Using the island groups in the South China Sea for staging areas for the MTBs is a clever ploy. If it works for the MTBs can it work for larger faster ships? Risky.
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Keynes' Cruisers Volume 2
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Using the island groups in the South China Sea for staging areas for the MTBs is a clever ploy. If it works for the MTBs can it work for larger faster ships? Risky.
PT boats might work, but I still think anything destroyer or larger would still be "a bridge too far" for the next six to nine months or so. Small, fast boats with a token crew are one thing, but large ships each with many hundreds is an entirely different ball game.
I'm honestly surprised that a forward base would be set up that deep into enemy territory as well. It doesn't matter if the nearest islands have little or no garrison to speak of. All it takes is one flying boat passing through and spotting a ship or ships where ships shouldn't be. This also doesn't discount the possibility of Japanese warships showing up.
I'm honestly surprised that a forward base would be set up that deep into enemy territory as well. It doesn't matter if the nearest islands have little or no garrison to speak of. All it takes is one flying boat passing through and spotting a ship or ships where ships shouldn't be. This also doesn't discount the possibility of Japanese warships showing up.
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True enough, but I can't imagine there's much for permanent infrastructure being built for those forward bases on the Riau's and Spratly's. The Japanese navy and air forces have their hands full across the China Sea off Indochina trying to keep the supply pipeline functioning for their own forces. They've got a similar problem keeping the threatened hold on the DEI in business. That's more focused on minding the Makassar Straits and Celebes Sea. That's a lot of ocean and air space to cover with tight fuel supplies. Earlier in 1942, the Japanese had more ships, planes, and experienced crews, so the proposition of trying to sneak through would be less likely with surface ships. Or, are the old converted destroyers and old cruisers just a red herring for us and for the Japanese spys to fret over?? Maybe they're headed to the Northwest to supply a Commonwealth operation??
Oy vey! Setting up an advanced base in the middle of Japanese held ocean is ballsy! Sure, it's probably temporary, and the Japanese would have to find it first before they could attack it, but still.... Especially if they want to leave some infrastructure there for a second run later.
That's why they are using a seaplane tender as a fast boat tender, no infrastructure but the boats
It appears that the infrastructure for thebases is nothing more then AVDs and part of the fast cargo boats. Imo the best thingto protect the base would be a visit from a couple of DMs or the British Abidels to lay protective fields near the bases, and maybe support a couple of PBY's night cats to do a mine run off Palawan.
The "base" in the Spratleys will be several dozen barrels of fuel, a couple barrels of water and a few dozen crates of rations. The seaplane tender will refuel the boats that are destined for Bataan and run like hell while the "base" force converted PT boats will dig a few trenches to cache the supplies, hide the fuel drums in the holes under tarps and run like hell 36 hours after arrival. The boats heading to Bataan will refuel at Bataan for the journey back to firmly held ports. Theoretically they will have enough fuel to get back to Singapore without needing to restock, but the small supply dump is an emergency reserve in case they need far more time at high speed than planned for.
Follow-on PT boat runs will not touch the Spratley cache but instead will refuel from the seaplane tender after about 400 miles from the Riau Islands. The path will be a straight shot across the South China Sea as that is the region least likely to have Japanese air and surface patrols.
Without some butterflies, you won't be able to have eight ... let alone more
The RN only had the 8 vessels to loan to the USN.
These were originally ordered by the Turkish prewar as relatively small, long endurance but OKish speed patrol vessels (hence the diesel engines and bigger displacement than contemporary RN MTBs).
They were seized at the outbreak of war before Camper and Nicholsons could deliver any.
Some of them were completed as planned with no torps at all becoming MGBs in RN service. Some had more powerful petrol engines fitted in a failed attempt to make them viable warships. No more were built being basically unsuited to active light craft warfare.
Only a max of 5 were adapted on the slips as blockade runners with a capacity of 45 tons and a range of 1000 miles at 20knots. The range is the important factor ...being approximately 3 times that of a petrol engined PT boat of the same year.
Edited: for typos (originally done on my new smart phone)
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These are not RN MTBs or MGBs. They are US PT Boats and crew on loan in a swap outlined in an earlier post.
They have US flags but they are British built MGBs on an original Turkish order.
And yes authorial fiat is declaring that in TTL all eight boats were completed well ahead of schedule.
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the old destroyers could be use to get supplies to the Riau Islands. round trip is roughly one week form these islands to manilia bay and back to the Riau Islands. having a destroyer there as both a forward depot and providing the boat crews with a place rest for a night where the destroyer crew handle reloading and doing repairs on the boats during the crew rest would allow a sustained supply route to the siege
Story 1721
Kennedy Township, Pennsylvania December 18, 1942
Another whistle blew.
Two dozen men, faces clean, hands scrubbed but darkened with years of dirt and coal dust embedded into every cranny and crack in the skin, entered the elevator. Mine lights were on as the men descended to the main shaft. Next to them belts continued to move the previous shift’s coal to the surface. Once there, it would be cleaned and sorted. Most of this seam was high quality coking coal but there was a bit of thermal coal that needed to be shipped downriver instead of upriver. Once sorted above them, their day’s labor would either be sent to the Homewood Coke Batteries owned by J&L or burned to produce electricity that powered the entire industrial region centered on the three rivers.
