What If & off-shore petrol platform, What if in ww2 Axis power have this tech

So, if here is a forum section for ww2 in general, i have a generally ww2 topic...
What if Axis powers haves technology for extracting petrol from off shore platforms??? What do you think about this, in effects over the ww2???

(And... shame on me, but i don't have any ideea of date when first platform was worked on sea... Somebody help with info?)


Iama, waiting for comments...

If the German had the technology..

and if they constructed off shore platforms...

... then I think it would have been a very usefull training ground for the RAF & Royal Navy to blow up faster than the Germans could repair

Yesterday i talk with an work coleague about romanian platforms. I know about that was USA technology and some others details, and i asked him about some more. This man was in the navy then, on "264" who escorted "Pandele" (Delfinul - Kilo class romanian only diessel electric sub. in present days - expl. for non - knowers (*?)) from Russia to Romania. More stories about that (he tells me) but not in this topic. Fortunatelly my friend have had service guard on this platforms in Galati shipyard ... and tells me about dimenssion - some like ... (uite cam asa de mare era... de acolo pana acolo... ) and, it was a hard target to hit. More, with AAA on the platforms and some flotors (pontoane) with AAA... results a verry hard target.
And: a small target is ... easy (yeah, right!...) to hit from an assault or dive airplane, but this types have a small range. You think, a B-17, or B-24 have chances to dive above an umbrella of fire and hit the target? Or, a carpet bombing have much chances to hit a small target? Ah, dive bomber from aircraft carriers! Niet... Platforms are at short distances from land, and on land is based FW190 and Me-109, 110. What chances have Albacore, Swordfish and co. in face of german fighters? Wildcats? Maybe he can make more oposition... But germans dont have Zero fighters!
How about platforms in Black Sea? Russian do not have carriers, and retreating her airbases are positioned more far, more far.

Iama, waiting more

Iama,
It seems that you forgot about Royal Navy. On the sea not only planes could attack!

I would say, same chances as during the attacks on the Tirpitz

This post has been edited by Chandernagore on September 22, 2004 01:50 pm

i belive having read that the Tirpitz' fatal damage was from a Lancaster bomber.
not that such a bomber could't take out an oil plattform...

The RAF Coastal Command was pretty effective against German shipping towards the end of the war. My guess is that if sinking mobile objects (ships) was possible for a Beuafighter or a Mosquito, an oil platform would really be a piece of cake.

Dani, and you forgot about U-Boats!

And about RAF Coastal Command (for Victor) - you remember it was hard to attack an objective like and aerobase because of AAA of ligt and medium calibers, so an atack of Coastal Command against a target much smaller like an "arici" (*sorry i do not know the word) with heavy mg's and multibarrelled light AAA guns is a way to heaven for attackers.
What about action place in time? Ok, from end of war, in Coastall COmmand are more powerful planes, but in '40? Blenheims? I have some offline pages about coastal command, but home not at work. I remember about planes at that time ... approx. all are old and not capable for "big things".
In week end i search in home computer and il try to consider Coastal Command.


Iama

In 40 Germany had enough fuel. The "what if" kicks in at the time Germany started to feel the effects of diminishing reserves, around 44.

It strikes me that the oil platforms could also be destroyed by submarine torpedos. I agree with the group that thinks by late war that these would have been destroyed by the Allies one way or the other.

Off course! In one way or another, finally, this platforms are destroyed. BUT! Is not a solution to say: in one way or another, a sub, a commando, a plane, a cruiser, give the punish!!!

I don not asked if platofrms have chances to be destroyed...

What influence he had over the ww2?????????????????

Like Cirano de Bergerac (he know the dimension of his nose) i know about iminent distruction, but i want to here more creativity.

Is like an answer ... in your future, your death are comming. End what?

Iama, going to smoke from ears

A pityfull fate if you ask.

God, what end did the Bismarck and (my prefered one) the Scharnhorst meet ! Nothing like going down fighting like a lion. Hats down to both crews.

This post has been edited by Chandernagore on September 24, 2004 05:11 pm

I assume that you assume that the platforms would have been constructed before the war. Because I can't see them being constructed under the nose of the British.

So I would say that the influence of the additional stockage would be minor. Off shore drilling still represents but a marginal amount of production. By the time they would have been ripe fo certain destruction (starting 43) their impact could not have been much better that increasing the length of the war by, say, a few months. However I admit that it's just a quick calculation.

What if the Germans and Italians would seriously search for oil in Libya, in the days they had it under control? They searched a lot for fresh water, by the way.
The Germans even used men with natural born aptitude to feel/sense underground water (paranormal qualities).
It is good to remember that oil in Nigeria was discovered in the early 40's, when the area was part of the British Empire. The British guys were prospecting for any possible addition to their oil reserves, for the needs of the war, and in Nigeria they won the jackpot...

But anyway, even if the Germans would discover oil in Libya, I don't think they would be able to keep the ground in 1943. We have to remember that Afrika Korps got a lot of fresh troops after El Alamein, but it simply could not get even more, because Germany was also involved in Russia.

This post has been edited by Florin on September 24, 2004 11:58 pm

Could anybody say what is the average oil production of an off-shore platform? Maybe is not so "effective" to keep around this device such an important deffence force ... maybe they burn much fuel than they defend

I don t know, maybe I m wrong ....



This post has been edited by Dan Po on November 04, 2004 12:49 am