From here to...well...it SEEMS like an eternity

[Cap Mandrake]

...

[FOW]

Have you had those icebergs reconned at all?
I'm sure I recall an old research paper from an M&M scientist about building giant CVs from ice. Global cooling will make the raw material more accessible would it not?

ORIGINAL: Cap Mandrake

...

[Cap Mandrake]

ORIGINAL: FOW

Have you had those icebergs reconned at all?
I'm sure I recall an old research paper from an M&M scientist about building giant CVs from ice. Global cooling will make the raw material more accessible would it not?

That is a quite novel idea......I mean the part about the scientist working for M&M Enterprises, Climate Change Divisison.


One should be cautious...nothing is at it seems in 1943(b). [:)]


***********Aboard a B-25J with USAAF markings at 12,000 ft, 18:20, May 30, 1943(b), 160 mi South of Menado, the nose art is quite distinctive, consisting of an attractive nude woman with a bullet hole through her ample bosom, a casual observer might be forgiven for mistakenly assuming the model was of Northern European descent because of her beautiful blonde hair, especially since, given the nature of the pose, one cannot deduce that the carpet does not match the drapes********


Port Side Waist (or Waste) Gunner, over intercom: Captain, I see one of those icebergs at our 9..15-20 miles out.

Hirsute Cpt.: <looks in that direction> Holy Mary Mother of God! I'll be damned. It's an iceberg! An iceberg near the Equator in May! Milo, you crazy SOB, I thought you made up all that Global Cooling stuff.

Ride Along <standing behind pilot and co-pilot>: Yossarian, you crazy, concrete-thinking SOB. Watch yourself.

Port Side Waist (or Waste) Gunner, over intercom: Captain, can we buzz the thing and strafe the polar bears?

Hirsute Cpt.: <over intercom> Negative on the polar bears. I want to make Menado before nightfall. <turns off his mike and turns to the ride-along> Milo, you crazy, obscure SOB, what do you mean by "watch myself"?

Ride Along <standing behind pilot and co-pilot>: I mean things may not always be as they seem, my concrete-thinking friend. Sometimes a surplus can be an asset as well.............

[Moondawggie]

ORIGINAL: Cap Mandrake


Port Side Waist (or Waste) Gunner, over intercom: Captain, I see one of those icebergs at our 9..15-20 miles out.

Hirsute Cpt.: <looks in that direction> Holy Mary Mother of God! I'll be damned. It's an iceberg! An iceberg near the Equator in May! Milo, you crazy SOB, I thought you made up all that Global Cooling stuff.

Ride Along <standing behind pilot and co-pilot>: Yossarian, you crazy, concrete-thinking SOB. Watch yourself.

Port Side Waist (or Waste) Gunner, over intercom: Captain, can we buzz the thing and strafe the polar bears?

Hirsute Cpt.: <over intercom> Negative on the polar bears. I want to make Menado before nightfall. <turns off his mike and turns to the ride-along> Milo, you crazy, obscure SOB, what do you mean by "watch myself"?

Ride Along <standing behind pilot and co-pilot>: I mean things may not always be as they seem, my concrete-thinking friend. Sometimes a surplus can be an asset as well.............

Hotchi Mama! That Tomini Ice Shelf looks like it's just about to break loose and start floating north!

Just think: a perfectly flat mobile slab of ice 10 miles long by 7 miles wide: Room enough to put fifteen parallel 25,000 foot long runways side by side to create an unsinkable "level 23 airfield!" [X(] (Not to mention containing a virtually limitless supply of "rocks" for Scotch on the Rocks to calm the nerves of the junior officers). Strong enough to take about 1,000 simultaneous torpedo hits and still have floatation damage of only 0.00023%! Add a bunch of VFs, B-29s, P-38s, and voila: you have yourself a real "DeathStar."

Lease a few M&M Enterprises combo tugs and icebreakers from the Peruvian Navy and you could easily push that puppy all the way into Tokyo Bay. [:D]

And Perimeter Defense: Not to worry! Leave that to the polar bears on the edge of the shelf. A couple batallions of IJN SNLF Marines land; the bears have lunch! [:)]

Mandrake, I think I'd be landing an aviation support batallion on your new CVI ("I" for ice shelf) ASAP.

