Matrix Games Forums

 Forums  Register  Login  Photo Gallery  Member List  Search  Calendars  FAQ 

My Profile  Inbox  Address Book  My Subscription  My Forums  Log Out

RE: Letters.

 
View related threads: (in this forum | in all forums)

Logged in as: Guest
Users viewing this topic: none
  Printable Version
All Forums >> [New Releases from Matrix Games] >> War in the Pacific: Admiral's Edition >> After Action Reports >> RE: Letters. Page: <<   < prev  2 3 [4] 5 6   next >   >>
Login
Message << Older Topic   Newer Topic >>
RE: Letters. - 4/10/2017 10:12:33 AM   
1275psi

 

Posts: 7979
Joined: 4/17/2005
Status: offline 		11 Jan 1942

Dear Mother

I never, ever, ever, will ignore your advice again.
"Don't do it Son, don't join the Navy son, "
How many times did you warn me?
I need a new stomach, I think the old one is on the deck somewhere..........

We are a long way from home right now. This Port is a bay, with a pier, a pier that
makes fishermen happy, but is useless to us.
We are getting ready, filling up with everything we might need, although I am sure we
will leave something we need behind!
The Captain spoke to us today. We are, to quote, going off to kick Jap butt.
Some of us, I think, think he is full of it.

We will see.
We sail soon, so I will get this off

All my love
Peter

_____________________________

big seas, fast ships, life tastes better with salt

(in reply to 1275psi)
Post #: 91
RE: Letters. - 4/11/2017 9:12:32 AM   
1275psi

 

Posts: 7979
Joined: 4/17/2005
Status: offline 		12/1/42

Chester sails just before dawn.
Northampton accompanies, destroyers Blue, Mugford, Ralf Talbot, Farragut and Hull lead the way
out.
Course is set North West.
Captain Shock declines to address the crew.
"You do it Ford", and with that he disappears into his cabin.

Some what surprised, Ford takes the tannoy.
"Ï don't know of our destination, but I can assure you of this;, we steam into danger.
We must do our best"

They will have to.
Over the DEI's, the storm clouds are darkening.


_____________________________

big seas, fast ships, life tastes better with salt

(in reply to 1275psi)
Post #: 92
RE: Letters. - 4/14/2017 7:48:02 AM   
1275psi

 

Posts: 7979
Joined: 4/17/2005
Status: offline 		13/1/42
Ensign Cross side slips, straightens, and brings his floatplane to bouncy, yet
competent stop a mere 30 yards from Chesters stern.
Jock, as always, has his comment, "you know, you might even make a pilot one day"
which, as always, Cross simply ignores.
He guns the throttle, keen to get the bird alongside, and under Chesters crane.
A boring search, empty seas, empty skies.
Mission ten.
Even as they bounce and dangle back to the nest, there is another explosive bang, as Dwight
is flung into the sky with his turn.
The pace is quickening.

_____________________________

big seas, fast ships, life tastes better with salt

(in reply to 1275psi)
Post #: 93
RE: Letters. - 4/14/2017 7:56:05 AM   
1275psi

 

Posts: 7979
Joined: 4/17/2005
Status: offline 		13/1/42
Shock takes the signal from young Peter.
He reads it, twice, grimaces, signs it , hands it back
There is nothing he can do about it.

But the warning is there.
CA Astoria, struck by 2 torpedoes whilst operating North of Timor by just 6
bombers.
But from where?.......the nearest known Japanese field at the moment should have been at least 600 miles
away!

They are fighting over Batavia today.
By tomorrow,the day after, we will be a lot closer to the war than that.

_____________________________

big seas, fast ships, life tastes better with salt

(in reply to 1275psi)
Post #: 94
RE: Letters. - 4/14/2017 8:13:04 AM   
wdolson

 

Posts: 10398
Joined: 6/28/2006
From: Near Portland, OR
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: 1275psi

13/1/42
Ensign Cross side slips, straightens, and brings his floatplane to bouncy, yet
competent stop a mere 30 yards from Chesters stern.
Jock, as always, has his comment, "you know, you might even make a pilot one day"
which, as always, Cross simply ignores.
He guns the throttle, keen to get the bird alongside, and under Chesters crane.
A boring search, empty seas, empty skies.
Mission ten.
Even as they bounce and dangle back to the nest, there is another explosive bang, as Dwight
is flung into the sky with his turn.
The pace is quickening.


