Keynes' Cruisers

[AlanJWhite]

I think that the Captain of Ark Royal choosing his crew including a highly effective FAA detachment over the ship (especially given her rapid 'list') was a forgivable choice and his court martial agreed.

actually the initial Board of Enquiry recommended a court martial and that found Captain Maund guilty of negligence of two counts:
failing to ensure his ship was in a proper state to deal with possible damage
failing to organise proper damage control parties to stay on board after the general evacuation was ordered

Aside: A separate technical inquiry came up with design criticism and suggestions for later builds.

 

[fester]

Java Sea 1200 May 3, 1942

HMS Phoebe slowly picked up steam. Her consort, the damaged carrier Ark Royal also began to move through the waves again under her own power. In rougher seas like the North Atlantic, scuttling would have been considered, but now, she pushed herself forward at eight knots. Four cruisers and eight destroyers were her bodyguards. The rest of the Eastern Fleet was over the horizon although eight Sea Hurricanes orbited overhead. Half a dozen Buffaloes from Batavia orbited over Furious and Victorious.

Ark Royal’s engineers thought they could get her up to at least fifteen knots by mid-afternoon. Gangs were still shoring up the temporary patches and canvas plugs on both sides of the ship. Pump crews were draining the flood waters and an engine room was being inspected to see if there was a chance of getting power from the abandoned room.

As she slowly moved through the water at the pace of an accomplished cross-country runner, an Albacore took off from her listing deck to fly a lonely anti-submarine patrol.

 

[RyderWest]

Come on Ark get outta there

 

[NHBL]

Brave and skilled pilot to get the plane off with that much list and that little speed!

 

[Driftless]

Brave and skilled pilot to get the plane off with that much list and that little speed!

Certainly. Low stall speed and other aerodynamic conditions of the Albacore contribute as well?

 

[Driftless]

Next, find a rain squall to hide in, though wrong season for that to be likely?

 

[fester]

Central Java Sea 1541 May 3, 1942

The last Zero landed aboard Hiryu. The young pilot taxied his plane to the edge of the deck and then jumped out. Three fingers were held aloft as the other pilots from his shotai clustered around him. He had made ace. The last wave of Dutch bombers were like the first two waves of bombers. They were ably led and insanely brave but the lack of adequate fighter cover combined with low level attacks had made them incredibly vulnerable. A light cruiser was on fire after a damaged bomber crashed into her superstructure moments after the fleet’s anti-aircraft fire shredded a wing. That was the worse damage that the fleet had suffered throughout the day.


Even as the fighter pilot hurried back to the squadron ready room, crews were scrambling to load torpedoes on the bombers. Admiral Nagumo had been waiting hours for a solid position report on the British fleet. The land based bombers that had recovered at Balikpapan before restaging to Makassar had claimed they had sunk a carrier, but the worried admiral discounted the claim to a damage. As the afternoon light was due to fade, a search and destroy mission could be launched even if that meant recovery had to happen after dark.


As the newly minted ace talked through the engagement with his hands, the alarm bell went off. Hiryu heeled over once more as the anti-aircraft guns barked and a string of bombs landed seven hundred yards away. American quad-engine level bombers were getting closer, still not close, but closer.

 

[fester]

Java Sea 1543 May 3, 1942

A Dutch Buffalo claimed another kill. A flying boat was ambushed twenty three miles from Ark Royal. No radio messages were intercepted before the fifty caliber slugs tore through the cockpit. The damaged carrier continued west at thirteen knots.

 

[fester]

Kuala Luampur, Malaya 1600 May 3, 1942

Another train stopped in the train station. Whistles blew and the doors opened. Men stepped out into the heavy rain. Some ran for the covered roofs, while others took their time. They were scheduled to be at the station for forty five minutes, so the veterans started a brew while replacements tossed a ball around or stretched their legs out. Vendors walked through the brigade from the 5th Indian Division selling samosas and noodles and cigarettes and a dozen other items that made life slightly more pleasant and bellies slightly more full.

Even as the troop train refilled its water tanks and brought on more fuel, another train rumbled through the station without stopping. That train was carrying all of the artillery for the division. It would not stop until it reached the docks in Singapore where it would be loaded for shipment to Batavia.

 

[Unknown]

This is getting interesting...

Waiting for more...

 

[Viper91]

Java Sea 1543 May 3, 1942

A Dutch Buffalo claimed another kill. A flying boat was ambushed twenty three miles from Ark Royal. No radio messages were intercepted before the fifty caliber slugs tore through the cockpit. The damaged carrier continued west at thirteen knots.

That Dutch pilot may have saved Ark Royal, especially if the Japanese plane didn't get off a sighting report. I figure if Nagumo doesn't get a strike up and on the way within the next couple of hours, his chances of finding the British fleet are pretty much gone

So looking at the overall losses, 7 transports, 1 destroyer, 1 submarine, the cruisers Kako and Tone, and the light carrier Hosho. I'm guessing Allied air strikes will not accomplish anything more, but I'm not discounting another submarine or two getting in a hit or two. Even if the Japanese achieve their objectives, I could definitely see them having to pause for a bit after Java to do some adjusting and reorganizing.

