Unit Descriptions: Air, Naval, Land

[ItBurns]

You passed over my favorite Warspite story, where the by passed Germans on the channel Isles decided to make a
nuisance of themselve by firing on on Le Harve (I think I'm at work and can't check) and the Warspite replied.  Poke the bear and get mauled.
 
Also, isn't one of the 15" guns out in front of the Imperial war museum?

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: ItBurns

You passed over my favorite Warspite story, where the by passed Germans on the channel Isles decided to make a
nuisance of themselve by firing on on Le Harve (I think I'm at work and can't check) and the Warspite replied.  Poke the bear and get mauled.

Also, isn't one of the 15" guns out in front of the Imperial war museum?

Warspite1

I have not heard that story - I will see what I can find and may insert something.

The 15-inch guns are from the R-class battleships HMS Ramillies and HMS Resolution

[paulderynck]

Excellent as usual, however it does not read well chronologically with the between the wars modification info coming before some of the WWI info.

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: paulderynck

Excellent as usual, however it does not read well chronologically with the between the wars modification info coming before some of the WWI info.

Warspite1

Thanks paulderynck [:)] - please see amended write-up with revised order as suggested. I could not find reference to the incident at Le Havre in the book I have on her; ItBurns can you confirm the source please?

[4604 Warspite - by Robert Jenkins]
.B Engine(s) output: 80,000 hp
.B Top Speed: 24 knots
.B Main armament: 8 x 15-inch (381mm) guns, 8 x 6-inch (152mm) guns
.B Displacement (full load): 36,096 tons
.B Thickest armour: 13-inches (belt)
.P The Queen Elizabeths were a class of five World War I vintage battleships
that were developed from the Iron Duke class. A sixth ship, Agincourt, was
cancelled before being laid down.
.P For their main armament, they used a new, and as then untested, 15-inch gun
that was to prove a highly successful weapon. They were originally to have five
twin turrets, but by removing the centre turret, additional boilers could be
added to boost speed from 21 to 24 knots. This gave the Royal Navy (RN) the fast,
well armoured battle squadron that it desired and made these ships the most
powerful vessels afloat at their time of launch.
.P HMS Warspite was completed in March 1915 and was destined to become one of the
best known warships in the long, proud history of the RN. She was to earn great
affection within the fleet and at the end of her life, she became known as the
"Old Lady"; although veterans prefer the title "Grand Old Lady".
.P She was a veteran of the fleet encounter at Jutland in 1916. There, she
survived a staggering twenty-nine hits after her steering jammed and she sailed
straight for the German battlefleet. Curiously, the steering malady would never
entirely disappear.
.P The speed of these ships was one of the key factors in ensuring that they
would be suitable for modernisation during the inter-war years; unlike the later
R-class. Three ships, Warspite, Valiant and Queen Elizabeth were substantially
reconstructed in the thirties, but financial and resource constraints meant that
the remaining two ships - Malaya and Barham - failed to receive the same level of
upgrade.
.P Having had bulges fitted to improve underwater protection in the twenties,
Warspite was the first of the class to receive a comprehensive overhaul; the work
taking place between 1934 and 1937. Improvements included the fitting of brand
new, smaller and lighter machinery which increased power and extended her range
by almost double the old figure to over 14,000 miles.
.P The main guns had their elevation increased; so extending their range by 30%
and the 6-inch secondary armament was reduced from twelve to eight guns by the
removal of the fore and aft guns. The anti-aircraft (AA) armament was entirely
new; four twin 4-inch guns and four 8-barrelled 2-pdr pompoms for close-range
cover.
.P Her 13-inch belt armour remained the same, but her weak horizontal armour was
greatly increased, with a maximum thickness of 5.5-inches over the magazines and
3.5-inches over the machinery spaces. This was still not ideal, but at least
offered a measure of protection against air attack.
.P The biggest visual change was the completely new bridge and superstructure, as
a result of which, she was a remarkable vision of new (superstructure) meets old
(hull).
.P The names of the ships of the class had no common theme. Warspite, meaning "to
treat war with contempt" was originally used by the RN during the reign of Queen
Elizabeth I in the 16th Century.
.P At the outbreak of World War II she was deployed with Mediterranean Fleet but
the sinking of the Royal Oak at Scapa Flow, meant that she was ordered back to
the UK to join the Home Fleet. Having arrived at Gibraltar in early November, she
