Keynes' Cruisers Volume 2

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Sittang River, Burma, 10 minutes before dawn November 9, 1942


He caught his breath. He unscrewed his canteen and had a sip of water before offering to share it with the rifleman who was in the same combat scrape as him. The Yorkshireman shook his head as he did not want more water before he had a chance to piss. Their bodies were pressed flat against the ground a few inches below the crest of a body height rise in the ground. Other men of the assault company were clustered near them but right now the world that the nineteen year old could touch was the only world that mattered to him. The assault boat was brushing up against his ankle and he knew that he would be one of the first men in the water and one of the first men paddling across the river.


Even as the young man shifted his weight from one hip to the other and enjoying the relief of his ninety five pound pack digging into his other shoulder, the entire universe erupted. This was not a bombardment that a veteran of the Somme, including the regimental sergeant major, would recognize, but it was a bombardment that veterans of the 100 Days such as the Brigade commander would know intimately. Very little had changed except the size of the guns and their range. Thousands of gunners were feeding the hungry maws of hundreds of guns as quickly as they could. Some regiments were firing mainly high explosive to destroy forward positions while other regiments were walking shrapnel rounds to keep Japanese reserves in place. Even more regiments, mainly the older 18 pounder regiments were pouring smoke across the assault zones. Japanese machine guns and mortars took a few minutes to respond but they began to blindly fire into the smoke screens.


Spotters on the west bank noted where the Japanese were firing from. Reserve batteries were soon being directed to smother those positions.


As dawn broke, whistles up and down the line were blown. Officers with Wembley pistols began to scramble over the top of the limited cover near the river bank. Behind them, thousands of nineteen and twenty year old riflemen with a smattering of older men with experience and some wisdom carried the assault boats. The nineteen year whose world had collapsed to only that which he could touch was lucky, he was in the boat and paddling within minutes even as mortar shells shredded the men and the rubber boat next to him.


Six battalions were in the first wave. Three landing zones would be targeted and then the pioneers would rig ferries at the most successful landings to bring over the tank brigade to push forward.

Webley pistols. ;-)
 
And the oilers will be a high value target for the Japanese Army air force and the Japanese Naval air force. Oilers are scarce and valuable commodities and risking any of them at the half way mark of this transit is likely to be regarded as criminal negligence. Sitting at 750nm from Bataan and sailing at 18 kts for a time to refuel will be extremely dangerous.
RAS is still a new thing and refuelling from anything than an oiler, especially with these MTB conversions is going to be a slow process, which tends to negate for a number of hours the ability to run at 30 kts to Bataan.
The only way oilers would be risked is such a high risk area is if the entire Eastern fleet with all their carriers were included. And that is what the allies are trying to avoid, putting scarce capital ships in harm's way.
Let's face it, Bataan is really a self sustaining POW camp. So long as the Japanese can restrict by mining and other means the resupply to prevent any attempt at a breakout, it really doesn't matter in the larger picture of things. No essential resources that Japan needs, no ability to interfere with the Japanese sea communications back to the home islands. Except of course in the political arena where "Something must be Done" will impact on the next elections.

Don't refuel at sea, but have extra tanks fitted to the deck. Use this fuel first and ditch them overboard when empty. If you are running low on fuel on the way home, have tugs/destroyers waiting outside the range of the japanese planes.
 
Maybe modified PT boats are the way to go. The British Camper and Nicholson boats aren't bad but they're not fast enough to outrun an IJN destroyer. The USN PT boats are faster but smaller with a shorter range. These boats have a draft of less than 4 feet. You could unload them almost anywhere.

The PT boats would have to be modified by removing the torpedo tubes and depth charges. Keep the AA guns of course. Additional fuel tanks will have to be installed to increase the range. Possibly as well as carrying a few 55 gallon drums on the deck at the beginning of the trip so as to top off the fuel tanks along the way and then dump. Could these modified boats manage a 1000 mile trip there and a 1000 miles back carrying 10 to 15 tons of cargo on the way in?

The cargo carrying PT-boats would have their fuel tanks topped off by one or two modified APDs fitted with tanks, fuel pumps and hoses to fuel the PT-boats tied up to them. Not difficult as long as the sea is not too rough. This would occur at locations about 500 miles Northeast of Singapore still under the Eastern edge of the Allied air umbrella. The same ships would wait for the returning PT boats to provide the fuel needed for them to reach Singapore.

