The Forgotten Campaign: The True Story of the Alaskan Front during the SGW Part 2
A photo of a Union Army soldier manning a forward observation at the foot of Mount Shorty Stevenson, circa Spring of 1942.
Following the battles of Mount McLeod and Clements Lake in late December of 1941, the Russian offensive in American Columbia stalled and had dug in to prepare for a potential Union counter-attack. The Union forces would not launch any counter-attack, and no major land confrontations had occurred the next 4 months. However at sea, a few confrontations between Spruance's Task Force 36 and the elements of the Russian Pacific Fleet under Admiral Nikolai Kuznetsov did occur. The first of which had occurred on December 7th, 1941 when the Union Task Force had attacked a Russian Convoy in the Gulf of Alaska that was carrying supplies to New Archangel for the Russian Ground Forces. The resulting 32 minute sea battle would prove to be inconclusive despite the Russians losing the destroyer Kapitan Belli and a single freighter badly damaged along with electrical system aboard the USS Brooklyn being knocked out. Days later on December 13th, the Russian cruisers Rynda and Izumrud would bombard a Union Coastal Defense Fort on the northern part of Graham Island, the raid would be somewhat successful as the Russians would damage some of the fortification's important structures and knocked one of the 12' batteries out of action.
A pre-war photograph of the Russian destroyer Kapitan Belli, which was a First Great War era Destroyer that was transferred to the Russian Pacific Fleet in 1938.
A photograph of the USS Brooklyn during the early days of the Second Great War, circa 1941. During the Battle, a shell from the Russian destroyer Rastoropny had struck the ship's center section, which consequently knocked out the cruiser's electrical system. As a result, the Brooklyn would spend a month at Seattle Washington undergoing repairs and was ultimately transferred to Task Force 38 stationed in the Sandwich Islands to replace the recently lost USS Topeka, which was a sistership to the Brooklyn.
The next naval confrontation would come on January 2nd, 1942, when the Russians would attempt an amphibious landing on the Queen Charlotte Islands with the cruisers Pallada, Rynda, and Izumrud, 9 destroyers, and 5 transport ships. However, the Union forces with a limited force of 8 PBY Catalina flying boats, 2 gunboats and the destroyers USS Little, Gregory, and McCall would make a determined resistance against the Russians to prevent it's capture. In the ensuing naval battle, the Union Navy would lose the USS Little and USS Gregory and 4 of the Catalinas to the Russians. In return, the Russians would lose two destroyers and the troop ship Stribog along with the cruiser Pallada and Izumrud, 3 destroyers, and two of the troop ships badly damaged.
The Russian Heavy Cruiser Rynda during the Battle of the Queen Charlotte Islands, circa 1942.
A PBY Catalina at Masset Inlet Naval Air Station on Graham Island after the Battle of the Queen Charlotte Islands.
Later that same month, the Imperial Russian Navy would start to deploy it's submarine flotilla along the Union coastal regions of Vancouver Island, Washington, Oregon, and California. Within the first month, the Russians would sink a total of 92,000 GRT worth of Union shipping.
The Imperial Russian Submarine S-51 leaving it's home base at Konstantinovsk, circa May of 1942. Kostantinovsk would go on to be the Russian Pacific Fleet's main submarine base in Alaska during the Second Great War and during the Frozen Conflict, would also become a major base for the US Navy's Submarine Fleet in the North Pacific.
Likewise, the Union Navy's forces in the North Pacific would also deploy their submarine force against the Russian and Japanese forces. These submarines would mainly patrol the Bering Sea and the Gulf of Alaska, which they would interdict with Russian shipping in the region. Around March of 1942, Task Force 36 would receive three new Fletcher class destroyers, the light aircraft carrier USS Fundy, and four escort destroyers of the Edsall class for Anti-Submarine duties.
The USS Sturgeon leaving it's base at Vancouver on to a war patrol in the Gulf of Alaska, circa 1942.
