OneManGang
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[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Tennessee vs The Maxims vs Vanderbilt[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Until May of 1942, all naval warfare followed a certain pattern. Two fleets would roam the seas searching for each other. At last, a sharp-eyed tar in a high observation platform (the crow's nest" in sailing ships) would sing out and the two sides would maneuver to bring their guns to bear and the fight was on. For centuries the acme of naval tactics was to cross the 'T' in which your line of ships would pass ahead of the other perpendicular to their battle line. This would allow your ships to fire broadsides whilst your opponent was limited to only firing their forward guns. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Naval commanders were every bit as slow as their army counterparts in recognizing the potential of airplanes to change how they did business. The U.S. Navy conducted some trials on an anchored cruiser launching and recovering (on different days) an early Curtiss biplane. The British Royal Navy took those a step further in the First World War by putting some Sopwith Camels on a barge with a rudimentary flight deck and towing it behind a cruiser. Finally, in 1915, the Royal Navy modified HMS Argus into the first aircraft carrier. Late in the war, the Royal Navy actually launched the first carrier strikes against German Zeppelin bases in Northern Germany. However, nobody at the time thought these flimsy wood-and-paper contraptions would ever challenge the mighty dreadnought as master of the seas.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]After the war, there was a general revulsion against all things military and cash-strapped governments looked for ways to cut expenditures (now, THERE'S a novel idea!) and expensive battleships seemed a good place to start. Under the guise of arms control the U.S., Britain, France and Japan signed the Washington Treaty of 1921 which limited the size of navies. One ship category was relatively untouched, though: aircraft carriers. Both the U.S. Navy and the Imperial Japanese Navy converted a pair of battlecruiser hulls still on the building ways into very large carriers. The Japanese carriers were Kaga and Akagi. The American behemoths were USS Lexington and Saratoga.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Carriers featured prominently in the early part of World War II in the Atlantic. However, the admirals' earlier dismissal of their combat potential seemed confirmed when HMS Glorious blundered into the sights of the German battlecruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau and was sunk for her troubles. Neither the Germans nor the Italians built any carriers so there were no carrier vs carrier battles in either the Atlantic or the Mediterranean. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Carrier planes from six Japanese carriers ended any dreams of the American Gun Club admirals in the Pacific on 7 December 1941. From that point on, the aircraft carrier would be the primary offensive weapon of the U.S. Navy.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Ernest King, the tough, profane Chief of Naval Operations in World War II was a carrier man himself and pushed America's carrier program into overdrive. Eventually, some 20 Essex-class fleet carriers, 9 light carriers and over 100 escort carriers would be built during the war.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Pacific Fleet codebreakers got wind of a Japanese effort to seize Port Moresby on the southern coast of New Guinea in the Spring of 1942. A Japanese base there would render the entire northern coast of Australia subject to invasion. Plans were swiftly drawn up and an American fleet centered on the carriers Lexington and Yorktown was dispatched to intercept the invasion forces which were being covered by the Pearl Harbor veterans Shokaku and Zuikaku. The actual landing force included the light carrier Shoho.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]The two fleets launched scout planes and, on 7 May, the Americans found the invasion force and attacked. American newspaper readers would thrill to the sight of American bombs and torpedoes striking Shoho and Lexington pilot LT. Cmdr. R.E. Dixon's report would become legend: Scratch one flattop! Dixon to carrier! Scratch one flattop! The Japanese invasion force turned away to await developments.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]American and Japanese scout planes continued to search and, during the evening on 7 May, each group found the other fleet. 8 May would be eventful.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Both fleets launched strikes as soon as semi-reliable reports of their positions were received. Indeed the two strikes actually passed each other but never came within visual range. The American strike fell heaviest on Shokaku putting holes in her flight deck and seriously damaging her aircraft repair shops. Zuikaku had the good fortune to be under a cloud bank when the Americans were overhead. At nearly the same time, Japanese planes were hitting both the American carriers. By noon, it was all over. Both strikes returned losing over thirty planes apiece.