What if we added Airships?

[Zexx]

Airships (blimps and Rigids known as Zepplins) played imortant roles during world War I and World War II.

In world War I they performed not only observation roles, but even were the first truly Long Range Bombers. The Bombing of London (though technically a Failure) proved the feasibility of strategic bombing and defintely proved the need to ground based fighters and better Air Defenses.

"The Birth of Strategic Bombing was in WWI when German Zeppelins began raiding London from bases in occupied Belgium. Small attacks against England were carried out early in the war, but by October 1915, "squadron-size" raids by numerous Zeppelins had begun, always at night and in the dark of the moon. Early in September 1916, a British fighter shot down an airship, and three weeks later, two Zeppelins attempting to attack London were also destroyed. Although Zeppelin performance was gradually improved, so were British balloons, and improved anti-aircraft defences and heavy losses continued. After a disastrous raid on August 5, 1918, the Germans practically discontinued Zeppelin warfare. There were 159 Zeppelin attacks against England in WWI, resulting in the death of 557 people, primarily civilians, and damages of $7,500,000." (http://www.century-of-flight.net/Aviation%20history/airplane%20at%20war/upload2/bombing%20by%20Zeppelin%20airships.htm)

 Despite the discontinued use in front line units due to their inherent susceptibility, in World War two they performed roles such as Coastal Recon, Search and Rescue, Anti-Submarine Warfare. Two Main classes of Airships were operated by the US Navy. These were the K and M class LTA's (lighter Than Airships).

The K Class:

"In World War II K-ships made 55,900 operational flights of over 550,000 hours. During that war 89,000 surface ships were escorted by K-ships. Not a single one of these surface ships was lost to enemy submarines. The submarines feared the presence of the airship in spite of the fact that there is no public record of an airship ever sinking an enemy submarine" (http://battleblimps.com/k-ships.html)

"After the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, the Navy asked the U.S. Congress for authorization to purchase an increased number of airships. By June 1942, Congress had authorized the construction of 200 airships, and during the war, Goodyear built a total of 168. At its production peak, the company was turning out 11 airships monthly.

The later K series airships were slightly larger and had a capacity of 416,000 to 425,000 cubic feet (11,780 to 12,035 cubic meters). They were 253 feet (76 meters) long, and 60 feet (18 meters) in diameter, and were powered by two 425-horsepower (317-kilowatt) engines that gave a top speed of 50 miles per hour (80 kilometers per hour). They were not fast, but unlike an airplane that could remain airborne for only a few hours, a K-ship could stay aloft for 60 hours." (http://www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/Lighter_than_air/Airships_in_WWII/LTA10.htm)

Sources also state the K class carried four depth Charges and a single machine gun (.50 Calibur) along with Magnetic Anomoly Detction equipment (MAD)  and Radar.



M Class:
"The Goodyear Aircraft Company of Akron, Ohio built the M-class blimp for the US Navy as the follow-on to the K-class anti-submarine warfare blimp used during World War II. It was a significantly larger airship. Four airships, designated M-1 through M-4, were delivered in early 1944. Operations of K-ships in tropical regions had shown a need for a blimp with greater volume to offset the loss of lift due to high ambient temperatures.

A contract was awarded to the Goodyear Aircraft Company for the prototype M-class blimp on August 16, 1943. This contract was followed by another contract on September 11, 1943 for 21 M-class blimps. These airships were given the Navy designation of ZNP-M, (Z = lighter-than-air; N = non-rigid; P = patrol; M = type/class.) However, on November 22, 1943, the quantity of blimps was reduced to four. These were delivered to the Navy in February, March, and April 1944.

General characteristics

Crew: 10-14
Length: 302 ft 0 in (92.07 m)
Diameter: 69 ft 6 in (21.19 m)
Height: 92 ft 6 in (28.20 m)
Volume: 647,000 ft3 (18,320 m3)
Useful lift: 10,000 lb (4,356 kg)
Powerplant: 2 × Pratt & Whitney R-1340-AN-2 radials, 550 hp (410 kW) each
Performance

Maximum speed: 80 mph (128 km/h)
Cruise speed: 58 mph (93 km/h)
Endurance: 50 hours  30 min
Armament

1 × .50 M2 machine gun
8 × 350 lb (159 kg) Mark 47 depth charges"
(wikipedia.org, Article Mclass Airships, accessed 2012)

Not only Would the implementation of Airships be a minor improvement to the World War II arena's, but they would be a huge boost to World War I Arena where Airshgips actually saw the most use during any given war period.

[Butcher]

What use would airships have in game? undefended and quite slow - plus we also have no submarines.

[lyric1]

plus we also have no submarines.

Yes we do. 

[Butcher]

Yes we do. 

Oh ok I see the submarine now 

[titanic3]

Hot air balloons fight. 

[lyric1]

(Image removed from quote.)

Oh ok I see the submarine now 

You looked at the Ports of late?

