October 23, 2012

"You schunk my battleship!"



A propos of Obama's reference — at last night's debate — to the old kid's game Battleship.

Here's more (just picture Obama and Romney as the 2 kids):

79 comments:

deepelemblues said...

Obama's still angry that Romney sunk his battleship.

furious_a said...

I still have my '70s plastic-pegboard version.

The best part is the box cover art, where at the dinner table Dad reacts to Bobby sinking his battleship while in the kitchen Mom and Debbie dry the dishes from the dinner Mom just served.

Good times, good times....

Michael said...

You don't need the tacky plastic game set. My Dad and I played Battleship with pencils and square-ruled paper (in the '50's.) You color in your ships somewhere in a 10x10 grid and then fire by calling out grid squares: B7 or F3.

Seven Machos said...

It's so easy to play Tuesday morning quarterback, but Romney quite obviously should have feigned surprise and said, "Pre-tt-yy sneaky, Sis."

Of course, "Sis" would have been racist, so he'd have to change that, I guess.

furious_a said...

You don't need the tacky plastic game set.

Sure you do -- with the paper version one can't "accidentally" dump one's game board on the floor when one's opponent has one ranged.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Oh no you didnt..

traditionalguy said...

Was that Bill Halsey, whose name was misprinted as Bull Halsey?

The day the Japanese Navy started running was the day Nimitz replaced a cautious Admiral with an Admiral whose first cable to his naval forces was "attack, attack, attack."

The Marines were then in month three of the continuous land battle with secret permission to surrender on Guadalcanal but refused to do it. They were happy to see the Navy come back again.

Aircraft carriers and land based aircraft were fine during daylight. But the Battleships, cruisers and destroyers controlled the night.

The side who put its heavy fire on the other side first won. That truth has never changed.

The Japs had good eyesight at night and torpedoes that worked, but the Americans had radar and started winning as soon as the Admirals learned to trust in it.

Anonymous said...

Improving the realism of "Battleship" is the signature achievement Obama has planned for his second term, just as abolishing the wasteful and unnecessary wrenched-ankle removals in "Operation" was in his first term.

Curious George said...

"furious_a said...
You don't need the tacky plastic game set.

Sure you do -- with the paper version one can't "accidentally" dump one's game board on the floor when one's opponent has one ranged." Or do what I did, use my pegs to mark my opponents guesses...moving my ships to areas not queried. Never lost a game. Cheating? Pfffft. It's war man. It's war.

LYNNDH said...

tg, Admiral Halsey was know as "Bull" Halsey. I think it came from his days at the Naval Acadamy.

Isn't it a tad bit racist to say "the Japs had good eyesight at night". True, they did have better torpedoes, the Long Lance. At least for a time.

exhelodrvr1 said...

The Japanese had better night optical devices than the USN did.

Drago said...

Paul: "Improving the realism of "Battleship" is the signature achievement Obama has planned for his second term, just as abolishing the wasteful and unnecessary wrenched-ankle removals in "Operation" was in his first term."

Thread winner.

Close it down.

bagoh20 said...

Can you swim, Biden?

Bryan said...

The Battleship reference is so white.

garage mahal said...

Syria is Iran's only ally in the Arab world. It's their route to the sea.

I wonder what staffer gave Romney that gem.

edutcher said...

The Romster sunk a lot more than Zero's battleship last night.

TosaGuy said...

"Syria is Iran's only ally in the Arab world. It's their route to the sea.

I wonder what staffer gave Romney that gem. "

One that probably graduated from the same staffer school with the guy who fed Obama 57 states.

Now to be serious.....Romney should have inserted "Mediterraan" in his response, which would sea to access if I was Iran. The Caspian Sea is useless and one carrier task force can block the Strait of Hormuz. If I continue my slow pressure on Iraq's Maliki and Syria can keep its act together, I can then build a pipeline to the Med and continue to sell my oil to the Europeans.

But I guess I won't do that because America liberals are just so damn literal with their internet memes.

Baron Zemo said...

I don't think that Barry Soetoro played "Battleship" in Indonesia when he was a kid.

He played with his dog.

While it was on his plate.

traditionalguy said...

The ocean shelf around the US and China both have oil and gas reserves.

