avgas storage tanks. But it doesn't say anything that indicates whether or not it had armored decks as far as I could see. I would have guessed that the GBU would've smacked right through the deck. But, I might be mistaken and reckon I'll be standing corrected.... :)

[@slickbomb]

One thing missing in all the discussions/disagreements - You don't have to only sink or put a hole in the flight deck to make the carrier "combat ineffective".

[@DreadX10]

Without seeing the video: Answer: "Yes, yes, it could. Just by doing a couple of flyby's while showing the national colours. The IJN would think twice and then turn around to go back to the drawing-board." ;-)

[@n1vg]

I think a couple of supersonic passes would indeed give them pause. I love the concepts for these videos but I feel like they always just wind up highlighting how dumb the AI is, and there's no sense that a question has actually been answered. Still sometimes entertaining to watch the attempt.

[@roberleedodson]

Lmao yeah right , one f15 gonna stop 350 Japanese airplanes , no chance

[@RyBredSamich]

The Japanese carrier decks I believe were wood mostly. They wanted numbers and maneuverability.

[@reuz5462]

What doesn't make sense to me is why drop the 2000 pounders first, drop the clusters, wreck the flight decks so nothing can take off or land and potentially weaken the decks via burning fuel and on-deck explosives if any of them are armored then drop the high-yield

[@50megatondiplomat28]

Well this explains how people subsisting on rats and canned dog food that grew up in ruins were able to defeat Skynet in 2046. Every time Skynet was about to win his forces made horrible tactical decisions.

[@bearcatracing007]

We all know lack of cows caused this outcome 😁😆

[@grimreapers]

Fair point Jesus.

[@ryonix4674]

Do you think the F-15E will come out as a module?

[@grimreapers]

yes next year

[@ridenfish39]

How have I never seen this channel? This is awesome. Subbed

[@grimreapers]

Welcome to the party!

[@kenbryson2240]

Hiryu deck over machine space wasn't even an inch, and only 2.2 over munitions and avgas. Issue is the third wave was fueled and armed in the hold iirc, so if anything gets through it will likely chain like we saw at midway. The damage to the deck itself might leave them inoperable to continue the flights.

[@doemacmonkey]

You will just have to fly this manually yourselves in two or three vipers following the same ROE.

[@markstott6689]

You need to redo this with two to four aircraft. One/two lasing and one/two with bombs. Maybe better with lìve pilot's? Put two or more bombs into each carrier. I don't believe Japanese carrier decks were armour piercing. However using AP bombs would ensure detonation inside the carrier. This way those carriers would be out of action.

[@vinnyambrose7514]

I cannot help but focus on the fact that you would have several Japanese fleets with auxiliary assets in all focusing all of their anti-aircraft fire on one single aircraft that must be in visual range as this aircraft would be laser designating his own targets one by one so he would essentially be flying in the air full of constant flack, large machine gun an cannon fire. Just one 2,000lb on those flight decks would incapacitate those flat tops into just gun ships, no aircraft that actually took off would be able to return as decks would be fouled. Now load that F15 up with bunker busters and you would see keel damage along with a fouled deck and target the rear of flight deck to take out propulsion.

[@es330td]

I always think about the non-violent solution. If a single supersonic jet did a low level pass between the ships the psychological impact on the ship commanders as they looked at the broken glass around them would be “Exactly what kind of magic are we about to go up against?”

[@lolmao500]

If an entire US carrier group had one hell of a time stop the ww2 pearl harbor attack, theres not a chance in hell a single plane would. What about a video... Could 5 AC-130 stop the pearl harbor attack? Would be interesting to see AC-130 pounding the japanese carriers.

[@bradedwards3438]

MOAB's!

[@grimreapers]

nice

[@markhanenberger214]

Those 1000 pounders would have at worst started massive fires in the hanger deck.

