Dumbest military weapons

Oberon · 09-09-10, 10:15 AM

Yeah, the Davy Crockett is a favourite isn't it...common misconception that. Still, by the time that the Crocketts were flying around most common sense would have gone out the window anyway and there would be mushrooms everywhere.
It's hard to think what is the dumbest military weapon...certainly the animal based ones qualify. They missed the Pigeon guided missile on that list too.
I think Torpedo Rams, despite being cool looking, were a rather dismal failure in terms of what the Admiralty thought they would be able to do...but I wouldn't call it dumb.
The Maus, well protected and armed, but as fast as a dying snail and forced to become a submarine whenever it found a river because it would destroy the bridge if it tried to use it. Dumb? Maybe, but through no real fault of German designers who were stuck with a backseat fuhrer. Thank god.
Kamikaze could be considered dumb, after all, it's a one use weapon and you deplete your reserves of pilots, but it was rather effective at first and used by a country on the back foot. I think when one gets to that stage in war, then even dumb ideas are used in the vague hope that they will have some use. After all, the submarine was considered a dumb idea by some at one point, as was the aeroplane.

09-09-10, 10:15 AM	#3
Oberon Lucky Jack Join Date: Jul 2002 Posts: 25,976 Downloads: 61 Uploads: 20	Yeah, the Davy Crockett is a favourite isn't it...common misconception that. Still, by the time that the Crocketts were flying around most common sense would have gone out the window anyway and there would be mushrooms everywhere. It's hard to think what is the dumbest military weapon...certainly the animal based ones qualify. They missed the Pigeon guided missile on that list too. I think Torpedo Rams, despite being cool looking, were a rather dismal failure in terms of what the Admiralty thought they would be able to do...but I wouldn't call it dumb. The Maus, well protected and armed, but as fast as a dying snail and forced to become a submarine whenever it found a river because it would destroy the bridge if it tried to use it. Dumb? Maybe, but through no real fault of German designers who were stuck with a backseat fuhrer. Thank god. Kamikaze could be considered dumb, after all, it's a one use weapon and you deplete your reserves of pilots, but it was rather effective at first and used by a country on the back foot. I think when one gets to that stage in war, then even dumb ideas are used in the vague hope that they will have some use. After all, the submarine was considered a dumb idea by some at one point, as was the aeroplane.