Simulations II.

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Simulations - - naval warfare!

Back to the topic of war games, simulations, modeling of combat.

From the wiki entry on military simulations:

"Military simulations, also known informally as war games, are simulations in which theories of warfare can be tested and refined without the need for actual hostilities. Many professional contemporary analysts object to the term war games as this is generally taken to be referring to the civilian hobby, thus the preference for the term simulation"

YOU call it a game, WE call it a simulation, and in the case of the Battle of the River Platte from the Second World War [WW2], it became REALITY!! Yet another instance of where war gaming, simulations and modeling of warfare was verified as accurate by empirical results!

The pre-war simulation, war game, model of naval warfare "Naval War Game" as used by the British Admiralty in planning the "hunt" for the German surface raider Graf Spee! The Graf Spee described as a pocket battleship, lightly armored but possessing formidable firepower, confronted successfully by three British cruisers in the south Atlantic, "Naval War Game" the simulation correctly modeling [counter to the prevailing wisdom of the "experts"] the confrontation and the eventual outcome, the scuttling and destruction of the German warship.

"Developing realistic models has proven to be somewhat easier in naval simulations than on land . . . Fletcher Pratt, designed his 'Naval War Game' in the late 1930s, and was able to validate his model almost immediately by applying it to the encounter between the German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee and three British cruisers in the Battle of the River Plate off Montevideo in 1939. Rated on thickness of armour and gun power, Graf Spee should have been more than a match for the lighter cruisers, but Pratt's formula correctly predicted the ensuing British victory."

"Murray Fletcher Pratt (1897–1956) was an American writer of science fiction, fantasy and history, particularly noted for his works on naval history and on the American Civil War."

L. Sprague de Camp the noted alternative history/science fiction writer also a confidant of Pratt and a "player" of the "Naval War Game"! Recall that during the Second World War De Camp served as a naval reserve officer, working on experimental projects for the U.S. Navy!

It is intuitive [??] that naval warfare is EASIER to model with accuracy than land warfare? The size, range, bore, accuracy of naval gunfire versus warship armor and speed, plus other factors are much more subject to correctness during the modeling process, the end result being a war game, a simulation, of model of combat that the accuracy of which is less subject to question? YOU DON'T NEED TO BE AN EXPERT TO UNDERSTAND THIS?

The naval Battle of the River Platte did indeed validate "Naval War Game"? British planners formulating their strategy, organizing their cruiser task force according to the results of numerous scenarios and simulation results - - the outcome not inconsistent with the "game", the simulation, the mathematical modeling of naval warfare found to be ACCURATE!

coolbert.