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Shadow of the Condor -> RE: Ambush at Kourouratopo (9/28/2004 10:58:32 AM)
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10 Dec 42
Wx: Partly Cloudy
0048L…1 mile west of Kourouratopo…onboard USS Bache…
Commander Farley had detached from his escort duty earlier in the evening and had made almost 25 knots in trying to get into the position he was in. The rest of Admiral Kinkaid’s strike force was about 3 miles behind him. Bache was acting as sentry. Her SG radar was supposedly able to locate targets up to 14 miles away, but the operators on board rarely trusted returns from that distance. Besides, there were a plethora of little islands out here – and the return of a low island caused more than one ship to fire onto a coral reef. And that’s where South Dakota was lying in ambush. All Kinkaid needed was a radio signal from Bache.
It had all started the day before when a PBY from Luganville spotted four destroyers NNW of Kourouratopo. The plane reported that the ships were not moving, and that got everyone’s attention. The ships were going to make a classic nighttime sprint. The only question was whether it was to bombard the base or to land troops and wipe out two “undefended” SeaBee battalions – which had been spotted for almost three days by level bombers and recon planes from the Japanese base at Lunga.
And now, the time was right. If the Japanese had indeed begun a nighttime sprint into Kourouratopo, they should be arriving somewhere around midnight. True to form, they were on their way.
Bache’s radar had picked up the incoming ships when they were still twelve miles away. When they closed to 11 miles, Commander Farley sent the message back to Admiral Kinkaid that the enemy had indeed taken the bait. South Dakota and her escorts came to life, and began to steam into the harbor to meet the ships.
At 10 miles, Bache had worked up a course and speed on the contacts. They were closing on the SeaBee positions at over 30 knots.
As the enemy approached to five miles from the island, the American ships, along with the Australian light cruiser Leander, were in position. Kinkaid had deployed his destroyers fore and aft of his cruisers. South Dakota would lay back and not expose herself to the Japanese Long Lance torpedoes. Kinkaid had been told to expect a FT force of destroyers rather than a cruiser bombardment force. His own cruisers were parallel to the island. Intelligence estimated the Japanese ships would not be equipped with radar, but Kinkaid’s ships would blend in with the coastline scatter if the enemy proved the intelligence estimates wrong.
At four miles out, Bache formed up at the end of the line, and South Dakota illuminated the sea with her own radar. She began to track the enemy and direct the operation.
At three miles out, the enemy began to radically reduce speed. They were too far out to unload, so that meant they had detected Kinkaid’s force. But it was too late. At 5000 yards, the cruisers opened fire.....
0130L…3 miles west of Kourouratopo…
By the time it was over, the cruiser Leander had been damaged the most of all, having had an entire four-inch gun mount destroyed, along with the crew inside it. The destroyer Beale also took damage, and a few fires were burning. In return, the Japanese force of five destroyers and two fast transport ships was almost completely obliterated. One ship, the Hokaze exploded after taking a third volley of eight-inch shells from Portland. Two more ships, the Nokaze and Tachikaze, exploded and sunk after breaking off from the conflict. But, to the Japanese credit, they still landed almost 1000 combat troops and 10 guns on Kourouratopo. They would no doubt exact their revenge on the American engineers.
Except that the American engineers were no longer there.
And this is the situation at a small island known as Kourouratopo. Brave Japanese sailors and officers battled through heavy odds and almost certain death and landed troops on an island that two days ago, held some of Americas best engineers and construction equipment. As soon as the battle was over, seven destroyers were making their way to the beach to pick up the last of the Americans and leave the island in the hands of almost 1000 Japanese combat troops with 10 guns.
0310L…base operations building…briefing room…Noumea, New Caledonia…
The Condor was halfway into his third cup of coffee when Kinkaid’s action report was delivered to him.
…Signal Green…enemy forces ashore…three…repeat…three enemy vessels sunk…four…repeat…four enemy vessels burning out of control…enemy departing north by northwest…two..repeat…two friendly vessels sustained minor damage…returning to base…
He read the signal again, and lit up a cigar. He looked over at Admiral Pye, and then to a Navy lieutenant commander who was told to stand by the phone with a predetermined list of units to call. Looking at the aide, the Condor blew out the wooden match and moved the cigar to the corner of his mouth.
“Execute.”
