Keynes' Cruisers Volume 2
- Thread starter fester
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IJN Fleet, 0830: Scratch 3 fleet carriers and two battleships. The sacrifice of (estimating) a torpedo squadron and a dive bomber squadron are well worth the return.
IJN Fleet, 1100am, as the USN Alpha Strike approaches: WTF‽‽
IJN Fleet, 1100am, as the USN Alpha Strike approaches: WTF‽‽
Now we get to guess if the scout spotted the main body and mistakenly saw an extra carrier or if they missed CVs on the fast carrier force and mistook cruisers for BBs and DDs for CAs.
Well played sir.
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Errolwi
Monthly Donor
Curses, they must have launched early too! They have nothing to return to however.
Driftless
Donor
Some parallels to OTL Midway, where the US dive bombers caught the Japanese with refuelling and partially armed planes on the carrier decks? Unfortunate that it was due to the sacrifice of the TBD's (OTL) and maybe here by the loss of most of Task Force 66.
Story 1756
Southern Makasssar Straits 0825 January 2, 1943
Admiral Kinkaid cursed as he saw the message. Most of Task Force 66 was sinking with heavy loss of life. Most of VF-6 and VF-5 had scrambled to reinforce the combat air patrol but they were late. They would orbit the destroyers seeking survivors for half an hour before returning home.
Twenty five miles to the north of USS Yorktown, a Wildcat piloted by an ensign fresh from advanced training scored his first (and only) kill of the war. A Jake had been spotted dashing between clouds. It was only four hundred yards in front of the Wildcat patrol. A seventeen second burst from the heavy machine guns were too much. As the observer parachuted into the sea, he looked to the south and saw the American task force.
Eighty miles further north, the Wildcats that had been scrambled too late to defend the escort carriers turned south. They flew in eight sections of four stacked in a broad front starting at 13,000 feet. The first fourteen miles was lacksadaisical until a sharp eyed lt commander spotted fast moving shadows on the sea below. He looked closer and a few seconds later, the squadron commander called out the sighting --- Bettys--- His squadron acknowledged the report and held tight until both Yorktown and the other fighter squadron also acknowledged the sighting. VF-6 would stay high looking for Japanese escorts while VF-5 could get into the bombers.
Sixteen Wildcats dove hard and fast onto the bombers. No machine guns greeted them. A few gunners called out a warning seconds before the element leaders opened fire. For those bombers that could jink, it sometimes mattered but sometimes it did not as they were not the targeted bomber. Twenty four bombers from Balikpapan had launched with instructions to hit the Allied battle line. Fighter cover had not been arranged as the Kido Butai was supposed to have occupied the American and British carriers. The first pass sent five bombers into the sea. The second pass left only two thirds of the bombers flying. By now, some of the wingmen had switched positions with their element leads as the leaders had shot off at least a whole six yards. A third and then a fourth pass broke any semblence of defensive integrity. Eight more Wildcats from VF-6 swooped down to join the slaughter. The robin blue assassains broke off four minutes later as only four bombers survived; all heading north at full speed and fifty feet over the sea.
Admiral Kinkaid cursed as he saw the message. Most of Task Force 66 was sinking with heavy loss of life. Most of VF-6 and VF-5 had scrambled to reinforce the combat air patrol but they were late. They would orbit the destroyers seeking survivors for half an hour before returning home.
Twenty five miles to the north of USS Yorktown, a Wildcat piloted by an ensign fresh from advanced training scored his first (and only) kill of the war. A Jake had been spotted dashing between clouds. It was only four hundred yards in front of the Wildcat patrol. A seventeen second burst from the heavy machine guns were too much. As the observer parachuted into the sea, he looked to the south and saw the American task force.
Eighty miles further north, the Wildcats that had been scrambled too late to defend the escort carriers turned south. They flew in eight sections of four stacked in a broad front starting at 13,000 feet. The first fourteen miles was lacksadaisical until a sharp eyed lt commander spotted fast moving shadows on the sea below. He looked closer and a few seconds later, the squadron commander called out the sighting --- Bettys--- His squadron acknowledged the report and held tight until both Yorktown and the other fighter squadron also acknowledged the sighting. VF-6 would stay high looking for Japanese escorts while VF-5 could get into the bombers.