Just FYI that isn't exactly how float planes were recovered underway. Usually the ship would sail in a circle to create some smoother water for the plane to land, then they would drag a pad with hooks behind the ship. The floatplane would taxi up to the pad and loops on the bottom of the float would catch the hooks. This would allow the plane to power down and keep the plane at the same speed as the ship. Then they would use the crane to lift the plane back onto the ship.

From what I read having the catapults amidship made it easier to recover the planes rather than the stern. The stern bounces around more than amidships to hooking the plane with the crane was tougher. Though in combat having the plane handling on the stern was safer. When treaty CAs got hit amidship it would start massive fires in the hanger area and effectively cut the ship in two. In some cases people in the front half of the ship had no idea if anyone was alive in the rear half and vice versa.

Bill

_____________________________

WitP AE - Test team lead, programmer

(in reply to 1275psi)
Post #: 95
RE: Letters. - 4/18/2017 9:43:37 AM   
1275psi

 

Posts: 7979
Joined: 4/17/2005
Status: offline 		14/1/42

Some 120 miles south east of Christmas island
Chester rolls easily in the moderate swell, the sun blazing down onto her decks.
The heat, the humidity now is aggressive, there are no dry shirts to be seen.
For the hundredth time this day, Ford removes his Cap, wipes the sweat
from his brow.
The cruiser is doing a mere 12 knots, good for the escorting destroyers sonar,
useless for creating any sort of breeze across the deck.
Its hot here on the bridge.
Below, rapidly climbing towards the intolerable.
The boiler rooms......easier not to think about it.

Shock turns to him, having brought them down to this speed
"She's your Ford, standard Box pattern"
"Any time until sir??"
Short scowls.
"Until we don't anymore, I am going below"
And just like that, it seems another ten degrees hotter up here already.


_____________________________

big seas, fast ships, life tastes better with salt

(in reply to wdolson)
Post #: 96
RE: Letters. - 4/19/2017 9:54:18 AM   
1275psi

 

Posts: 7979
Joined: 4/17/2005
Status: offline 		15 Jan 1942
The Japanese invade Tarakan, and launch mass attacks at Palembang.

They bleed.

Enemy CVs lurk near Batavia. Type unknown. Numbers unknown
Result for trying to approach.........definitely known.



Big Ben sits in the shade of the catapults. It doesn't really help. Through the steel he can
feel the heat, the air about him beats heat.
Its hot. Bloody hot. Sweat streams from him, from the rest of the watch sitting here.
In a few minutes, they will go below, where it is truly hot.
Big Ben has served a long time, the Atlantic mostly, that one trip to South America.
That, he had thought, had been bad.
Nothing, however, has prepared them for this.
4 hours below, feeding the furnaces.........

Its going to destroy him. He just knows it.

_____________________________

big seas, fast ships, life tastes better with salt

(in reply to 1275psi)
Post #: 97
RE: Letters. - 4/20/2017 10:11:28 AM   
1275psi

 

Posts: 7979
Joined: 4/17/2005
Status: offline 		16 Jan 1942
The seas have calmed.
Not quite mirror calm, another day will see that.
Gunner Scotty stares across its endless vista with the rest of his team,
and curses that single curse.
It all looks the bloody same to him.
It is midday. Bloody midday.
The sun blazes. The waters glitter. Eyes squint against the glare.
And, like all aboard, Scotty sweats.

And wonders what in the hell they are waiting for.
And for that?.......how long?

_____________________________

big seas, fast ships, life tastes better with salt

(in reply to 1275psi)
Post #: 98
RE: Letters. - 4/25/2017 3:03:06 AM   
1275psi

 

Posts: 7979
Joined: 4/17/2005
Status: offline 		17 Jan 1942
Peter too , along with everyone else sweats
He is hot, almost as hot as the radio's in the comms centre.
Chester is under radio silence, she listens carefully, remains silent herself.

But seethes with anger and impatience.

Peter sweats, running each scrap of news to Shock.
The war in the DEI's burns bright, burns hot.

