Agreed, Houston might be salvagable if under dense friendly air cover and no threat of future action and a major base could be nearby with fleet tugs coming out to get her. She is getting scuttled.
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Agreed, Houston might be salvagable if under dense friendly air cover and no threat of future action and a major base could be nearby with fleet tugs coming out to get her. She is getting scuttled.
According to the Japanese plans, groups of transports were to land at Songkhla, Pattani and Kelantan. The latter two have been stopped with the loss of the escort forces....
And Operation Krohcol is going ahead.
Story 0925
December 9, 1941 0745 Singapore Time, Gulf of Siam
Force Z turned hard to starboard and the screening destroyers scrambled to resume their positions forward of their charges. The past two hours had seen the cruisers fall in among Japanese transport ships like wolves on unguarded sheep. Seven transports and three light auxiliaries had been sunk. Almost all of the soldiers who had boarded the transports in Hainan had landed by the evening of the 8th. Most of the divisional artillery and tanks had been landed as well but specialist equipment, anti-aircraft guns, trucks and engineering vehicles were now on the bottom of the sea. The fish had new, oddly shaped reefs to hide in now.
The force has a six hour high speed run to the southeast before a big turn to the south and safety at Singapore. Air cover would be available in the form of a flight of ANZAC Buffaloes starting in an hour. However Japanese snoopers were already out in force looking for the heavy units that had wrecked two prongs of the invasion. As far as the intelligence officers could tell on Prince of Wales, they had not been located well enough for an airstrike to be launched.
Story 0926
December 9, 1941 0745 Singapore Time Saigon
The Genzen air group was ready for action. They had been receiving reports from numerous ships that the Western Allies were out in force. The Navy had claimed sinking several cruisers and near Kota Bharu, and a battleship and three cruisers at Pattani, but that more ships were out there. The Genzen air group's Nells were usually general purpose medium bombers. They had been initially tasked to bomb Singapore’s docks again this morning, but the news from the Navy had prompted them to stand down and prepare for an anti-shipping strike., Thirty four twin engine bombers, each armed with a single heavy semi-armor piercing bomb. A wave of torpedo carrying Betty’s from Formosa was due in later that afternoon, but they could not wait as the British and American ships could slip away if unmolested for the day.
Twenty bombers from the Kanoya air group were already in the air, seeking out the British and American warships.
Story 0927
December 9, 1941 1330 Singapore Time South China Sea
Four Mustangs warily circled over the Allied fleet. The ships were moving southeast at 25 knots. The earlier flight of Buffaloes had shot down a Japanese float plane and a pair of twin engine bombers. The bombers had probably gotten off a reasonably effective contact report according to the radio operators who heard a twenty one second transmission that was interrupted by the string of bullets lacing across the fuselage of the lead bomber.
Still steaming smartly at 25 knots, the fleet reached Point Midas and turned to the south. As the column of capital ships steadied on the new heading, a hurried blinker message came from the cruiser Mauritius.
Inbound air contact northeast 45 miles.
This was the counter-attack that Admiral Phillips had been expecting. Another flight of Australian Mustangs were due to arrive on station in the next twenty minutes. If they could find some cloud cover, their fighter support would double, but the weather had been clearing up locally and the closest line of clouds was at least thirty minutes away at high speed.
Alarm gongs needless sounded throughout the fleet again as the crews had been at anti-aircraft stations since breakfast. A few men here and there were allowed to go to the head and bring out sandwiches but most guns were fully manned for the past six hours. Destroyers and cruisers formed a tight ring around Repulse and Prince of Wales. Every radar was being warmed up and activated and every anti-aircraft gun was manned before the fighters could get in among the bombers.
The four fighters were outmatched and outnumbered even as their heavy cannons could chew up a fast bomber. The four fighters soon became three as the concentrated defensive fire from forty medium bombers found the oil pump of the lead fighter. The remaining fighters scored five kills against the unescorted bombers and disrupted the formation as it descended to 8,000 feet. Once the fighters broke off from attacking the disturbed bomber formation, the heavy anti-aircraft guns of the fleet opened up. The Americans mostly had the very versatile 5”/38 dual purpose gun while the British had a symphony of guns, modern 5.25” guns on Prince of Wales, 4” guns on Repulse, Mauritius, Nigeria and Liverpool, and low angle 4.7 inch guns on the destroyers.
Deadly dandelion bursts through the loosely packed formation of Nell bombers and then the lighter pompom and 1.1 inch anti-aircraft guns started their crescendo. First one, and then a second bomber burst in flames, and the formation loosened again as most of the aircraft were at least buffeted by near misses and flying shrapnel scraping against the aircraft’s skins.
The thirty three surviving bombers opened their bay doors and steadied for the last minute of their bomb run. The target was Repulse. Every single gun of the fleet was firing at the bombers, and they achieved one last spectacular kill as a pom pom shell exploded in an open bomb bay.
Thirty two bombs were dropped. Some were buffeted by strong cross wings wide of their target, others had been dropped by the least accomplished bombardiers.
Twenty bombs fell in a tight pattern around Repulse. The old sprinter heeled hard to port and put on every drop of steam that her turbines could handle. She sliced through the water at thirty one knots, trying to emulate the maneuverability of a destroyer to dodge the avalanche of bombs falling.
45 long seconds passed between release and results.