was diverted to Halifax, Canada to assist the escort of a large, homeward bound
convoy, HX.9. On the journey back to the UK she was ordered to detach from HX.9
and join the search for the German battlecruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau
following the sinking of the armed merchant cruiser Rawalpindi (see ASW Counter
4698). By the time Warspite arrived off Iceland, the enemy ships had made it back
home (see HMS Newcastle).
.P In December she became Flagship of the Home Fleet and was engaged in convoy
escort and patrol duty in northern waters. She remained in this role until April,
when she returned to the Mediterranean. However, she was recalled to the Home
Fleet in response to the German invasion of Norway.
.P As a result of the RN`s inability to stop the German invasion of Norway (see
HMS Valiant), their main task became helping Allied forces trying to stop the
conquest of the Scandanavian country. It must be remembered that although the RN
had failed to stop the Germans from landing, they and the Fleet Air Arm had
dealt the Kriegsmarine a number of blows during the course of the landings and
shortly after. Brief details are given in the paragraph below below.
.P On the 10th May, Captain Warburton-Lee won the RN`s second V.C of the
Norwegian campaign during a set-piece destroyer action that became known as the
1st Battle of Narvik. Warburton-Lee commanded a force of five destroyers, Hardy,
Havoc, Hostile, Hotspur and Hunter. He led them in darkness through Ofotfjord,
where they attacked a force of ten larger German destroyers. Two enemy
destroyers, Wilhelm Heidkamp and Anton Schmidt, six cargo vessels and the
ammunition ship Rauenfels were sunk for the loss of Hardy and Hunter and severe
damage to Hotspur. This success was followed by Fleet Air arm Skuas, operating at
extreme range sinking the cruiser Konigsberg, and HM Submarines Truant,
Spearfish and Sterlet sinking the cruiser Karlsruhe, damaging the pocket-
battleship Lutzow and sinking the minelayer Brummer respectively. In addition,
numerous transports, tankers and other merchant vessels were sunk by the
submarine service (see Submarine Counter 4736).
.P On the same day as Warburton-Lee`s heroic action, Warspite had joined Admiral
Forbes Home Fleet in the North Sea. Three days later she led a force of nine
destroyers: Bedouin, Cossack, Eskimo, Forester, Foxhound, Hero, Icarus, Kimberley
and Punjabi, into Ofotfjord, the scene of the 1st Narvik battle, to deal with the
surviving eight enemy destroyers. What followed became known as the 2nd Battle of
Narvik. Warspite`s floatplane caught the German submarine, U-64 on the surface
and sank her. Then three RN destroyers turned the Erich Koellner, which was
guarding the entrance to the fjord, into a blazing wreck. The RN ships then
continued into the fjord. Erich Geise met her end at the entrance to the harbour,
followed by the Von Roeder. Next, the Kunne beached herself before blowing up and
the four remaining German vessels retreated into Rombaksfjord, where they were
beached. It was a resounding victory for the RN.
.P Warspite remained off Norway until the end of April, taking part in
bombardment operations in support of efforts to take the port of Narvik. She was
then relieved by the battleship Resolution (see HMS Valiant and HMS Curlew).
.P With the threat of war with Italy looming, Warspite was then transferred back
to the Mediterranean. On the 11th June, as the Flagship of Vice-Admiral
Cunningham, she led the first Mediterranean Fleet sortie after the declaration of
war by Italy the previous day (see HMS Calypso). The following month saw Warspite
taking part in the Battle of Calabria, during which she hit the Italian
battleship Giulio Cesare from 26,000 yards, a record for naval gunnery against a
moving target (see HMS Royal Sovereign).
.P At the end of the month Warspite was again at sea with the fleet, covering
convoys in the Aegean (see HMS Capetown). On the 17th August, Warspite took part
in the bombardment of Italian positions at Bardia and Fort Capuzzo, Libya (see
HMS Malaya). Her next operation was HATS at the end of that month. This was an
operation to re-supply Malta and get reinforcements to the Mediterranean Fleet
(see HMS Calcutta).
.P At the end of September Warspite covered the cruisers Liverpool and Gloucester
as they delivered troops to Malta (see HMS Liverpool). She was then deployed with
the fleet as distant cover for convoys MF3 and MF4 (see HMS Calcutta). Warspite
took part in fleet operations in the Eastern Mediterranean in November (see HMS
Malaya) and later that month she was involved in Operation MB9 (see HMS
Despatch). The last month of the year saw Warspite involved in Operation MC2 (see
HMS Malaya) during which she and Valiant bombarded the Albanian port of Valona.
.P The New Year saw Warspite take part in the second bombardment of Bardia (see
HMS Terror) quickly followed by the important Operation Excess (see HMS
Southampton), during which she was very lightly damaged in an attack by the newly