The Mediteranian in Israel's and Lebanon's territorial waters also have those resources.

Who will defend them and who will steal them? That is the question.

That is why war ships are being built everywhere but in Obama's land of perpetual surrender.

Known Unknown said...

"Pre-tt-yy sneaky, Sis."

Connect Four.

The Drill SGT said...

The Marines were then in month three of the continuous land battle with secret permission to surrender on Guadalcanal but refused to do it. They were happy to see the Navy come back again.

sounds like the Navy side of the story.

The Marine side starts, "Those slimy Squid cowards ran off without putting our guns food or ammo on the beach. Guess we're going to get used to eating captured Jap rice for a while..."

Unknown said...

Every time I see BO he will, at some point (usually many times), give a look to the camera or the interviewer or, as it was last night, his opponenet that reveals the assumption of superiority behind every remark he makes.

Those quotes about how he thinks he's smarter than the people who advise him in every field could take their real meaning from the look on his face in those moments. Arrogance is not in the least an exaggerated way to describe it. He feels the contempt of an emperor for his perceived inferiors. In his mind, he really is Caligula. I wonder if he's truly sane.

If he's reelected his arrogance will reach even more appalling levels. He barely even troubles to hide it now nor, I think, could he if he wanted to. To reelect him would convince him that he's been chosen by destiny. Only the restraints that the constitution still allows others to impose will be on him. He will know none from internal sources.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Garage is not using the complete quote..

Secondly, Syria’s an opportunity for us because Syria plays an important role in the Middle East, particularly right now. Syria is Iran’s only ally in the Arab world. It’s their route to the sea. It’s the route for them to arm Hezbollah in Lebanon, which threatens, of course, our ally Israel...

On the way to saying something sometimes Romney pauses and repeats what he says... nothing to see there.

BTW.. word has it the fact-checkers of last nights debate are going to make Obama look pretty bad.

Michael K said...

LYNNDH said...

tg, Admiral Halsey was know as "Bull" Halsey. I think it came from his days at the Naval Acadamy.

Isn't it a tad bit racist to say "the Japs had good eyesight at night". True, they did have better torpedoes, the Long Lance. At least for a time.


"Bull" Halsey was invented by newsmen at the time of Guadalcanal.

The Japanese had an excellent optical industry, including the use of search lights in night battles.

Willis Lee, a descendant of Robert E Lee, was a radar expert and won the second battle of Guadalcanal using radar fire control. The Japanese never again fought the US at night.

There were more sailors killed at Guadalcanal than Marines.

Lee was a life long gunnery expert including winning the US rifle and pistol championships at age 19. He was one of several admirals, including John McCain's grandfather, who died almost immediately after the war ended.

garage mahal said...

One that probably graduated from the same staffer school with the guy who fed Obama 57 states.

Nobody really believes that Obama thinks there are 57 states.

Michael K said...

The Marine side starts, "Those slimy Squid cowards ran off without putting our guns food or ammo on the beach. Guess we're going to get used to eating captured Jap rice for a while..."

The "slimey squid coward" was Frank Jack Fletcher who, after abandoning the Marines without their stores and 155 mm guns, ran away but he redeemed himself in a way by relinquishing command of the fleet at Midway to Spruance who won the battle. Fletcher does not appear in the rest of the history of the war in the Pacific.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

"Pre-tt-yy sneaky, Sis."

There is Family Guy Mayor West scene with this quote but of course... I cant find it.



Bradoplata said...

George, he might not really think there's 57 states, but he thinks his Admirals are generals.

Drago said...

garage: "Nobody really believes that Obama thinks there are 57 states."

Nobody believes much of what obama says anymore.

That's the problem with having to actually run on your record and this is the first time obama has ever had to do that.

Of course, that doesn't explain the naval "corpse-man" comments.

edutcher said...

I thought the C-in-C of the SPA at the time was Ghormley.

Fletcher acceded after Midway, IIRC.

garage mahal said...

One that probably graduated from the same staffer school with the guy who fed Obama 57 states.

Nobody really believes that Obama thinks there are 57 states.


No, he thinks there are 60.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

You don't need the tacky plastic game set.

