Keynes' Cruisers Volume 2

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Using stringbags at night is the only safe way to use them if they would encounter fighter opposition, unless you have overwhelming numbers, some of the attacking fighters will get through. The problem here is fixing the Japanese convoy adequately to launch a night attack, and will the carriers (or land bases) be in range for a night strike.
 
Using stringbags at night is the only safe way to use them if they would encounter fighter opposition, unless you have overwhelming numbers, some of the attacking fighters will get through. The problem here is fixing the Japanese convoy adequately to launch a night attack, and will the carriers (or land bases) be in range for a night strike.

Being able to hit the Japanese by day and night will be a massive advantage. No safety, no security. Even a dozen Albacores (Swordfish will be Airborne Radar by now) making an attack every night will mean an immense degradation of the Japanese strength. They will have to be at battle stations/general quarters without rest or respite.
 
Being able to hit the Japanese by day and night will be a massive advantage. No safety, no security. Even a dozen Albacores (Swordfish will be Airborne Radar by now) making an attack every night will mean an immense degradation of the Japanese strength. They will have to be at battle stations/general quarters without rest or respite.

The night attacks should be primarily directed against the freighters. They are the purpose for this operation and preventing the IJA from being resupplied will make a big difference in how successful the Allied offensives in Burma and Thailand will turn out.

For the IJN covering force I think the Royal Navy and their FAA can deal with then using surface ships and air strikes as the IJN near. But the British had better have plenty of fighter coverage if they're going to sortie into the Gulf of Thailand. This is an opportunity to further degrade the IJN but at some risk.

However this plays out the main thing is to sink the transports. The Japanese will beach them if they have too. These ships must be hit far enough offshore so they can't be saved.
 
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Story 1660
Khota Baru, November 16, 1942


Men with lit wands waved down the Albacores. The biplane torpedo bomber squadron had departed after midnight to attack a convoy that was coming around the southern tip of French Indochina and entering the Gulf of Thailand. Ten aircraft went up, each lugging a single torpedo and a radar set. The naval aviators who had come east aboard HMS Ark Royal and they had been involved in collecting Charon’s toll for Japanese shipments into Bangkok since their airfield had been put into the body and fender shop.


Since then, there were only three pilots and five crew members who were aloft tonight that had flown their first land based mission. Replacements for those who needed rest and recovery and replacements for those who never came back filled the ranks. New aircraft had replaced those shot down and those that were pranged.


Ten aircraft had gone out, and as dawn was breaking, eight aircraft under cover at the advanced airfield at the southern edge of the Gulf. A teletype message from an emergency field in the rear of the Australian Corps arrived at noontime; another Albacore had a hard landing and her crew would need a day or two in the hospital for recovery. A sergeant made notes to send a truck full of snacks and good rye to ransom the lost boys.


Two aircraft that would never fly again and four dead men. These were a heavy price paid for the success; a pair of ships torpedoed, one hit at least twice and the other suffered from at least one definite hit. The merchant ships’ frames were warped and battered, allowing the tropical sea into the hull and holds. The larger ship stayed afloat long enough for the crew to leave in a somewhat organized fashion while the smaller ship with the two strikes saw her crew either stuck below decks or madly scrambling for safety.
 
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Story 1661
Khota Baru, November 16, 1942

Another flight of medium bombers took off. The Indians needed support and the bombers would be hitting a set of crossroads ten miles behind the front. As they were forming up, they flew over the retreating ships of the Combined Striking Force. Three heavy cruisers and three light cruisers all showed signs of battle damage. HMAS Perth's superstructure was scorched black from a raging fire that had just come under control hours ago. HMS Exeter limped along backwards as a heavy torpedo ripped off her bow. HMS Leander had survived the battle but had been scuttled after an air attack had maneuvered around the fighter screen covering the retreating cruisers. Two torpedoes broke her back.

Five cruisers of the Combined Striking Force had managed to ambush the Japanese convoy covering force while two other cruisers slipped behind the distant escort and ripped past the light, anti-submarine escort covering the merchant ships. Three merchant ships were sunk as well as a pair of escorting Japanese cruisers. The big torpedoes that the Japanese favored packed a wallop but past several thousand yards, they were too easy too dodge in open waters. A pair of nearly suicidal Japanese destroyers raced to a launch point of no more than 2,400 from Exeter and in their mortal spasm, they damaged the small heavy cruiser. Japanese and Royal Navy skippers saw their dopplegangers across the water as both sides raced with fury and wolverine like aggression as the Stygian darkness turned towards dawn. Knifes were almost as useful as heavy guns as the range closed. One destroyer raked another with anti-aircraft cannons to great effect.

