Runnersan
Posts: 136
Joined: 6/11/2008 Status: offline
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19th - 21st June 1942 Three days of Battleships Burma As I stated before, Allied HQ decided to provide battleships cover to transports unloading troops at Ramree Island. Their mission: “To protect convoy from active Surface Task Force from Rangoon”. That decision almost immediately brought its fruit. On 19th June, Japanese Task Force attacked Ramree Island and Royal Navy ships moved to action. Unfortunately this was day when Japanese torpedoes hit targets almost every time. quote:
Night Time Surface Combat, near Ramree Island at 54,48, Range 7,000 Yards Japanese aircraft no flights Allied aircraft no flights Japanese aircraft losses E7K2 Alf: 1 destroyed Allied aircraft losses Walrus II: 1 destroyed Japanese Ships CA Nachi, Shell hits 8, Torpedo hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage CL Naka, Shell hits 10, and is sunk CL Isuzu, Shell hits 8, heavy fires, heavy damage CL Kinu, Shell hits 2 DD Nowaki, Shell hits 5, on fire DD Arashi, Shell hits 2 DD Hagikaze DD Oshio, Shell hits 7, heavy fires Allied Ships BB Prince of Wales, Shell hits 1 BB Royal Sovereign, Shell hits 23, Torpedo hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage BB Resolution, Shell hits 10, Torpedo hits 3, and is sunk CL Hobart, Shell hits 1 CL Emerald, Shell hits 4, on fire CL Glasgow, Shell hits 5, on fire CL Caledon DD Thanet, Shell hits 2 DD Arrow, Shell hits 2, heavy fires DD Decoy, Shell hits 2 DD Express, Shell hits 5, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk Poor visibility due to Rain with 32% moonlight Maximum visibility in Rain and 32% moonlight: 6,000 yards CONTACT: Allies radar detects Japanese task force at 7,000 yards William-Powlett, P. crosses the 'T' --------------------------------------------- Night Time Surface Combat, near Ramree Island at 54,48, Range 1,000 Yards Japanese Ships CA Nachi, Shell hits 24, heavy fires, heavy damage CL Isuzu, heavy fires, heavy damage DD Nowaki, Shell hits 1 DD Arashi DD Oshio, Shell hits 8, heavy fires, heavy damage Allied Ships BB Prince of Wales, Shell hits 1 CL Hobart CL Emerald CL Caledon, Shell hits 1 DD Thanet Poor visibility due to Rain with 42% moonlight Maximum visibility in Rain and 42% moonlight: 1,000 yards William-Powlett, P. crosses the 'T' Japanese Task Force Manages to Escape Task forces break off... --------------------------------------------- Night Time Surface Combat, near Ramree Island at 54,48, Range 2,000 Yards Japanese Ships CA Nachi, Shell hits 8, heavy fires, heavy damage CL Isuzu, Shell hits 10, heavy fires, heavy damage DD Nowaki, on fire DD Arashi DD Oshio, and is sunk Allied Ships BB Prince of Wales CL Hobart, Shell hits 1 CL Emerald CL Caledon DD Thanet Low visibility due to Rain with 42% moonlight Maximum visibility in Rain and 42% moonlight: 2,000 yards Both Resolution and Royal Sovereign sunk. I hope that Nachi and Isuzu didn’t survived either. On next day Allies had more bad luck. Japanese ace submarine I-153 sunk CL Emerald with three direct hits. 21st brought change in Japanese tactics. They send IJA air force to deal with Allied convoys, but not everything went as they planned. quote:
Morning Air attack on TF, near Akyab at 54,45 Weather in hex: Light cloud Raid detected at 23 NM, estimated altitude 5,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 6 minutes Japanese aircraft Ki-21-IIa Sally x 13 Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 12 Allied aircraft P-40E Warhawk x 11 Japanese aircraft losses Ki-43-Ic Oscar: 4 destroyed Allied aircraft losses P-40E Warhawk: 1 destroyed Allied Ships AM Bittern xAK Tricolor xAKL Sarpen, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage AM Whippoorwill quote:
Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Ramree Island at 54,48 Weather in hex: Moderate rain Raid detected at 38 NM, estimated altitude 5,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 10 minutes Japanese aircraft Ki-21-IIa Sally x 24 Allied aircraft Hurricane IIb Trop x 16 P-40E Warhawk x 2 P-40E Warhawk x 16 Japanese aircraft losses Ki-21-IIa Sally: 8 destroyed, 6 damaged No Allied losses Allied Ships CL Ceres BB Prince of Wales I expect sweep attacks in next days. Java Batavia and Bandoeng are still in Dutch hands in spite constant bombardment. Fiji Suva airbase was operational, but fruit of air attacks were rather small. TB Hato, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage AK Kaga Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire TB Kamo, Bomb hits 1, on fire So Allied command decided to prepare bombardment of Nadi by held in reserve, in Pago Pago, small fleet detachment led by BB Pennsylvania. There could be no worst timing At first everything went as planned… Almost. Allied TF attacked unloading transports quote:
Night Time Surface Combat, near Nadi at 131,160, Range 8,000 Yards Japanese Ships DD Yugumo DD Hamakaze, Shell hits 3, and is sunk DD Shirayuki AK Kaga Maru, Shell hits 2, heavy fires xAK Yamasimo Maru Allied Ships BB Pennsylvania, Shell hits 1 DD Gwin DD O'Brien, Shell hits 2, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk DD Nizam Allied Ships Reported to be Approaching! Japanese TF suspends unloading operations and begins to get underway Allied Ships Reported to be Approaching! Maximum visibility in Overcast Conditions and 53% moonlight: 8,000 yards CONTACT: Japanese lookouts spot Allied task force at 8,000 yards CONTACT: Allied lookouts spot Japanese task force at 8,000 yards DD Yugumo collides with DD Hamakaze at 131 , 160 2 Torpedo hits and one allied destroyer sunk. Allied commander decided not to bombard base and withdraw to Pago Pago. In the same time few miles to the west, Japanese battleships TF bombarded Suva base and inflicted losses to Allied air groups and they closed airbase. quote:
Night Naval bombardment of Suva at 132,160 Allied aircraft no flights Allied aircraft losses P-39D Airacobra: 32 damaged P-39D Airacobra: 1 destroyed on ground P-40E Warhawk: 17 damaged P-40E Warhawk: 5 destroyed on ground PBY-5 Catalina: 15 damaged PBY-5 Catalina: 2 destroyed on ground P-38E Lightning: 21 damaged P-38E Lightning: 1 destroyed on ground B-17E Fortress: 57 damaged B-17E Fortress: 4 destroyed on ground LB-30 Liberator: 18 damaged LB-30 Liberator: 1 destroyed on ground B-26 Marauder: 15 damaged Vildebeest IV: 16 damaged Vildebeest IV: 3 destroyed on ground SBD-1 Dauntless: 24 damaged SBD-1 Dauntless: 2 destroyed on ground F4F-3 Wildcat: 11 damaged F4F-3 Wildcat: 2 destroyed on ground Japanese Ships BB Mutsu BB Haruna BB Kongo CA Ashigara CA Myoko CL Abukuma Allied ground losses: 1254 casualties reported Squads: 2 destroyed, 2 disabled Non Combat: 18 destroyed, 85 disabled Engineers: 6 destroyed, 12 disabled Guns lost 37 (12 destroyed, 25 disabled) Vehicles lost 24 (12 destroyed, 12 disabled) Airbase hits 35 Airbase supply hits 2 Runway hits 108 BB Mutsu firing at Suva BB Haruna firing at Suva BB Kongo firing at Suva CA Ashigara firing at Suva CA Myoko firing at Suva CL Abukuma firing at Suva And to add to bad luck, this TF met with Allied Pennsylvania TF returning from Nadi. Allied Task Force was surprised. quote:
Day Time Surface Combat, near Suva at 131,161, Range 16,000 Yards Allied aircraft no flights Allied aircraft losses OS2U-3 Kingfisher: 1 destroyed Japanese Ships BB Kongo, Shell hits 4, heavy fires BB Haruna, Shell hits 3 BB Mutsu, Shell hits 3 CA Myoko CA Ashigara CL Abukuma, Shell hits 3 DD Amatsukaze DD Michishio, Shell hits 3, on fire DD Yamagumo DD Murasame, Shell hits 1, on fire DD Kawakaze DD Yuzuki Allied Ships BB Pennsylvania, Shell hits 29, Torpedo hits 4, and is sunk DD Gwin, Shell hits 2, heavy fires DD Nizam, Shell hits 9, heavy fires, heavy damage Maximum visibility in Overcast Conditions: 20,000 yards Range closes to 16,000 yards... CONTACT: Japanese lookouts spot Allied task force at 16,000 yards Japanese launch Long Lance torpedoes at 16,000 yards before allies detect Japanese presence More torpedo hits. And Pennsylvania went down. 3 days and 3 Battleships sunk.
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