AmiralLaurent
Posts: 3351
Joined: 3/11/2003 From: Near Paris, France Status: offline
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29 April 1942 The first real naval battle (between big surface TF of both sides) was fought today. I have never seen such a battle before... Central Pacific A submarine TF with at least five SS was off Hilo during the day, probably laying mines. Three were attacked by aircraft but none was hit. 10 MSW were ordered to sail to Hilo and sweep the mines. The ML Ushishima, that hit an Allied mine off Lahaina, is slowly sinking in this port (damaged now 86/70/0) and was ordered to dash to Pearl Harbor, her chances of surviving being judged better if she did so. The last wreck in Pearl Harbor, the DD Ellet, was identified during the day. Southern Pacific The new bombardment TF (BB Yamashiro with RADM Hashimoto in command, CA Ashigara, Chokai and Kinugasa, DD Isokaze, Shiranuhi and Amatsukaze) sailed during the night toward Pago-Pago but met east of the island two cripples, the PG Charleston and the AP President Johnson. Admiral Yamamoto had been especially irritated by the use of heavy shells against cripples the day before and this time the secondaty artillery was used. But 5in shells kept bouncing off the armor of the PG after the AP was sunk and the Chokai and Ashigara finally sank her with 8in shells. The invasion TF and the bombardment TF approached Pago-Pago in the morning. Defenders of the atoll reported the approach of more than fifth ships on their radar and the message was received by the RADM Grace, commander of the ANZAC naval squadron (CA HMAS Australia and HMAS Canberra, CL HMNZS Achilles, HMAS Perth, HMNZS Leander and HMNZS Hobart, DD HMAS Napier, HMAS Stuart, HMAS Voyager and FNFL Le Triomphant), that was patrolling 300 miles SW of Pago-Pago. Grace’s orders were to wait for the night and then hit the atoll and the ships offshore. He was ordered to not react to Japanese actions, but for some reason ordered his formation to sail at full speed toward Pago-Pago. Either he never received the order or he decided to ignore them. For once weather was cloud in the morning in the area, and Vals were patrolling around the atoll, searching the cripples that were supposed to be the only targets of the day. One of the Val bombed and hit the heavily damaged DD Talbot off Pago-Pago but then one reported seeing the CL Perth. At once Japanese plans were changed. The two first waves sent to Pago-Pago were allready underway and attacked as planned. The first, 12 Kates and 14 Zeroes, bombed the 109th USN Base Force that was holding the atoll and hit 45 men and 2 guns. The second, 15 Kates and 10 Vals attacked the damaged DD Lawrence off the atoll and sank her. The third wave, 22 Vals and 5 Kates, was allready airborne but was ordered to circle and wait for more data about the incoming CL Perth, as were the bombers still aboard the CVs. Sadly the radio of the Val that did the sighting then failed and no more information was received during the morning. As soon as this crew returned, a huge raid was prepared and launched soon after noon. 39 Vals and 5 Kates get lost on the way. One Val quieted his nerves by bombing again the crippled DD Talobot, that was beached by her crew, and 18 other found instead the burning AP Tasker H Bliss and hit her with 7 bombs, but she remained afloat. 63 Vals and 48 Kates arrived over the ANZAC squadron. At this stage more Vals and floatplanes were following it and had reported several cruisers. The Japanese pilots ignored completely the destroyers and concentrated on the six cruisers. The Admiral Grace had little time to regret his decision to come to the help of Pago-Pago as his flagship, the CA Canberra, was quickly hit by 6 torpedoes, capsized and sank in some minutes. The admiral was not among the few survivors. All other cruisers were hit. The CL Hobart took one bomb and one torpedo but remained fully fonctionnal. The other were not so fortunate and were all heavily damaged. The CA Australia took 2 bombs and 1 torpedo, the Perth 4 bombs, the Leander 6 and lost most of her guns and the Achilles was crippled by 8 bombs and 1 torpedo. The Allied ships put as much AA fire as they could and shot down 4 Kates and 2 Vals. Another Kate was lost to engine failure, as was one of the few Zeroes flying LRCAP over Pago Pago, that had a peaceful day. During this time, the bombardment TF was dispatching the DD Sands, the only survivor of the DD TF attacked yesterday north of Pago-Pago by the KB. She had continued alone to Pago-Pago and faced the whole Japanese TF. Orders of Japanese ships were still to keep heavy shells for the bombardment and they used secondary artillery and torpedoes. Admiral Hashimoto anger increased when he saw that his ships had fired 8 torpedo loads against the DD and all missed… The DD had been slowed at the time by several 5in shells fired by the Kinugasa, Ashigara and Amatsukaze and Hashimoro ordered the Yamashiro to finish her. The first salvo was enough, a 14in shell hit the DD and exploded in the ammunition magazine. When smoke cleared nothing remained of the courageous Sands. Hashimoto then turned his ships to engage the battered ANZAC Squadron. What followed was the longest surface battle I have ever seen in WITP: 40 rounds. In the following chronology I have assumed each battle round to have a duration of 5 minutes. 