Vladimar Jaroschek waited patiently for the new crew to get off the elevator. His team had been underground for the past twelve hours and would soon be able to breath the grit and grime saturated air of Allegheny County. It was better than mine air, that guaranteed black lungs if a miner was underground for too long of their hard, short life, but it was not good air. He wondered how the air was for his son in Tunisia or the air in the North Atlantic aboard a battleship. Tropical air sounded wonderful except for the part of Japanese fighters trying to kill during the day.
Down the hill and over the back channel of the Ohio, his wife finished a cup of coffee and stomped out the remnants of a cigarette. One more hour and her shift at the shipyard would be done. One more hour and a little bit more of a tank landing ship would be completed. LST-28 was coming together faster than LST-2 as the gang knew more about these odd looking ships and tips and tricks were being applied to save time and burns on fingers and wrists. The whistle blew and she was back to work.
Another whistle blew.
Two dozen men, faces clean, hands scrubbed but darkened with years of dirt and coal dust embedded into every cranny and crack in the skin, entered the elevator. Mine lights were on as the men descended to the main shaft. Next to them belts continued to move the previous shift’s coal to the surface. Once there, it would be cleaned and sorted. Most of this seam was high quality coking coal but there was a bit of thermal coal that needed to be shipped downriver instead of upriver. Once sorted above them, their day’s labor would either be sent to the Homewood Coke Batteries owned by J&L or burned to produce electricity that powered the entire industrial region centered on the three rivers.
Vladimar Jaroschek waited patiently for the new crew to get off the elevator. His team had been underground for the past twelve hours and would soon be able to breath the grit and grime saturated air of Allegheny County. It was better than mine air, that guaranteed black lungs if a miner was underground for too long of their hard, short life, but it was not good air. He wondered how the air was for his son in Tunisia or the air in the North Atlantic aboard a battleship. Tropical air sounded wonderful except for the part of Japanese fighters trying to kill during the day.
Down the hill and over the back channel of the Ohio, his wife finished a cup of coffee and stomped out the remnants of a cigarette. One more hour and her shift at the shipyard would be done. One more hour and a little bit more of a tank landing ship would be completed. LST-28 was coming together faster than LST-2 as the gang knew more about these odd looking ships and tips and tricks were being applied to save time and burns on fingers and wrists. The whistle blew and she was back to work.
Story 1722
Kent December 18, 1942
Three twin engine bombers screeched overhead. The bomb bay doors were opening and within seconds strings of bombs were falling. Two strings were near their actual target, a modest power plant. The last bombardier did not anticipate a juke and then a rapid increase in altitude that shifted his aim point by half a mile in the last few seconds. The bombs seemed to be coming directly for a school whose students and staff were huddled in the basement as they waited out the air raid. Suddenly a gust of wind swept the grounds of the school and the bombs landed just short of the building in the fallow wheat fields surrounding the village. Three exploded, the last fuse failed. An hour later, a bomb disposal unit arrived and began their harrowing work.
Three twin engine bombers screeched overhead. The bomb bay doors were opening and within seconds strings of bombs were falling. Two strings were near their actual target, a modest power plant. The last bombardier did not anticipate a juke and then a rapid increase in altitude that shifted his aim point by half a mile in the last few seconds. The bombs seemed to be coming directly for a school whose students and staff were huddled in the basement as they waited out the air raid. Suddenly a gust of wind swept the grounds of the school and the bombs landed just short of the building in the fallow wheat fields surrounding the village. Three exploded, the last fuse failed. An hour later, a bomb disposal unit arrived and began their harrowing work.
Story 1723
North Atlantic December 19, 1942
Forty eight merchant ships pressed on in the waves. The eastern local escorts of short range anti-submarine ships and small patrol craft were now turning back for Scotland. The Mid-Ocean escort group B-7 consisting of three destroyers, HMS Firedrake, HMS Campbeltown and HMS Chesterfield, as well as four corvettes and the raw lead ship of her class, the frigate HMS Bayntun. Overhead a Coastal Command Liberator watched as the escorts achieved their hand-off. The ocean going escorts had finished refueling from their dedicated tanker just minutes before the convoy had arrived and now the corvettes and the sole frigate were taking forward positions while the destroyers hung back slightly to act as a mobile, fast reserve.
Seven hundred miles to the west and just south of the track that the convoy was expected to take, HMS Biter and five sloops were trialing new tactics of being a mobile support group for any of the convoys that were either under attack or at greatly heightened risk of danger. They had just finished covering a slow outbound convoy to Halifax through the air gap without incident and now they were heading back to the northeast at a steady twelve knots.
Forty eight merchant ships pressed on in the waves. The eastern local escorts of short range anti-submarine ships and small patrol craft were now turning back for Scotland. The Mid-Ocean escort group B-7 consisting of three destroyers, HMS Firedrake, HMS Campbeltown and HMS Chesterfield, as well as four corvettes and the raw lead ship of her class, the frigate HMS Bayntun. Overhead a Coastal Command Liberator watched as the escorts achieved their hand-off. The ocean going escorts had finished refueling from their dedicated tanker just minutes before the convoy had arrived and now the corvettes and the sole frigate were taking forward positions while the destroyers hung back slightly to act as a mobile, fast reserve.
Seven hundred miles to the west and just south of the track that the convoy was expected to take, HMS Biter and five sloops were trialing new tactics of being a mobile support group for any of the convoys that were either under attack or at greatly heightened risk of danger. They had just finished covering a slow outbound convoy to Halifax through the air gap without incident and now they were heading back to the northeast at a steady twelve knots.
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