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Lexington was hit by two torpedoes and several bombs but was still afloat. Yorktown took a bomb hit which exploded deep in the ship and seriously damaged her. At first, it was thought that Lexington had been stabilized enough to return to Pearl Harbor. Unfortunately, inexperienced damage-control sailors and flawed doctrine resulted in a massive explosion that afternoon which doomed the great ship. Yorktown did make her way back to Pearl Harbor where shipyard workers swarmed over her and got her functional in less than seventy-two hours and enabled her to join her sisters Enterprise and Hornet in time for Battle of Midway. On the Japanese side, Shokaku's damage and Zuikaku's airgroup losses would keep both ships out of the action. Yorktown was sunk during that battle. It is one of the great what ifs of World War II to speculate on the impact the presence of those two carriers would have had on the action. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Evaluations began almost immediately. One thing that jumped out at everyone was that at no time did either fleet sight each other visually. This was a turning point in naval strategy. Battleship guns could reach out about twenty miles, carrier planes could strike at 200 miles or more. The reign of the dreadnought battleship, the ship of the line, ended forever on 8 May, 1942. Admiral Morison said later that had the battle been frozen at noon, the Americans could have claimed a decisive victory. The loss of Lexington rendered the outcome a tactical Japanese victory but a strategic American one as the invasion of Port Moresby never occurred.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Somehow, Saturday night, the Tennessee Vols managed to snatch defeat from the very jaws of victory. What could have been a signal victory even one over Vahnderbilt turned to ashes with sixteen seconds left in the game. This writer's evaluation is contained above.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]
[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]So how did the team do compared to the Maxims?[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]
[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]1. The team that makes the fewest mistakes will win.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Three interceptions and 57 total pass yards. * Bangs head *[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]At the end of the first quarter, Tennessee had THIRTY FOUR yards of total offense. * Throws up *[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]2.Play for and make the breaks. When one comes your way SCORE![/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]
[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Tennessee had the ball seven times on the Vandy side of the 50-yard line and came away with 10 points. UNACCEPTABLE under any circumstances.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]3. If at first the game or the breaks go against you, dont let up PUT ON MORE STEAM![/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]
Tim Priest commented at one point that Tennessee looked like they're sleepwalking! I can find nothing to add to that.[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]
4. Protect our kickers, our quarterback, our lead and our ballgame.[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]
Allowing a 92-yard game-winning scoring drive in the last four minutes of game time violates the essence of this Maxim. Four other times, Vandy had the ball in scoring position but turnovers stopped those drives. In other words, Vanderbilt left twenty-eight points on the field. It could have been a LOT worse.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]5. Ball! Oskie! Cover, block, cut and slice, pursue and gang tackle THIS IS THE WINNING EDGE.[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]
[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]The Incredible Disappearing Vol Defense is NOT a winning edge. Thank you very much.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]6. Press the kicking game. Here is where the breaks are made.[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]
Palardy had an uneven outing. He was 1-2 0n field goals and shanked a punt from the Vol end zone setting up Vandy in scoring position. Fortunately, the Boat People were not up to the task.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]7. Carry the fight to Vanderbilt and keep it there for sixty minutes.[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]
There is no excuse whatsoever for allowing an inept team like Vanderbilt to mount a scoring drive in the last four minutes to win the game. [/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]
None.[/FONT]
U[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]NACCEPTABLE.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]This loss to Vanderbilt broke a record that had been a point of pride since 1927. In that entire period the Boat People had NEVER won two games against the Vols in a row.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]UNACCEPTABLE.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Like those shipwrights at Pearl Harbor seventy years ago, Head Vol Jones has but seventy-two hours or so to patch together the hulk that is the 2013 Tennessee Vols.
