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

[Cap Mandrake]

Why all the fuss?


The suspected Jap cruiser force off the East coast of Mindanao proved to be a real Jap crusier force off the coast of Mindanao....except in the middle of the night they made it to Tawi Tawi, presumably by sailing North of Mindanao. By my estimation this was about a 600 mile run...or about 17.3 hrs at 30 kts. I was sure they were headed for Tawi but I figured they would not try to make the run from that range and run the risk they might not clear B-25 range from Menado by daybreak. I was wrong [:)]

They sunk 2 AK's and 2 damaged LCT's at Tawi. A PT boat group from Menado arrived too late. There were no troops aboard the Ak's and the KNIL Bn at Tawi now has good supply but apparently the Tawi Tawi Fish and Game Warden is hole up in his hut and will not surrender. About 2/3 of a Cav Brig is already on its way from Menado and should arrive late on the 5th or early on the 6th. I will probably have to send a real surface force to Tawi despite the risk.

[Cap Mandrake]

*******Aboard USS Iowan, off the Tawi Tawi beachead, 02:20, June 5, 1943*******

Adm. Draemel: <speaking over ship's PA> Men, we are tonight destined to...well...I guess you would say....meet our destiny. Soon, in all likelihood, we will encounter an enemy surface force which can better us in speed, armor and firepower.....but we have one thing they do not....<it appears to the men listening, the Admiral is pausing for dramatic effect. In reality, he is looking at his notes>....ummmmm....oh..yes..we have an eternal brotherhood. I am proud to have served with you all. In readiness for what may lie ahead, I would like to review a set of rules...<he looks again at his note cards and drops several. In the darkness, he does not realize a card of a different color has been reshuffled to the top. He stands back up and continues reading>

A life preserver will be found in each bunk and will be replaced where found before debarking. The use of tobacco, either smoking or chewing is prohibited at all times in the berthing spaces. Smoking is permitted on open decks only. No food will be eaten the berthing spaces or..latrines..oh good Lord......<He stops to look more closely at his notes. A gentle sursuration of stifled laughter can be heard throught the ship> Ummm..oh my...

Lookout: SEARCHLIGHTS OUR PORT BOW! <all eyes turn in that direction>

Adm. Draemel: <Now back on familiar territory, the Admiral becomes a man of action> ALL HANDS PREPARE FOR ACTION! MAKE OUR COURSE ZERO ONE FIVE. SIGNAL THE ENGINE ROOM, WE WILL NEED ALL THEY'VE GOT. SIGNAL ARIDED. THERE WILL BE NO FIRE UNTIL MY COMMAND.
<His eyes grow wide with excitement. His pulse quickens. He feels a man of twenty again. He thinks to himself: "This must be what it was like at Jutland". He throws his head back and produces a sound which easily makes mute the gathering din around him>

Linie voran Anordnung!

[Cap Mandrake]

******07:20, June 5, 1943, Tawi Tawi beach********

Along with other flotsam, a water-logged card, yellowed with age, lodges on the sand.

[Cap Mandrake]

..

[Moondawggie]

ORIGINAL: Cap Mandrake

******07:20, June 5, 1943, Tawi Tawi beach********

Along with other flotsam, a water-logged card, yellowed with age, lodges on the sand.

Yow! This does not bode well for our beloved Admiral. [8|]

That guy sure seems to be a magnet for any nearby IJN ordnance.

[Cap Mandrake]

ORIGINAL: Moondawggie


Yow! This does not bode well for our beloved Admiral. [8|]

That guy sure seems to be a magnet for any nearby IJN ordnance.

Yes...I am afraid you are right. It seems Mrs. Draemel on that nice quiet street in King of Prussia is in for some more heartache. [:(]

I feel bad for that nice Lt., JG who saved his life too.

The Admiral must have had 6 or 7 ships shot out from under him in WWII(b). This time the other AK and the two LCT's were sunk before the Iowan so he had nowhere to transfer his flag to. If he is gone for good, at least it wasn't a slip and fall accident. He also had the satisfaction to see a round from the Iowan's forward 4 inch gun stike Chikuma. Of course, it did not turn out well (11 gunnery hits and 3 torps on the Iowan)

[Cap Mandrake]

So I am buying nonfat milk the other day and I notice it is the same price as whole milk....but then I walk over to buy some whipping cream and a quart costs as much as almost a gallon of milk! The clever bastards! I pay them to take the cream out of my milk and in the rare case I actually want the stuff back they charge me again!!!!