[FOW]

Lvl 23 a/f x 50 a/c per lvl = 1150 a/c

Thats 4 Av Regts and 1 large Baseforce

Oh and don't forget the Air HQ

[tabpub]

Very well; we all know this is a silly thread, but now the ultra-silly has reared it's head...icefloe carriers and what....

For something completely different, Lunga fell yesterday in a one day assualt; as the IJA 36th Division retreated to Tassaforanga in the face of the 43rd and Americal Divisions attack. Casualties are light; except the airfield, where more than 10 Taro plants were lost.

[Cap Mandrake]

ORIGINAL: tabpub
For something completely different, Lunga fell yesterday in a one day assualt; as the IJA 36th Division retreated to Tassaforanga in the face of the 43rd and Americal Divisions attack. Casualties are light; except the airfield, where more than 10 Taro plants were lost.

Huzzah! The part about the Jap 36th Division...not the airfield. The destruction of the Taro plants was a senseless act. The WAFFL Commission (Wanton Attacks on Fruits, Flowering (Plants) and Legumes) will hear of this. When this thing is over...a price will be paid. You can count on that.

PS..isn't that officer British? What is he doing with y'all? Fix his stupid IBM card and send him back please.

[Cap Mandrake]

Remember those "well-escorted transports" SE of Davao? Well, it seems the information was faulty. They proved to be 3 Jap surface groups with at least 2 BB's, 4 CA's and 3 CL's plus nearly 20 DD's and they paid a visit to Menado on the night of the 30/31.

My replay was out of sync. On my replay 5 DD's were sunk. In "reality" only one was sunk but it coudl have been much worse for the Allies. The airfield was barely scratched and the Aussie Cav Div transports escaped harm.

Prince of Wales (from 250 miles away) might have scared away Hyuga which never took part in the battle. Nice show by the USN Pompano and PT's which drove off the Takao group and the Aussie CD guns which drove off Mutsu's escorts.

[Cap Mandrake]

********Pentagon, Washington, June 1, 1943**********


Adm. King: OK, what have you for me?

Asst. Sec. of the Navy, Mr. Forrestal: Right, on the icebreakers, the options are slim. It seems there was one outfit that laid 5 keels on some quite nice, well designed icebreakers on Pitcarin, of all places. We had an option on them when it seemed New Zealand would fall and we would have to operate off Antartica to supply Australia. Failing the Pitcarin group we might be able to persuade the Russians...

Adm. King: Stop right there, Jim. The United States Navy is not going to operate Communist vessels. Tell me more about the Pitcarin group.

Asst. Sec. of the Navy, Mr. Forrestal: Well, Admiral, it seems there are problems there too. One of the principals is runing for President.

Adm. King: Of what?

Asst. Sec. of the Navy, Mr. Forrestal: Why, the United States, sir.

Adm. King: WHAT!? Dewey, you mean?

Asst. Sec. of the Navy, Mr. Forrestal: Oh, no sir <consults notes>...it's the Green Party...a Sargeant Milo Minderbinder.

Adm. King: Do you mean an acitve duty GI is running for President? Is that even legal?

Asst. Sec. of the Navy, Mr. Forrestal: Probably not sir.

Adm. King: Hmmm..I'l be damned. Well, I don't think the President will object..trust me on that.

Asst. Sec. of the Navy, Mr. Forrestal: Very well, sir..but there is another problem. The icebreakers are spoken for.

Adm. King: Who has them, Royal Navy?

Asst. Sec. of the Navy, Mr. Forrestal: No sir.

Adm. King: The Canadians?

Asst. Sec. of the Navy, Mr. Forrestal: No sir.

Adm. King: Well damnit, Jim who is it? Please don't tell me it's the Kriegsmarine.

Asst. Sec. of the Navy, Mr. Forrestal: No sir, La Armada de Peru.

Adm. King: You are shitting me!?

Asst. Sec. of the Navy, Mr. Forrestal: No sir.

Adm. King: This Sgt. Minderbinder must be quite the salesman.

