Naval Units at Close Range

[umbro]

I know the positive effects that the destroyers off the coast of Normandy provided to the Americans through their direct fire. I also know the lack of effect of the bombardments at Tarawa and Iwo Jima.
How could both be modeled?

By Normandy the lessons of Tarawa had been learned and changes made. 5" shells from destroyers did not suffer from the same effect as the 8"+ from Cruisers and battleships. My suggestion was that the soft target atk str of larger vessels (larger than destroyers) or large calibre naval guns (8"+) be reduced to 0 at short ranges (<2000yds say). Thus, if you want to use naval bombardment then you are forced to stand further off (the tactic that was adopted after Tarawa).

Iwo Jima was a different kettle of fish, and luckily we have the cave terrain to simulate the lack of effect of naval bombardment in that conflict.

In fact, I am using caves on Tarawa to simulate the concrete bunkers that were buried under sand which made them almost impervious to shore bombardment. Pillbox/bunker+cave is a tough nut combo.

umbro