arrived, crack German anti-shipping force, Fliegerkorps X. Following this, in
March Warspite covered the Lustre convoys that took the ill-fated Commonwealth
Expeditionary Force to Greece, and she also covered convoy MW6 to Malta (see HMS
Bonaventure). At the end of the month she played a key role in the successful
Battle of Cape Matapan that saw the sinking of three Italian heavy cruisers and
damage to the battleship Vittorio Veneto (see HMS Barham).
.P The following month, Warspite took part in covering two convoy operations (see
HMS Ajax) that included a shore bombardment mission against Tripoli. At the start
of May, Warspite was part of a complex operation that involved the sailing of the
famous Tiger convoy through the Mediterranean to Egypt (see Transport Counter
4729) and two convoys being sent to Malta from Alexandria. The Mediterranean
Fleet covered the latter two convoys and then the Tiger convoy once it had passed
Malta.
.P Warspite was sent to Crete in mid-May to cover the cruiser and destroyer
forces patrolling the island in an effort to stop the Germans reinforcing their
earlier airborne landings by sea (see HMS Fiji). During this action, Warspite`s
luck finally ran out. A force of three Messerschmitt 109`s in a fighter-bomber
role, attacked her west of the Kithera Channel and she was hit by a bomb which
caused extensive damage. Warspite returned to Alexandria for temporary repair
followed by permanent repairs in the USA.
.P The repair work was completed in December and in March 1942 she was ready to
take up duty as the Flagship of the 3rd Battle Squadron, Eastern Fleet in
company with the four remaining elderly R-class battleships. Warspite survived
Vice-Admiral Nagumo`s Indian Ocean raid in April due to the Eastern Fleet failing
to find the Japanese fleet (see HMS Cornwall). Two months later, following the
Battle of Midway, with four of Nagumo`s carriers at the bottom of the Pacific,
the Indian Ocean theatre suddenly became relatively quiet. The remaining months
of Warspite`s duty there was limited largely to convoy defence and she took part
in Operation Stab (see HMS Mauritius), a diversionary exercise in the Indian
Ocean. Before leaving the region, Warspite took part in Operation Stream (see
HMNZS Gambia), the operation to complete the conquest of the Vichy held island of
Madagascar.
.P In March Warspite returned to the UK for a refit and on completion she was
sent to the Mediterranean, where she arrived in mid-June. In July, she assisted
the landings on Sicily (see HMS Cleopatra) and the follow-up operations to
secure the island (see HMS Howe). Warspite remained in the Mediterranean to
assist the landings against mainland Italy at the end of August (see HMS Erebus)
and then in September, she covered the Allied landings at Salerno (see HMS
Abercrombie and HMCS Uganda). Whilst off Salerno on the 16th, she was badly
damaged when hit during a Glider Bomb attack. This resulted in severe flooding
and she had to withdraw from the action. There was a very real possibility that
she would not survive, but heroic efforts by her crew saw her eventually reach
Grand Harbour, Malta. After repair work in Malta and then Gibraltar, Warspite
returned to the UK. Because of other priorities, she was not fully repaired and
only had the use of three of her main turrets for the remainder of the war.
.P In June, Warspite provided support for the Allied landings in Normandy - D-Day
- as part of Bombarding Force D, Eastern Task Force (see HMS Ramillies). Two days
after the initial assault she was transferred to the Western Task Force area,
providing support off Utah Beach. She briefly returned to her original position
before returning to the UK for replenishment and to make good damage caused by
the incessant firing of her own guns. While en route home, she detonated a mine
that caused additional damage, although she was able to continue to port. Partial
repairs were carried out, but she was only able to achieve a speed of 15 knots
thereafter. Given that she was to be used for shore bombardment only this was not
an issue and after receiving a new outfit of 15-inch guns, Warspite returned to
Normandy in mid-August, remaining there until October.
.P Warspite`s last contribution in the Second World War took place in support of
the assault on Walcheren Island, Belgium. Here, along with the monitors Erebus
and Roberts, she bombarded the enemy shore batteries with three hundred and fifty
-three shells. Just before 0530hrs on 1st November 1944, her six remaining
serviceable 15-inch guns opened up for the last time. Warspite was then withdrawn
from service and placed in Reserve.
.P HMS Warspite was due to be scrapped in 1947. Despite protests that she should
be saved as a museum ship, she was destined for the breakers. Even then the Old
Lady had other ideas and whilst on route to the breaker’s yard, she ran aground
off Cornwall. Sadly, even Warspite could not cheat the end although her break-up
was not completed until 1956.