Sure you do -- with the paper version one can't "accidentally" dump one's game board on the floor when one's opponent has one ranged.

Ha.. like Stratego, when losing....oh OOPS! ... bump the board and all the tiles fall over like dominoes.

Not that "I" would ever do anything like THAT. sniff.

Cosmic Conservative said...

There were some critical revelations about each candidates view of the military in general, and the navy in particular, in that exchange.

Obama's arrogant and condescending snark about bayonets and horses being passe while aircraft carriers and nuclear submarines are the cats meow reveals that Obama is falling into the classic mistake of fighting the next war using the last war's tactics.

It also reveals that Obama thinks modern wars can be executed by joystick-jockeys launching missiles from remote-controlled drones into bedrooms of sleeping enemies. Obama considers actual face-to-face combat to be so passe that it is literally to be sneered at.

Romney demonstrates an awareness that a smaller navy is a more vulnerable navy. Fewer ships means a shift towards the tactical superiority of more missiles and bombs. It wasn't clear from Romney's comments if Romney is aware of the "fighting the last war's tactics" trap or not, but at least he did not blatantly reveal that he suffers that sort of strategic blindness. Unlike Obama.

Of course Obama has no intention to fight a war of any significance anyway, so in his mind military power is simply superfluous at any size. After all, the biggest problem with a nave that retreats at the first sign of conflict is that you'll have too many ships to dock in the harbor. And Obama plans to take care of that little problem.

Cedarford said...

exhelodrvr1 said...
The Japanese had better night optical devices than the USN did.

===============
They were so good, the US Navy went with Japanese and German optics before the war, equipping their vessels.

Their favorites were Leica and and Nikkon. (Guess what Nikkon was called later!)

When the war started, we were right and properly fucked in many optics apps. A lesson to the laissez faire Freedom Lovers that lost many US high tech industries to Asia.
In WWII, apparantly, we kept on buying German optics our domestic manufacturers couldn't duplicate, through dummy corporations in Switzerland.


JAL said...

Nobody really believes that Obama thinks there are 57 states.

The same nobodies who believe that Sarah Palin believes she can see Russia from her porch?

Unknown said...

It’s their route to the sea.

Yeah, I groaned when Mittens repeated that bit of ignorant gibberish. I'd be willing to forgive him for saying something so stupid once, but the fact that he repeats it proves that he hasn't misspoken. The only explanation is that he's a dunce.

Someone on Mittens' staff should have shown him a map after he blundered the first time. But I suppose that type of unfiltered idiocy appeals to the base.

JAL said...

re Battleships: WE have an awesome papern and pencil version we play in a group -- the larger the better. Seriously ---

Everyone lays out their ships and then the firing starts. Individuals fire in turn and everyone reports in after each series of shots.

Very good fun in a bunch.

Rusty said...

garage mahal said...
Syria is Iran's only ally in the Arab world. It's their route to the sea.

I wonder what staffer gave Romney that gem.

How come I know you had to look at a map.

Toad Trend said...

"Nobody really believes that Obama thinks there are 57 states."

Maybe.

But we do know about the stupid, insensitive and revealing things he says when he doesn't have a teleprompter to help him.

traditionalguy said...

On October 13, 1942 the troop landings of another Jap Army on Guadalcanal was covered by a night Batttleship bombardment of 785 14 inch high explosive shells in 2 hours time.

The still sane Marines found little left above ground the next morning.

Then the second assault on the Airfield came the next night right over the same ridge line where the Marines had held the Island a month earlier.

After that Ching Lee and his battleships were set in by Halsey at night and defeated the Jap's resupply of their Army.

The battle was won using the Navy battleships and cruisers at night and Marine SBDs and Hellcats from Henderson Field by day. It took both air and sea working with land base Marines.

The USS Atlanta was a brand new Anti-aircraft Cruiser that carried radar and many rapid firing guns, but it was sunk in a night battle going down with its guns firing. It joined 60 some other American and Jap ships at the bottom of the newly named Iron Bottom sound.

The Navy redeemed itself once it found a leader. Now we need Bull Romney to come in and lead us.

Michael K said...

" A lesson to the laissez faire Freedom Lovers that lost many US high tech industries to Asia. "

I never have thought of Clinton as "laissez faire."

