Re: How not to design ships

"Alan Lothian" <alanlothian@xxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:020920071605287240%alanlothian@xxxxxxxxxx
In article <46dda307.45470593@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Richard Casady
<richardcasady@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On Sun, 02 Sep 2007 11:21:29 +0100, Alan Lothian <alanlothian@xxxxxxx>
wrote:

<in fact this was Andrew, but macht nichts since we are all on the same
side>

Come to think of it, German horses on the Eastern Front in WW2 were
probably
a bit nervous.

I believe there were about as many horses as men, at least before
attrition set in.

One figure I do know from stuff I wrote quite some time ago; can't give
you cites, too long back, but this was for Time-Life and they were
fanatic about fact checking. The Germans started 1942 on the Ostfront
with 625,000 fewer men than when they began Barbarossa. They were also
160,000 (admittedly a suspiciously round number) down on horses and
other draft animals. (From the same piece, German industry had only
succeeded in replacing 10% of lost supply vehicles. Most of them lost
by wear and tear, rather than Soviet action, but still lost.)

And while it is true that horses make other horses, using methods
well-known and understood, the process is not cost-free and takes time.
Chrysler and others are whacking out 6x6s a lot faster than German
stables are producing workhorses, and the trucks only need feeding when
they are moving. A horse-drawn army (and the Heer was overwhelmingly
horse-drawn) faces enormous supply difficulties. And you can't even use
your new wonder nerve gases, because retaliation with such sweetness
and light as mustard and lewisite wll wipe out all your transport.

Realistically everyone knows that once you start using sarin, VX and mustard
that all personnel are screwed. I went through Marine NBS decon and recon
school, and the understanding was that we were delaying death, not
preventing it.

Sort of along the lines of ER special weapons being used against Soviet
tankers - the last few hours before they vomit and die they will be really
pissed off.

Oh, the thread was "how not to design ships". Ah, well. This is smn
after all, home of thread drift. (And "drift" is on-topic.)

Drift is OT - unfortunately not one of the 6 degrees of freedom.

AHS


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