Board Thread:Questions and Answers/@comment-73.220.89.40-20150318192417/@comment-21356142-20160119140929

Ah yes, I forgot that early Zeroes had foldable wingtips. But the D3A also had them as well.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IDeZDfJNjEE/UK8Q89METkI/AAAAAAAAKgY/FEpNwmDxhJE/s1600/Folding+Wings+on+a+Japanese+Zero.jpg

http://ipmscanada.com/ipms/member%20models/Wong/Wong_Image/D3A_1.jpg

Apologies for the latter picture, hard to find good actual photographs of the folded wingtips.

But regardless it is very obvious that Japanese folding wings weren't generally very productive in minimising space in comparison to American designs.

http://www.angelfire.com/dc/jinxx1/Wildcat/F4F-4s_Hagar_Deck__1.jpg

However again, doctrine in regards to aircraft is the main difference between the two. The US carrier in order to achieve higher airplane capacity allowed for a deck park and it's wear and tear abuse of the topside aircraft, and deck clutter preventing the launch of massive attack waves, instead the US favoured numerous smaller attack squadrons. The US carriers were geared towards keeping a constant air presense and their excellent C&C and radios effectively made US carriers capable of sustained operations that allowed her to overwhelm island defences.

Japanese aircraft favoured a clear topside so that a massed aeriel attack could be organised and the aircraft launched as close to one another. Their lack of radios favoured large aeriel formations as does their concept of the carrier being a raiding element rather then a method of force projection.

However, our nature of the argument are the ship themselves. As you mentioned, KC being a game centered on Japanese warships, the very nature of American aircraft would require a significant revamp of the current system which is greatly simplified with a few errors (such as the Unryuu class that you mentioned).

All in all, despite the US having effective folding wings and an open carrier space, the Enterprise fielded a ready airgroup of 80 compared to Hiryuus 64. A 30% increase. However the Enterprise weighed in at 25,500 tons at full load, in comparison to Hiryuu's 19,800, which is also a 30% increase in displacement.

Now the question becomes does the additional displacement provide an additional measure of protection that can overcome Hiryuu's advantage in both cost and superior speed and manueaverability.

Yorktown was struck by 3 250kg bombs which crippled its engine and allowed her to be struck by 2 torpedoes which started her sinking. She was later finished off by submarine when an american salvage crew attempted to save her.

Hornet was struck by 3 250kg bombs and 2 torpedoes (and a crashed aircraft), which again crippled her engine and allowed for a following wave to hit her with a final one that caused her to be scuttled.

Enterprise was struck by 3 250kg bombs in the Solomons, one of which passed through without detonating, and another on contact causing no internal damage. During Santa Cruz she was hit by 2 250kg bombs but remained operational, and evaded several torpedoes. Later on in her carrier she took 2 kamikaze hits.

Hiryuu was struck by 4 450kg bombs which started a massive fire and caused a collapse of much of the flight deck. Her engine remained unafected for several hours until secondary explosions caused by the fire brought it offline. Her wreck was later scuttled.

Souryuu was struck by 3 450kg bombs on a laden deck creating a massive chain reaction that caused extensive damage to the ship. She was later scuttled by her escorts due to the lack of capability to salvage her wreck.

As we see the US carriers of the Yorktown class had a tendency to lose power quickly, which typically sealed their fates, something that only the Enterprise avoided. US however fielded effective damage control that allowed them to control fires, requiring that the IJN sink them with torpedoes to prevent reclamation. The Hiryuu and Souryuu (who I brought in as she is a near sister of Hiryuu) were both likewise reclaimable once the fires died out and had to be scuttled due to Midway being well outside IJN home grounds.

Thus despite having a 30% increase in displacement (and further incerased to 32,000 tons when she was remodelled to have a torpedo blister among other imprvements), the Enterprise provides no significant increase in survivability, the vulnerability of her sisters being an indication that the Enterprises survival is due to good fortune. Her aircraft complement is equal to Hiryuus in terms of size ratio despite US advantages in aviation. And is a slower, less maneaverable ship. Her saving grace was the excellence of US damage control,