Force Z delayed
- Thread starter Peg Leg Pom
- Start date
Pangur
Donor
You will also need to carry ammo for them and crew to serve them. That surely will add up to a fair bit of space (ammo) and what to they stop doing when at battlestations to free up the required men?
Probably the twin 4" as it seems to have the least work involved, on the upside they could have simply used the single purpose triple 4" gun's that were still on Repulse magazine feeds to cut down on the work required. And directors are one heck of a lot easier to install then new magazine feeds as they don't require you to go down below the main deck, its maybe a couple of months work to really improve Repulse's AA armament. If only the same could be said of her TDS, Engines, and Armor.
Good points.
It's a real pity the UK government was so focused on fiscal stability and maintaining the Gold Standard for so long. A POD with earlier rebuilds for Repulse and Hood* along with a second Ark Royal would have paid dividends.
* (perhaps need slightly different WNT to keep Tiger as cover and an eventual rebuild as Kongo class?)
HJ Tulp
Donor
Yeah. I think that the Australian government would have screamed bloody murder about such a move.
So would all the MP's in Westminster who's constituents had close family in Australia and New Zealand now threatened by the Japanese.
I really think they would be withdrawn West. Go to Ceylon and we have our Midway in the West off Ceylon when the Indian Ocean sortie takes place.
Ack Ack that can keep up with the carriers. Not that it changes Somerville's problem with being outmatched in the air during daylight.
At least it means that he can keep out of attack range during daylight as the Warspite and the Revenge class ships are simply too slow to do so.
I think Somerville's best hope to win a "midway" would be to simply use them as bait near to Ceylon and get the IJN to fight within land based RAF fighters... (and hope the ASB has made the AM send spitfires in quantity rather than waste them over northern France)
Good question, PMN. I would say if my scenario with Repulse leading the 3 old D class up the coast and surviving, there would be a realization of Japanese land-based air capability. What will not be known is the vulnerability of the KGV class to torpedo damage, and the need for additional auxiliary power that the loss of PoW showed.
Starting another post with 'Several years ago', but Several years ago, BC board member BC_Renown and I were discussing a better refit for Repulse. We debated a US secondary fit of 5in/38s, but this seemed to be the best fit for RN weapons
11 x 4in twin deck mounts (there is a pair under the upper deck with the first two pairs of 4in twins that could file at low-level targets, read: torpedo planes) and some additional 2pdr pom-poms.
Regards,
Force Z and the garrison at Ceylon plus the OTL force, is pretty substantial. The British had compromised the Japanese codes even more thoroughly than the Americans did.
I don't know why I didn't think of this until I read your post but then the light bulb went off and I realized the Tennant of ship command is the same as the Tennant at Dunkirk and the Tennant in Normandy.
Geez, what a career.