There is totally no reason to risk valuable fleet oilers for this job. They are not suited or needed for this and they wouldn't be available anyway. Fueling PT boats is more comparable to fueling aircraft in the amount of fuel pumped and in the arrangement of tanks and filler caps. An APD fitted with tanks, pumps and hoses for fueling the PT boats while they're tied up alongside is adequate.

Rather then using APDs use AVDs, they are already set up to refuel aircraft, alongside, have the fuel tanks installed (safer then barrels), the have the same protective armament, and powerplants
 
Or a millch cow submarine

Why not both APD or AVD ships and a milk cow sub? I'm not sure just how long a range those Elco PT boats could manage even using additional fuel tanks but for sure if they could be refueled twice on the way, first by the surface ships protected by Allied planes from Malaya than much closer in by the milk cow sub, that would permit the higher fuel consumption that a high speed run would demand. They could get in and out faster reducing the risk.
 
Palawan, October 17, 1942 Chapter 1602 Volume 1 of Keynes' Cruisers. By fester.

"The island was lightly occupied. The Japanese controlled the ports and the airfields on the long, skinny island and the guerillas controlled the interior. A de facto truce had been called as neither army was able to dislodge the other. Japanese reinforcements, mainly construction battalions and third rate infantry regiments, were slowly arriving to build fortifications to stand off the inevitable Allied counter-offensive. More reinforcements had touched ground briefly as ships refueled and took on more fresh water before troops were brought to Thailand, French Indochina and Borneo." Abridged.



Does a similar tactical situation exist on Luzon? Is there poor security near and around major Japanese installations? In particular airfields? Are the American and Filipino guerillas being supplied and supported by the occasional submarine deliveries? If they can be equipped with the ubiquitous and effective 60mm mortars and a adequate supply of ammunition they could play merry hell by mortaring Clark and other major Japanese air bases.

They can set up mortar teams within 2 kilometers of where any planes are parked and target them. Then bug out into the jungle. A 60mm mortar round landing within a few yards of a Betty will damage it and possibly destroy it there is a fire. This is an effective way of reducing the strength of the Japanese air forces based in P.I. And a very difficult tactic for the IJA to counter under their current situation.
 
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If there isn't really that much actual fighting in the Bataan area and a lot of units aren't actually expending ammo at all, could they look at reducing ammo shipments in favor of food? This would only be a drop in the bucket overall, but it could still buy some time.

There was mention of several British submarines that could aid in the supply runs, but the British see them as more critical to their offensives out of Burma and Malaya. As Battan can still hold out til February or March at least right now, would it be possible to work something out with the British to look at using some of these submarines at the beginning of 1943, depending on how the planned offensives end up going? If the British are struggling, it might not be doable, but if they meet or exceed their objectives, it might be possible.
 
Palawan, October 17, 1942 Chapter 1602 Volume 1.

"The island was lightly occupied. The Japanese controlled the ports and the airfields on the long, skinny island and the guerillas controlled the interior. A de facto truce had been called as neither army was able to dislodge the other. Japanese reinforcements, mainly construction battalions and third rate infantry regiments, were slowly arriving to build fortifications to stand off the inevitable Allied counter-offensive. More reinforcements had touched ground briefly as ships refueled and took on more fresh water before troops were brought to Thailand, French Indochina and Borneo."

Does a similar tactical situation exist on Luzon? Is there poor security near and around major Japanese installations? In particular airfields? Are the American and Filipino guerillas being supplied and supported by the occasional submarine deliveries? If they can be equipped with the ubiquitous and effective 60mm mortars and a adequate supply of ammunition they could play merry hell by mortaring Clark and other major Japanese air bases.

They can set up mortar teams within 2 kilometers of where any planes are parked and target them. Then bug out into the jungle. A 60mm mortar round landing within a few yards of a Betty will damage it and possibly destroy it there is a fire. This is an effective way of reducing the strength of the Japanese air forces based in P.I. And a very difficult tactic for the IJA to counter under their current situation.

Around Clark and other hard surface fields, the Japanese are running reasonably aggressive patrolling for a several mile radius.

The anti-mortar strategy though is not killing the mortar teams, it is killing several dozen/hundred civilians who live near(ish) the base every time a mortar is fired at the runway.
 
Around Clark and other hard surface fields, the Japanese are running reasonably aggressive patrolling for a several mile radius.

The anti-mortar strategy though is not killing the mortar teams, it is killing several dozen/hundred civilians who live near(ish) the base every time a mortar is fired at the runway.

How very classy, someone has a date at Tokyo in two to three years.
 
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