He sent a lot of US electronics gear to China and OK'd export licenses to donors for state of the art guidance systems for missiles.

But the officials said the criminal inquiry was dealt a serious blow two months ago when President Clinton quietly approved the export to China of similar technology by one of the companies under investigation.

The decision was opposed by Justice Department officials, who argued that it would be much more difficult to prosecute the companies if the Government gave its blessing to the deal, the officials said.

Under investigation, the officials said, are Loral Space and Communications of Manhattan and Hughes Electronics, a Los Angeles-based division of the General Motors Corporation. The companies denied wrongdoing, but declined to discuss the investigation.

Loral has numerous business deals with China and close ties to the White House. Its chairman and chief executive, Bernard L. Schwartz, was the largest personal contributor to the Democratic National Committee last year.


Some people before WWII complained about all the scrap metal exports to Japan and commented that the Japanese would be shooting pieces of old Buicks at us from battleships. Missiles are a bit more of a problem.

Michael K said...

Yikes !

Maybe Michelle was going to sink his battleship a few years ago.

Donald Trump is to claim that he has unearthed divorce papers of Michelle Obama and the President, according to a respected financial pundit with links to the tycoon.

It is alleged that the eccentric real estate mogul will claim that the documents show the First Lady and the President were at one point in their two decades of marriage seriously considering splitting up.


I wonder what her grounds were.

X said...

Now we need Bull Romney to come in and lead us.

I don't need anyone to lead me. Getting government to stop shooting our wheels off would be nice though.

X said...

Obama divorce papers don't interest me, but digging that kind of dirt up may not be possible to happen to a more deserving couple.

LYNNDH said...

Thanks for the info on Halsey. To td and Drill Sgt, my Dad was on the USS Astoria, one of the cruisers that were sunk at Savo Island by the Japanese Navy, at night.

Jeff Cox said...

Michael K.

The Japanese fought the US in plenty of night battles after Willis A. Lee's battleship action off Guadalcanal. The Battle of Tassafaronga comes to mind, in which Tanaka Raizo kicked our butts. Kula Gulf, Vella Lavella (twice), Empress Augusta Bay and Surigao Strait come to mind as well.

Also, Admiral Halsey's first order of ATTACK, REPEAT, ATTACK immediately resulted in the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands, which lost. His aggressive attitude was badly needed but he botched the Santa Cruz action.

garage mahal said...

TOMROW WE WILL REVEL THAT BARAK HUSEIN OBAMA THREWW UP ON A WHITE WOMAN IN 1962

mark said...

I have several veterans in my math class. Today they just went off on Obama's horses, bayonets, and general ignorance of the military.

Yes, he really is the dumb. He sounded like the typical professor who imagines he knows something about the military and just has to share his "witty" comment.

Michael K said...

"The Japanese fought the US in plenty of night battles after Willis A. Lee's battleship action off Guadalcanal. The Battle of Tassafaronga comes to mind, in which Tanaka Raizo kicked our butts. Kula Gulf, Vella Lavella (twice), Empress Augusta Bay and Surigao Strait come to mind as well.
"

I probably should have said that the Japanese never again sought a night action as they knew their superiority was gone with US radar.

The battles you mention were either accidental (Tassafaronga) or unsought. Leyte Gulf involved a night action that devastated the southern force. Halsey fooled himself into thinking the central force had turned back and then ensued "The Battle of Bull's Run."

There he dragged Lee along with him as he chased the Japanese decoy carrier force. Nimitz saved his career for morale reasons. Had he been anyone else, he would have been relieved. McCain got relieved as a result of Halsey's poor seamanship in the typhoon.

Texan99 said...

"Nobody really believes that Obama thinks there are 57 states."

It's either that or he doesn't know how to subtract 3 from 50 and get 47.

Reminds me of the comment a Cambridge grocery store clerk is supposed to have made at the express line: "I don't know if you're from MIT and can't read or from Harvard and can't count, but the sign says no more than 10 items in this line."

exhelodrvr1 said...

Jeff Cox,
Battle of Santa Cruz was, in the long run, a U.S. victory, due to the losses the Japaneses sustained.

furious_a said...

