Thread:Vcharng/@comment-1915363-20151222114321/@comment-1915363-20151223005959

Vcharng wrote: 2. What's the difference? No offense but I think you should ask what's the same instead, as they are very different. To begin with...

(a) The Shoukaku-class features absolutely no armor whatsoever except her boiler room/ammo storage, while Essex-class features armors from hangar deck and below.

(b) Essex has a deck-edge elevator, which allows better efficiency and less interference to other operations on the deck or in the hangar.

(c) Essex-class generally has two catapults, something the Japanese never had. That means far better launching ability.

(d) Essex-class carries 91+9 (regular+reserve) aircrafts, while Shoukaku-class carries 72+12. In other words, even with her reserves, a Shoukaku-class still carries less aircrafts than an Essex-class' regular air arm.

And for the next question... umm, well, what exactly is "same tier"? Real life is not WoWS, you know...

Theoretically, the IJN fleet air arm boasts far better air-launched torpedo, as its US counterpart was a very out-dated design, being only capable to be dropped at a very slow speed and very low altitude. But the USN has far better dive bombers, in terms of survivability, bomb capacity, and general flying performance. USN's fighters were also surperior, as the Zeros' only effective armament against heavyly-armored US aircrafts, the 20mm cannon, carries just 50 rounds per gun. This means the IJN's combat air patrol is prone to be overwhelmed after 1~2 waves of attackers. And then, the USN also have better communications like radioes for aircrafts, while the IJN only have something like telegraph machines on torpedo bombers only. The US is also a bit (at least after Pearl Harbor) more advanced in tactics (as in treating naval aviation as the real punch instead of supportive power) and how they run aerial recons.

To sum up, an Essex-class should have the upper hand. Hmm, that's quite a difference indeed. Having a limited effective ammo does explains the lopsided kill ratio the Hellcats had.

So do they have any noteworthy similarities? Airplanes aside, does Shoukaku and Zuikaku's second remodels bring their performance anywhere close to the Essex-class carriers?

Vcharng wrote: 5. If I remembered correctly, the devs have stated that her K2 will be based on Operation Rei-Go, aka the last organized victorious combat operation of the IJN. Kasumi was the flagship of this operation. hmm, couldn't find much of anything about Operation Rei-Go apart from non-indicative Battle of Mindoro. think you could tell about it?