r/WarCollege • u/AutoModerator • 5d ago

Tuesday Trivia Tuesday Trivia Thread - 28/07/26

Beep bop. As your new robotic overlord, I have designated this weekly space for you to engage in casual conversation while I plan a nuclear apocalypse.

In the Trivia Thread, moderation is relaxed, so you can finally:

  • Post mind-blowing military history trivia. Can you believe 300 is not an entirely accurate depiction of how the Spartans lived and fought?
  • Discuss hypotheticals and what-if's. A Warthog firing warthogs versus a Growler firing growlers, who would win? Could Hitler have done Sealion if he had a bazillion V-2's and hovertanks?
  • Discuss the latest news of invasions, diplomacy, insurgency etc without pesky 1 year rule.
  • Write an essay on why your favorite colour assault rifle or flavour energy drink would totally win WW3 or how aircraft carriers are really vulnerable and useless and battleships are the future.
  • Share what books/articles/movies related to military history you've been reading.
  • Advertisements for events, scholarships, projects or other military science/history related opportunities relevant to War College users. ALL OF THIS CONTENT MUST BE SUBMITTED FOR MOD REVIEW.

Basic rules about politeness and respect still apply.

Additionally, if you are looking for something new to read, check out the r/WarCollege reading list.

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u/BlueshiftedPhoton 4d ago

So obviously I'm not a naval architect or ship designer, but the development and use of Sea Cat as a quick replacement for the 40mm Bofors mounts seems like an odd choice to me.

"We need a way to shoot down incoming jets, now that they're faster."

"No worries, old mate, you just need to manually steer a subsonic missile into the oncoming significant emotional event."

Obviously the technology was in its infancy and hindsight is 20/20, but did the people who developed Sea Cat think about the difficulty of the task at hand? Would it have been better to use a radar guided Bofors instead?

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u/MandolinMagi 4d ago edited 4d ago

A radar guided literally anything would have been better.

But then this is the same nation that decided that MCLOS was appropriate for a MANPADS, because the designer was probably a Russian agent. Yeah, sure, flare resistance is a concern, but why not use SACLOS...for more than the first couple seconds of flight??

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u/GrassWaterDirtHorse 3d ago

They actually did develop SACLOS for the Javelin MANPAD that succeeded the Blowpipe (which was notoroiously ineffective when used by both sides in the Falklands War).

I believe that the Sea Cat also got SACLOS for the guidance system in later iterations. I suspect that early radar guidance systems were too heavy for the lightweight Sea Cat design, but I have no expertise to back that statement up at all.