 

[Driftless]

That Dutch pilot may have saved Ark Royal, especially if the Japanese plane didn't get off a sighting report. I figure if Nagumo doesn't get a strike up and on the way within the next couple of hours, his chances of finding the British fleet are pretty much gone

If they all survive the next few days, Admiral Somerville and the Ark Royal's Captain may owe that pilot a drink or two....

 

[Draconis]

Central Java Sea 1541 May 3, 1942

As the newly minted ace talked through the engagement with his hands, the alarm bell went off. Hiryu heeled over once more as the anti-aircraft guns barked and a string of bombs landed seven hundred yards away. American quad-engine level bombers were getting closer, still not close, but closer.

If the USAAF HQ staff had understood how futile the high altitude level bombing was against maneuvering warships then those high altitude missions could have been directed to more suitable targets for better results. Like the Japanese landing areas in Java and/or any moored transport ships that might still be there. It took a while but eventually that lesson was learned.

 

[Draconis]

Kuala Luampur, Malaya 1600 May 3, 1942

Even as the troop train refilled its water tanks and brought on more fuel, another train rumbled through the station without stopping. That train was carrying all of the artillery for the division. It would not stop until it reached the docks in Singapore where it would be loaded for shipment to Batavia.

It really says something about the success of the Malaya campaign so far that the British are pulling large formations out of Malaya to send them South. Of course the Monsoon season will force the end of large scale operations in Malaya for both sides so its not too risky to pull out large units. And I believe Commonwealth and American reinforcements are enroute in any case.

 

[Driftless]

It really says something about the success of the Malaya campaign so far that the British are pulling large formations out of Malaya to send them South. Of course the Monsoon season will force the end of large scale operations in Malaya for both sides so its not too risky to pull out large units. And I believe Commonwealth and American reinforcements are enroute in any case.

Who talked Monty into letting go of "his" guns?

 

[Killer in]

Who talked Monty into letting go of "his" guns?

As we know all too well Monty loved his guns.

 

[Ramp-Rat]

Ark should be in the clear unless it runs into a Japanese submarine, she is slowly pulling away from the point of danger. And unless the Japanese can find her quickly, and get in an air strike before dark, then by the following dawn Ark should be beyond the range of any Japanese air attack. The Japanese also have the problem that they have to make a choice, which of the two British Fleets do they chose to attack. Or do they divide their forces between the two, thus insuring that they do not have overwhelming strength against ether force. The sensible course of action for the Japanese is to forget about Ark for now and concentrate on the two other carriers.


Somerville has to make a difficult decision quickly, does he pull back and keep his powder dry for another day. Or does he take a big risk, and under cover of the dark, head back in, and try to get another strike in on the invasion fleet. If he does and it is successful, the Japanese invasion force becomes a major liability. The Japanese have ether to write it off, or become in-broiled in trying to run predictable convoys to it. This isn’t the slot and the convoys are not the Tokyo Express, they would have to be a major undertaking, that are to a large extent beyond Japanese capability.


With Burma, most of Malaysia and Singapore, parts of the Philippines along with Sumatra still in Allied hands. The Japanese face having their various recent gains destroyed in detail, as the Allies can bring overwhelming strength against any one at a time. They are not linked in a self supporting way, and the Japanese can not support them all. And the Allies are beginning to get their act together, they are only going to get stronger, while the Japanese are facing increasing shortages. While both the British and the Americans are able to replace any losses with better than what was lost. The Japanese will struggle to replace what is lost, and only with what is at best something inferior to what the Allies have.


What is even more interesting is the effect that recent events will have on the post war world. Britain hasn’t been totally embarrassed by the Japanese, and it’s position with its colonial subjects, and Dominion friends destroyed. The feeling that Australia and too a lessor extent New Zealand had post war IOTL, that they had been left out to dry, and that their future lies with closer relations with America. These will not be so prevalent, and the changes in the relationship between Britain and her Dominions will be much slower to degrade.

RR.

 

[fester]

Who talked Monty into letting go of "his" guns?

Percival won that argument (RHIP) and there was a promise that the navy would give Monty some really big guns if he waited long enough for the fall offensive window.

 

[fester]

Western Java Sea 1803 May 3, 1942

Heavy cannons shook the hunter’s frame. Shells exploded against the thin aluminium skin of the unescorted Japanese torpedo bomber. Strings of tracer fire came back. The Sea Hurricanes had rolled into the attack against the three torpedo bombers moments after HMS Phoebe and HMS Victorious acknowledged the sighting report.