Asst. Sec. of the Navy, Mr. Forrestal: So I hear sir.

Adm. King: Well, just outbid the Peruvians.

Asst. Sec. of the Navy, Mr. Forrestal: What about the War Profiteering Commission, sir?

Adm. King: Who, Truman? Hahahahahhahahahha.....

[Dili]

I'm sure I recall an old research paper from an M&M scientist about building giant CVs from ice. Global cooling will make the raw material more accessible would it not?

Pykrite and Project Habakkuk?? The inventive Mr.Pyke http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoffrey_Pyke ; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Habakkuk

some photos here http://www.combinedops.com/Pykrete.htm

[Cap Mandrake]

ORIGINAL: Dili

Pykrite and Project Habakkuk?? The inventive Mr.Pyke

Yes..have heard of Pykrete...I wonder if other types of natural fiber would work.[:)]

The fundamental problem here is Tomini really does sit almost on the Equator and it really is June and Milo (not the Admiral version) really did make up the whole global cooling thing...I think.

********Beach on the Gulf of Tomini, June 2, 1943*******

A disorderly convoy of almost every type of conveyance queues up to offer their goods to an important-looking white man in green eye shades. Stretching back for at least four miles is the entire cocconut harvest for all of North and Central Sulawese.

I. D. Cheatham, Esq: NEXT! That's 50 cents a ton for husks..1 dollar a ton for copra.

Poor Sulawesi: But that is a very poor price. Even in 1941 we got 10 times that much.

I. D. Cheatham, Esq: Look, there is a war on, my friend. The market for cocconut cream pies is zero. Do you see all these other people in line? If you don't sell, they will. Is it yes or no?

Poor Sulawesi: <looks downward in defeat> Yes.

I. D. Cheatham, Esq: Fine, see the bursor. Thank you for doing business with M & M Enterprises Agricultural Division.

Out on the water, hundreds of laborers carry bundles of coconut husks onto large rafts of floating husks bound by hemp and sisal. Further down the beach another group spreads the white copra on top of the husk mats. The reflected light coming off the copra is blinding in the June Equatorial sun....

[BrucePowers]

Is there an uh-oh here?[:D]

[witpqs]

ORIGINAL: Cap Mandrake

The fundamental problem here is Tomini really does sit almost on the Equator and it really is June and Milo (not the Admiral version) really did make up the whole global cooling thing...I think.

He probably didn't, but the really good news is that it's June. You see, at noon the sun is pretty much overhead on the equator in March and September. In June it's farthest North (and farthest South in December). As an added bonus, the earth is closest to the sun sometime in January, which means it is farthest away sometime in July.

Operation iceberg may get a cool reception, but it's a hot time for it.

[Cap Mandrake]

ORIGINAL: witpqs

ORIGINAL: Cap Mandrake

The fundamental problem here is Tomini really does sit almost on the Equator and it really is June and Milo (not the Admiral version) really did make up the whole global cooling thing...I think.

He probably didn't, but the really good news is that it's June. You see, at noon the sun is pretty much overhead on the equator in March and September. In June it's farthest North (and farthest South in December). As an added bonus, the earth is closest to the sun sometime in January, which means it is farthest away sometime in July.

Operation iceberg may get a cool reception, but it's a hot time for it.

That makes sense...the sun can't be directly overhead at the same time both at the Equator and at the Tropic of Cancer (for eg.)

I looked it up. The average high temperature at Manado (couldn't find it for Tomini but it is close) in June is 28C. The average high is also 28 in every other month except in November and December where it plumets to 27 [:)] Of course, this is before Global Cooling set in. It might have been hotter in 1943(b).

[Cap Mandrake]

****Sitrep, Jolo, Sulawese, the Moluccas and New Guinea, Jan 3, 1943****

Jolo: The Japs found an effective counter to the LCT's. They now have a bunch of Tojos on strafing missions at Cotobato in Northern Mindanao. Even so, the Dutch Bn landed successfully at night on Jolo. In the morning, Jap fighters and Vals sunk 4 PT boats and hit half a dozen LCT's at Jolo. Jolo is just our of LRCAP range from Menado. There is an unkown Jap unit at Jolo. They have no artillery as there was no shore fire but the KNIL Bn is very small and will reload aboard LCT's and divert to Tawi Tawi (50 mi to the W) which is curently unoccupied and has a level 1 airfield. This will have to serve as a fighter strip to cover a more fulsome landing on Jolo. Tawi Tawi will have a LRCAP of P-38's to cover the landing and prevent Jap troops flying in. The Jap carriers are gone
and the Jap BB's retired to Palau.

