Which has the lowest wing loading? I'm guessing its the E7k, which has a slightly higher rated speed. It also has a 3 man crew, with 3 mgs, one ventral, one dorsal and one for the pilot. That limits what the Kingfisher can do. The OS2U has one mg for the pilot and one or two for the observer. Odds are against the OS2U.
April 1942 Alternate Indian Ocean
- Thread starter Zheng He
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Who sees who first? I wonder if the Kingfisher being theoretically cleaner (fewer struts and a single large float) might be able to pull away in a dive? Otherwise, it could be a short unpleasant afternoon for the OS2U.
Think of all the trainers lost. And all the transports - remember the "Aluminum Trail" that ran "over the Hump"?
Carrier operations suffered a lot of attrition outside combat. For instance, at Midway, all of VF-8 ended up ditching while trying to bingo to Midway Island, and several SBDs ran out of fuel and had to ditch while waiting to land, due to the Japanese attacks.
Dan Gallery's CVE Guadalcanal embarked I believe 20 TBFs at the start of each Hunter-Killer cruise. They never saw a hostile aircraft, nor any flak from U-boats, but at least once returned to port with no working aircraft left.
1400 Hours, 27 September 1942, 620 Miles South of Port C, Indian Ocean – The appearance of the single engine floatplane overhead confirmed Captain Kato’s worst fears, there were Allied ships bearing down on him. While Kinu’s Alf played tag with Richmond’s Kingfisher, the Alf from Kuma headed north to ascertain what was stalking the Japanese ships.
At 1400 hours, the pilot reported two light cruisers closing at 30 knots. Five minutes later lookouts on Kuma reported ships astern and to port.
Onboard HMNZS Achilles, Captain Mansergh decided it was time to give the Japanese something to worry about. His cruisers had adjusted to a course with three miles of parallel separation and were just over ten miles astern of the Japanese. The angle still was not good and only Achilles forward turrets had an open shot while Richmond’s Kingfisher could not spot for the gunners because its pilot was busy with the Alfs. Still, Achilles’ radar operators and gunners were experienced and well trained and at 1405 hours with the range down to nine miles, Achilles’ two forward turrets barked at the light cruiser Kuma. The first two salvos were long and the third was short but with the fourth salvo, Achilles’ gunners landed a round on Kuma’s catapult. By this time, Richmond’s forward turret had joined in and her gunners scored two near misses on their third salvo killing several exposed crewmen. Kuma’s stern guns could only make ineffective replies and her gunners only managed to land a single 5.5” round on Achilles that caused light damage.
Outgunned and with the range rapidly closing, Captain Kato knew his ships only had one chance. Both cruisers put down a spread of four torpedoes each from their portside tubes while Kato ordered Kuma to accelerate to full speed and get clear of the area while Kinu laid a smoke screen. Captain Shibuya onboard Kuma protested but Captain Kato as senior officer afloat refused to relent, ordering Shibuya to get away while he still had a chance.
The Japanese torpedoes had the intended effect. No hits were scored but Achilles and Richmond were both forced to turn away from the Japanese to comb the tracks of the missiles. With the Allied cruisers busy avoiding the torpedoes, Kuma accelerated to 35 knots heading southeast while Kinu turned and “charged” her tormentors at eight knots.
Seeing Kuma escaping, Captain Mansergh ordered the faster Richmond to pursue while Achilles turned to finish off the crippled Kinu. Achilles’ gunners poured six-inch gunfire on the damaged cruiser while Mansergh’s torpedo men launched a spread of four fish, hitting with one. Kinu’s gunners managed to score two more hits on Achilles before the burning ship rolled over and sank shortly after 1500 hours.
While Achilles was rescuing the small number of survivors from Kinu, Richmond returned having given up the pursuit of Kuma with Captain Waldschmidt reporting that the Japanese ship had too much of a head start. Waldschmidt did stop to pull his Kingfisher’s crew out of their life raft. The floatplane’s protracted duel with the two Alfs had resulted in one of the Alfs and the Kingfisher shot down while the surviving Alf caught up with the fleeing Kuma.
At 1600 hours with all survivors rescued, Achilles and Richmond turned north at 15 knots for the return trip to Port C. HMNZS Achilles had now cemented her reputation as the Allies’ premier raider killer with one light cruiser and two merchant cruisers to her credit along with her participation in the Battle of River Plate.
At 1400 hours, the pilot reported two light cruisers closing at 30 knots. Five minutes later lookouts on Kuma reported ships astern and to port.
Onboard HMNZS Achilles, Captain Mansergh decided it was time to give the Japanese something to worry about. His cruisers had adjusted to a course with three miles of parallel separation and were just over ten miles astern of the Japanese. The angle still was not good and only Achilles forward turrets had an open shot while Richmond’s Kingfisher could not spot for the gunners because its pilot was busy with the Alfs. Still, Achilles’ radar operators and gunners were experienced and well trained and at 1405 hours with the range down to nine miles, Achilles’ two forward turrets barked at the light cruiser Kuma. The first two salvos were long and the third was short but with the fourth salvo, Achilles’ gunners landed a round on Kuma’s catapult. By this time, Richmond’s forward turret had joined in and her gunners scored two near misses on their third salvo killing several exposed crewmen. Kuma’s stern guns could only make ineffective replies and her gunners only managed to land a single 5.5” round on Achilles that caused light damage.