15h00 : the Japanese fleet open fire at 20 000 yards. 8in shells fired by Ashigara and Kinugasa hit the CL Achilles and Perth but bounced on their armor. It will be a constant during the whole battle, at this distance cruisers of both sides will show immune to the main guns of the other side. The first real strike was scored with a 6in shell by Yamshiro on the DD Napier. 15h05 : the Japanese fleet launched torpedoes at 19 000 yards. One torpedo of the Ashigara hit the badly damaged Achilles and sank her. 15h10 : the Yamshiro hit again the Napier with a 6in shell and the CA Australia with a 14in shell, the first of a long serie. The DD Le Triomphant scored the first damaging hit for the Allied side when she hit the DD Amatsukaze. 15h15-15h40 : both sides exchanged shells at between 19 000 and 22 000 yards. Hashimoto used the superior speed of his undamaged ships to keep the distance at this range where his guns and torpedoes were usable while the Allied ones were not. Australia was hit by three more 14in shells. 15h40 : the Ashigara fired her last torpedoes against the CL Perth, hit her twice and she sank. The DD Napier tried to protect her but the Japanese CA hit her with two 8in shells. 15h45-16h00: the battle was still fought around 20 000 yards. The DD Napier and Voyager were respectively hit by the DD Amatsukaze and Isokaze. 16h05 : the burning CA Australia was hit by one more 14in shell from the Yamashiro and sank. 16h10-16h40 : Hashimoto kept the distance between the two fleet around 20 000 yards but had no more torpedo and the artillery duel was more equilibrated. The CL Leander was hit by a 14in shell and the Napier by 3in shells. On the other hand the DD Isokaze was hit twice by Le Triomphant and the Amatsukze by the Hobart and Le Triomphant. 16h45 : Hashimoto grined when in some minutes the CL Leander and the DD Napier were respectively sunk by a 14in shell from Yamashiro and a 5in shell from the DD Shiranuhi. But at the same time, the captain of the CL Hobart, the last Allied cruiser, took command and courageously ordered the remaining Allied ships to charge the Japanese line. 16h50 -17h25 : Hashimoto didn’t notice this among the smoky battlefield and the Allied ships closed to 12 000 yards. At close range, Allied gunnery was better and the Isokaze was hit seven times and heavily damaged by the Hobart and the Stuart, the Amatsukaze hit 3 times by the Hobart and Le Triomphant. The DD Voyager was leading the Allied line and took the brunt of the return fire, being hit by 8 5in shells fired by the Ashigara, Amatsukaze and Shiranuhi. 17h30 : at 10 000 yards, the CL Hobart fired torpedoes toward the BB Yamashiro and scored one hit. By chance the damaged is not serious (the BB finsihde the battle with damaged 9/2/5) but the Japanese sailors fully realized that the battle is not yet finished and heavy secondary fire fell on the Allied ships, while Japanese crews began frantically to resplenish the heavy turrets with shells. All 3 DD are hit, the Stuart and Le Triomphant for the first time of the battle. 17h35 : the next twenty minutes saw a gunnery duel fought at 10 000 yards. A lucky hit by a secondary gun of the Yamashiro destroyed the torpedo tubes of the Hobart before she could use them again. 17h40 : the Stuart hit the DD Isokaze with a torpedo and a shell and sank her. 17h45-17h50 : the Ahsigara found the range and in some minutes 8 5in shells hit the DD Voyager and left her a burning wreck. The first damage aboard the Japanese CA was done by a 4.7in shell fired by the DD Le Triomphant, that destroyed a turret aboard the Kinugasa. The Hobart hit the Amatsukaze twice with 6in shells and heavily damaged her. 17h55 : the Ashigara finished the Voyager and sank her with 2 5in shells. A Hobart shell destroyed a 5in turret aboard the Yamashiro. 18h00 : the Hobart closed to 9000 yards and finally one of her 6in shells penetrated the armor of a CA, the Kinugasa. But the Japanese gunners had finished shuttling heavy shells from stores and useless turrets to the usable ones and began again to fire 8in shells. Two hit the Le Triomphant, and one the Hobart. Hobart’s captain ordered a general retreat. 18h05 : it was too late to save his ship. The Yamashiro main guns resumed fire too and the Hobart was sunk by two 14in shells and two 8in shells that hit her in 2 minutes at 14000 yards. 