Malay Barrier campaign - December 1941 – March 1942

[paulr]

There was one last contact during this campaign turn. Japanese land based aircraft had located one of the groups of Allied ships withdrawing from the previous action. Rather than commit a full Saturday evening session we met for just under an hour this evening.

For some reason Pierre the Shy was keen to come up and "conduct his own defence", I'm sure this had nothing to do with the fate of Exeter under my command

As the three crippled Allied destroyers limped south at 8 knots towards Singapore they were spotted by a reconnaissance aircraft of the 22^nd Naval Air Flotilla. Two flights of Hurricanes were vectored in to provide some protection but how much would 5 Hurricanes be able to do...

A formation of 29 Nell bombers were seen approaching from the south east. As the Hurricanes moved to intercept 5 Zeros headed towards them. The two flights of Hurricanes split and tried to work their way round the Zeros to get at the bombers.

The left hand flight of 3 Hurricanes was intercepted by 3 Zeros and 2 Hurricanes were quickly damaged and the third shot down with no loss to the Zeros. The right hand flight of 2 Hurricanes was intercepted by 2 Zeros and managed to shoot down one of them.

While the flight leader tangled with the remaining Zero he ordered his wingman to take on the bombers. He managed to get one burst, which missed, at a Nell before he was bounced by the 3 Zeros that had tangled with the left hand flight of Hurricanes. He managed to shoot a Zero down before being damaged and forced to break off. His flight leader and his opposing Zero were both out of ammunition.

With all the fighters shot down, damaged or out of ammunition the 29 Nell bombers approached the three crippled Allied destroyers. USS Stewart, HMS Jupiter and Electra in line astern. HMS Scout had been detached to escort the damaged ships and nervously circled her charges. The Nells were level bombing with 500lb bombs from 10,000ft.

The 13 Nells of Bihoro Kokutai managed to straddle Jupiter and Electra but failed to score any hits. They had 3 Nells damaged and 2 shot down. The 16 Nells of Genzan Kokutai managed to straddle Stewart and Electra. One of the 500lb bombs struck the Electra and this was enough to sink the already badly damaged destroyer. 2 Nells were damaged and 2 shot down.

Kanoya Kokutai had arrived 12 minutes late and attacked with 5 Bettys concentrating on Jupiter and managed to straddle her with 500lb bombs but did no damage, a Betty was shot down.

The Japanese had sunk Electra and shot down 1 Hurricane and damaged 3.

The Allies had shot down 4 Nells plus a Betty and damaged 5 Nells.

Some success for the Japanese but it had been costly. 11^th Air Fleet was pleased by the report of 4 cruisers sunk.

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

4 cruisers! Nice... 

[pierre the shy]

Tin hats everyone and ring up maximum revolutions.....large formations of Japanese navy twin engined bombers have been sighted approaching two separate ABDA task forces (A small RN/USN force based at Singapore and a larger USN force based at Surabaya) which are out hunting for more Japanese invasion convoys.

Hopefully the Japanese recce pilots did not report my ships as battleships or battlecruisers. If they did then up to half of the bombers could be armed with 18" torpedoes rather than bombs which would really not be good.

I did get some defending fighters this turn (Dutch Buffaloes) but of course they are covering a Dutch task force which is not under air attack

So each task force has to rely on speed and far too few AA guns to survive attacks from these large formations of level bombers (less a few removed last turn) before they can even think about actually engaging any invasion convoys this turn.

Chances are something is going to be hit, just prey its not one of the cruisers.







                 

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Ominous hummmmmmmmmmm of engines...

[pierre the shy]

Take off time has been delayed by a couple of days due to rather unseasonal weather over the target area......Wellington is expecting around 130 - 150mm (5 to 6 inches) of rain today after nearly a month without any significant rain, so we have re-scheduled for Monday which is Waitangi Day here. 

So not dodged the encounters with the 21st and 22nd Air Flotillas, just put postsponed them a bit!   

[paulr]

Ominous hummmmmmmmmmm of engines...

The hummmmmmmmmmm got much louder yesterday afternoon

Action 1

The undamaged ships of WESGROUP sortied again from Singapore. With the loss of Exeter and all of the modern British destroyers damaged the force was reduced to 2 D class light cruisers, 4 Admiralty S class destroyers and 3 American Clemson class destroyers.

As they steamed north at 24 knots lookouts reported aircraft approaching from the southwest. It looked like it might be a small raid, only 5 Zeros and 5 Nells.

The Japanese aircraft passed astern, preparing to attack from the starboard side. This was screened by the American destroyers with their very limited AA. The Allies turned to port hoping to delay the enemy attack.

At this point lookouts reported more aircraft approaching from the southwest; 7 more Nells and 16 Bettys!

As the Allies continued to maneuver the newly arrived Nells moved to join the other Nells and Zeros. The Bettys moved to attack from port. The leading 6 Bettys managed to straddle Durban but scored no hits and lost an aircraft.



The 3 American destroyers had fallen behind as they were on the outside of the turn. This opened the way for the 5 original Nells with 3 Zeros strafing Durban. Durban managed to down one of the Zeros but with little AA to disturb them the Nells managed to hit Durban with a 500lb bomb. The blast from this damaged much of her armament but fortunately did not affect her machinery spaces.