Big night intercept off Mindanao. Retribution for Admiral Draemel! Now..if I could just figure out how to get even with Big Milk!

[Cap Mandrake]

And a gratuitous screenshot. I left Prince of Wales and Australia behind in Menado because they coudln't make 30 kts.

[Cap Mandrake]

..

[Cap Mandrake]

La cucaracha, la cucaracha,
ya no puede caminar
porque no tiene, porque le falta
marijuana que fumar.

Aj Caramba!

PT's laboriously shuttled up from Darwin sink 2 Jap DD's and Bosie and Rocket score a second mid ocean intercept in 2 nights. The obvious place for the Jap transports to escape was to the North (out of the clutches of Allied bombers from Babo and Amboina.....which is exactly why I surmised they might head East to Palau [;)]

[Moondawggie]

ORIGINAL: Cap Mandrake

..

Hey, it sounds like Doc Daneka knows what he's talking about---[:-]

BTW, Mandrake, is "Tuscan Autumn Squash" approved as an acceptable color by your HOA Landscaping and Architectural Review Committee? Living in a house (or flying a plane) that color could easily drop my morale by 40 points!

It sounds like the color of Frau Braun's eyeliner...

[Cap Mandrake]

So one of my nieces, the poor thing, fractured her leg on a skateboard and was admitted to the hospital where Stalker Girl works.
So, naturally, Stalker Girl goes down to see her on her break. My niece is all hopped on morphine but she recognizes her immediately and greats her warmly.."Oh hi, Stalker Girl! I always liked you the best of all the other girls Uncle Mandrake dated." <cue the needle scratching needle across the record sound....you know..."SCREEEEECCCCHHHH> [:D][:D][:D]

I don't know whether she was trying to be funny or just confabulating but I had some serious 'splaining to do. Stalker Girl confronted me with the "revelation" and I couldn't help but laugh which just made her more mad which just made the situation even more funny to me which just made her more mad...yada yada yada. Ah...good times. Apparently my "you have got to be kidding" laugh is very similar to my "I am so busted" laugh. I am still trying to beat that Asperger's thing.

OK...back to the war. Landings at Jolo, Cotabato and Jesselton today. A few Zeroes strafe the LCT's at Jolo but otherwise all goes well. Cagayan and Davao airfields are esentially abandoned. There are 20-30 bombers of some descripttion at Iolio (which is beyond reach of the B-24's from Amboina). Mogami and pals retreated to Cam Rahn Bay in Indochina and the few DD's spotted at Manila are apparently gone. The Jap carriers are nowhere to be seen. Time to commit some serious assets to the Mindanao landings.

[tabpub]

Mandrake,

You continue to astound me sir; like a door to door salesman that won't take no for an answer, you have just stuck your shoe in the jamb and shoved your way into the living room and seem to be heading for the Master bedroom as we speak...amazing....I am crawling like a waterbug up the leg of a Cape Buffalo compared to your blitz thru the underbelly....Hell, next it will be the 81st PA Division landing at Cavite to liberate Manila with the 3 members of the marching band in the lead.....

Though, one has to think of the terrible retribution that might be unleashed if the IJ High Command can get their "stuff" in a pile, rather than scattered about. As you were, I was confounded when the IJN carrier group 'appeared' to leave the Celebes area on a HI course; rather than the Palaus where some major surface units still appear to be based at. Well, I am trying to accelerate my moves in SoPac; I don't want to land somewhere and find your SWPac boys waiting there to "greet" me, ala Monty at Messina, Sicily....ugh.

Oh, btw; what is the timetable on Lashio? Looks like the Chinese from Mtyik should be there in a week or so; the quicker you can reduce that pocket there, the quicker I can get those veterans back to China where we can start counter-attacking rather than sitting in the trenches at Sian hurling shells at one another.....

[Cap Mandrake]

....

[Cap Mandrake]

..

[Cap Mandrake]

..

[BrucePowers]

Now maybe if you had let Harry Truman inspect the plexiglass..........[:D]

[Cap Mandrake]

ORIGINAL: BrucePowers

Now maybe if you had let Harry Truman inspect the plexiglass..........[:D]

Truman is a bit under the weather, I think. [:)]

[BrucePowers]

Was thorazine around back then?

[Moondawggie]

ORIGINAL: BrucePowers

Was thorazine around back then?

If not, it shoulda been! [:)]