[Zexx]

In my line of think after some research; They would perform Observation at Ports, Essentially performing Long Range Recon for Enemy fleets. Since they require no real airfield to traditionally take off from they can be immediately dispatched from the Ports, where they would mainly available. In this capcity they could act as a forward observer for Shore batteres. They could even feasibly be used as Forward observation from Forward vehicle bases and perhaps even Carrier Task Groups themselves, but that is really pushing the idea since the only confirmed use was for Coastal patrol and Convoy Escort and Defense, and Naval squadrons formed along those lines (particularely US Naval). It must be noted that Airships saw use by Britian and Russia though they built significant lower numbers in World War Two.

I admit this would be essentially another "hangar Queen" as far as the World War II Arena's are concerned, but it would be under the "bomber" tab for World War I since they performed that duty  at the front lines during that period.

In either case The Airship would/could be another, sometimes static, observation post. Despite the obvious disadvantages the trade off comes in Loiter time, compartively very low fuel consumption, Extended Range, and enhanced detection ranges they would perform the same role as the "Storch" (Fi152).

[Butcher]

You looked at the Ports of late?

Yes there are submarines sitting in ports and have been for a while, does that mean anything other then eye candy?

Only thing I can think of is instead of having only PT Boats, have Submarines that can spawn- however I don't see how they plan on catching a Task Force unless its aimed right at the submarin.

[lyric1]

does that mean anything other then eye candy?

Nope.

Edit: Fixed.

[Butcher]

Nope.

 

Think you know something.

[Zexx]

Yes there are submarines sitting in ports and have been for a while, does that mean anything other then eye candy?

Only thing I can think of is instead of having only PT Boats, have Submarines that can spawn- however I don't see how they plan on catching a Task Force unless its aimed right at the submarin[e].

If we get Submarines in Game then the Airship could be a definite boost to Port Defense and Recon since both the Sub and Airship are capable of independent (Solo) operations.

 On that topic, I could see the submarine being  used in the fashion of a PT boat since most spent an equal amount of time on the surface as they did submersed. This means they can Spawn at the ports and PT spawn points, or if We ever see the use of Submarines in Game; they could spawn at thier own "pens". The functions of the PT commands COULD work like this: In water you could use the  F6 key to raise the periscope , U key to Ping the TG (in this case the crusier or Carrier) and Y to get a firing soultion. The O key to open and Flood the tubes, and B key to fire Torpedoes.

[Butcher]

If we get Submarines in Game then the Airship could be a definite boost to Port Defense and Recon since both the Sub and Airship are capable of independent (Solo) operations.

 On that topic, I could see the submarine being  used in the fashion of a PT boat since most spent an equal amount of time on the surface as they did submersed. This means they can Spawn at the ports and PT spawn points, or if We ever see the use of Submarines in Game; they could spawn at thier own "pens". The functions of the PT commands COULD work like this: In water you could use the  F6 key to raise the periscope , U key to Ping the TG (in this case the crusier or Carrier) and Y to get a firing soultion. The O key to open and Flood the tubes, and B key to fire Torpedoes.

now this makes perfect sense +1

How will you combat Submarines however? Once the Sub leaves the surface depth charges from aircraft were used to attack submarines on the surface not running 200m deep.

[Zexx]

now this makes perfect sense +1

How will you combat Submarines however? Once the Sub leaves the surface depth charges from aircraft were used to attack submarines on the surface not running 200m deep.

True.  However Depth Charges can be set to variable depths. Sumbarines at 200m would be  deterred from pushing the attack due to the presence of Anti-submarine Aircraft. That being said Airships were more feared than say a destroyer, a PT with depth Charges, or even Bombers simply because an Airship could be anywhere at any given time. Thus an Airship is a useful deterrent. Only one instance of Combat taking place between the two is known.

"Only one airship was lost to enemy action. A surfaced German U­boat shot down the airship K-74 during a battle, but the K­74 damaged the German submarine so badly that it could not submerge and was sunk by British bombers in the North Sea while it was en route to Germany for repairs." (http://www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/Lighter_than_air/Airships_in_WWII/LTA10.htm)

Sources cite U134 as being the boat in question.

"18 Jul 1943
Aircraft attack, aircraft shot down:American Blimp K-74 (Sqdn )

This was the only airship (i.e. like Zeppelin) shot down during WWII. For more information you could check out this page.

"(http://uboat.net/boats/u134.htm)

In a stand off fight an Airship could technically lose the fight, but with the presence of Depth Charges and Crew exposure for the Deck gun would almost negate any real adavantage and level the playing field somewhat.

[Auger]

Sure, you can have airships if I can have barrage balloons to deploy around town when the NOE is inbound.

[bc21]

now this makes perfect sense +1

How will you combat Submarines however? Once the Sub leaves the surface depth charges from aircraft were used to attack submarines on the surface not running 200m deep.

PBY! Thats how!!