Outgunned and with the range rapidly closing, Captain Kato knew his ships only had one chance. Both cruisers put down a spread of four torpedoes each from their portside tubes while Kato ordered Kuma to accelerate to full speed and get clear of the area while Kinu laid a smoke screen. Captain Shibuya onboard Kuma protested but Captain Kato as senior officer afloat refused to relent, ordering Shibuya to get away while he still had a chance.
The Japanese torpedoes had the intended effect. No hits were scored but Achilles and Richmond were both forced to turn away from the Japanese to comb the tracks of the missiles. With the Allied cruisers busy avoiding the torpedoes, Kuma accelerated to 35 knots heading southeast while Kinu turned and “charged” her tormentors at eight knots.
Seeing Kuma escaping, Captain Mansergh ordered the faster Richmond to pursue while Achilles turned to finish off the crippled Kinu. Achilles’ gunners poured six-inch gunfire on the damaged cruiser while Mansergh’s torpedo men launched a spread of four fish, hitting with one. Kinu’s gunners managed to score two more hits on Achilles before the burning ship rolled over and sank shortly after 1500 hours.
While Achilles was rescuing the small number of survivors from Kinu, Richmond returned having given up the pursuit of Kuma with Captain Waldschmidt reporting that the Japanese ship had too much of a head start. Waldschmidt did stop to pull his Kingfisher’s crew out of their life raft. The floatplane’s protracted duel with the two Alfs had resulted in one of the Alfs and the Kingfisher shot down while the surviving Alf caught up with the fleeing Kuma.
At 1600 hours with all survivors rescued, Achilles and Richmond turned north at 15 knots for the return trip to Port C. HMNZS Achilles had now cemented her reputation as the Allies’ premier raider killer with one light cruiser and two merchant cruisers to her credit along with her participation in the Battle of River Plate.
Even today US CVNs expect to lose two aircraft and one aircrew on a deployment. That doesn't mean they do, but that is considered "normal."
Those are my favorite kind, but then I have a long love affair with the gun ships. Infantry combat is the tough one for me
Forever more the Royal New Zealand Navy will have an HMNZS Achilles as flagship of the fleet. Even if it's a rubber raft.
I have trouble with fighter combat. I just can not easily imagine in 4-D
1700 Hours, 27 September 1942, 720 Miles South of Port C, Indian Ocean – Satisfied that he had shaken his pursuers, Captain Shibuya brought the light cruiser Kuma to a dead stop while her Alf floatplane glided to stop on the water 20 yards from the ship. A shell from HMNZS Achilles had taken out Kuma’s catapult so a motor launch picked up the Alf’s crew of three and then the floatplane was raked with machine gun fire.
Once the motor launch was secured, Captain Shibuya turned his ship northeast at 10 knots. After several hours of high speed steaming Shibuya was concerned about this fuel state. At this speed, it would take a week to reach Koepang.
Once the motor launch was secured, Captain Shibuya turned his ship northeast at 10 knots. After several hours of high speed steaming Shibuya was concerned about this fuel state. At this speed, it would take a week to reach Koepang.
Errolwi
Monthly Donor
So tomorrow's Catalina torpedo strike is lucky enough to get two hits and sink Kuma without any cruiser shells required?
So what's going to get the Kuma? Airstrike, one of those newly arrived subs or how about HMS Warspite?
Why would they give up if they unlike the IJN have refuelling coming to them? Would continuing in the general direction so they are in position to benefit from from tomorrows Catalina sightings not likely lead to a kill after all they know that the IJN CL cant keep running fast and get home?
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The problem is that Richmond does not have a radar yet (she will get it next time she is in Colombo) and now she doesn't have any aircraft either. The problem for the reconnaissance aircraft is that they will have to start standing down some operations for maintenance so not as many will be flying tomorrow and they have a lot of ocean to cover. This one's not quite over yet though, I'm working on the next evolution. Kuma may slip through the cracks, but they aren't going to make it easy on her.
0800 Hours, 28 September 1942, Simon’s Town, South Africa – Having been joined by their escorts, the submarine tender HMS Adamant, the fleet oilers RFA Brown Ranger and RFA Eaglesdale, and the fleet stores and water distillation ship RFA Bacchus departed Simon’s Town for Colombo. The convoy’s escort consisted of the cruiser HMS Dauntless, the destroyers HMS Paladin, HMS Panther, HMS Express, and HMS Javelin and the merchant cruiser HMS Corfu. Joining the convoy was the American merchant ship SS Redbeard that had arrived with another convoy four days earlier. Redbeard was carrying 12 Martlet fighters and 12 A-24 Banshee dive bombers along with spare parts, engines, and munitions. Attrition was taking its toll on the Phosphate Air Force and while the US Navy was hard pressed to release any new build Dauntless dive bombers to the FAA due to the attrition of its own squadrons, the USAAF agreed to transfer a small number of its land based variants to the flyers on Christmas Island.
Also in Simon’s Town were the American cruisers USS Marblehead and USS Indianapolis and the destroyers USS John D. Ford, USS Whipple, and USS Parrott. Indianapolis was undergoing additional repairs from torpedo damage sustained during the Battle of Christmas Island before continuing on the Philadelphia Navy Yard for a full-scale refit.
Also in Simon’s Town were the American cruisers USS Marblehead and USS Indianapolis and the destroyers USS John D. Ford, USS Whipple, and USS Parrott. Indianapolis was undergoing additional repairs from torpedo damage sustained during the Battle of Christmas Island before continuing on the Philadelphia Navy Yard for a full-scale refit.
Sometimes, ships manage to get away; everything doesn't always get sunk...
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