HMS Invincible

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Lord Wyclif

United Kingdom
On the 9th Vengeance entered the dry dock at Govan. Upon inspection it was discovered that a large deep sea trawler net had become entangled around her outer starboard propeller. On Tuesday morning the dock was flooded and Vengeance was warped out by two tugs to the tidal berth on the Clyde. Early on Friday morning she sailed into the North Channel, along with the fast costal escort destroyer HMS Wallace and the corvette HMS Poppy. Again various tests were carried out including Action Stations, Emergency Stations etc before sailing up to the Loch Ewe naval base.

HMS Invincible worked up again in the Mince with 820’s Aces and 800’s Thunderbolts. The new BH5 hydraulic catapults that were recently installed were designed to launch 30,000lbs aircraft at 130knots, however during the last few weeks trials they could only achieve an end speed of 75knots. On Saturday Invincible revived her Operational Readiness Inspection. Inclement weather stranded several hundred of her crew ashore, but Rear-Admiral J B Heath, an old friend of the ship, passed her with flying colours.
 

Zheng He

Lord Wyclif said:
Bataan
During the early evening of Monday 13th HMSubmarine Otus surfaced along side the Chinese junk Zheng He. Look-outs were posted and a MBT drew close. AA gun posts on all 3 vessels were manned. At 20:35 a torpedo trail was spotted and the alarm raised. It was too late for the Zheng He. She was hit amidships and her flimsy construction disintegrated almost immediately. A second torpedo narrowly missed the Otus as she began to submerge. The MTB swung round to pick up survivors as five Japanese aircraft approached. 20mm and .50 guns blazed away skyward. Two of the aircraft were hit but insufficiently to cause their loss. Two near misses from bombs swamped the boat and she began to take on water. She fought on for another twenty minutes before she floundered following another strafing run by the Japanese. As the aircraft departed the I-30 surfaced and began shooting the British and Chinese in the water. In their excitement, the crew of the I-30 forgot about the Otus, who at 21:10 hit her with two torpedoes. Otus surfaced at 21:30, picked up all survivors and began her return run to Singapore.
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OUTSTANDING!!!!!
 

Lord Wyclif

On the 19th the U-5 was sunk in the North Sea by a mine laid the previous night by RAF Wellingtons at the mouth of the Trondheim Fjord. On Thursday morning in a winter squall an RAF Liberator caught and sunk the U-468 as it surfaced to enter the Elbe Estuary. 200 miles further north the U-301 was attacked and sunk by HMSubmarine Sahib.

During a daylight raid by American Flying Fortresses over the Wilhelmshaven dockyard the U-boats U-34, U-101 and U-458 were destroyed and much damage done to the dockyard facilities. However the docks were back in operation by the end of February.

An RAF Grendel, on a follow-up operation found the U-561 traversing the Elbe Estuary to begin her patrol, riddled it with 20mm gunfire. The boat took on water blocking the main channel to the sea. Rounding off a bad day for the Kriegsmarine an RAF Sunderland located the U-105 returning from a war patrol, as she approached the St. Naziare U-boat pens, sinking her with two 250lbs bombs and two depth-charges.
 
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pjmidd

Lord Wyclif said:
On the 19th the U-5 was sunk in the North Sea by a mine laid the previous night by RAF Wellingtons at the mouth of the Trondheim Fjord. On Thursday morning in a winter squall an RAF Liberator caught and sunk the U-468 as it surfaced to enter the Elbe Estuary. 200 miles further north the U-301 was attacked and sunk by HMSubmarine Sahib.

During a daylight raid by American Flying Fortresses over the Wilhelmshaven dockyard the U-boats U-34, U-101 and U105 were destroyed and much damage done to the dockyard facilities. However the docks were back in operation by the end of February.

An RAF Grendel, on a follow-up operation found the U-561 traversing the Elbe Estuary to begin her patrol, riddled it with 20mm gunfire. The boat took on water blocking the main channel to the sea. Rounding off a bad day for the Kriegsmarine an RAF Sunderland located the U-105 returning from a war patrol, as she approached the St. Naziare U-boat pens, sinking her with two 250lbs bombs and two depth-charges.
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Think there is a typo , U-105 gets sunk /destroyed twice
 

Cryhavoc101

My mates dad 'Norm' was a linguist in the Navy and he along with 2 other men had been ordered to report the HMS Ocelot (?) in Gosport

He arrived to discover that the submarine that sat between Ocelot and the dock - HMS Artemis - had sunk alongside 'in an uncontrolled fashion' (and he was not particularly happy about it)

full


Anyway being knackered from his travels he and his 2 mates decided to find their bunks and get their heads down.

Some hours later he was shockingly awakened with cold water spraying all over him and in record time he and his two colleagues where up the tower hollering like mad begging to be saved dressed only in their boxers.

