It is generally known that you are supposed to attack your opponents from a position of strength, when they are weak. It's also preferable to hit your opponent more often than they hit you. But what if you and your opponent are equal? Suppose you and your opponent are equally hurt by getting shot. Would you prefer to shoot your opponent, and get shot in return, or to have nobody shoot at all? Would you rather sink your opponent and be sunk yourself, or stare at your opponent for a while then call it a day?
Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead! I would not consider it worth going if no one gets mixed up in a nasty balsa-splintering furball. Definately not worth going if I'm not involved In short, I have no qualms about firings until my barrels glow red from the heat, only to be quenched by the coolness of the depths. At least that way, we'll have something to reminisce about at the steakhouse that night.
If my opponent is still afloat and he has rounds left I will still attack him and try to sink hiim. There is no sweeter victory than a squeaker against an equal.
I'd go for the throat. I've already proven that. I was on five (and I think I was past it) as my ship was out of power (forgot to change batteries between battles and Curt was beached. I slowly fantailed the rudder until I had a firing solution and then the rounds started blaring. I declared sunk (even though I did not sink, I'd made my five) and Curt did the same. We may not have been of equal skill, experience and boat, but, all the same, the game is to do the damage. I think for the most part, unless there is an advantage, most captains feel the same way. Good question.
As long as my ship is afloat I'm attacking, Doesn't matter what shape they are in or how many of them there are. The key is to be able to pull you ship out in port just as the bow is going under.
I belive Lord Nelson said it best: "A captain can not do wrong by placing his ship along side that of the enemy". Mike D
This is very much the choices between the brits & the germans. The brits had more ships & desired a confrontation to eliminate the german threat to their supply convoys. The germans didn't want to loose any warships, as they needed them to strangle the brit supply lines. Are you german or are you british?
still keep the postiton of dtrenght, if you know thyself, you know thy opponent. So use your strenghts watever the cost, becouse dying ground is not the fun ground for you.
Attack, show no mercy, keep pounding the same area of your opponent's hull and never retreat, this is the way of the warship captain.
"Rat's head and ox's neck" means that, when we are fighting with the enemy and both he and we have become occupied with small points in an entangled spirit, we must always think of the Way of strategy as being both a rat's head and an ox's neck. Whenever we have become preoccupied with small details, we must suddenly change into a large spirit, interchanging large with small. This is one of the essences of strategy. It is necessary that the warrior think in this spirit in everyday life. You must not depart from this spirit in large-scale strategy nor in single combat. -Miyamoto Musashi
In stark contrast to the oriental wisdom, I offer words from the Lord Admiral Nelson: Our country will, I believe, sooner forgive an officer for attacking an enemy than for letting it alone. 3 May 1794, the attack on Bastin.
I'm sure somebody famous said the following. If not, I claim the quote as an original: "Never allow yourself to be drawn into an even fight." JM
Personally, I play for the stories. If there isn't a good fun story to tell afterward, then it isn't a good battle. That's why I attack no matter the odds, because after the battle at the pizza parlor, I can tell my friends, "look how many of you it took to sink me!" That also means my boat appears in more photos and video, because photographers love the ships that go out and DO stuff. Of course, this approach is not recommended for real life...
If you have gotten your self into a position where you are taking and giving dammage is about the same amount, it is best to entrap your emeny in a method they do not see. For instance while manuvering and shooting, you might stear such a path that they are traped between shore and your ship in such a way that their manuverabilty is restricted, and you can do critical dammage. Like wise in a fleet battle, you may engage a ship at a disadvantage, in doing so set them up for a team mate to make the sink. In fleet stragty, one fleet or another will be winning. If you are winning, that is good. However, if you are the adrimal of the losing fleet- You need to do one of the hardest things of all- change how your fleet fights. You must reconize errors and how to correct them, then get your fleet to preform to the new plan. Most often adrimals just stick to the orginal plan, with rational that it must be the excutation of the plan.