The battle was won using the Navy battleships and cruisers at night and Marine SBDs and Hellcats from Henderson Field by day. It took both air and sea working with land base Marines.

...and the orphaned Naval wings from the carriers Hornet and Wasp both sunk off Guadalcanal. The Cactus Air Force by Thomas Miller is a great read on the air war over the Solomons.

Seven Machos said...

Here's the shoulda-coulda line: Pre-tt-yy sneaky, Prez!

That would have done it. That would have cinched a Romney victory.

Anonymous said...

After that Ching Lee and his battleships were set in by Halsey at night and defeated the Jap's resupply of their Army.

"I'm from USS Washington and I'm here to help you."

Michael K said...

"
The Navy redeemed itself once it found a leader. Now we need Bull Romney to come in and lead us. "

Dan Callaghan was a bureaucrat who should not have been in command at the first battle of Guadalcanal but he was courageous and the story of that battle is astonishing. ( "Neptune's Inferno"). US heavy cruisers fought Japanese battleships at point blank range of 400 yards.

Halsey saved the Guadalcanal campaign when he relieved Ghormley but he almost had a disaster at Leyte Gulf.

Jeff Cox said...

Michael K,

I'm not sure that is totally correct, either. Most of the night actions after Guadalcanal's battleship action were accidental, it is true, as the Japanese were still trying to either reinforce or withdraw from their outposts in the Solomons.

But the Surigao Strait action in the Leyte Gulf battle was intentional. Up until that battle the Japanese continued to believe they were superior in night engagements. Surigao Strait was a major, major shock for them.

Michael K said...

"The Cactus Air Force by Thomas Miller is a great read on the air war over the Solomons."

I gave that book to my father-in-law as he was bedridden in his last illness. He had flown corsairs in the later stages of the battle until the Philippines. He also flew them in Korea.

chickelit said...

Obama's still angry that Romney sunk his battleship.

Indeed. The two are playing a death match of "Battleship."

But the death match is more like "Sink The Bismarck" than some multidimensional "Seventh Seal" chess match imagined by progressives.

Sink The Bismarck?

"Bismarck" is Republican code for any number of Obama welfare schemes, first introduced by Otto von Bismarck, the 19th century German statesman whom POTUS so admires.

But "Bismarck" is also dogwhistle code for the Democrats--because Bismarck sounds like "biz-mark" and of course refers to Romney who is "marked by biz-ness" (tainted by lucre). Bismarck is also code for North Dakota fracking so despised by Progressives because it breathes life into fossil fuel independence.

Jeff Cox said...

exhelodrvr1,

Santa Cruz was a tactical defeat for the US because we lost the Hornet (sunk, but very nearly captured) and damn near lost the Enterprise. With nothing to show for it. You can argue Santa Cruz was a strategic victory but I I would argue it was a draw. The number of planes lost was comparable but we were able to recover many of our pilots while the Japanese were not. We were also able to replace our planes and pilots while the Japanese were not.

It certainly was not a strategic defeat but I think it's a stretch to call it a strategic victory. Santa Cruz nearly cost us Guadalcanal.

tim in vermont said...

Three appearances without the teleprompter and it looks like he is toast. What a surprise.

I don't know that he is toast, but if the numbers were the other way around, I would be looking for a nice single malt scotch and a quiet place to watch the election with like minded friends right now.

garage mahal said...

I don't know that he is toast, but if the numbers were the other way around, I would be looking for a nice single malt scotch and a quiet place to watch the election with like minded friends right now.

Not sure what "numbers" you're referring to, but I found the new ABC national poll that just came out interesting. It's a dead heat, within 0.07%.

Here is the regional breakdown:

East, O+20; Midwest, O+8; West, O+5; South, R+16

They really don't like Obama in the South. Wonder why that is?

Michael K said...

It certainly was not a strategic defeat but I think it's a stretch to call it a strategic victory. Santa Cruz nearly cost us Guadalcanal. .

Isn't it a lot more fun arguing about naval history than Obama ?

Over at Chicagoboyz, we try spend time arguing about airplanes.

Michael K said...

"
They really don't like Obama in the South. Wonder why that is? "

They don't like unions either. Maybe because they are prosperous ?