It turned out to be an internal fresh water pipe where a link had failed
 

Lord Wyclif

Sunday January 23rd - Saturday January 29th

Russia
Soviet troops captured Voroshilovsky and Stavropol in the Caucasus. The bulk of the 1st Panzer Army, 5th Panzer Army and the Romanian 4th Army were destroyed . Over 300,000 German and Romanian troops were killed and a further 500,000 captured since the Soviet offensive in the region began. The 6th Army and 4th Panzer Army’s position in southern Stalingrad area.
 

Lord Wyclif

Germany
USAAF Flying Fortresses bombed Keil on the 24th. U-237 and U-622 were caught portside and destroyed.

During a sweep over the Elbe Estuary on the 25th an RAF Grendel caught another U-boat the U-375 trying to navigate its way to Hamburg. Swooping in low at 45 feet two 250lbs bombs were dropped. Though they were both near misses they exploded on impact with the river bed rupturing the submarines hull.

The crew of a B-17 shot down the previous week arrived back in England on the 27th. They reported a lack of German military on the ground as they made their way home through northern Germany and Holland. This information plus that supplied by SIS agents operating in Germany confirmed that five of the sixteen divisions based in there, were re-deployed to the Eastern Front during November. A further eight were moved during December, leaving only three to defend all of the Fatherland. Upon receipt of this information, Secretary of State for Defence, Churchill again pressed for a revival of Operation Catherine.
 

Lord Wyclif

France
Sunday afternoon the German landing craft F-152 was sunk by American fighter-bombers off La Rochelle. The R-44 minesweeper was bombed by the Americans and sunk 50 miles west of Brest. Monday morning saw another landing craft the F-323 loaded with supplies attacked and sunk by an RAF Mosquito as it approached St. Helier.
 

Lord Wyclif

Convoy ON55
Norwegian cargo ship Ringstad was sunk by U-333 on the 24th.

The passenger ship Vile de Tamatava foundered in an Atlantic gale. HMS Corncrake broke away from the convoy ON55 in response to the distress call. Recovering survivors the minelayer also sunk due to high seas.

The British cargo ship Lackenby started to fall behind the convoy and was spotted by the U-624. With the winds dying down after dark, the submarine hit her with two torpedoes sinking her with all hands.

The Norwegian tanker Nortind also fell behind the convoy was sunk by the U-358.
 

Lord Wyclif

United Kingdom
HMS Excalibur, HMS Invincible, HMS Vengeance and HMS Victorious and their escorts, sailed from Loch Ewe through the Irish Sea to the Bristol Channel. Each vessel carried one RNAS jet squadron onboard. Several exercises were carried out at the Aberporth Ranges. Another three RNAS squadrons that weren’t yet carrier qualified but flew out of RNAS Brawdy in South Wales. During the deployment, on the night of the 26th, five Aces engaged on a night-time raid on the Isle of Man. Pilot Lt Bruce was killed in accident, the first death in a jet propelled aeroplane. A later enquiry would put the blame on engine failure. Another fatality occurred on the morning of the 21st 11th Petty Officer Millar was found dead in his bunk. The following enquiry confirmed Millar died natural causes.

Special guests on the Invincible were Richard Atcherley and Sir Alan Cobham of Flight Refuelling Limited. They brought on board a specially adapted Airspeed Oxford, with the intent to extend the short range of jet aircraft.handling trials, landing and take off methods of operations techniques were worked out.
 

Lord Wyclif

Casablanca
Prime-minister Eden met with President Roosevelt and General de Gaulle at the Anfa Hotel. Whilst putting on the public appearance that they were united, there were serious disagreements behind the scenes. The conference agenda addressed the specifics of tactical procedure, allocation of resources, and the broader issues of diplomatic policy. However the conference was without the representation of the Soviets, Stalin was fully engaged with their advance in the Don and Caucuses, as a result it was just a paper exercise. The Americans stated their position was for an unconditional surrender. The British, originally demanded the total destruction of the German field armies along with the permanent crippling of German industry and commerce sufficient to reduce it to an agricultural state of 20 million, would suffice with a withdrawal from all occupied territories and the removal of Hitler and his henchmen. MI6 had successfully infiltrated the Abwehr, Oberstleutnant Hans Oster, Helmuth Groscurth and Admiral Canaris were turned and pressure was being put on Albert Speer as well. Plans, although unknown to the other Allies, were well under way to bring the European stage of the war, to Britain’s satisfaction, to an end in March.

Britain was well aware of the advanced technical breakthroughs by the Germans and it would be in the Empires best interest to process these enabling her to defend her own. It was also well aware of the massive Soviet war machine being built up and thus required a powerful Germany and France to act as a buffer.
 
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