The Japanese fight there way into Palembang, at great cost it seems.
Cruisers Indianapolis , Portland and 4 destroyers smash a convoy at Batavia, another
allied task force bombard Merack
And 30 banshees enter the action at Tarakan.

Shock takes these messages silently, and broods, waiting, waiting for God knows what.





There are many other things in these messages of course.
The Japs have taken Lunga.........supported by carriers.
Reports of carriers south of the Philippines........
More in the Java sea........

How bloody many do they have??
Wherein the hell will they appear next?
Where ever they go, Japan wins.......
Chester patrols the calm waters, waiting

Shock wonders where they will go next...................


_____________________________

big seas, fast ships, life tastes better with salt

(in reply to 1275psi)
Post #: 99
RE: Letters. - 4/27/2017 10:16:58 AM   
1275psi

 

Posts: 7979
Joined: 4/17/2005
Status: offline 		18th January
Once again Cross is flung into the air, the brilliant Blue flashing
beneath his wings.
He pushes the canopy back, breathes deep of the cooling rush of wind.
Such a bloody relief to be of the ship, out of that stinking wardroom.
Good, good to be in the air again.

It will be a long patrol, again, good. Boring for sure, doomed to see nothing almost for sure,
still, still so bloody good to be in the air again.
He banks gently, headed North on his first search leg. Over there to the East, the Indies.
Over there, the war.
What was happening?. Who was winning?.
Would they ever see a bloody Jap???





Cross will not see one today.
No one will in this task group.......today.

South of Balikpapan, the Dutch steam hard, steam North , encounter Jap minesweepers.
They don't have to fight very hard, making swift work of them.
DeRuyter, little obsolescent cruiser that she is, may not be killing much, but she sends
the message.
We fight, we fight, we fight.


Chester does not turn to the fight.
She waits. She has to now. Fuel is low, very low. On the destroyers, even worse.
They run on fumes.
The war rages to the east.
Too far away now.


_____________________________

big seas, fast ships, life tastes better with salt

(in reply to 1275psi)
Post #: 100
RE: Letters. - 5/1/2017 9:07:49 AM   
1275psi

 

Posts: 7979
Joined: 4/17/2005
Status: offline 		19/1/42
"I have the Helm"
"Very good sir, course is 270, speed 12 knots"

Ford moves to the binnacle, bends, squeezes a bearing to Northampton sliding across the
liquid mirror of the Indian ocean.
She is, of course, in position.
A shuffle around the binnacle, another sighting, Destroyer blue 2000 yards ahead.
He straightens, wipes his brow. Another hour before the swing to the eastward leg.
Its going to be another long morning.
Out of curiosity he moves to the 2JV circuit.
"Engine room bridge, whats our BFR?"
"One moment bridge"
BFR.........burnable fuel remaining.
"Bridge, Engine room, 32 percent sir"
"Thankyou"
32 percent. Not enough to get home.............

Young Peter enters the bridge, flimsy in hand

A single short message
"Am under Carrier air attack, Sunda straight.......hit fwd........burning"

Its the Dutch Tanker due to rendezvous in 3 days time.
Ford crumples the message. Looks around the task force, as if he could will
a Tanker to appear.

32 percent
Jesus.





_____________________________

big seas, fast ships, life tastes better with salt

(in reply to 1275psi)
Post #: 101
RE: Letters. - 5/1/2017 9:11:54 AM   
1275psi

 

Posts: 7979
Joined: 4/17/2005
Status: offline 		Even as Chester continues to mark time, the radio works overtime.

The first air raid over Soerabaya.......met by P40e's
CA's Indianapolis reports air attacks in the Java area.
Portland too
And Batavia falls.

_____________________________

big seas, fast ships, life tastes better with salt

(in reply to 1275psi)
Post #: 102
RE: Letters. - 5/1/2017 9:24:22 AM   
cantona2


Posts: 3749
Joined: 5/21/2007
From: Gibraltar
Status: offline 		Hey Herb
Excellent to see you still have that creative streak to feed. Finally finished my masters and thinking of getting back into AE. Maybe this AAR will inspire me mate

_____________________________

1966 was a great year for English Football...Eric was born


(in reply to 1275psi)
Post #: 103
RE: Letters. - 5/1/2017 12:49:15 PM   
PaxMondo


Posts: 9750
Joined: 6/6/2008
Status: offline 		Cantona,

Welcome back old salt!