Somehow HMS Mauritius had escaped from the open sea brawl with no damage, but every other ship in the striking force would need at least a week or two in the yard to come back to full efficiency.
 
Story 1662
Kalach na Danu, Russia November 17, 1942


The train stopped again. Partisans had planted a small time delay bomb on a switch. It had detonated half an hour ago and already, a work crew was examining the tracks for any more hidden bombs. Within the hour, the switch was being replaced and by early afternoon, the train lugging cold weather clothing sufficient for an infantry regiment as well as the tanks of a new independent heavy tank battalion pressed forward to the depot on the far side of the Don. The Panzer troopers for the battalion had already been shipped forward from their training bases in Bavaria and now they were meeting up with their steel monsters again.
 

Driftless

Donor
So four cargo ships sunk and one damaged - so far... They're the focal point of this set of actions. How many cargo ships total in this convoy? The Japanese had organized a substantial escort, so I'm guessing a fair number of cargo ships. In any case, both navies seem to have shot each other up pretty well
 
So four cargo ships sunk and one damaged - so far... They're the focal point of this set of actions. How many cargo ships total in this convoy? The Japanese had organized a substantial escort, so I'm guessing a fair number of cargo ships. In any case, both navies seem to have shot each other up pretty well

About 15 merchies were heading to Bangkok at the start of the sequence.

The IJN lost AOBA and KASHII.
 
Khota Baru, November 16, 1942

Another flight of medium bombers took off. The Indians needed support and the bombers would be hitting a set of crossroads ten miles behind the front. As they were forming up, they flew over the retreating ships of the Combined Striking Force. Three heavy cruisers and three light cruisers all showed signs of battle damage. HMAS Perth's superstructure was scorched black from a raging fire that had just come under control hours ago. HMS Exeter limped along backwards as a heavy torpedo ripped off her bow. HMS Leander had survived the battle but had been scuttled after an air attack had maneuvered around the fighter screen covering the retreating cruisers. Two torpedoes broke her back.

Five cruisers of the Combined Striking Force had managed to ambush the Japanese convoy covering force while two other cruisers slipped behind the distant escort and ripped past the light, anti-submarine escort covering the merchant ships. Three merchant ships were sunk as well as a pair of escorting Japanese cruisers. The big torpedoes that the Japanese favored packed a wallop but past several thousand yards, they were too easy too dodge in open waters. A pair of nearly suicidal Japanese destroyers raced to a launch point of no more than 2,400 from Exeter and in their mortal spasm, they damaged the small heavy cruiser. Japanese and Royal Navy skippers saw their dopplegangers across the water as both sides raced with fury and wolverine like aggression as the Stygian darkness turned towards dawn. Knifes were almost as useful as heavy guns as the range closed. One destroyer raked another with anti-aircraft cannons to great effect.

Somehow HMS Mauritius had escaped from the open sea brawl with no damage, but every other ship in the striking force would need at least a week or two in the yard to come back to full efficiency.

Question @fester why didn't you do the battle or am I missing something? Also this battle should be call?
 
So four cargo ships sunk and one damaged - so far... They're the focal point of this set of actions. How many cargo ships total in this convoy? The Japanese had organized a substantial escort, so I'm guessing a fair number of cargo ships. In any case, both navies seem to have shot each other up pretty well

There were two sunk from the first air attack. One of them just took a while. Plus the three sunk by RN/RAN cruiser fire. 5 out of 15. The freighters still have ways to go yet. I would guess submarine and further air attacks are likely.
 
Story 1663

Kyaikto, Burma November 17, 1942



Hurricanes descended from their waiting circle 8,000 feet overhead. Bombs fell from the wings of the four fighters. The steel casings burrowed into the ground before their almost instant fuses exploded, spraying shards and fragments of the thin casings in egg shaped fans. Even as the fighters regained altitude, a regiment of artillery supporting the Indian infantymen walking next to the obsolete but still very useful tanks began another bombardment.


Light cannons barked from the tanks and then the machine gunners inside the steel hulls came into the action as Japanese anti-tank gunners revealed their position, firing too early and too far away for their light shells to reliably penetrate. Instead, they only attracted attention, first from the targeted tanks companions and then from the mortar sections supporting the infantry companies that had already hit the ground before maneuvering elements began searching for a weakness in the Japanese rear guard’s position.


Men with tanks on their back crawled forward through hails of bullets and a wall of hand grenades. One man became a human torch when a string of tracer bullets blasted the tank on his back and lit the fuel. His section mate shot the poor human candle. Other flamethrower teams were getting closer and closer to the hard outer edge of the Japanese blocking position and then long dragons tongues reached out to machine gun nests and spider pits. All the while, the tanks continued to fire their light high explosive shells and streams of machine gun bullets at anything that resembled organized resistance. Two tanks by now were on fire, ammunition cooking off as Japanese attacks with satchel charges had some success. Five other times those attacks were stopped cold by the infantry that had practiced this battle drill with the targeted tank for months on end.


