Keynes' Cruisers Volume 2
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Story 1846
Southern Makassar Strait, 1300 January 3, 1943
He was tired. His eyes were heavy from too many hours in the cockpit. His arms ached fighting the controls of his shot up Avenger that he barely managed to crashland aboard USS Enterprise. He was now flying a replacement Grumman with a replacement crew. His radio operator was in sickbay while his rear gunner had been sent over the side in a sack.
The aircraft circled the outer edge of the amphibious task force. Eyes glanced down every few seconds. Off to the south a strange break in the waves was visible from his spot 900 feet in the air. He called for the new radio operator to confirm the strangeness and then call in the potential contact. As the heavy torpedo bomber banked and began an approach, what was a strange potential sighting became a definitive sighting.
A small submarine was under the water. She was not too deep, and her periscope was now down. The clear tropical seas did not offer protection. The pilot armed the depth charges and began to circle. A Dutch destroyer broke off from her patrol zone and accelerated to the suspected contact twelve miles from the beachhead.
The depth charges fell from the aircraft. The metal drums tumbled slightly before punching through the water. Both worked. One rattled the submarine. The other exploded several yards from the hull. Oil soon slicked overhead. The pilot circled as he waited for the Dutch destroyer.
He was tired. His eyes were heavy from too many hours in the cockpit. His arms ached fighting the controls of his shot up Avenger that he barely managed to crashland aboard USS Enterprise. He was now flying a replacement Grumman with a replacement crew. His radio operator was in sickbay while his rear gunner had been sent over the side in a sack.
The aircraft circled the outer edge of the amphibious task force. Eyes glanced down every few seconds. Off to the south a strange break in the waves was visible from his spot 900 feet in the air. He called for the new radio operator to confirm the strangeness and then call in the potential contact. As the heavy torpedo bomber banked and began an approach, what was a strange potential sighting became a definitive sighting.
A small submarine was under the water. She was not too deep, and her periscope was now down. The clear tropical seas did not offer protection. The pilot armed the depth charges and began to circle. A Dutch destroyer broke off from her patrol zone and accelerated to the suspected contact twelve miles from the beachhead.
The depth charges fell from the aircraft. The metal drums tumbled slightly before punching through the water. Both worked. One rattled the submarine. The other exploded several yards from the hull. Oil soon slicked overhead. The pilot circled as he waited for the Dutch destroyer.
Story 1847
Kure Navy Yard 1400 January 3, 1943
Two heavy cruisers left their docks. Asama was sleek, new and powerful. She had finally been fully worked up. Myoko was a few hundred yards behind her. She had spent the past three months in the drydock fixing battle damage and more importantly, updating her anti-aircraft suites and adding a brand new radar. They had a free path to the Inland Sea for trials and training this afternoon. Fuel was scarce so none of the journey would happen at more than twenty knots, but it was good to have sea water kiss their hulls.
Two heavy cruisers left their docks. Asama was sleek, new and powerful. She had finally been fully worked up. Myoko was a few hundred yards behind her. She had spent the past three months in the drydock fixing battle damage and more importantly, updating her anti-aircraft suites and adding a brand new radar. They had a free path to the Inland Sea for trials and training this afternoon. Fuel was scarce so none of the journey would happen at more than twenty knots, but it was good to have sea water kiss their hulls.
The one I found was built in Newcastle in 1896-99
Decommissioned in 1945!
Obviously not in TTL
RamscoopRaider
Donor
She's a modified Mogami, about halfway between one and Ibuki, ordered as a reaction to the titular Keynes' Cruisers, laid down in 1939
Ironically, given the number of Japanese ships lost or bound for extensive drydock periods(or long wait in line), the Japanese can probably spare plenty of fuel for their few remaining units.
But what will those unts be doing? Convoying resources to the Home Islands? That's kind of like the kid who needs a car to get to his job which he needs to pay for the car he needs to get to the job he needs to pay...yeah...like that. Do the Japanese have any decent diplomats? They need diplomats now more than generals or admirals. The war is lost, what they need to do now is end it on the least bad terms possible.
Driftless
Donor
Logic doesn't work well in any fanatics mind, but some of the leadership must be cognizant that what they've done to this point has been largely a disaster. I'd think there would be some crisis of conscience at work among some of the generals and admirals who might be more wired into the larger picture. To be sure, that worldview may not be shared down the command pipeline yet, and some of those middle-rank commanders, especially in the Army, were the proverbial loose cannons.
Now, what does that shift in mindset mean in the field, or at sea?
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Yep. Especially because ITTL the Japanese command doesn't have the raging successes of OTL 1941-early 1942 to compare to. For the high command ITTL this may still be a salvageable situation. Not to mention none of them want to lose face
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