One more battle remains. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Come Friday, Coach Jones will lead his banged-up, mauled and dispirited team, his tatterdemaleon corps, up I-75 to face off with the equally damaged Kentucky MildKats. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]One can only hope we don't have a repeat of 1964. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]MAXOMG [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Until May of 1942, all naval warfare followed a certain pattern. Two fleets would roam the seas searching for each other. At last, a sharp-eyed tar in a high observation platform (the crow's nest" in sailing ships) would sing out and the two sides would maneuver to bring their guns to bear and the fight was on. For centuries the acme of naval tactics was to cross the 'T' in which your line of ships would pass ahead of the other perpendicular to their battle line. This would allow your ships to fire broadsides whilst your opponent was limited to only firing their forward guns. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Naval commanders were every bit as slow as their army counterparts in recognizing the potential of airplanes to change how they did business. The U.S. Navy conducted some trials on an anchored cruiser launching and recovering (on different days) an early Curtiss biplane. The British Royal Navy took those a step further in the First World War by putting some Sopwith Camels on a barge with a rudimentary flight deck and towing it behind a cruiser. Finally, in 1915, the Royal Navy modified HMS Argus into the first aircraft carrier. Late in the war, the Royal Navy actually launched the first carrier strikes against German Zeppelin bases in Northern Germany. However, nobody at the time thought these flimsy wood-and-paper contraptions would ever challenge the mighty dreadnought as master of the seas.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]After the war, there was a general revulsion against all things military and cash-strapped governments looked for ways to cut expenditures (now, THERE'S a novel idea!) and expensive battleships seemed a good place to start. Under the guise of arms control the U.S., Britain, France and Japan signed the Washington Treaty of 1921 which limited the size of navies. One ship category was relatively untouched, though: aircraft carriers. Both the U.S. Navy and the Imperial Japanese Navy converted a pair of battlecruiser hulls still on the building ways into very large carriers. The Japanese carriers were Kaga and Akagi. The American behemoths were USS Lexington and Saratoga.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Carriers featured prominently in the early part of World War II in the Atlantic. However, the admirals' earlier dismissal of their combat potential seemed confirmed when HMS Glorious blundered into the sights of the German battlecruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau and was sunk for her troubles. Neither the Germans nor the Italians built any carriers so there were no carrier vs carrier battles in either the Atlantic or the Mediterranean. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Carrier planes from six Japanese carriers ended any dreams of the American Gun Club admirals in the Pacific on 7 December 1941. From that point on, the aircraft carrier would be the primary offensive weapon of the U.S. Navy.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Ernest King, the tough, profane Chief of Naval Operations in World War II was a carrier man himself and pushed America's carrier program into overdrive. Eventually, some 20 Essex-class fleet carriers, 9 light carriers and over 100 escort carriers would be built during the war.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Pacific Fleet codebreakers got wind of a Japanese effort to seize Port Moresby on the southern coast of New Guinea in the Spring of 1942. A Japanese base there would render the entire northern coast of Australia subject to invasion. Plans were swiftly drawn up and an American fleet centered on the carriers Lexington and Yorktown was dispatched to intercept the invasion forces which were being covered by the Pearl Harbor veterans Shokaku and Zuikaku. The actual landing force included the light carrier Shoho.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]The two fleets launched scout planes and, on 7 May, the Americans found the invasion force and attacked. American newspaper readers would thrill to the sight of American bombs and torpedoes striking Shoho and Lexington pilot LT. Cmdr. R.E. Dixon's report would become legend: Scratch one flattop! Dixon to carrier! Scratch one flattop! The Japanese invasion force turned away to await developments.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]American and Japanese scout planes continued to search and, during the evening on 7 May, each group found the other fleet. 8 May would be eventful.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Both fleets launched strikes as soon as semi-reliable reports of their positions were received. Indeed the two strikes actually passed each other but never came within visual range. The American strike fell heaviest on Shokaku putting holes in her flight deck and seriously damaging her aircraft repair shops. Zuikaku had the good fortune to be under a cloud bank when the Americans were overhead. At nearly the same time, Japanese planes were hitting both the American carriers. By noon, it was all over. Both strikes returned losing over thirty planes apiece.