Keynes' Cruisers Volume 2
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They are destroyer transports and they are bringing in a lot of food and 2 Higgins boats per ship to help with the unloading.
Driftless
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IF they successfully complete the trip to Bataan and successfully unload the ships, then disperse the Higgins boats at different points on the peninsula and maybe drag them up on shore if practical. They could have some general utility, along with speeding the unloading process.
So the big naval confrontation is in part a diversion so Bataan can be resupplied?
Not really, it is more of an opportunistic add-on as the investment of Celebes would have occurred no matter what but some smart officers figured that the combination of good moons and Japanese attention focused further south, there was a plausible opening to run supplies in.
Driftless
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The Commonwealth forces have been really hammering the Japanese in Burma, Malaya, now Thailand. The US has been attacking island strongpoints in the Central Pacific, and now with the Southern DEI back in Allied control, the Makassar Straits campaign (with its oil ports) seems to be the logical next step. Resupplying Bataan is taking advantage of the Japanese commitments elsewhere I'd estimate.
ninjaed by the author!
ninjaed by the author!
sorry I wasn't clear...what about USS Richmond and USS Raleigh?
you mention in an earlier post that their ultimate operation needed an 18 hour window to unload...
Minor nitpick. It’s USS Colhoun not Calhoun.
Had this Georgia boy confused for a second.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Colhoun_(DD-85)
Had this Georgia boy confused for a second.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Colhoun_(DD-85)
Story 1770
Southern Makassar Strait 1230 January 2, 1943
HMS Furious turned into the wind. Another section of CAP was going up and then the current section was coming down. As the Sea Hurricanes landed, men were thrown around the deck. The former battlecruiser had already been cutting through the waves at thirty knots. She had turned hard to starboard and the flight deck tilted like a pinball machine after it failed to send out an earned free ball.
Four hundred yards away from the carrier, HMS London staggered out of line. Dirty brown-red-orange smoke poured out from her aft turret for a moment and then an incredible explosion destroyed the ship. Half a dozen Huff Duff sets picked up a twelve second transmission a few thousand yards from the carriers that were now fleeing the scene. Three destroyers had already turned to run up the torpedo line. They would slow in three minutes to allow their ASDIC to work but they had a decent location to start their hunt.
HMS Furious turned into the wind. Another section of CAP was going up and then the current section was coming down. As the Sea Hurricanes landed, men were thrown around the deck. The former battlecruiser had already been cutting through the waves at thirty knots. She had turned hard to starboard and the flight deck tilted like a pinball machine after it failed to send out an earned free ball.
Four hundred yards away from the carrier, HMS London staggered out of line. Dirty brown-red-orange smoke poured out from her aft turret for a moment and then an incredible explosion destroyed the ship. Half a dozen Huff Duff sets picked up a twelve second transmission a few thousand yards from the carriers that were now fleeing the scene. Three destroyers had already turned to run up the torpedo line. They would slow in three minutes to allow their ASDIC to work but they had a decent location to start their hunt.
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Ehrm... @fester. Two things, London is better protected than some USN cruisers that survived Long Lances, along with RN fanaticism for magazine protection/fire suppression and damage control. Second problem, London should be in drydock undergoing a major refit/moderate rebuild due to hull cracking as a result of her superstructure.
HMS London did not spend anywhere near as much time in the North Atlantic nor the Norwegian Sea in this timeline than she did in OTL. Therefore the hull cracking problems that sent her to the yard have not developed to a noticeable degree yet. Steaming with the Far East Fleet is far gentler than steaming with Home Fleet.
Secondly, yes, she is a tough bird; but 4 torpedoes including one within feet of the aft magazine will ruin almost anyone's day.
Story 1771
Western Makassar Strait 1254 January 2, 1943
Akagi turned into the wind.
I-19 had reported multiple fleet carriers moving at 25 knots 180 miles away. The torpedo bomber scouts had already been diverted from outlying patrol sectors towards the datum to localize. The Americans had at least three other carriers in the region; that would be the entire Pacific Fleet. No one was quite sure if the British were also out in force, radio intercepts had been overhearing American codes and American fists and the aircraft types seen so far were all made in America. The few survivors of the Forward Force would have spotted the FAA roundels but they were still swimming in the water or getting the oil hosed off of them aboard the rescue destroyers.
All four carriers were launching everything except the bare minimum fighter strength. 189 aircraft were to head south: 45 fighters, 89 dive bombers and 55 torpedo bombers. Forty four fighters were being retained for fleet defense. A few more aircraft would soon supplement the defenders as damaged aircraft had their wings patched or tails resurfaced over the next hour. Defense could not win, only incredibly decisive offensive thrusts promised a chance at victory.
The first Kate took off from the deck of the converted battle cruiser and the bomber slowly gained altitude as the strike commander waited for the rest of the fleet to form up and win.
Akagi turned into the wind.
I-19 had reported multiple fleet carriers moving at 25 knots 180 miles away. The torpedo bomber scouts had already been diverted from outlying patrol sectors towards the datum to localize. The Americans had at least three other carriers in the region; that would be the entire Pacific Fleet. No one was quite sure if the British were also out in force, radio intercepts had been overhearing American codes and American fists and the aircraft types seen so far were all made in America. The few survivors of the Forward Force would have spotted the FAA roundels but they were still swimming in the water or getting the oil hosed off of them aboard the rescue destroyers.
All four carriers were launching everything except the bare minimum fighter strength. 189 aircraft were to head south: 45 fighters, 89 dive bombers and 55 torpedo bombers. Forty four fighters were being retained for fleet defense. A few more aircraft would soon supplement the defenders as damaged aircraft had their wings patched or tails resurfaced over the next hour. Defense could not win, only incredibly decisive offensive thrusts promised a chance at victory.
The first Kate took off from the deck of the converted battle cruiser and the bomber slowly gained altitude as the strike commander waited for the rest of the fleet to form up and win.
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Looks like Nagumo's no Brian Hanrahan
If he's counted the types correctly, he's sending on 178 aircraft out not 189.
If 189, he's missed some taking off...
or are you counting (most of) the scouts already in the air?
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Soryu had a couple at Midway - no idea of the missions they flew. They'd have been effective recon assets at this time - faster than anything the USN and RN could send after them.Added Aside:
checking my sources, I learned something new to me
Apparently in '42 some early production D4Y which were designed as a dive bomber to replace the VAL
proved to have such weak structure that they could not fly carrying bombs
and were therefore modified for better range and deployed as pure carrier based recon.
So some back of beer mat calculations says the Allied battle line will give an additional 10 minutes raid warning for the carriers. Hopefully enough time to move the carrier cap up to reinforce that covering the heavies, providing raid attrition even before the gigantic flak trap kicks in. Given the amount of allied carriers, they should be able to surge a decent number of additional fighters before the decks get shut down.
The IJN raid will still hurt like hell, and will likely give the game away as to the RN being at sea. Are the IJN aware of the RN ability to hit them at night? I’m getting my timelines mixed up.
The IJN raid will still hurt like hell, and will likely give the game away as to the RN being at sea. Are the IJN aware of the RN ability to hit them at night? I’m getting my timelines mixed up.
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