The second group of 7 Nells then attacked the Durban with the 2 remaining Zeros strafing her. The leading American destroyer, Parrot, had managed to work into a better position and shot down one Nell and damaged another as they approached Durban.

The remaining 10 Bettys attacked Durban while the Zeros strafed Durban and the leading British destroyer, Thanet. Fire from the remaining destroyers damaged one Betty as it broke off. Durban was straddled repeatedly and a 500lb bomb penetrated the machinery space halving her speed and further reducing her firepower.

Rear Admiral Arthur Palliser's flagship had survived this time but was crippled. He transferred his flag to Dragon and considered his options with his much reduced force. The Japanese had 1 Zero, 1 Nell and 1 Betty shot down and 1 Nell and 1 Betty damaged.

[paulr]

Action 2

Rear Admiral William Glassford again sortied his US ships from Surabaya, this time reinforced by Marblehead and John Paul Jones. Destroyer Division 59, however, was detached for other duties.

As they headed north at 24 knots look outs reported bombers approaching from the west. They were soon identified as 16 Nells and 13 Bettys. The Nells passed astern of the US ships and moved to attack from starboard where there were only 2 US destroyers. The Bettys circled as the Nells moved into position.

The US ships turned to port to make it harder for the Nells to reach their attack position. Another 20 aircraft were spotted approaching from the west, Zeros.

The Zeros moved to support their bombers with 9 joining the Bettys and 11 the Nells.



The first wave of 6 Bettys attacked the Houston with Zeros strafing her and the supporting destroyers. Houston damaged two Zeros and shot one down. She was straddled by 500lb bombs but undamaged. The second wave of 7 Bettys attacked the more exposed Marblehead with Zeros strafing her and the supporting destroyers. She was straddled repeatedly but was undamaged. The AA crews of Marblehead and John Paul Jones both claimed the Zero that was shot down.

As the Bettys withdrew the Zeros that had been supporting them joined the Nells.



The Nells attacked all 3 cruisers; 6 against Houston, 6 against Boise and 4 against Marblehead. The Zeros strafed the cruisers and supporting destroyers. Houston and Boise were both straddled but managed to escape any damage. Houston and Marblehead both damaged Zeros and Boise shot one down.

The Japanese had lost 2 Zeros and a Betty, 4 Zeros had been damaged. The Americans had managed to survive undamaged.

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Sounds like the Allied forces got lucky!

[paulr]

Historically Marblehead was heavily damaged by air attack and withdrew to New York for major repairs, via Ceylon, South Africa and Brazil (over 16,000 miles or 26,000 km)

Houston was hit by the same air attack disabling Turret 3 (or Y Turret depending on which side of the Atlantic you're from). She was later sunk at the Battle of Sunda Strait.

[pierre the shy]

Having run the gauntlet of the IJN's land based 21st and 22nd Air Flotilla's and survived largely intact its now time to try and inflict a bit of damage on some more Japanese invasion convoys. 3 have been sighted and will be engaged, though the severely deplied West Force (1 old CL and 7 old DD's) has the only daylight engagement so they might have to beat a hasty retreat if they sight anything larger than a CL, though I am keen to try and stop that sighting as they are now south of Singapore, which is not good. The other two are night actions but we have some decent ships to use there.....not saying which ones as loose lips sinks ships. The Japanese at night under GQ rules at this time are very capable so we will need to be on top of our game actually get amongst the transports, or even try and scare them off, but its now or never as unless I am very lucky ABDA does not see any more reinforcements......still waiting for those Dutch Type 1042 battlecruisers to show up but the umpire just laughs.....maybe next time       

[Rhys]

I'd suggest that you will do OK as long as you don't let Paul anywhere near your dice....

[paulr]

      

[pierre the shy]

Well we finally played one of the night actions last Saturday after being delayed for various reasons over the past few weeks.......first up was the USN vs a Japanese Invasion force at Balikpapan which did not end well for the USN thanks mainly to the Long Lance torpedoes that the Japanese were able to put into the water.

With the sheer number of number of torpedoes fired I guess the odds were they would hit something, just not as often as they actually managed....

You can find the USN after-action report here: https://betweenthelines10mm.blogspot.com/2022/03/torpedoes-in-water-disaster-at.html

I did manage to sink one transport and damage another, thus making the transport force take a force morale test. If they fail then the invasion will be unsucessful, but however you look at it any success came at a very high price.

[Steve J]

Blimey, that did not go well for the USN!!! Let's hope the Japanese fail their morale tests, for what would be a Pyrrhic victory of sorts.

[paulr]

Pierre the Shy continued to play in his normal friendly manner, despite both his and his opponents the dice rolling against him on almost every opportunity. His couple of expressions of opinion on his luck were entirely understandable and fairly restrained

The signs were not promising from the opening Japanese salvo, amongst the many 5" shells that slammed into the Houston one hit the bridge, killing Rear Admiral Glassford and most of the bridge crew

The Japanese managed to launch about 60 Long Lance torpedoes all at less than 6,000 yards