LittleJoe
Posts: 610
Joined: 8/4/2004 Status: offline
|
LJN 13-14th December 1941 The Battle of Java sea, IJN victory! Repluse listing after taking 4 torpedos and several 16 inch shells The defence of the dutch east indies has been severly weakened today,a group of battleships and cruisers beleived to be a invasion force headed for palembang veered southwards bombing into Batavia harbour. Ferocious surface and air combat took place, making this the largest naval battle of the war thus far. The day begun with this horribly mismatched surface combat, The Cl Java already burning from a betty attack fights on This dutch taskforce, outgunner and outnumbered was soon destroyed the crew of Cl Java abandoning ship shortly after the first shells landed on the ship. The rest of the taskforce was soon destroyed. A few hours later it is the turn of the Royal Navy to receive punishment, this time from the Japanese Battleships Haruna and Kongo dish out the damage. Once again the Allies where outgunned and outnumbered, but fought on. The Royal navy gave out minimal damage to the attacking Japanese, crippling two destroyers. Meanwhile the Royal navy lost several ships including and painfully so for the honor of the Royal navy, the Prince of Wales and Repluse, already damaged from betty attacks before and after the surface combat. In the midst of the battle the Haruna and Repluse where locked in battle,after a 5inch shell landed just short of the bridge, the captain ordered: "Fire back at that godammed Jap Battleship that has the audacity to fire at his royal majesty's ship!" The Repluse failed to crack of the armour of the Battleship later confirmed as the Haruna, the Haruna delviered the knock out blow with a 16inch shell with shattered the deck causing several secondary explosions, the Repluse had fired its last shells. As water gushed through the twisted hulk causing the Prince of Wales to take on a heavy list, many men abandoned ship jumping over the sides, and swimming the few miles to shore or take the risk of swimming to another destroyer which could also be potentially sunk. Through the carnage, Admiral Philips ordered a Lieutenant to tie him down to the bridge of the ship, the Lieutenant nodded at his commander and tied his hands on the controls of the ship. "Now go, save yourself" The Admiral spoke gravely,the Lieutenant nodded saluted his commander and sprinted from the bridge. Moments later water came gushing into the Bridge, and at 5:29 pm Prince of Wales sunk beneath the waves, it was later joined by the Battlecruiser Repluse 33 minutes later. Flight of the Martin "There bombs just bounced off like tennis balls" A Dutch pilot commented after returning from his sortie over batavia. Bounce! In a day where the Japanese navy and airforce showed how dangerous they where,the allied airforce particually the Dutch has shamed its self in the worst day for Allied forces since the 7th. "The Dutch pilots need to learn the limits of there limited bomb load, and need to have some ship recognition classes" An American commander of the ABDA forces joked, as the millitary cockup now know as "The flight of the Martins" Gives the dutch a bad name. They attemped damaging Battleships and Cruisers with 250 lb gp bombs, they did no favours to the already outnumbered and outclassed surface ships down below. "It just shows how unorganised and green our forces out here are compared to the Japs" Day of the Betty Rare footage of the Betty The G4M2 Betty is and has proven its self as one of the best Naval and Torpedo bombers in the world today. Its amazing range and weapon load is the main threat to the Allied navy in the Java sea, it is because of this plane that Force Z has been destroyed.And the reason why many other warships are fleeing to get outside of its range. "Unescorted you can only shoot so many of them down" a Dutch Brewster pilot cried,he managed to shoot 2 down before they attacked Force Z, he feels partialy responsible for the death of many men aboard the POW and Repluse. "They move fast...very fast for a bomber" He finished before breaking down and ending the interview. Over the past two days the bomber has inflicted the following damage: One Torpedo hit to the CL Java Three Torpedo hits to the BC Repluse Two Torpedo hits to the BB Prince of Wales One Torpedo hit to the CL De ruyter. This bomber is yet another pro Japanese factor in the battle for the DEI. B17's touch down, Pearl Harbour open for business! 17 coming in to land Two squadrons of B-17's have landed at Pearl Harbour as the airfield is declared open for buisness. Out of the 70 bombers landing at the base only 2 where damaged on landing, this damage was minimal. Canton island Hudsons and submarines around Canton island have sighted no invasion fleet so far. The Cruiser Indianapolis and its destroyer escort has left the island heading southwest to Suva on Fiji as a precaution against a carrier strike on the island. Other news Supply convoy loading at San Fran for PH Jap destroyers, straggling from the battle of Java sea are hit by T-iva bombers, and dutch submarines. Destroyers Mischco, Natsugumo and Inazume are reported heavily damaged. Destroyers fleeing Hong Kong are hit south of Borneo, 2 sink. Last ships flee singapore harbour. PS: As i said in my post, i did tell force Z and co to flee to Tyijtap but it seems they ignored that order, possibly as they had a react range and decided to engage the Jap force, small thing i overlooked has cost me many ships. Next post i will do a overview of the war after more than a weeks fighting, lots of screenies from my map, as i have kind of accidentally merged my orders into the news, so next post will be news and a overview of the game so far
< Message edited by LittleJoe -- 4/5/2005 2:16:13 AM >
_____________________________
|