Crossing the T
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Crossing the T is a tactic in naval warfare, in which a line of battleships crosses in front of a line of enemy ships, allowing them to bring all their guns to bear while receiving fire from only the forward guns of the enemy. It became possible in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries with the advent of steam-powered battleships with rotating gun turrets, which were able to move faster and turn quicker than sailing ships. The tactic became obsolete when missiles and aircraft allowed long-range strikes.
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[edit] Tactics
When going into battle, ships would assume a battle line formation called "line astern", in which one vessel followed another in one or more parallel lines. This allowed each ship to fire over wide arcs without lofting salvoes above friendly vessels. Each ship in the line generally engaged its opposite number in the enemy battle line.
Steaming with the enemy off to the side (by crossing the T) enabled a ship to launch salvoes at the same target with both the forward and rear turrets, maximizing the chances for a hit. It also made ranging error less critical for the ship doing the crossing, while simultaneously more critical for the ship being crossed. The tactic, designed for heavily armed and armored battleships, was used with varying degrees of success with more lightly armed and armored cruisers and heavy cruisers.
Advances in gun manufacture and fire-control systems allowed engagements at increasingly long range, from 6,000 yards (5500 m) or so at the Battle of Tsushima in 1905 to 20,000 yards (18 000 m) at the Battle of Jutland in 1916. The introduction of brown powder, which combusted less rapidly than black powder, allowed longer barrels, which allowed greater accuracy; and because it expanded less sharply than black powder, it put less strain on the insides of the barrel, allowing guns to last longer and to be manufactured to tighter tolerances. The addition of radar allowed World War II ships to fire farther, more accurately, and at night.
[edit] Battles
Important battles in which a fleet crossed the T include:
- Battle of Tsushima (1905) —Japanese Admiral Togo used his ships' superior speed to cross Russian Admiral Zinovi Petrovich Rozhdestvenski's fleet, gaining a decisive victory for Japan.
- Battle of Elli—Rear Admiral Pavlos Kountouriotis aboard the Greek cruiser Georgios Averof at a speed of 20 knots crossed the T of the Turkish fleet on December 13, 1912. The Averof concentrated her fire against the Ottoman flagship, forcing the Turks to retreat.
- Battle of Jutland (1916) —Admiral Sir John Jellicoe, leader of the British Grand Fleet, was able to cross the T twice against the German High Seas Fleets, but the German Fleet was both times able to escape by reversing course in poor visibility. Although the High Seas Fleet was thereby rendered strategically impotent, being unwilling to face the Grand Fleet again, the British were unable to gain the crushing "Second Trafalgar" they had desired.
- Battle of Java Sea (1942) - Japanese warships moving in to support the invasion of the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia), crossed the 'T' of the allied ABADA force (U.S., British, Australian, Dutch) warships, sinking several cruisers in the process and eliminating the last obstacle to Japan's invasion of the DEI.
- Battle of Surigao Strait—The last time a battle line crossed the T, this engagement took place in the Philippines during World War II. Early on October 25, 1944, Rear Admiral Jesse B. Oldendorf was guarding the southern entrance to the Leyte Gulf at the northern end of Surigao Strait. He commanded a line of six battleships (West Virginia, Tennessee, California, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Mississippi), flanked by heavy and light cruisers. A smaller Japanese force under Vice Admiral Shoji Nishimura came up the strait, unaware of the American force. Oldendorf crossed the T and unleashed his firepower on the Japanese ships, which were either sunk or forced to withdraw. This was the last time the T was crossed in an engagement between battleships, and in fact was also the last occasion ever on which one battleship fired its main armament at another.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Morrison, Adm. Samuel Eliot. History of Naval Operations in World War II.
- Larrabee, Eric. Commander-in-Chief: Franklin D. Roosevelt, His Lieutenants and Their War.
