I have to chuck my ten pennies worth in and say that I really found the manual brilliant. Yes I did find out a lot of stuff via this forum, but only because I was too lazy/impatient to read it cover to cover. It's all there if you look for it
Also before playing this game I knew a lot about aircraft during the war and genral war history but nothing really about Naval stuff, since playing it my knowledge has increased massively.
Reading Iron Coffins at the moment and really enjoying it