CDR Salamander - Fullbore Friday

The Battle of Leyte Gulf.

The world's largest naval battle. Every type of action, night and day, for days, from air-to-air to battleship action.

No one did it better than The History Channel, back in its prime (imagine this using modern computer simulation), in taking the time to put the battle into context. Get a cup of coffee.

It is a two-part series, and in the opening of Part 1, as they describe the state of the Imperial Japanese Navy, ponder a bit if, in 2026, looking toward the next Great Pacific War, we are preparing ourselves to be the U.S. Navy of 1944, or the Imperial Japanese Navy of 1944.

If you build yourself for a short war—founded on a hope/cope of Deterrence by Denial or Deterrence by Punishment—and your deterrence, you will be faced with a long war.

Those who understand war know that only those with the vision, capacity, and capability to fight a long war win the long war.

Population, culture, industrial capacity, access to resources. Rack-and-stack.

While that is bouncing around in your nogg’n, let’s get back to 1944.

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