18h10-18h20 : the range increased quickly, until the Yamashiro ceased fire at 38 000 yards. During the retreat the Le Triomphant took two more 8in shells and was beached on a reef off Pago-Pago to avoid sinking. The DD Stuart had taken 1 8in shell and 2 5in shell during the battle but was not heavily damaged. On the Japanese side, the DD Isokaze was sunk and the Amatsukaze reduced to a flaming wreck (damage 98/71/49). The other ships were not seriously hit and turned back to bombard the atoll, as planned. When approaching the target they met in dusk light the burning AP Tasker H Bliss and each ship fired at her while they defiled it, sinking her. Then the Yamashiro and the 3 Cas fired what shells they had left on the atoll, hitting 66 men and 1 gun and destroying one B-25C on the ground. At this stage the Japanese troops (2nd and 16th Div, 21st Eng Rgt and 14th Base Force) were allready landing and the Allied garrison, the 109th USN Base Force, opposed little resistance. The base was taken at 482 to 1. Japanese lost 1404 men in the landing but only two in the battle. They counted 1600 prisoners. On the airfield were seized 30 B-25C, 4 SBD, 4 PBY and 3 P-40E damaged the day before and that were sabotaged by their crew when the landing started. Also both DD beached on the atoll, the Talbot and Le Triomphant, were scuttled by their crews when they received radio warning of the fall of the base. The Stuart then remained the only survivor of the Anzac Naval Squadron that lost its admiral, 2 CA, 4 CL (and 10 Walruses aboard them) and 3 DD. The Yamashiro TF docked in Pago-Pago in the evening. Hashimoto hesitated to order the Amatsukaze scuttled and finally decided to not do it yet. The other BB TF refueld today east of Pago-Pago and will sail to the atoll during the night, protecting it from raiders. In the evening, 9 Zeroes, 9 Emilies and 23 Nells arrived there from Tarawa and Palmyra. The runway was still cratered and one Nell crashed on landing but the crew was unhurt. It was planned that the troops that haven’t landed on Pago-Pago will be carried at once to Tongapatu. But 45000 of the 57000 troops landed allready, leaving only support squads aboard. The troops will finish landing and then one division will board again ships and sail for Tonga under escort by the KB. The CV TF will refuel tomorrow 60 miles SE of Pago-Pago. 1000 miles SE of Pago-Pago, one of the ten submarines sent to support the operation met an unescorted convoy of 10+ ships and attacked it in the afternoon, sinking the fuel-laden TK J. A. Moffett with 4 torpedoes. Neither the KB nor the surface ships with it have enough fuel and ammunition to chase this convoy so nothing will be done against it. Five 9000-ton TK are loading fuel in PH to sail to this area via Christmas Island. The Ki-46 unit based in Baker Island left for Tarawa, the repeated bombings from Canton have destroyed almost all supplies here. Solomons-New Guinea The daily bombing raid from Port Moresby by 11 Hudson I hit nothing. Philippines The 71st PA Div in San Marcelino was bombed by 55 Ki-21, 40 Ki-49 and 36 Ki-27 from Lingayen and lost 56 men. The troops marching from Bataan toward Clark Field marched 7 or 8 miles today and will then arrive in one week. Timor-Amboina-Australia In the morning 17 LB-30 from Darwin attacked the oilfields of Amboina. 5 Zeroes intercepted them but didn’t hit any. 5 hits were claimed on the oilfields, the real results are not yet reported. In the afternoon, 11 B-25C took off from Darwin to bomb Dili airfield. Six get lost and the five other hit nothing. The Allied High Command has expressed concerns after recent Japanese declarations that the Allied dominated this area. He officially announced that the area will be reinforced and recons confirmed that today. CAP was increased to 64 fighters over Darwin (6 Hurricane, 27 Kittyhawk, 31 P-40E) and 35 over Derby. Right now he has nothing to care. The convoy carrying the 8th Base Force to Amboina finished unloading today and will leave during the night. The 12 Zeroes sent to protect it will return to Kendari. Sumatra-Java During the night, 2 CA bombarded Soerabaja, hitting 72 men and 1 gun and scoring one hit on a runway and one on a port supply dump. Neutralization raids continued, and still found Java airfields almost empty. 59 Ki-21, 24 Ki-48 and 4 Nell from Palembang escorted by 16 Zeroes bombed Batavia, destroying there an unserviceable LB-30 and scoring 4/1/32 airfield hits. One Ki-21 was lost in an accident. 51 Nells, 2 Betties and 3 Zeroes from Balikpapan raided Soerabaja and scored 1/1/7 airfield hits. Landing in Kragen was undisturbed by any Allied activity. Two units (of artillery) finished unloading and were ordered to march SW of Kragen to cut the railroad. Recon showed that only one Dutch units is still in Tjilatjap. The part of the 35th Bde areotransported to Madoien was ordered to march to Djokjarta and occupy it. The convoy carrying the 35th Bde (currently W of Macassar) was ordered to sail past Bali and these troops will land on the southern coast of Java, in Madang or Tjilitjap. The 4th Bde finished to land in Bali (174 casualties) during the night and day and occupied the empty island totally. In Pontaniak the state of both damaged CL is stationary. The two AR sent from Singapore will arrive tomorrow. In Palembang AP are loading the part left behind of the units brought to Java, and the 9th Eng Rgt that was forgotten here ! Burma NTR except Japanese artillery fire against surrounded troops W of Lashio (3 Allied cas) and NE of it. In the evening, a new Ki-15 unit arrived in Mandalay and will recon the Akyab area. The other targets reconed daily are Chandpur, Imphal and Ledo. A convoy is loading the 23rd Bde in Medan and will bring it to Rangoon. China The first troops will leave Yenen westwards tomorrow and join the two divisions facing Chinese troops here. These troops will bombard Chinese lines tomorrow.
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