[@kylecblank]

Here’s an idea: Flying this mission with buddy lase tactics will expedite weapon delivery for the fuel load. One bomb per PRF code allows the release of multiple weapons per pass on multiple DPIs. You can choose shooter-self lase or a true mule tasking for the attacking aircraft. Using sequential run-ins by each formation aircraft allows time for pilots to transition roles. Not trying to insult your intelligence by explaining but thought it might spark your creativity! Thanks for the content

[@TrojanHell]

If anything; iirc in War Thunder it is modeled like this: 500lbs bomb hitting the tower will kill the carrier, and 3x1000lbs is a guaranteed kill, so I'd say a 2000lbs bomb with modern materials (both explosive as bunker busting head) would probably bust up a carrier like that real good.

[@SgtSteel1]

The thickness of the Hiryu's deck was 25mm so even IF the bomb didn't penetrate that, the explosion would rip a large area of the deck to shreds. I'm going with yes, a single F15 with those bombs would have disrupted the whol eattack.

[@DWillis7]

I have no doubt a GBU-10 would put a WW2 carrier out of action in terms of deck operations, especially considering the decks aren't armoured. It wouldn't sink it, but definitely stop it from performing it's primary function of allowing aircraft to take off. Delay fuse, mid ship, and there's no way that anything would be taking off.

[@MrDnelson646]

2000lbs lgb would have devastating effects on a WWII Japanese carrier. Ijn Akagi was sunk by a single 1000lbs

[@garyswisher]

Like the Seymour Johnson initials on the tail. My dad flew out of there back in the 80's.

[@dirkwink9470]

A 2000 pound delayed fuse bomb will absolutely put a WWII Japanese carrier out of commission. It will punch straight trough the flight deck and hangar deck before detonating in the ship's guts. These things are designed to punch trough hardened aircraft shelters. A few inches of armor steel won't stop it. Even if it doesn't outright sink, it would knock it out of action. With them being that close to Pearl Harbor they'd have to scuttle them.

[@thalo215]

A gbu-10 through the bridge would render the carrier useless. A mk84 probably would as well but getting one on target would be significantly harder.

[@mikegirard4388]

If you have a solo aircraft attempting to stop a catastrophic attack you likely let it run until fuel is out and deploy all ordinance.

[@SilverHwk7]

So before watching, I'm going to make a prediction: It depends on the loadout and when the attack occurs, but I think the likelihood of a single fighter being able to do is low. Granted, single strikes were largely responsible for the destruction of Akagi, Kaga, and Soryuu at Midway, that had more to do with how half of their aircraft were being kept in reserve to launch against the US carriers that were anticipated to respond. Planes were fueled and armed in the hangars and there were multiple changes in ordnance configuration being undertaken while Kido Butai was under attack. As a result, when a single bomb penetrated the flight deck into the hangar, it caused numerous secondary fires and detonations. In the later stages of Midway, however, Hiryuu launched a counterstrike and managed to hit the US Carrier Yorktown and disable it...briefly. Yorktown was quickly repaired and underway again when a second strike arrived; the Japanese fighters actually thought they had found a different carrier. So if the carriers are caught at an inopportune time, then yes, a single F-15E with the right equipment could be catastrophic. Something to consider though: At Pearl Harbor, Kido Butai had all six of its fleet carriers, Akagi, Kaga, Soryuu, Hiryuu, Shoukaku, and Zuikaku. So to take them all out, you'd need at least 6 bombs, and a targeting pod would probably be extremely helpful as well. With a targeting pod, a Strike Eagle would wreck, again assuming they caught Kido Butai at the right time. Given the maneuverability of carriers at the time though, accuracy of a dumb bomb would be low, and a JDAM would be out of the question because the carriers are moving. A laser-guided bomb would be the best bet, as the laser from the targeting pod could be kept on a point on the deck and guide the bomb in. Breaking out even further, service ceiling of an F-15E is 60,000 feet; service ceiling for the A6M Zero is half that. The Strike Eagle could easily loiter at 45,000 feet and potentially not be noticed and engage Kido Butai at its leisure.

