How much of the Java Sea would be in range of Beaufighters and Hudsons based on Christmas Island?
April 1942 Alternate Indian Ocean
- Thread starter Zheng He
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Errolwi
Monthly Donor
I've got a print signed by Alan Peart DFC.
http://aircrewbookreview.blogspot.co.nz/2010/04/alan-peart-in-action-new-spitfire-print.html
"During the Japanese assault on Imphal, in Burma, [81 Squadron] provided air cover over the second Chindit expedition approximately 200 miles behind the Japanese lines. It did this from a strip code-named 'Broadway'. It was from this strip that an air battle took place between two of our Spitfires and more than 20 Japanese fighters. The sole surviving Spitfire is shown in combat in the print."
Admiral Beez
Banned
Sort of reminds of modern day society, where everyone strives to be a celebrity or is raised to believe they're special or extraordinary, where we look down upon even important or influential roles in ordinary functions of society. Imagine if Japan had equally celebrated not only samurai, but also the farmer.
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1600 Hours, 20 August 1942, 1300 Miles Southwest of Port C, Indian Ocean – The German auxiliary cruiser Thor had been operating in a patrol box 2000 miles south of Ceylon for almost a month. Overall it had been a successful cruise for Captain Gunther Gumprich and his crew with 10 ships totaling almost 60,000 tons sunk although they had not enjoyed success since sinking their last victim on 20 July, the British refrigerator ship SS Indus.
Finally, in the late afternoon hours of 20 August 1942 Thor came across the ore carrier SS Brighton Belle. It took over two hours for Captain Gumprich to bring his target within range and the 10,000 ton were carrier refused to give up without a fight, firing back with her three inch stern gun, hitting Thor twice. Thor’s gunners were able to hit Brighton Belle seven times and bring her to a halt. Thor’s crew then rescued 35 survivors and finished off the foundering ore carrier with a torpedo at 1830 hours.
The problem for Captain Gumprich was that his crew was not successful in jamming all of Brighton Belle’s transmissions and her radio operator got off a steady stream of distress calls and position reports before a 5.9 inch shell demolished ships radio room. Gumprich compounded the problem, exercising poor radio discipline by contacting the supply ship M/S Tannenfels, requesting a rendezvous on 29 August. The messages were picked up by operators at Port C, Port T, and in the Mauritius.
Finally, in the late afternoon hours of 20 August 1942 Thor came across the ore carrier SS Brighton Belle. It took over two hours for Captain Gumprich to bring his target within range and the 10,000 ton were carrier refused to give up without a fight, firing back with her three inch stern gun, hitting Thor twice. Thor’s gunners were able to hit Brighton Belle seven times and bring her to a halt. Thor’s crew then rescued 35 survivors and finished off the foundering ore carrier with a torpedo at 1830 hours.
The problem for Captain Gumprich was that his crew was not successful in jamming all of Brighton Belle’s transmissions and her radio operator got off a steady stream of distress calls and position reports before a 5.9 inch shell demolished ships radio room. Gumprich compounded the problem, exercising poor radio discipline by contacting the supply ship M/S Tannenfels, requesting a rendezvous on 29 August. The messages were picked up by operators at Port C, Port T, and in the Mauritius.
I Been reading this TL for about a month now and I have to say that its one of the best written and well researched OTL's I've ever read (that's including stories that have actually been published). Well done Zheng He! Well done!
Now earlier Zheng He had said that he wanted to get ships from as many nations as possible into TTL. Georgios Averof has been mentioned once or twice already. I would love to see the pre-WW1, coal powered Armored cruiser get some action.
Also, just as a challenge and because I happen to like her (and because its "a little out there without being to wacky"), is the a way you could work Chile's Almirante Latorre into the story?
Now earlier Zheng He had said that he wanted to get ships from as many nations as possible into TTL. Georgios Averof has been mentioned once or twice already. I would love to see the pre-WW1, coal powered Armored cruiser get some action.
Also, just as a challenge and because I happen to like her (and because its "a little out there without being to wacky"), is the a way you could work Chile's Almirante Latorre into the story?
Admiral Beez
Banned
I agree, but she'd be a logistical hog.Although I hesitate to interfere with the actual writing of a story, the thought of the aged Averoff getting some licks in is pretty sweet. Your story though!
Per Wikipedia, Averoff's range at 17.5 knots was 2,480 nautical miles. Ceylon to Perth is 3,141 nautical miles. There's nowhere to get coal enroute. Assuming Averoff piles on the coal Rozhestvensky-style and she makes Ceylon to Perth without refueling, Averoff would thereafter likely take a lot of the coal needed for Australian rail transport, furnaces and forges.
Ah, I never even bothered to check the AO! DOH! As to coal availability. I think it was much more widespread than most realize until after WWII. No proof to hand, but an impression based on the numbers of ships that had used it previously and the numbers of accounts I've seen of merchantmen using it in WWII.
Trust me, I wanted to get the Greeks involved more but I had no idea that Averoff was still coal powered. Heck, I had no idea there were still coal powered ships at that time. The logistics situation on the Colombo, Port C, Fremantle access is challenging enough, it's just not realistic to add an old cruiser that has unique fuel requirements. She'll do what she did OTL, escort convoys, primarily on the Bombay, Colombo, Trincomalee route...
Admiral Beez
Banned
Certainly Australia has active coal mines. However Averoff needs 1,500 tons of coal a week. Lugging that out to sea to refuel on station would take up essential cargo ship capacity.
Given India's coal production capacity, her best usage is on the convoy routes around the sub-continent. That's probably why she was based in Bombay OTL.
I was just looking at that myself... yeah there is plenty of coal production in India in this period to support her
hipper
Banned
the major coal bunkering ports were at Trincolamalee (Ceylon), Aden, Bandar Abas in Persia, Mombasa, Karachi and Bombay, there would be stocks of steam quality coal at these places, most of the pre war merchantmen would be coal burning, diesel powered motorships had only started being a thing in the 1930's. But control of the bunkering system was the way Britain maintained control of world shipping during the war. details below
http://www.godfreydykes.info/The_importance_of_coal_to_our_merchant_war_ships.html
http://www.godfreydykes.info/The_importance_of_coal_to_our_merchant_war_ships.html
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N
Not so much. Coal has been mined at Collie and exported via Fremantle for over 100 years.
Thanks for the link! This looks to be valuable info and interesting to boot. Years ago, (digressing into sea stories again..) in the early 80's I saw a coal fired Laker in Cleveland, slowly moving up the Cuyahoga. I was amazed. Years later, I sailed on a Laker that was still steam powered, albeit with oil. She's been re-engine since, sadly, finally making the move to diesel.
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