Ekhronoplanes effect on operation sea lion
- Thread starter Munrojock2
- Start date
Well we are actually but they are pretty niche considering their utility. Like hovercraft they are not going to really be usable for servicing any major transport market unless they are pretty huge so the only use so far is small recreation and transport use.
The bigger issue as has been brought up there is that they require pretty much the same port structure as seaplanes and in general seaplanes will be a bit faster (especially during this time period) which entails a lot of existing infrastructure being in place to support them.
They really don't come into their own without navigation and safety aids such as radar and high performance turbo-prop or jet engines.
Randy
I'd say the Vikings were successful enough landing in the British islands to not be included in the with the Spanish armada, Napoleon and Sealion
Of course he's depressed. He's in Hell. They're probably drinking American 'beer'.
A cannot see what use Britain would be to the Germans even if they let the people starve. The economy relies on imports from the empire and elsewhere to function. Occupying Britain would be just a drain on resources and it would be even worse if they have to control Ireland too.
There used to be a cross channel hovercraft service at one time. I don't think it was a great success. I think the real problem is that while a fast crossing is nice, unless the loading and unloading are also much faster, it's not a real big time saver.
And much like the issues the hovercraft ran into you still have to deal with sea-state and pilot/crew workload issues. The thing is that Ekranoplan's can actually fly above most sea states IF the wing area* is sufficient and you can design then for rapid loading and unloading BUT at the time in question this was much less clear.
Randy
*= One of the current 'trends' is to increase the wing area for a larger 'GE' cushion by making the 'wings' wider, or multiple wings or "wing-body" fuselages. They all pretty much introduce other problems of course but with the right design... Not sure the aerodynamic or control design was up to the task though versus a more 'normal' seaplane.
How do two divisions without food, fuel or ammunition take a whole island?
If two divisions could do it, why did the Germans think they would need a first wave of up to 13 divisions, and a total of 39?
Are you trying to tell us that you, here in 2023, know more about what the German army of 1940 could do than that army itself?
Do you seriously think that your estimate of two divisions is more reliable than the German one of 39? Really?
. Any remnants of two divisions who manage to get to Warmington would probably be easy to beat, especially since they would be without ammunition.Nope, the original plan was for them to be towed by giant ASBs. Then Willy Messerschmitt got involved with the design, went down his usual minimalist route, and ended up just putting platforms that allowed one complete battalion to just sit on the back of each ASB. It worked brilliantly until all 500 of the ASBs went in to land at Shingle Street in Suffolk, where it was found that planning had not allowed for the fact that, like all bats, ASBs do a flick roll on landing and try to hang upside down on a tree branch.
That's a very interesting point; we talk so much about why it couldn't have worked that many of the fascinating aspects of a successful invasion are not discussed.
Damn it, now I'm trying to work out a way the pinniped could have worked, so I can consider the consequences. This way madness lies.....
Talking of E-kranoplans, I Googled 'Electric ekranoplan' and found many fascinating things [1] to distract me from my work.
Of relevance to this thread is that they can operate from beaches, so unloading isn't constrained by lack of port infrastructure when they arrive at the British coast.
The Caspian Seamonster (built approximately 20 years later than S**lion would need it) had capacity for about 200 troops and a couple of Panzer 2 sized tanks. The two companies might not mind jumping into dinghies or getting wet, but the tanks probably would need to be DD tanks or to be landed at ports.
Fortunately nobody will notice a giant futuristic 'boat' [2] traversing the channel and offloading various war materiel.
[1] It is a little alarming to see that in some countries, you only need a boat licence to pilot something that can travel at 180mph - what could possibly go wrong?
[2] As Admiral Raeder said to Goering, "But Herr Reichsmarshall, you only need a boat licence to drive it, so it must be a boat..."