The hard turn to port allowed Repulse to escape most of the danger zone. Twenty six bombs fell to the starboard side of the old battlecruiser. Three of those bombs landed in the water no more than forty meters from the ship, drenching the exposed anti-aircraft crews and causing some minor underwater damage. Three more bombs were near misses forward and to port. The remaining three bombs walked their way across the rear half of the battlecruiser. The first bomb exploded next to the rear 15 inch turret, jamming it in place, while the second bomb hit the hanger and was stopped by the armor deck. The Supermarine Walrus float plane was immediately engulfed in flames. The final bomb sliced through the port side bridge wing and exploded in the sea.
The Australian Mustangs made one more pass on the retreating bombers, killing two more cripples before they had to return to base.
Repulse was on fire, and damaged but not dangerously so. Within fifteen minutes of the attack, she had resumed formation and the fleet continued to run to the south at 24 knots as another flight of Mustangs resumed their protective vigil overhead.
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Houston "turned away to protect her vulnerable stern" a turn away exposes the stern, protects the bow, sorry to quibble, great story.
Story 0928
December 8, 1941 1200 Pearl Harbor
USS Enterprise entered the harbor with her battle flag flying. She would stay in the harbor just long enough to refuel and resupply. Once her larders were full again, she would head to sea and Saratoga would come into the devastated port.
Men looked over the sides of their ship. Their mates and their rivals of the gun line were devastated. Oklahoma and California were obviously destroyed. Divers were using torches to open up Oklahoma’s hull near her keel so that rescue teams could seek out the few spots where they heard hammers banging against the hull. West Virginia would have been sunk if it was in deeper water. Now that mighty ship was sitting on the harbor bottom with half a dozen large gashes in her flank and crews still attempting to eliminate the last fires. Pennsylvania and two destroyers were a mess in drydock while Arizona, Maryland, Nevada and Tennessee looked like boxers entering the ninth round. Strong but bloodied, they promised a readiness to fight but they needed time in the corner to spit out the blood of their crews.
Overhead, the Army’s new P-38s flew a patrol. The dozen fork tailed fighters had been in Hawaii for an evaluation mission. Three were destroyed on the ground, but they were one of the few squadrons that still could fly squadron sized missions. Half of the fighters and forty percent of the bombers on the island were destroyed or at least damaged enough that only mechanical miracles could make them fly again.
The carrier turned slowly and the tugs guided her to a berth where the black gang hurried to connect hoses to the fuel tanks so that she could get back out to the open waters where she could both fight and protect herself.
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The Japanese losses are more pronounced. Over double their losses when they attacked Repulse (10 with the Nells compared 4 for both Nells and Bettys) and they only manages to jam the turret, crinkle some underwater plates and set the Seaplane on fire. Also soaking all the anti air gunners.
Despite the losses, the Mustangs managed to break the formations cohesion. Intstead of being a spear, more like blunt arrows.
Wonder how the Betty bomber will do attaicking Force Z with Mustangs, American 5 inchers and cohesive defence....
Despite the losses, the Mustangs managed to break the formations cohesion. Intstead of being a spear, more like blunt arrows.
Wonder how the Betty bomber will do attaicking Force Z with Mustangs, American 5 inchers and cohesive defence....
Yeah. Already Force Z has done much more than OTL, mainly sinking Tama and her friends. Unlike she dying uselessly.
I was wondering where the 2 Japanese battleships which were used in OTL to support the Malaya invasion were, and then I remembered this quote from Rising Sun, Falling Skies: The disastrous Java Sea Campaign of World War II:
"The Southern Expeditionary Force was under the command of Vice Admiral Kondo Nobutake, commander of the 2nd Fleet. Directly under his command were the battleships Kongo and Haruna (sisters to the Hiei and Kirishima); three sister heavy cruisers Atago (his flagship), Takao, and Maya; and eight destroyers. These ships were to provide 'distant support,' a favorite designation of the Imperial Navy that in practice usually meant 'just far enough away to be of no reasonable use.'"
"The Southern Expeditionary Force was under the command of Vice Admiral Kondo Nobutake, commander of the 2nd Fleet. Directly under his command were the battleships Kongo and Haruna (sisters to the Hiei and Kirishima); three sister heavy cruisers Atago (his flagship), Takao, and Maya; and eight destroyers. These ships were to provide 'distant support,' a favorite designation of the Imperial Navy that in practice usually meant 'just far enough away to be of no reasonable use.'"
Driftless
Donor
The Japanese are wrong-footed to start and Singapore should be a useful naval base for longer - at the very least. That should give the RN sub force time and space to raise more hell with any supplies coming from Indochina; with the Japanese losing both Destroyers and merchant shipping. The supply hose could be very leaky....
Patience... the covering force (reinforced with a light carrier) will make an appearance soon.
What else was left aboard those fishy amusement parks? Artillery shells and other ammunition? Food? Other critical supplies? This could all be leading up to a failed Malaya campaign for Imperial Japan. Good. And with knock-on effects on the Burma campaign. Or perhaps the abandonment of the Burma offensive entirely. The IJA staff would call it a postponement.
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Problem is the Kongo class armour is tissue paper against the RN 14" and 15" shells.
If (as it would probably look to the Japanese Admiral) it looks like the PoW and Repulse are intact, I wonder if he'd engage? His ships are outgunned and heavily outarmoured.
The IJN was very protective of its capital ships.
If (as it would probably look to the Japanese Admiral) it looks like the PoW and Repulse are intact, I wonder if he'd engage? His ships are outgunned and heavily outarmoured.
The IJN was very protective of its capital ships.
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