[@corwinchristensen260]

A completely unknown aircraft that flys over 500 kts, above the ability of AAA to defend against, and squarely hitting a target with impunity by every bomb that it drops would have scared the hell out of ANY naval commander in 1941. By the time the third bomb is dropped, there is no way the attack would have been continued. Perhaps your "puddin' headed" AI heard them surrender...

[@kingtigerbooks1162]

Thanks to computer simulations we can find out how a small group of modern fighter jets will do against a massive array of WW2 fighters. Only in a good simulation can such wild battles take place, without anyone getting hurt. To me it's the stuff of Sci-Fi. To whom it may concern, my 3 favorite science fiction art books are : - Wonderworks by Michael Whelan - Great Fighter Jets of the Galaxy 1 by Tim Gibson - Icon by Frank Frazetta

[@ktaylor9095]

I just saw the armor strategy for Japanese aircraft carriers over on the Battleship New Jersey channel, and the decks were not armored. However, unlike American carriers, the sides *were* armored based on an assumption of surface engagements being the main issue. This contained any explosions and caused the damage to be directed down into the hull and up into the superstructure. So, dropping a big bomb on them should be highly effective, and a cluster bomb should just be game over. Dropping things on Japanese carriers was much more effective than dropping things on British carriers (that had an armored flight deck) or even American carriers (that armored the main deck under the flight deck and kept the sides open to vent explosions).

[@sukhoiromantic1718]

From the movie the time machine - you can't change history because if you did you'd never have gone back in time to change it - my thoughts when the AI crashed 15 mins in

[@SMPlayerSlayer]

there was a significant battle called midway where a carrier was sunk from a single bomb through the top deck. A single laser guided bomb could ABSOLUTELY sink a carrier.

[@wulfwalker2514]

The battle of Midway proved that a WWII 500pd bomb would penetrate the deck of an IJN carrier so yes a delayed fuze GBU-10 will pen. The explosive power of 500 pds of HBX, the amount and type of explosives in a 2000 pd. bomb, will severely cripple if not destroy a IJN carrier. I was an aviation ordnanceman in the US Navy for twenty years and loaded a butt ton of the things during my career. Enjoy your content. thanks a bunch.

[@patrickbarnes4888]

As a former F15E crew chief and knowing its capabilities, the simple answer is yes. Without issue

[@grimreapers]

cool

[@WiredSolaris]

Well, and you gotta think, they would normally fly in a pair, so two of em and GBU's have a punch and the aircraft can carry quite of bit of older bombs (depending on the size of em)

[@sabre051]

Next test: using a full fidelity model and a human pilot drop a GBU-10 on one of these carriers with a delayed fuse to see the result.

[@hotironaircraftshop]

Hiryu flight deck was wood, similar to US carriers. Only the British had armored flight decks in WWII.

[@shirleytwsw]

This is why cluster munitions are outlawed the effects are so deadly

[@cvjanzen550]

I have already seen this video and really enjoy the concept. Interesting to imagine going back in time with a modern weapon, whatever that would look like.

[@grimreapers]

Just recorded a better version of this :)

[@calebnetterville3941]

Japanese Carrier deck armor was quite thin, most armored decks for carriers at the time would be the British Carriers Ark Royal & Illustrious. The US Carrier Fleet at midway used primarily 500lb & 1000lb General Purpose bombs against Akagi, Kaga, Soryu, & Hiryu. US & Japanese Carriers didnt get deck armor until 1943 & 44. A GBU-10 would more than likely tear a hole in the deck probably about as big as Hiryu’s actual deck damage at Midway, where the entire front flight deck was torn up like a can getting shot with bbs. The Japanese, if they were able to get off any aircraft, as well as all of their carriers were disabled, would have to get the aircraft to ditch into the sea. If one or two carriers were undamaged, their decks might be cluttered, or be told to launch CAP in order to cover a retreat. As for the Japanese Zeros, Kates, & Vals, I think we should know what would happen to them. It is pretty much just the modders choice in health for the ships that is the problem. Great video though, keep em coming!

