Philbass
Posts: 34
Joined: 12/30/2004 From: London, UK Status: offline
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Don Bowen Five British CVE will have their airgroups altered: Reaper and Vindex will be aircraft transports and will have no airgroup assigned. Empress, Pursuer, and Trouncer will be replenishment carriers and will have their airgroups changed to replenishment squadrons. The remaining carriers will be: -
Fighter Carriers with all fighters - Ameer, Arbiter, Atheling, Attacker, Emperor, Fencer, Hunter, Khedive, Slinger, Speaker, Stalker. In reality I suspect some of these may have been replenishment carriers but I have no data to support it. -
Assault Carriers with Fighters and Torpedo Planes or else fighters and fighter-bombers: Chaser, Ruler, Searcher, Shah, Striker, Trumpeter -
Escort Carriers, with ASW squadrons and a fighter flight: Battler, Begum. Airgroups for all are the best I can do - frequent movement of squadrons between ships makes an exact air OOB impossible. Also the designation of Fighter/Assault/Escort carrier is not 100% accurate but is based on the airgroup I was able to isolate. For instance, Victorious arrived with No. 896 Squadron (and others) in early 1943 but Empress and Ameer both carried it at various times in July, 1945 - Victorious got it, Ameer got another squadron from earlier in the year, Empress became a replenishment CVE, and I have a headache. Don, Well according to the British Naval Staff History as of 15 August there was the following situation (see table attached). Do you want commanders names for these carriers (well all British ships as of August 15)? Or are we not bothering with the leader database? I also have where the FAA squadrons were on August 15 1945. Perhaps it would be easier to use what/where they ended up with, rather than where they arrived in theatre as it is a known datum and may keep your headache levels down... Perhaps an HQ for the British Pacific Fleet would be nice as well - timed to arrive in November 1944 when the Eastern Fleet was disbanded and the East Indies and British Pacific Fleets formed in its stead. I like the call on 814 Squadron. If I recall, I don't think it was on Hermes when she was sunk. Also are we adding in extra New Zealand and Canadian ships? New Zealand got 2 Flower Class Corvettes in 1944 - ARBUTUS and ARABIS. ...ARABIS was the senior ship of the 25th Minesweeping Flotilla in late 1944, while ARBUTUS hit a reef off Fiji in November 1944 ("court maritals all round" as CPO Pertwee would say), while on voyage to NZ. Repairs weren't completed until early May 1945, by which time she was no longer needed in the Solomons and she was offered for service with the British Pacific Fleet. The RN took up the offers and had her modified at Sydney as a 'radio and radar maintenance ship' - a task for which she was singularly unsuited, lacking stowage space for spares or even proper workshop facilities. Source: MOD Naval Historial Branch The British Pacific and East Indies Fleets: 'The Forgotten Fleets' 50th Anniversary (London: HMSO, 1995) While with Canada: ...the auxillary anti-aircraft ship HMCS PRINCE ROBERT left Esquimalt on 5 July [1945] after a brief work-up, carried out practice firings off Pearl Harbour towards the end of the month and reached Sydney on 10 August. A 21-kt ship, with an AA armament the equal of a light cruiser's, she had already been allocated to the BPF's second carrier task force, which centred on the 24-kt Light Fleet carriers. On 14 August, this force was informed that its first operation would be cover US Navy minesweepers off the northern coast of China, undertaking strikes on mainland targets as opportunity offered....Had the war continued into 1946, as it was expected to do until early August 1945, the Royal Canadian Navy would have furnished no fewer than five destroyers and 36 frigates, besides the two cruisers and the PRINCE ROBERT. Source: MOD (1995) The British Pacific and East Indies Fleets In addition, in 1945 the East Indies Fleet had the French cruier SUFFREN allocated to it, but I haven't checked to see where that actually was. Any use or am I being crazy guy? Regards, Philip Bass
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Plan followed plan in swift procession, Commanders went; commanders came, While telegrams in quick succession Arrived to douse or fan the flame
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