I'm sure you are trying to drag racism here somehow. Have you heard about reverse migration?

Of course not. The old left. Learned nothing and forgot nothing, just like the Bourbons.

chickelit said...

They really don't like Obama in the South. Wonder why that is?

There must be large concentrations of wealthy people down there, huh?

Drago said...

garage: "They really don't like Obama in the South. Wonder why that is?"

Because obama reminds them of Dukakis, Gore and John Kerry?

Drago said...

How about Mondale and McGovern?

Eric Jablow said...

Halsey's great failure was to leave the small Task Unit 77.4.3 nearly naked in the Battle off Samar, the climax of the Battle of Leyte Gulf. Only inconceivable bravery by the US task force and incredible cupidity by the Japanese commanders saved the day. Destroyers and Escort Carriers fought Battleships and Heavy Cruisers, and the battleships withdrew.

Frankly, I'd feel better if I thought Obama could do well in a game of Diplomacy, Twilight Struggle, or Labyrinth. Heck, I would like to know if he's ever played any version of SimCity.

Unknown said...

They really don't like Obama in the South. Wonder why that is?

The southern strategy still works.

Unknown said...

Wapo/ABC poll has a D+5 internal split (DRI of 34/29/37). This isn't 2008. If you think turnout will resemble 2008, I have a bridge to sell you.

Think more along the lines of 2004 and suddenly the WAPO/Abc poll would be Romney +3.

Regards

jeff said...

I know garage has been around for awhile and those who have met him claim he's a nice guy, but I'm really tired of his asshole move calling me, my family and friends racist because we hold completely different political and economic viewpoints than he does. Hey asshole, we didn't vote for Clinton, either. Or Dukakis. Or Gore. Or Carter. So a hearty Fuck you for your continued effort to bring political discourse even lower than it current is.

Jeff Cox said...

Michael K,

Isn't it a lot more fun arguing about naval history than Obama ?

Absolutely. It's why I've basically stopped blogging temporarily to finish writing my book on the early Pacific War.

exhelodrvr1 said...

Good writeup on the Obama/Romney differences for the Navy in the future:

http://hotair.com/archives/2012/10/23/bayonets-horses-and-ships-oh-my/

Michael K said...

" I know garage has been around for awhile and those who have met him claim he's a nice guy, but I'm really tired of his asshole move calling me, my family and friends racist because we hold completely different political and economic viewpoints than he does. Hey asshole, we didn't vote for Clinton, either. Or Dukakis. Or Gore. Or Carter. So a hearty Fuck you for your continued effort to bring political discourse even lower than it current is.

10/23/12 7:40 PM
Blogger Jeff Cox said...

Michael K,

Isn't it a lot more fun arguing about naval history than Obama ?

Absolutely. It's why I've basically stopped blogging temporarily to finish writing my book on the early Pacific War."

If you want a review, when you're finished, send me a copy.

My reviews.

My own history of medicine is here.

Jeff Cox said...

Michael K,

Thank you very much. I'll keep that in mind. I'm on the home stretch now. It's almost done.

Michael K said...

Jeff, I didn't mean to include that text complaining about garage. The tool selecting text is tricky.

You can get too focused on politics. Ship and airplanes are better. I was an aeronautical engineer who was not a pilot. By the time I came along it was mostly missiles anyway. Sailing and flying are very similar.

Jeff Cox said...

Michael K,

No problem. I'm a lawyer and I love politics, but my first love is history. WW2, Rome, Greece, etc.

heyboom said...

My guess would be the South doesn't like Obama because he's anti-drilling and coal mining.

heyboom said...

My guess would be the South doesn't like Obama because he's anti-drilling and coal mining.

People Died, The President Lied said...

"They really don't like Obama in the South. Wonder why that is?

The southern strategy still works. "

The mythical 'likeability' has been on display for all to see during these debates.

Had he not been president, there would be many ready, willing and able to wipe the smug, condescending smirk off his face. Keep telling yourself how great he is.

jr565 said...

"They really don't like Obama in the South. Wonder why that is?

because he comes off like a condescending, aloof jackass who's done nothing to fix the economy? I love how, for dems. The only rational reason why someone in the south wouldn't like Obama is tht they're RACIST.