0330L…Noumea harbor…
Lieutenant Colonel Carlson of the 2nd Marine Raider battalion was glad to be onboard. His battalion was dispersed among six fast transport destroyers. They had actually loaded the night before, and the transports were now steaming out of the protected waters. Within thirty-six hours, they would be at their destination…
0745L…240 miles NNW of Kourouratopo…
The Marine SBD and TBF pilots were already over the damaged Japanese task force. The pilots, however, were young, inexperienced, and hampered by the tendrils of black smoke that effectively shielded the ships from attack. Reluctantly, they turned back to base to try again later in the day. The ships weren’t in any kind of shape to escape.
0912L…20,000 feet over Lunga airbase…
The B17s had fought through the fighters, and dropped their bombs on the base. Minor damage was noted – nothing that even the Japanese couldn’t easily fix. The Japanese, however, did accomplish something very important. As the bombers turned to leave, a Zero got onto the tail of a B-17 in the trail position. The tailgunner’s machineguns had jammed, and the Zero started to shred the rudder and control surfaces of the tailplane. Within a minute, the B-17 was trailing smoke, and started a shallow dive from which it would not recover. The Japanese had finally shot down a B-17…
1307L…240 miles NNW of Kourouratopo…
Once again, the Maring attack aircraft orbited the stricken ships, looking for an opening in the smoke and haze to pick out a target. Some SBDs dropped bombs blindly, trying to anticipate where the ships would be. One plane did score a hit, however. A TBF pilot was able to line up on the destroyer Hakaze and a 22 inch torpedo exploded into what was left of the hull of the ship. The ship broke in half and slipped beneath the waves.
2000L…base operations building…briefing room…Noumea, New Caledonia…
The operation had been almost textbook in its success. Landing engineers on an island, and then pulling them out just as the enemy arrived to attack them. The ambush at Kourouratopo couldn’t have been better executed. And now, every A-20 and B-26 in range was lining up on the enemy ground force at Kourouratopo. The enemy ships were limping away, but already six submarines were closing on them from the north and west. The Marine pilots would add their attacks onto the enemy ground troops if the ships got out of range.
To finish off the operation, 48 C-47 transport aircraft would fly over the island at approximately 6000 feet, dropping the 1st Parachute Battalion who would mop up what was hoped to be a surprised, bewildered, and shellshocked enemy.
The Admiral nodded a bit and announced to all he was retiring for the evening, but he wanted the logistics requirements for Operation Kangaroo on his desk by 8am.
AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR 12/10/42
Weather: Partly Cloudy
Night Time Surface Combat, near Kourouratopo at 52,48
Japanese Ships
DD Hagikaze, Shell hits 4, on fire, heavy damage
DD Hakaze, Shell hits 4, on fire, heavy damage
DD Hokaze, Shell hits 10, and is sunk
DD Tachikaze, Shell hits 22, on fire, heavy damage
DD Nokaze, Shell hits 17, on fire, heavy damage
APD 31, Shell hits 2
APD 39, Shell hits 5, on fire
Allied Ships
BB South Dakota, Shell hits 1
CA Portland, Shell hits 1
CA Northampton
CL Leander, Shell hits 1
CLAA San Diego
DD Beale, Shell hits 1
DD Bache
DD Aaron Ward
DD Laffey
DD Buchanan
Japanese ground losses:
Men lost 655
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Air attack on Port Moresby , at 10,40
Japanese aircraft
A6M3 Zero x 22
Allied aircraft
B-17E Fortress x 6
Japanese aircraft losses
A6M3 Zero x 1 destroyed
Allied aircraft losses
B-17E Fortress x 1 damaged
Attacking Level Bombers:
3 x B-17E Fortress at 6000 feet
3 x B-17E Fortress at 6000 feet
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Air attack on Lunga , at 38,40
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 20
Allied aircraft
B-17E Fortress x 8
no losses
Allied aircraft losses
B-17E Fortress x 2 damaged
Runway hits 1
Attacking Level Bombers:
3 x B-17E Fortress at 20000 feet
5 x B-17E Fortress at 20000 feet
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Air attack on TF at 50,46
Allied aircraft
SBD Dauntless x 25
TBF Avenger x 13
P-38G Lightning x 3
Allied aircraft losses
SBD Dauntless x 2 damaged
Japanese Ships
DD Hagikaze, on fire, heavy damage
APD 39, on fire
DD Hakaze, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
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