_____________________________

Pax

(in reply to cantona2)
Post #: 104
RE: Letters. - 5/2/2017 7:33:20 PM   
cantona2


Posts: 3749
Joined: 5/21/2007
From: Gibraltar
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: PaxMondo

Cantona,

Welcome back old salt!




Thanks Pax

_____________________________

1966 was a great year for English Football...Eric was born


(in reply to PaxMondo)
Post #: 105
RE: Letters. - 5/3/2017 10:47:24 AM   
1275psi

 

Posts: 7979
Joined: 4/17/2005
Status: offline 		Hi Cantona!!!, if you do come back you wan't have any trouble getting an opponent, your
reputation is gold standard!




_____________________________

big seas, fast ships, life tastes better with salt

(in reply to cantona2)
Post #: 106
RE: Letters. - 5/3/2017 10:54:53 AM   
1275psi

 

Posts: 7979
Joined: 4/17/2005
Status: offline 		20/1/42

Mirror calm
Blazing sun
110 percent humidity
700 men sweating like pigs.

Over Batavia, over Soerabaya , the Hurricanes and flying tigers snarl and snap against
the empires eagles.
But Palembang falls.


And Chester waits.
Burning a ton of fuel per hour.

_____________________________

big seas, fast ships, life tastes better with salt

(in reply to 1275psi)
Post #: 107
RE: Letters. - 5/8/2017 9:19:03 AM   
1275psi

 

Posts: 7979
Joined: 4/17/2005
Status: offline 		21/1/42

It is 30 minutes before dawn, the horizon already beginning to hint at the suns rising.
Chesters bridge is quiet, the men silent shadows, mostly still, sentinels, statues.
For now, just for this brief time, it is almost...almost pleasant here. The cruiser is making
a small breeze of her own, and one can hear the hiss, hiss, of her bow as it gently kisses
the Indian ocean.
In 30 minutes of course, the sun will rise, and the cool will vanish like a dream.
Within an hour, the sweat will begin again.

The task force remains undisturbed, undisturbed, undiscovered.
It is going to be another, yet another long, long day.

To the east, the war burns on. 30 B17s from Soerabaya strike Palembang.
Tarakan falls
And just after dawn Peter brings Shock yet another deadly flimsy, another portend of doom.
Near Kendari, hunting, CA Salt lake city swallows two betty launched Torpedoes.

Two cruisers in the same month.
In the same bloody waters
By the same bloody bomber.



_____________________________

big seas, fast ships, life tastes better with salt

(in reply to 1275psi)
Post #: 108
RE: Letters. - 5/9/2017 10:44:43 AM   
1275psi

 

Posts: 7979
Joined: 4/17/2005
Status: offline 		22/1/42

Ford again bends to the speaking tube
"yes engines?"
"Request permission to commence ballasting"
Inwardly Ford grimaces. Ballasting of fuel tanks, a sure sign of the impending fuel
shortage catastrophe. An already tender ship by design, Chesters Metacentric height
is now almost in deadly territory.
Should the weather worsen ..........
Ballasting, filling empty fuel tanks with sea water will mean tank cleans down the road,
alongside time, system damage, gods knows what else for the poor engineers.

BFR 26 percent.
No choice, none at all.
"Approved"

_____________________________

big seas, fast ships, life tastes better with salt

(in reply to 1275psi)
Post #: 109
RE: Letters. - 5/9/2017 3:09:37 PM   
cantona2


Posts: 3749
Joined: 5/21/2007
From: Gibraltar
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: 1275psi

Hi Cantona!!!, if you do come back you wan't have any trouble getting an opponent, your
reputation is gold standard!






Thanks mate. How is the publishing of the Little Ship going?

_____________________________

1966 was a great year for English Football...Eric was born


(in reply to 1275psi)
Post #: 110
RE: Letters. - 5/15/2017 9:40:09 AM   
1275psi

 

Posts: 7979
Joined: 4/17/2005
Status: offline 		Gawd, real life so busy............
Hi Cantona.......slowly, very slowly, but it is progressing.

23/1/42

Another dawn, another red sun, another morning haze so quickly
burning away under the blazing sun so soon to come.

The atmospherics show their quirks again.

