Seventy Years Ago: Taking Stock In The Pacific

In September 1942, Japan remains determined to expel the Americans from Guadalcanal. Bloody fighting, both ashore and at sea. Nothing works for Japan, but neither have the Americans clinched the win. On Guadalcanal, it was about half time. Or by a baseball clock maybe approaching time for the seventh-inning stretch. By early September, both sides have runs, hits and errors.

Time to review the pluses and minuses of both sides:

Japan:
Assets -
1. Incredibly effective torpedoes. Far faster, greater range, explosive power and reliability than American torpedoes. Air launched torpedoes have less explosive power, but are equally effective and can be launched in shallow water;
2.  Aggressive submarines. Used against warships in fleet actions, with good effect;
3.  Excellent pilots - especially aircraft carrier fighter pilots;
4.  Superb fighter plane - Mitsubishi  Zero - highly maneuverable, long range, high climb rate, great for dogfighting;
5.  Sailors skilled in night fighting;
6.  Superior optical systems, including gun laying equipment;
7.  Outnumbered US in aircraft carriers at outset, 10-5;

Vulnerabilities:
1.  Poor damage control and firefighting equipment and skills;
2.  Submarines not used effectively against allied shipping;
3.  No effective organization to recover downed pilots and to train replacements to a high enough level;
4.  Aircraft highly maneuverable but not strongly built - no self-sealing fuel tanks (vulnerable to fire) and no armor to protect pilots;
5.  Lost more aircraft than allies from the beginning;
6.  No radar;
7.  By early September had lost 6 aircraft carriers to 2 for US;

United States:
Assets -
1.  Ship board radar;
2.  Ground based radar;
3.  Communications intelligence;
4.  Excellent pilots;
5.  Superb damage control training and equipment;
6.  Incomparable experience in carrier flight operations;
7.  Excellent organization to recover downed pilots;
8.  5"/38 dual purpose gun - war's best anti aircraft artillery;
9.  Two decades of detailed war planning;
10. Excellent and rugged aircraft: e.g. F-4-F slower than Zero but more rugged, climbs more slowly but to higher altitude and dives faster without falling apart;
11. Fleet units and organizations well prepared for war (under Kimmel's leadership);
12. Excellent coordination between Navy, Marine and Army air forces;
13. Skilled at underway replenishment at sea;

Liabilities:
1.  Snafus at high military staff levels in DC - e.g. R.K. Turner;
2.  Snafus in army organization in the field - both Hawaii and Philippines failed to set up effective radar control organization - or for that matter, any organization at all for air defense, even though they had radar equipment for nearly six months;
3.  Torpedoes - inadequate testing - failure to act on fleet reports of torpedo failures for two years;
4.  Inadequate anti aircraft machine guns aboard ship -  1.1" quad mounts kept jamming and hitting power of projectile inadequate;
5.  Staff level in DC failed to allocate enough resources to communications intelligence before the war and let some fleet commanders (R.K. Turner) fail to make effective use after the war. Turner, for example, wouldn't have a Comint support unit on his flagship;
6.  Not enough equipment and ships (during 1920's and early 1930's, US had not built up to the limits of Naval arms limitation treaties);
7. First year of war, US Navy fighting in two oceans with a navy built for one - depended on movements through Panama Canal.

Voter Registration

Not registered? Moved? Changed name? Any other change to voter registration?

Please stop by the Board of Elections office in Bayboro and fill out a revised form. Or do so by mail.

If you want to vote in person on November 6, the deadline to register is October 12.

Voter Registration Deadline

When:  Friday, Oct 12, 2012

Description:  October 12, 2012, 5pm - Voter registration deadline for November 6 General Election. Forms must be postmarked or delivered in person by 5:00 pm today [NCGS 163-82.6(c)] *Individuals who miss the registration deadline may register in person and then vote at one-stop voting sites in the person’s county of residence during the one-stop absentee voting period (October 18-November 3). In order to register during a one-stop period, the applicant must show acceptable proof of name and residence in the county. 