USS Fundy underway off the Alexander Archipelago, circa 1943.
A photo of a Union Army soldier manning a forward observation at the foot of Mount Shorty Stevenson, circa Spring of 1942.
Following the battles of Mount McLeod and Clements Lake in late December of 1941, the Russian offensive in American Columbia stalled and had dug in to prepare for a potential Union counter-attack. The Union forces would not launch any counter-attack, and no major land confrontations had occurred the next 4 months. However at sea, a few confrontations between Spruance's Task Force 36 and the elements of the Russian Pacific Fleet under Admiral Nikolai Kuznetsov did occur. The first of which had occurred on December 7th, 1941 when the Union Task Force had attacked a Russian Convoy in the Gulf of Alaska that was carrying supplies to New Archangel for the Russian Ground Forces. The resulting 32 minute sea battle would prove to be inconclusive despite the Russians losing the destroyer Kapitan Belli and a single freighter badly damaged along with electrical system aboard the USS Brooklyn being knocked out. Days later on December 13th, the Russian cruisers Rynda and Izumrud would bombard a Union Coastal Defense Fort on the northern part of Graham Island, the raid would be somewhat successful as the Russians would damage some of the fortification's important structures and knocked one of the 12' batteries out of action.
A pre-war photograph of the Russian destroyer Kapitan Belli, which was a First Great War era Destroyer that was transferred to the Russian Pacific Fleet in 1938.
A photograph of the USS Brooklyn during the early days of the Second Great War, circa 1941. During the Battle, a shell from the Russian destroyer Rastoropny had struck the ship's center section, which consequently knocked out the cruiser's electrical system. As a result, the Brooklyn would spend a month at Seattle Washington undergoing repairs and was ultimately transferred to Task Force 38 stationed in the Sandwich Islands to replace the recently lost USS Topeka, which was a sistership to the Brooklyn.
The next naval confrontation would come on January 2nd, 1942, when the Russians would attempt an amphibious landing on the Queen Charlotte Islands with the cruisers Pallada, Rynda, and Izumrud, 9 destroyers, and 5 transport ships. However, the Union forces with a limited force of 8 PBY Catalina flying boats, 2 gunboats and the destroyers USS Little, Gregory, and McCall would make a determined resistance against the Russians to prevent it's capture. In the ensuing naval battle, the Union Navy would lose the USS Little and USS Gregory and 4 of the Catalinas to the Russians. In return, the Russians would lose two destroyers and the troop ship Stribog along with the cruiser Pallada and Izumrud, 3 destroyers, and two of the troop ships badly damaged.
The Russian Heavy Cruiser Rynda during the Battle of the Queen Charlotte Islands, circa 1942.
A PBY Catalina at Masset Inlet Naval Air Station on Graham Island after the Battle of the Queen Charlotte Islands.
Later that same month, the Imperial Russian Navy would start to deploy it's submarine flotilla along the Union coastal regions of Vancouver Island, Washington, Oregon, and California. Within the first month, the Russians would sink a total of 92,000 GRT worth of Union shipping.
The Imperial Russian Submarine S-51 leaving it's home base at Konstantinovsk, circa May of 1942. Kostantinovsk would go on to be the Russian Pacific Fleet's main submarine base in Alaska during the Second Great War and during the Frozen Conflict, would also become a major base for the US Navy's Submarine Fleet in the North Pacific.
Likewise, the Union Navy's forces in the North Pacific would also deploy their submarine force against the Russian and Japanese forces. These submarines would mainly patrol the Bering Sea and the Gulf of Alaska, which they would interdict with Russian shipping in the region. Around March of 1942, Task Force 36 would receive three new Fletcher class destroyers, the light aircraft carrier USS Fundy, and four escort destroyers of the Edsall class for Anti-Submarine duties.
The USS Sturgeon leaving it's base at Vancouver on to a war patrol in the Gulf of Alaska, circa 1942.
USS Fundy underway off the Alexander Archipelago, circa 1943.
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