For almost an hour, the BBC world news plays on the radio loud and clear.. For those listening
it may almost have been better not to have heard at all.

The Japanese storm the straights at Singapore. The British counter attack.
They fail.
It must be only a matter of time.

Chesters fuel situation becomes grimmer. And there are other things. Her Engineer,
a tall quiet man of few words, and fewer dramas, is seen coming up from below, a
distinct look of worry upon his face.
Thing is, he's never seen below..............






_____________________________

big seas, fast ships, life tastes better with salt

(in reply to cantona2)
Post #: 111
RE: Letters. - 5/17/2017 9:45:38 AM   
1275psi

 

Posts: 7979
Joined: 4/17/2005
Status: offline 		24/1/42
Yet another dawn
Chester awakens. Dawn action stations passes slowly, quietly, again.
The men fall out, and begin a new day.

Ford finishes his watch, writes up the log, a few sparse words. He looks around
the ocean about him, the squadron remains spread, as always.
All quiet, all still undisturbed.
Hard to think war rages just over there, over the horizon.

Captain Shock enters the bridge.
Ford instantly can tell that today, today is for one of "Those" days.
The man is scowling.
Ford nevertheless straightens, salutes "Örders for the day sir?"

"Keep a bloody good watch........that is all"
"Very good sir"

Ford leaves the bridge, the sense of annoyance gnawing at him.
Another day on station.........another day of nothing??
How long since they had conducted gunnery drills?, any sort of drills?
And now fuel is at 20 percent. What in the hell are they waiting for?

He descends below, preparing to tour his ship.
Chester rolls gently in the swell. Lethargy rolls down her passageways in time...........



_____________________________

big seas, fast ships, life tastes better with salt

(in reply to 1275psi)
Post #: 112
RE: Letters. - 5/22/2017 9:45:38 AM   
1275psi

 

Posts: 7979
Joined: 4/17/2005
Status: offline 		25th January

She joins them at dawn, her sides streaked with rust. Ford raises his glasses, runs
his eyes over decrepit superstructure, shabby rigging.
The swell slaps at her fat arse, stolidly she pushes them aside.

One ugly worn out daughter of a whore this ship.
Almost worthless

Ford lowers his glasses, and smiles.

But a daughter with a heart of gold.
10000 tons of liquid gold.
A tanker arrives at last.

_____________________________

big seas, fast ships, life tastes better with salt

(in reply to 1275psi)
Post #: 113
RE: Letters. - 5/24/2017 10:59:18 AM   
1275psi

 

Posts: 7979
Joined: 4/17/2005
Status: offline 		26th January

The tanker brings fuel
She brings enough of the liquid gold for everyone.
And she brings a flashing lamp, a lamp that remains busy flashing for many a long hour.
She brings the news

The Japanese push north towards Sian in china. The chinese have anticipated the blow,
deployed the bulk of their army in this area.
And be defeated anyway.

Bataan holds in siege. So does Singapore
Ambon has been bombed, so has Kendari, they must be under threat.
But in the Solomons, Tulgia is gone, Lunga is gone.

And Australia finally seems to understand her great peril. Port Moresby flies the rising
sun, and her defenders lie rotting in the sun in numbers far far to many.

_____________________________

big seas, fast ships, life tastes better with salt

(in reply to 1275psi)
Post #: 114
RE: Letters. - 5/24/2017 12:27:55 PM   
ny59giants


Posts: 9869
Joined: 1/10/2005
Status: offline 		In the early 80s, I was on USN FF-1079 (DE in WW2 terms) doing ASW work in Med. The AO came to us and did the refueling alongside rather than us moving to meet her. We NEVER lost contact with the Soviet sub we we tracking!! Ship got an award for that Med cruise and the Commander (Captain) got his promotion to full Captain shortly after we got back to Charleston, SC. We did independent steaming from Gibraltar to Israel and back for weeks on end.

_____________________________


(in reply to 1275psi)
Post #: 115
RE: Letters. - 5/27/2017 11:44:26 AM   
Major Shane


Posts: 195
Joined: 7/19/2007
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: ny59giants

In the early 80s, I was on USN FF-1079 (DE in WW2 terms) doing ASW work in Med. The AO came to us and did the refueling alongside rather than us moving to meet her. We NEVER lost contact with the Soviet sub we we tracking!! Ship got an award for that Med cruise and the Commander (Captain) got his promotion to full Captain shortly after we got back to Charleston, SC. We did independent steaming from Gibraltar to Israel and back for weeks on end.


