April 1942 Alternate Indian Ocean
- Thread starter Zheng He
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Well all the bases and forces get a day to relax and recover. The various task forces continue to close with their targets. The air groups will be armed and off in search of their prey. Deception squaring off with recon and guessing what is the truth.
I really like the picture from the Akagi. I do not think I have ever seen it before. Seeing the battlelinebof the other carriers, battleships, and cruisers steaming in line helps to show the strength that the Kido Butai still had.
I really like the picture from the Akagi. I do not think I have ever seen it before. Seeing the battlelinebof the other carriers, battleships, and cruisers steaming in line helps to show the strength that the Kido Butai still had.
Those white things around the conning tower. Are they sandbags? If so, why, and if not, then what the hell are they?
Just say it after I typed it. Maybe I had seen it but never looked at in full and expanded.
Some Bloke said:
Correct. The were bags filled with heavy fibre & possiblly sawdust. As I understand they were discarded sometime in the spring of 1942. I dont recall them in photos of the carriers from the Midway battle. They may have been recognized as a fire hazard.
I think I read on another site that a few people thought they might be the heavy fiber/silk hammocks of the Sailors filled as well. It was agreed that they would pose a big fire danger and impair fire fighting teams on the carriers.
5 April 1942, The Indian Ocean - Across the wide expanse of the eastern Indian Ocean at land bases, seaplane anchorages, and onboard aircraft carriers, flight operations began early in the morning on 5 April 1942 for both the British and the Japanese. The search aircraft of the Kido Butai were first off the mark with eight planes launching at 0430 in the morning to cover a 120 degree search arc to the west of Nagumo's carriers. The heavy cruisers Tone and Chikuma each launched two E13A Jake floatplanes and the carriers Shokaku and Zuikaku each launched one B5N Kate torpedo bomber to fly 300 mile search vectors to the southwest of the Kido Butai. The battleships Kongo and Haruna each launched one E8N Dave floatplane to search 200 mile vectors to the northwest of the Kido Butai, the area considered to be the least likely to contain heavy units of the Eastern Fleet. Additionally, the Tone and Chikuma as well as the battleships Hiei and Kirishima each launched one Dave floatplane for the morning's anti-submarine patrols. At 0500, Nagumo's carriers became bustling hives of activity as all five carriers spotted and launched a shotai of three A6M Zeroes for the combat air patrol. Once the Zeroes were in the air the deck crews began spotting the aircraft for the strike against Colombo. Akagi, Hiryu, and Soryu each contributed 18 B5N torpedo bombers armed with 800 kg armor piercing bombs instead of torpedoes while Shokaku and Zuikaku added 18 D3A Val dive bombers from each carrier. The strike force was covered by 36 Zeroes, nine each from Akagi, Soryu, Hiryu, and Shokaku. At 0600 Nagumo's carriers turned into the wind and began launching aircraft. By 0620 all 126 aircraft under the command of Commander Fuchida Mitsuo who led the attack on Pearl Harbor were in the air and headed north on the 200 mile flight to Colombo.
A similar story, albeit on a much smaller scale played out at Port Blair and with the Malay Force. At 0500, six H6Ks launched from the harbor at Port Blair under the watchful eye of a shotai of Zeroes from Mingaladon. Two would head northwest to cover search arcs between Visakhapatnam and Calcutta to help sniff out British convoys for the Malay Force while four were tasked to fly deep into the Indian Ocean south of Ceylon on long search legs of almost 1200 miles to assist in providing reconnaissance for the Kido Butai. The Malay Force itself was still following a fairly easy routine. It would not be in position to attack British merchant shipping along the Indian coast until early the next morning so at this time flight operations consisted of keeping a shotai of A5M Claudes above the task force on combat air patrol while using the E8N Daves from the heavy cruisers for anti-submarine patrols.
Finally, at Mingaladon airfield, 12 of the 18 G3M Nell bombers that had arrived from Bangkok during the afternoon of 4 April along with six Zeroes were preparing for a strike against the British airbase at Akyab in Burma. The recent heavy bomber raids against Port Blair convinced Japanese commanders that Akyab was still an active base that needed to suppressed. The small strike force launched at 0630.
A similar story, albeit on a much smaller scale played out at Port Blair and with the Malay Force. At 0500, six H6Ks launched from the harbor at Port Blair under the watchful eye of a shotai of Zeroes from Mingaladon. Two would head northwest to cover search arcs between Visakhapatnam and Calcutta to help sniff out British convoys for the Malay Force while four were tasked to fly deep into the Indian Ocean south of Ceylon on long search legs of almost 1200 miles to assist in providing reconnaissance for the Kido Butai. The Malay Force itself was still following a fairly easy routine. It would not be in position to attack British merchant shipping along the Indian coast until early the next morning so at this time flight operations consisted of keeping a shotai of A5M Claudes above the task force on combat air patrol while using the E8N Daves from the heavy cruisers for anti-submarine patrols.
Finally, at Mingaladon airfield, 12 of the 18 G3M Nell bombers that had arrived from Bangkok during the afternoon of 4 April along with six Zeroes were preparing for a strike against the British airbase at Akyab in Burma. The recent heavy bomber raids against Port Blair convinced Japanese commanders that Akyab was still an active base that needed to suppressed. The small strike force launched at 0630.
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E8N Dave floatplane - the primary general purpose reconnaissance, spotting, and anti-submarine aircraft employed on Japanese cruisers and battleships in 1942:
http://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=...4vWmDRV-quy5NGT1E2Gt5rTQ&ust=1394485044130169
But it's only the 10th March now - hope we're not going to wait that long !!
That is one massive raid heading towards Columbo. The Allies planes and AAA will get some of Japanese planes but they may pay a heavy price.
The sets of search planes from the Japanese positions will be looking all over but it may be they will miss the commonwealth taskforces.
Look forward to what may happen next.
The sets of search planes from the Japanese positions will be looking all over but it may be they will miss the commonwealth taskforces.
Look forward to what may happen next.
The raid going to Colombo is the OTL raid. The only difference is that the defenses are a little better but they are still in trouble. I don't know what exact search scheme the KB used during Operation C so I am pretty much matching the Midway search plan because that plan was pretty standard for IJN air search doctrine at the time.
Right now the air search plans for the KB, Malay Force, and the Port Blair unit are not setup to find the main strength of the Eastern Fleet because they are not supposed to be where they are.
The 5th will be hectic, the 6th will be even more so...
It's an interesting picture, Akagi, that I had started a thread on a while back. There are three Zeroes, apparently ready for takeoff. The other aircraft - maybe 9 - are Vals. The deck park might be ahead of the aft crash barrier, and if this is so, the Akagi has a deck park, but still is capable of CAP operations.
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