Battleships - Naval Massing

One of the foundational principles of combat, throughout history, is local massing of firepower.  Let’s examine that principle through the historical lens of battleship operations.  If ever there was a ship that could successfully operate alone, it would be the battleship, one would think.  However, in WWII, battleships always operated in groups, when possible, in accordance with the principle of massing of firepower.  Thus, despite their individually impressive firepower and armor, naval commanders of the time understood that massing was the proper way to employ battleships.

 

For the US, earlier in the war, battleships sometimes operated as single units – though still as part of larger groups such as a carrier group – due to inadequate numbers.  Later in the war, as numbers became available, battleships operated in groups, as discrete battleship task forces.

 

One of the earlier examples of US massing of battleship firepower was the pairing of the Washington and South Dakota to form Battleship Division 6 at Guadalcanal, culminating in the famous engagement and sinking of the Japanese battleship, Kirishima.

 

Oldendorf’s Task Force 77.2 consisted of the old battleships USS Pennsylvania, Mississippi, Tennessee, California, Maryland, and West Virginia at Leyte Gulf.

 

The never-formed Task Force 34 at Leyte Gulf would have consisted of the battleships Washington, Alabama, New Jersey, and Iowa along with escorting cruisers and destroyers.

 

Task Force 58/38 included the battleships Alabama, Indiana, Iowa, Massachusetts, Missouri, New Jersey, North Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Washington, and Wisconsin although, of course, the individual ships rotated in and out of the Task Force as operational needs and availability dictated.

 

The British Home Fleet included 2^nd Battle Squadron with the battleships HMS Royal Oak, HMS Royal Sovereign, HMS Ramilies, HMS Nelson, and HMS Rodney although, again, the ships rotated in and out as needs and availability dictated.

 

When the principle of naval massing in combat was violated, it usually didn’t turn out well:

 

• Bismarck operated alone and was sunk after inflicting only insignificant damage on Allied shipping.
• Tirpitz operated alone and was sunk having accomplished little.
• Kirishima was the only Japanese battleship at the Second Naval Battle of Guadalcanal and was sunk in the famous battleship duel with Washington.
• Graf Spee, a so-called pocket battleship, operated alone and was trapped and scuttled for little return.
• Yamato and escorts faced the firepower of several of Task Force 58’s carriers and was sunk.
• Yamashiro, of the Japanese southern force at Leyte Gulf (Fuso having been sunk earlier), was sunk after facing a US force of several cruisers and six battleships.

 

 

Of course, merely assembling multiple battleships doesn’t guarantee success.  For example, the British Force Z battleship, Prince of Wales, and battlecruiser Repulse operated together but insufficient escorts, lack of air cover, and an operationally untenable position doomed the group regardless of their massing because their cumulative mass of firepower was less than the enemy’s.  In other words, the enemy achieved greater local mass of firepower despite the pairing of the two ships. 

 

This leads to the pointed reminder that massing refers to firepower, not numbers.  One could assemble six battleships but if the enemy can assemble eight, it is the enemy that has achieved superior local massing of firepower.  Similarly, assembling multiple battleships is pointless if the enemy can assemble superior firepower in the form of aircraft.

 

The need to achieve local massing of firepower seems obvious, now, right?  So why are we belaboring it?

 

One reason is the persistent tendency by so many people to make the one-versus-the-entire-enemy argument for why –fill in the blank- weapon system or ship can’t succeed in naval combat.  The reality, as revealed by WWII naval combat, is that it’s never one-versus-the enemy but a group-versus-the enemy.  We should be evaluating systems and ships as groups because that’s how they’ll fight.  How many times have I heard the argument that a battleship is as good as sunk against the enemy’s missiles, aircraft, submarines, and mines?  As if a single battleship is ever going to attempt to take on the entire enemy war machine single-handed!  The real question is whether, say, four battleships operating as a group with escorts and properly supported by air power, reconnaissance, and submarines has value for the kind of operations we envision (assuming we had a naval strategy … which we don’t).

 

Task Force Entering Ulithi

I don’t want to turn this post into a battleship debate because that’s not the point.  I’m using battleships just to illustrate the point about massing firepower.  It’s not the firepower of a single battleship that matters.  It’s the firepower of a group of battleships, relative to our operational plans and the resources of the enemy, that is the proper basis for evaluations.

 

Another reason to hammer on the principle of local massing of firepower is the Navy’s ill-conceived distributed lethality concept which envisions ships operating alone – the opposite of massing of firepower.  Why is the Navy insistent on pursuing distributed lethality using the LCS which is the polar opposite of a battleship?  If battleships have been shown to be unable to successfully operate alone, why do we think an LCS is going to sail blithely around in enemy territory?

 

Finally, we’ve thoroughly discussed the massing of carriers but we have not explored additional forms of massing of naval firepower.  We should be exploring tactics for massing the firepower we have which, for the surface navy, is Burke class destroyers.  Can a group of Burkes accomplish anything useful?  How many ships would constitute a useful and effective force?  How would they operate?  What tactics would they use?  What support do they need?  What constraints should they operate under?  Of course, not only are we not doing this but I haven’t heard anyone in the Navy even broach the subject of examining a Burke surface group.  The idea may have merit or it may not but it should, at least, be examined.

 

One might be tempted to claim that a group of Burkes is never going to be used as a massed firepower unit but the same might have been said of Oldendorf’s group of obsolete, resurrected battleships and yet they wound up facing a Japanese battleship at Suriago Strait.  One never knows what circumstances might arise and it’s best to be prepared and have thought/exercised through the possibilities before they happen.