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Lexington was hit by two torpedoes and several bombs but was still afloat. Yorktown took a bomb hit which exploded deep in the ship and seriously damaged her. At first, it was thought that Lexington had been stabilized enough to return to Pearl Harbor. Unfortunately, inexperienced damage-control sailors and flawed doctrine resulted in a massive explosion that afternoon which doomed the great ship. Yorktown did make her way back to Pearl Harbor where shipyard workers swarmed over her and got her functional in less than seventy-two hours and enabled her to join her sisters Enterprise and Hornet in time for Battle of Midway. On the Japanese side, Shokaku's damage and Zuikaku's airgroup losses would keep both ships out of the action. Yorktown was sunk during that battle. It is one of the great what ifs of World War II to speculate on the impact the presence of those two carriers would have had on the action. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Evaluations began almost immediately. One thing that jumped out at everyone was that at no time did either fleet sight each other visually. This was a turning point in naval strategy. Battleship guns could reach out about twenty miles, carrier planes could strike at 200 miles or more. The reign of the dreadnought battleship, the ship of the line, ended forever on 8 May, 1942. Admiral Morison said later that had the battle been frozen at noon, the Americans could have claimed a decisive victory. The loss of Lexington rendered the outcome a tactical Japanese victory but a strategic American one as the invasion of Port Moresby never occurred.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Somehow, Saturday night, the Tennessee Vols managed to snatch defeat from the very jaws of victory. What could have been a signal victory even one over Vahnderbilt turned to ashes with sixteen seconds left in the game. This writer's evaluation is contained above.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]
[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]So how did the team do compared to the Maxims?[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]
[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]1. The team that makes the fewest mistakes will win.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Three interceptions and 57 total pass yards. * Bangs head *[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]At the end of the first quarter, Tennessee had THIRTY FOUR yards of total offense. * Throws up *[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]2.Play for and make the breaks. When one comes your way SCORE![/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]
[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Tennessee had the ball seven times on the Vandy side of the 50-yard line and came away with 10 points. UNACCEPTABLE under any circumstances.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]3. If at first the game or the breaks go against you, dont let up PUT ON MORE STEAM![/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]
Tim Priest commented at one point that Tennessee looked like they're sleepwalking! I can find nothing to add to that.[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]
4. Protect our kickers, our quarterback, our lead and our ballgame.[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]
Allowing a 92-yard game-winning scoring drive in the last four minutes of game time violates the essence of this Maxim. Four other times, Vandy had the ball in scoring position but turnovers stopped those drives. In other words, Vanderbilt left twenty-eight points on the field. It could have been a LOT worse.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]5. Ball! Oskie! Cover, block, cut and slice, pursue and gang tackle THIS IS THE WINNING EDGE.[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]
[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]The Incredible Disappearing Vol Defense is NOT a winning edge. Thank you very much.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]6. Press the kicking game. Here is where the breaks are made.[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]
Palardy had an uneven outing. He was 1-2 0n field goals and shanked a punt from the Vol end zone setting up Vandy in scoring position. Fortunately, the Boat People were not up to the task.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]7. Carry the fight to Vanderbilt and keep it there for sixty minutes.[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]
There is no excuse whatsoever for allowing an inept team like Vanderbilt to mount a scoring drive in the last four minutes to win the game. [/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]
None.[/FONT]
U[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]NACCEPTABLE.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]This loss to Vanderbilt broke a record that had been a point of pride since 1927. In that entire period the Boat People had NEVER won two games against the Vols in a row.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]UNACCEPTABLE.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Like those shipwrights at Pearl Harbor seventy years ago, Head Vol Jones has but seventy-two hours or so to patch together the hulk that is the 2013 Tennessee Vols.
One more battle remains. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Come Friday, Coach Jones will lead his banged-up, mauled and dispirited team, his tatterdemaleon corps, up I-75 to face off with the equally damaged Kentucky MildKats. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]One can only hope we don't have a repeat of 1964. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]MAXOMG [/FONT]
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