 

Remember: If you miss the deadline, you can always vote during one-stop.

Stakhanovites

The style is unmistakeably "socialist realism."  In the National Review? A blatant copy of a Soviet poster (rolled up sleeves and all) declaring that "The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics is the Socialist Government of Workers and Peasants."




Pretty heroic pose. What gives? A resurgence of Stakhanovites? Thanks to Solon.com for the connection.

Pretty curious. I have some thoughts, having to do with the real reason for the demise of the Soviet Union and the role of Soviet management style.

Stay tuned.

Absentee Voting

The Pamlico County Board of Elections has received absentee ballots for the 2012 election for President, Vice President, Governor and many other offices.

We will start mailing ballots to voters who requested absentee ballots over the next few days.

Election day may be November 6, but the election has begun.

Sunday Voting

The Pamlico County Board of Elections went to Raleigh yesterday to seek State Board of Elections approval for a plan for One-Stop voting adopted by a majority of board members. Since the plan was not adopted unanimously, it required a hearing before the State Board. A total of nine counties whose plans were not adopted unanimously appeared before the board.

After hearing from of both majority and minority members, the State Board of Elections approved the Pamlico County plan supported by the majority. Therefore we will have voting on two Sunday afternoons during One-stop.

Both sides presented their positions on a well-prepared, rational and amicable basis. There was no hint of acrimony.

The same could not be said of some of the other counties. I came away from the hearing with a feeling of pride for the way our county conducts it business.

Oriental Update Street Closing Dispute

I have received a copy of a request from Oriental's Town Attoney to the Superior Court requesting a thirty day extension to the time for filing a response to my appeal. I did not object.

Seventy Years Ago: At Sea In The Eastern Pacific

A hundred miles west of the Farallon Islands, the troop ship's bow rose and fell as it met the swell generated by a storm thousands of miles across the Pacific.  The ship's sailors seemed not to notice.

Embarked soldiers, stomachs upset by days of railroad food, did their best to keep their food down. Not many succeeded during the rough passage across the bar when they left the Golden Gate.

It was even worse now, in poorly-ventilated troop compartments with bunks stacked four high. A steady stream of soldiers sought relief in what they had learned was the head, not the latrine. Many didn't make it in time. They would have liked to get a breath of fresh air, but there were too many troops and too little deck space.

The privileged few who made it to a topside railing learned the hard way not to barf into the wind. Sometimes they had no choice.

A boatswain's mate piped his whistle and said something unintelligible over the announcing system. Time for evening chow. The soldiers already knew, because they had been smelling the odor of greasy pork chops for more than an hour.

Few made it to the mess hall.

My stepfather, newly-promoted Master Sergeant Cox, was one of them. Not bothered in the slightest by the ship's motion, he ate his fill.

Then he stood his watch with the crew of a 4" gun.

Plenty of fresh air.

Let's Have A Strong Dollar?

Over the past week, I've heard a lot of calls for a "strong dollar."

Strong is good, right?

So who is a strong dollar good for?

For that matter, what is a "strong dollar?"

A "strong dollar" is a dollar with a high value relative to other currencies.

For whom is this good?

It's good for China. They get to make lots of stuff and sell it to us, because their prices are lower than our "strong dollar" prices.

It's good for Germany. They don't have to buy as much of our stuff to be able to sell us Mercedes', BMW's and Braun appliances.

It's good for India, Indonesia and Mexico.

Is it good for Americans? A strong dollar would be good for those who travel abroad. When I plan my next trip to Europe,  I want the dollar to be "strong." What I have to spend for hotels and travel, etc. will be lower.

But for anyone in the export business or in the US tourist industry, a strong dollar is bad.

It raises the price to foreigners of American goods and services.

If you are an American and make stuff for foreign markets, you don't want a strong dollar.

If you make stuff for ordinary Americans to buy, you don't want a strong dollar.

If you are a financier, who only makes deals, not product, you do want a strong dollar. It lets you outsource offshore.

It lets you drive down any salaries you have to pay in this country.

If you are in the top one percent, of course a strong dollar is good!