The cruiser was steaming six hundred yards from Ark Royal. She had slowed to only ten knots an hour ago as flooding resumed. More speed would only cause more damage. The carrier’s captain was balancing damage control with the need to call his men back to anti-aircraft stations. Radar screens aboard both the carrier and her escorts were picking up small blips twenty to fifty miles away.

Twenty four miles away, two Sea Hurricanes chased the third Kate away. The torpedo bomber was fifty feet over the sea with the throttle open. The low altitude and an almost prescient ability of the pilot to feel an attack developing half a second before the cannons fired at the spot where the bomber would have been except for a sharp jink dragged the fighters on a twelve mile chase before they were called off and sent back to altitude.

Over the next twenty minutes as the light was fading, the combat air patrol jumped another pair of torpedo bomber formations. Fighter passes sent two more bombers into the sea while another one was shot up so badly that it just disappeared halfway from the contact and the carrier. The survivors dropped their torpedoes and ran.

By the time it was too dark to operate single seat, visual flight rules only fighters, the radar screens had quieted down. Look-outs were still seeking out danger in the sky and under the sea. The radar room was quiet for a few minutes until an operator shouted. A new contact was on his screen, eighteen miles to the west and heading almost directly towards them.

Six Kates were spread out on a line two hundred feet over the dark sea. They were returning home after the unsuccessful search and destroy mission. Their radios had been full of chatter of their fellow pilots being jumped by fighters. Maybe the British carrier had actually been sunk by the land based bombers? It was possible. Winds had forced them slightly further south and west than the lead navigator had calculated and they were making up the time. In thirty miles, they would drop their torpedoes into the sea and claw for altitude so that they could stretch the fuel in their tanks for as long as possible.

The bogeys pressed closer. Every anti-aircraft gun in the fleet was manned. USS Boise dropped into position behind Ark Royal while Phoebe edged ahead of the carrier. The two cruisers held positions within a football pitch of the carrier and were slightly offset along the primary threat axis. The other escorts tightened up as men waited and stared into the descending darkness.

A sharp eyed pilot saw the wakes before he could see the ships. He called out on the radio and the six torpedo bombers made a slight turn, slowed down and descended another 100 feet. By now, every radar in the protective ring around the damaged carrier was on and radiating like there was no need to hide. Some guns were tracking based on the beams while most were still being moved by men turning wheels or putting their shoulder into the butt.

A pregnant pause filled the night as the torpedo bombers were out of range of the ships’ guns. They might fly past them, they might attack. Sweat beads formed on the trackers brows until the lead bomber penetrated an imaginary circle six miles from the carrier. Every heavy anti-aircraft gun in the fleet fired within seconds of Ark Royal’s dual purpose guns firing. Two destroyers were close enough to the strikers that they were soon firing their lighter 1.1 inch guns as well. An enterprising soul aboard Boise had a single 5 inch gun dedicated to firing star shells on the theory that a direct hit would still destroy a plane but a miss may blind the pilot.

No one could sort out an accurate account of claims but during the one hundred and fifty seconds of the run in, three of the torpedo bombers were shot down. Another was damaged and its torpedo careened wildly off track after the drop. There were two good drops, one from nine hundred yards and the other from seven hundred yards. Heavy machine gun fire and pom-poms claimed the revenge kill.

Even before the last torpedo entered the water, Phoebe’s captain had ordered his engines to go full reverse. The momentum of the cruiser slowed and then she crept backwards as the carrier clumsily continued forward. Boise accelerated slightly and her bow began to turn slightly away from the carrier. Within half a minute, the torpedoes were facing a solid steel wall between them and their target. The first torpedo missed completely, piercing the thick wake of Boise and forcing the destroyer HMS Javelin to engage in some sharp ship handling to dodge the overshot.

The second torpedo slammed into the light cruiser Phoebe. The detonation opened up a gash forty two feet long underneath B turret. She slowed to minimize her damage.

Two hundred yards away, the slow moving Ark Royal continued her journey home even as Boise stopped to render assistance to her smaller compatriot.

 

[fester]

Central Java Sea, 2250 MAy 3, 1942

Aboard Hiryu, Admiral Yamaguichi scowled. He should be sleeping, or at least he should be talking through the next day’s plans with his staff. The fleet would continue to hold the box. Akagi and Kaga were designated the reserve carriers for the day while the whoresons in Carrier Division 5 would continue to cover the landings in Eastern Java until enough fighters and more importantly, enough gasoline, had landed on Bali’s conquered airfields.

His ships were needed to suppress the enemy bases along the north coast of Java. And he had far fewer aircraft to accomplish that mission than he really needed. Admiral Nagumo had ordered a search and destroy mission with twenty four of his most experienced torpedo bomber crews. Twelve planes had landed on a carrier in the fleet by 2100 and since then nothing. Two of those planes were pushed over the side and half a dozen men were in sickbay with injuries. No word had gotten back on any successes. He had been forced to throw away some of the best pilots in the world on a mere chance.