Double impressive for both crews. On this Memorial Day weekend I just wanted to say thank you for your service.

(in reply to ny59giants)
Post #: 116
RE: Letters. - 5/29/2017 8:29:45 AM   
1275psi

 

Posts: 7979
Joined: 4/17/2005
Status: offline 		27/1/42

Dear Mother
I have no idea when you will receive this letter, nor, for that matter, any idea
when I will even be able to post it!
Incredible as it seems, with the whole world at war, I am , (along with just about
every one else on Chester) bored out of my mind. In fact, your son is thoroughly browned off!
We seem to be doing nothing, marching back and forth across the same patch of water, waiting, it seems
for something.........or some one!
We are south of Christmas island, waiting to ambush someone I think.
Trouble is, the Japs don,t seem to be playing the game...............




They are called booster pumps. Taking water from the de aerator, they provide positive
pressure to the feed pumps. There are three in each boiler room, one steam driven, 2
electric.
Big Ben stands , hands on hips, staring at "his" steam driven pump, number 1 A
Above the howl of the blowers, the whine of the feed pumps, his ears pick up a new noise,
a foreign noise.
A noise signalling trouble.
Rattle, ping............rattle.

Pump impeller wear ring........worn, loosening..........for sure.
He glances at the pump discharge gauge .yes, flickering, lower than it should be.

Damn, damn........another rebuild due.



Chester gains yet another system damage point, its 9 now and climbing

_____________________________

big seas, fast ships, life tastes better with salt

(in reply to Major Shane)
Post #: 117
RE: Letters. - 5/29/2017 12:39:44 PM   
Bif1961


Posts: 2014
Joined: 6/26/2008
From: Phenix City, Alabama
Status: offline 		This letter won't make it past the censors as you stated your location. If it does show up it will have several holes in it.

(in reply to 1275psi)
Post #: 118
RE: Letters. - 5/29/2017 3:13:39 PM   
adarbrauner

 

Posts: 1496
Joined: 11/3/2016
From: Zichron Yaaqov, Israel; Before, Treviso, Italy
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: ny59giants

In the early 80s, I was on USN FF-1079 (DE in WW2 terms) doing ASW work in Med. The AO came to us and did the refueling alongside rather than us moving to meet her. We NEVER lost contact with the Soviet sub we we tracking!! Ship got an award for that Med cruise and the Commander (Captain) got his promotion to full Captain shortly after we got back to Charleston, SC. We did independent steaming from Gibraltar to Israel and back for weeks on end.


A F. Knox class?

(in reply to ny59giants)
Post #: 119
RE: Letters. - 5/30/2017 10:01:54 AM   
1275psi

 

Posts: 7979
Joined: 4/17/2005
Status: offline 		Dawn breaks again

Its now the 32nd. More red sunsets, more glorious dawns, more slow, slow passes of the sun
across the skies, as the men on Chester sweat.
Watches come, watches go. Food consumed, fuel burnt.
Nothing seen.
Nothing

Morale...........well Fordfeels it.
Moral is falling.

But this dawn differs
This dawn brings a fillip greater than anything Ford could ever manage.

She is already a veteran. Has already fought 2 big battles. Has already killed
Better than a battleship
Boise joins.

_____________________________

big seas, fast ships, life tastes better with salt

(in reply to adarbrauner)
Post #: 120
Page:   <<   < prev  2 3 [4] 5 6   next >   >>
All Forums >> [New Releases from Matrix Games] >> War in the Pacific: Admiral's Edition >> After Action Reports >> RE: Letters. Page: <<   < prev  2 3 [4] 5 6   next >   >>
Jump to:





New Messages No New Messages
Hot Topic w/ New Messages Hot Topic w/o New Messages
Locked w/ New Messages Locked w/o New Messages
 Post New Thread
 Reply to Message
 Post New Poll
 Submit Vote
 Delete My Own Post
 Delete My Own Thread
 Rate Posts


Forum Software © ASPPlayground.NET Advanced Edition 2.4.5 ANSI

1.797