[@curtmueller4627]

Someone else may have pointed this out and I didn't see it, but in the battle of Midway the SBD was armed with a single 500lb bomb on the center line (and possibly one 100lb bomb under each wing). The Akagi was hit with one 500lb bomb on the mid-ship elevator (credited to Lt. Dick Best) that penetrated to the hanger deck. That hit took out the hanger and a large portion of the flight deck. While it didn't sink the carrier it did put it out of action immediately and the resulting fires eventually took out the ship. So IMO, yes a single laser guided 2000lb GBU-10 hitting the easily designated elevator would have put the carrier out of action and kept it from launching or recovering any aircraft, stopping the attack on Pearl. It also would have allowed the F-15 sufficient time to RTB, refuel and rearm and come back to finish the job. But I'm guessing with 2000lbs dropped from 20,000' a GBU-10 with a delayed fuse would have penetrated deeper than the hanger deck and blown out the keel, sinking the ship. A full squadron of F-15E's armed with 4 GBU-10s and 2 GBU-12s (just to keep the weight down) could probably have sunk the entire 67 ship striking force in a single mission. Leaving the Japanese with only a mystery of what happened to their ships.

[@biffwhatever990]

The main difference between the US carriers and the Japanese carriers is that the US carriers filled the voids in their fuel tanks with nitrogen, I believe. The Japanese carriers' tanks filled with air as they emptied. That became a fuel-air mixture that was highly explosive. The nitrogen protected the Americans from an explosive result. At the battle of Midway, the American torpedo bombers arrived first. That brought the Japanese defenders down on the deck where they slaughtered the American torpedo bombers. I believe they were all shot down. While the Japanese were doing that the American dive bombers arrived and they were unopposed. Within five minutes all but one of the Japanese carriers were on fire and out of action. I believe the Americans used 500-pound bombs, but I'm not sure. One of those 2000 pounders would finish off a WWII Japanese carrier. That bomb would have turned them into huge Molotov cocktails. Keep up the good work.

[@fahadkelantan]

DCS is completely off. The real life Akagi was sunk by Lieutenant Commander Richard Halsey Best flying a Douglas SBD Dauntless using a single 1,000 pound bomb in the Battle of Midway. So we can empirically say yes, Comissar Binkov's calculations of a 2,000 pound GBU-10 will sink these WWII aircraft carriers. Easily. Hey here are some numbers: 1. The Akagi had a reduced deck armor from 96 to 79 mm (3.8 to 3.1 in) of steel. Source: Wikipedia. In comparison, Modern Nimitz class decks have at least 2.5 inches in Kevlar. Kevlar is about 5x stronger than steel, so roughly equal to 12.5 inches of steel. So a modern carrier has about four times the armor compared to the WWII Akagi. - This is the main reason I think the calculations are wrong in DCS. 2. A similar bomb to the GBU-10 is the 2,000 pound bunker buster BLU-109, which can penetrate 6 feet (72 inches) of concrete. 3 Inches of steel is nothing. 3. There is another bomb option that Comissar Binkov did not consider, which is an over-overkill, USAF's GBU-28/B 5,000 pound bunker buster which is now being tested on F15EX. The bomb can go through more than 20 feet of concrete. The Akagi stands zero chance. The F15E can carry 30,000 pounds. Your load out in the video was 29K of weapons and 26K of fuel, while blasting through on after burner. Just fly very slowly at high altitude. Reduce 11K of fuel, to carry 6x 5K GBU-28/B.

[@billmee4628]

If you hit a carrier from WW2 likely a 2000 Pound bomb would probably either sink or completely disable the ship. Most bombs dropped in WW2 Pacific were 500 to 1000 pounds. Yes there were bigger bombs but a 2000 pound penetrator would be devastating.