Menado: Prince of Wales and friends made it safely to Menado. 2 1/2 divisions are dismebarking there. A B-25 raid on Davao from Menado was only marginally effective. Most of the 25's had to go back for R&R.

Amboina: The airfield is now fully repaired but supply is still marginal so the B-24's there did not take off for a planned raid on Davao.

Hollandia: The Japs sent a small surface group of subchasers to Hollandia but they were intercepted by Piet Hein which was dispatched from Sansapor. I am not sure what the purpose was but they were sent packing with heavy losses. Hollandia now has Kittyhawks.

[witpqs]

Are these guys the PyKrete construction team?

[EWGuttag]

Witpqs,
&nbsp;
So you know about Pykrete, eh?&nbsp; Pyke (a true brillant but eccentric individual) was also the force behind the Weasel, as well as what became the "Devil's Brigade."

[witpqs]

ORIGINAL: EWGuttag

Witpqs,

So you know about Pykrete, eh?  Pyke (a true brillant but eccentric individual) was also the force behind the Weasel, as well as what became the "Devil's Brigade."

I confess that I saw it on a show some time ago about some of Churchill's more outlandish projects on the UFO-channel.

[Cap Mandrake]

ORIGINAL: witpqs

Are these guys the PyKrete construction team?

I think that is a shot of the "Iceberg" 22c nightshift crew covered with copra dust after a long night's labor at the Gulf of Tomini.....


"Come Mr. tally man, tally mi white copra

daylight come and me wan' go ho-ome

Me say day, me say day, me dayyy-o"

[Cap Mandrake]

*******SITREP, the PI, Sulawese and the Moluccas, June 4, 1943********


Tawi Tawi: The KNIL Bn. landed at Jolo is evacuated by LCT to Tawi Tawi which has no garrison. The evacuation from Jolo is a bit disorderly so the Bn. has lost its supply. One AK was orderd to continue unloading supply at Tawi Tawi under cover of P-38 CAP from Menado. The KNIL Bn is sufficiently disorganized after the cluster **** at Jolo that I am not sure they will be able to overcome the local Tawi Tawi Constabulary and Fish and Game Warden and capture the needed airfield. I have therefore dispatched 4 AK's and about 2/3 of Aus. Cav Brig. toward Tawi via LCT from Menado.

Beaufighters and P-38's will attempt to cover both the Tawi landing and the relief force. This is really wearing out the P-38's at Menado so one group was rested on the 3rd. 3 sinking LCT's were left at Jolo to draw fire. This worked well, drawing repeated attacks from strafing fighters based at Iolio and Cotabato. One LCT was also hit at Tawi with the loss of two Jacks downed by the 8-9 P-38's over Tawi. The Beaufighters over the relief force discoraged any atacks on them.

All of the Jap combatants from the big bombardment TF's recovered to Palau and are poorly placed to intervene at Tawi. However, a TF reported to contain numerous cruisers (probaly DD's) is steaming WNW toward Mindanao. My guess, is they will circumnavigate Mindanao to the North and threaten the Tawi Tawi oepation. Another PT group is being sent to Tawi to replace the group that was wrecked by Vals from Davao.

Davao: The aifield was hit heavily by a 50+ bomber B-24 raid from Amboina. Most of the Jap planes at Davao have been wrecked or withdrawn.

Menado: Two full Australian Div and a host of support troops are landing at Menado. Prince of Wales and friends cover the transports. After the failure of the last bombardment attempt, I doubt the Jap will try that again. A carrier raid at Menado now might be risky for the IJN but could sink many ships (there are thousands of troops still onboard ship). Once Tawi Tawi has an opeartional airfield, I will load 12th Aus Brig for Jolo aboard fast AP's.