Sixteen Wildcats dove hard and fast onto the bombers. No machine guns greeted them. A few gunners called out a warning seconds before the element leaders opened fire. For those bombers that could jink, it sometimes mattered but sometimes it did not as they were not the targeted bomber. Twenty four bombers from Balikpapan had launched with instructions to hit the Allied battle line. Fighter cover had not been arranged as the Kido Butai was supposed to have occupied the American and British carriers. The first pass sent five bombers into the sea. The second pass left only two thirds of the bombers flying. By now, some of the wingmen had switched positions with their element leads as the leaders had shot off at least a whole six yards. A third and then a fourth pass broke any semblence of defensive integrity. Eight more Wildcats from VF-6 swooped down to join the slaughter. The robin blue assassains broke off four minutes later as only four bombers survived; all heading north at full speed and fifty feet over the sea.
Or purchase a few/license for 1942 Light Fleets. And if the @fester wants Britain not to come out of this war screwed and crushed by the US, ramping up their own industry on freely acquired machine tools, expertise, money and technology... perhaps some reverse investment into British armour plate, turbines and slipways might help.
Not going to happen -- the US is more than happy with the slow/cheap CVE on merchant hulls and the fast CVLs on cruiser hulls. The British light fleets fit a need with a performance spec that the USN does not see as too valuable. Remember; the USN can crank out Essex class carriers faster than anyone else can build light cruisers.
Interesting- first confirmation that the IJN have a good idea what they are up against.
restricted seas near IJNAF air bases and decent SIGNIT monitoring strongly supported the IJN knowing that there were carriers in the area ... exactly where is a question and exactly how many is another question.
Yeah.
No loss of the Dutch East Indies means the Netherlands will come back stronger and will probably keep surpassing the Indonesian independence movement. The occupation IOTL helped the movement, mainly how the Japanese dismantled all of the colonial systems the Dutch used to keep control and once Japan surrendered Sukarno took his chances.
Story 1757
Makassar Straits, 0855 January 2, 1943
USS Yorktown, Enterprise and Constellation turned into the wind. The task force had been heading north at twenty seven knots since dawn except when flight operations needed a course reversal. More Catalinas were reporting contacts including a big one at the edge of striking distance. The Sunday punch would be taking off shortly. Between the three carriers, thirty two fighters, ninety one dive bombers and forty torpedo bombers would be launched in the next twenty four minutes. The slow Avengers and Dauntlesses would take off first and begin an efficient climb to altitude. The escorting fighters would catch up as their higher cruise speed gave them the luxury of the last launch.
Twelve miles away, Lexington was being held in reserve. Her air group was ready but Admiral Somerville suspected that there was more out there that he did not know. Saratoga had become the American patrol carrier for the morning. Most of her dive bombers were still scouting for the enemy while her fighters provided reinforcement to the combat air patrols.
Eighteen miles to the west, Ark Royal, Furious and Indomitable all launched thirty plane strikes. The Royal Navy's smaller air wings and deck spotting practices never encouraged large strikes. Instead they were better at sending waves. The second wave was being held aboard in reserve, but the punch that the RN could throw could and would break jaws if it connected.
USS Yorktown, Enterprise and Constellation turned into the wind. The task force had been heading north at twenty seven knots since dawn except when flight operations needed a course reversal. More Catalinas were reporting contacts including a big one at the edge of striking distance. The Sunday punch would be taking off shortly. Between the three carriers, thirty two fighters, ninety one dive bombers and forty torpedo bombers would be launched in the next twenty four minutes. The slow Avengers and Dauntlesses would take off first and begin an efficient climb to altitude. The escorting fighters would catch up as their higher cruise speed gave them the luxury of the last launch.
Twelve miles away, Lexington was being held in reserve. Her air group was ready but Admiral Somerville suspected that there was more out there that he did not know. Saratoga had become the American patrol carrier for the morning. Most of her dive bombers were still scouting for the enemy while her fighters provided reinforcement to the combat air patrols.
Eighteen miles to the west, Ark Royal, Furious and Indomitable all launched thirty plane strikes. The Royal Navy's smaller air wings and deck spotting practices never encouraged large strikes. Instead they were better at sending waves. The second wave was being held aboard in reserve, but the punch that the RN could throw could and would break jaws if it connected.
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AIUI the phrase "Alpha Strike" is both anachronistic (invented post WW2) and in this case misapplied
Alpha Strikes hit land targets
Sierra Strikes are against ships
WTF still applies though I would expect
Oops ... in fact double oops
wasting the USN strike at maximum range against the IJN BB line
and committing the RN attack squadrons in daylight
If the KB is awake, someone is going to have a bad day
I had a feeling that it was anachronistic, but didn’t know the correct term for them time and didn’t want to reuse “Sunday Punch” as Fester has used it a lot. Didn’t know about the desperate land/sea designations though, thanks for that.AIUI the phrase "Alpha Strike" is both anachronistic (invented post WW2) and in this case misapplied
Alpha Strikes hit land targets
Sierra Strikes are against ships
WTF still applies though I would expect
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