All across the town, the rear guard was being overwhelmed, slowly trading their lives for time as the rest of the battered regiments continued to retreat from their defeats along the east bank of the Sittang River.
 

Driftless

Donor
There were two sunk from the first air attack. One of them just took a while. Plus the three sunk by RN/RAN cruiser fire. 5 out of 15. The freighters still have ways to go yet. I would guess submarine and further air attacks are likely.

I'd guess that the crews of both merchants and Japanese warships are a bit frazzled, shot up, and tired from the exertions of the day - mental and physical. Lookouts may not be as quick or as sharp as they were at the start of the convoy. You can only run on adrenaline for so long.
 

formion

Banned
So, the convoy still has to go through minefields in an area where Allied submarines operate. They have to unload in Bangkok and then they have to go back. They will have to pass again through an area contested by Allied forces. Furthermore, RN has a time window of I guess at least 2 days to move more submarines towards the return route of the convoy and the Manxman to sortie to lay a new minefield.

Was the destroyer squadron in Singapore engaged as well ? Other than the 2 lost cruisers, in what degrees were the rest damaged? Did the JIN lost just the 2 destroyers or more? Did the minefields claim any ship or at least damage one so far ?

To recap. at the beginning there were 4 CA, 2 CL and 11 DD and 15 merchantmen.

Now its down to 3 CA, 1 CL, 9 DD and 10 merchantmen with various degrees of damage.

It seems that it might be an one way trip for many of the ships involved.
 
Story 1664

Gulf of Thailand, November 17, 1942



Two destroyers increased their speed. Look-outs maintained their vigilance. Eyes looked over the surface even as work gangs were dragging depth charges to empty rails. They had kept a submarine down for seven hours after a mostly unsuccessful torpedo attack on the convoy. A tanker was damaged but within an hour she was still heading to Bangkok at eleven knots. A patch of oil and debris had been spotted an hour ago and the hydrophone operators had only heard whales and silence.

Half a mile away from the two destroyers and two hundred and fifty feet beneath them, HMS Talisman’s skipper took a shallow breath. The air inside of the submarine was putrid with sweat and overwhelmed with stale fear. The Italians were never this enthusiastic about depth charging submarines; thankfully the few near misses were early as the boat was diving. Once they got below two hundred feet, the depth charges went off too high and early to cause much damage. Half a dozen seams had burst and even now, the aft torpedo room had a two gallon a minute leak.

Two more hours of silence were ordered and then the damaged submarine broke through the surface to recharge her batteries and call in a damage report. Her diesels sucked in air and rumbled as her bow turned for home.
 
Story 1665

Stalingrad, November 18, 1942


Except for the screech of a cat in heat, silence permeated the abandoned neighborhoods of the city. Families had either fled or died in these houses weeks ago. Infantrymen had first occupied the impromptu strong points. Since then, the trained riflemen had been replaced, first by other trained riflemen and then by other men in their battalions and regiments and then by cooks and truck drivers attached to their division and then by fresh faces straight from boot camp. Each wave replaced those who were unlucky or unskilled. And most did not survive the first week of contact in the siege lines.

It would not matter as any man still huddled in the houses and apartment blocks on the outer edge of the city was a veteran of the toughest training course in the world. Every man could feel the most imperceptible pitter-patter of a wall being scraped in preparation for a satchel charge. Every man who had survived had reflexes that made scared, hungry alley cats look arthritic. Every man had more eyes than the meanest middle school teacher.

Sounds erupted. Shells began to shred the defensive positions of the German outer works in the lines of circumvallation. Dirt arced through the air, mixed with brick dust, tree limbs, blood and steel shards. Smoke shells soon covered the soccer field distance between the forward positions of the Red Army and the German listening posts. Machine gunners waited until they heard whistles or their shoulders were heartily slapped by sergeants and lieutenants. Short bursts began to fire even as light anti-aircraft gunners laid down heavy tracer lane markers.

Eight minutes after the bombardment started, two divisions of defenders began to advance. The first few dozen steps were painless from the planners point of view: broken ankles from unseen potholes and shattered torsos from well disguised booby traps or inadvertently unexploded munitions scarred and scored the bodies of a few dozen men but the advance had just started to gain momentum.

And then German artillery, mortars, and machine gunners started to beat down the open ground between the Soviet defenders and the German outerworks. Now it became a contest of steel and dirt and concrete against blood and bravery.
 
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