Navy fighters

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    • Navy fighters

      I have been thinking about the lack of airpower at sea and then I read K. Rokossovski's thoughts about different navy bombers and wanted to make a suggestion about Navy Fighters.

      I think that if we expand navy air power (and we should) we need to first start by just adding one unit now and that would be Navy Fighters. Adding too many different kinds of sea planes at one time may cause unintended consequences.

      My thoughts are that Navy Fighters main difference from 'regular' fighters is that they can spot subs and do minimal damage to them while having most of the characteristics of the regular fighters.
      In addition, they could be built at a Level 1 airfield thus making them available early.
      In addition, they would have to be researched first before you could make navy bombers. Thus creating a 'tree' off of the Navy Fighters and eliminating the tree from the regular fighters to navy bombers.
      With these planes ability to spot subs and do minimal damage, I can see researching and building them for shore protection/observation while also building them to travel with your ACC's to find subs and defend your fleet/navy bombers.
      Land fighters would then stay on land because of their inability to spot and damage subs while the navy fighters could fight on land but are much more needed to guard ones coast and support the ships at sea.
      "Until there are clearly defined and enforceable rules for hand-to-hand combat, there can't be rules in global war. Kill em all!"
    • VIRVCOBRV wrote:

      But we have naval bombers already, which fulfill this precise purpose ?
      We have naval bombers but not naval fighters...naval bombers can only be made at lvl 2 airports. naval bombers do not have air to air fighting abilities. Hence the navy fighters would reflect the same as fighters and tac bombers do now.
      At sea (on a carrier) navy fighters not only support their navy bombers but can also can find and located subs.
      Currently you can send fighters on a carrier but they have no ability to see subs.
      When trying to find subs that may be off your coast, you can use reveal or wait until you get a lvl 2 airbase, research navy planes and then purchase make them at the base. Loooong time. But if we had navy fighters, they could be made at a level 1 base and you could research them earlier and quicker.
      "Until there are clearly defined and enforceable rules for hand-to-hand combat, there can't be rules in global war. Kill em all!"
    • No offense, but these are just glorified fighters. In my opinion, they are most certainly not needed.
      "That's impossible! The Americans only know how to make razor blades."
      "We could do with some of those razor blades, Herr Reichsmarshall."
      Hermann Goring and Erwin Rommel
    • Smile thanks for your thoughts guys!
      Yes they would be glorified fighters who could spot subs and cause minimal damage the same way regular fighters cause minimal damage on land.
      Having to take the current fighters on my ACC's that can't spot subs is a waste of spots on the carriers.
      Having to wait to make Naval Bombers to patrol off my shores is a long period and I'd rather use that time to make regular bombers and send them to the front. If we had navy fighters who could spot them off-shore I'd send my subs over to attack.

      You know it's all about me. LOL
      "Until there are clearly defined and enforceable rules for hand-to-hand combat, there can't be rules in global war. Kill em all!"
    • Historically fighters rarely fought submarines, simply because of their limited range and because they could not carry the detection equipment that bombers of the Coastal Command (typically Liberators and later Lancasters) used to detect and track subs - and I don't mean detecting subs when they're diving, I mean detecting surfaced subs at night as anti-sub patrols would often take place in the night to keep the element of surprise. In rare instances fighters were indeed used, but that would always be in a situation where the sub was near the coast (usually French Atlantic coast) so they were close enough, and the sub had been detected by someone else.

      Besides, there was almost no way for fighters to damage submarines, for two obvious reasons :
      • Subs dive when they spot a plane. Which means that to destroy/damage it enough you need weapons such as bombs, depth charges, etc. In the rare instances where fighters would attack subs, it was typically a sub that had already been damaged and was unable to dive, so the fighter could easily attack it with a bomb - often just one, big bomb so just one chance vs. a bomber that carries several -.
      • Fighters simply lack the armament to really damage subs, including for the above reason. To effectively destroy a sub, a bomber would use bombs, depth charges, big caliber guns (to poke holes in the hull), etc. You cannot really damage a sub with the small-caliber guns a fighter would carry (unless in the rare instance, mentioned above, where a fighter could use a bomb).


      Finally, I simply don't like the idea. It would make naval bombers even more under-used than they already are.
    • VIRVCOBRV wrote:




      Finally, I simply don't like the idea. It would make naval bombers even more under-used than they already are.
      If you look at the damage naval bombers can do to ground troops it is minimal.
      If you look at the damage current fighters can do to ground troops and ships - minimal.
      If you had a naval fighter that had 'about' the same characteristics as a regular fighter PLUS the ability to spot subs and could be made at a lvl 1 airbase. No body fights ground troops with fighters as they would be wiped out the same thought would be for subs but if they can see each other, the fighter should be able to do something besides wave at him...If I had this option, I could make them to check for subs on my coast line. Later I would use them on my BB's to scout ahead and try to find the subs or fly over a stack of enemy ships to see if it is traveling with subs before I launch an attack. I am probably the only person on COW who would like to see a navy fighter you could make after you make lvl 1 airfields.
      "Until there are clearly defined and enforceable rules for hand-to-hand combat, there can't be rules in global war. Kill em all!"