[paulderynck]

Much better. I suggest moving the point about the naming of ships in this class to right after the sentence about the Agincourt.

Cheers.

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: paulderynck

Much better. I suggest moving the point about the naming of ships in this class to right after the sentence about the Agincourt.

Cheers.

Warspite1

Mmmmm. I think I would prefer making it the third paragraph does that still work? Reason being is that since adding the naming explanation, I have added (on 99% of counters) to the final Paragraph of the introduction.

[paulderynck]

ORIGINAL: warspite1

ORIGINAL: paulderynck

Much better. I suggest moving the point about the naming of ships in this class to right after the sentence about the Agincourt.

Cheers.

Warspite1

Mmmmm. I think I would prefer making it the third paragraph does that still work? Reason being is that since adding the naming explanation, I have added (on 99% of counters) to the final Paragraph of the introduction.

Sure, I just thought it should be in closer proximity to the mention of the other names of the ships in that class.

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: paulderynck

ORIGINAL: warspite1

ORIGINAL: paulderynck

Much better. I suggest moving the point about the naming of ships in this class to right after the sentence about the Agincourt.

Cheers.

Warspite1

Mmmmm. I think I would prefer making it the third paragraph does that still work? Reason being is that since adding the naming explanation, I have added (on 99% of counters) to the final Paragraph of the introduction.

Sure, I just thought it should be in closer proximity to the mention of the other names of the ships in that class.

Warspite1

Done. Thanks for the feedback [:)]

[warspite1]

Please see write-up of the Taiho.

[4343 Taiho - by Robert Jenkins]
.B Engine(s) output: 160,000 hp
.B Top Speed: 33 knots
.B Main armament: 12 x 3.9-inch (100mm), 51 x 25mm guns
.B Aircraft: 84 (Operational Maximum 60)
.B Displacement (full load): 37,270 tons
.B Thickest armour: 6-inches (belt)
.P Taiho was an aircraft carrier built for the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN)
from 1941 until 1944. Her construction had been approved in 1939, although she
was not laid down until July 1941.
.P Although in many ways Taiho was a development of the Shokaku-class carriers,
there was one fundamental change; namely the adoption of an armoured flight deck.
Her design was no doubt influenced by the fact that the Royal Navy were
constructing a class of six armoured carriers; although the armour arrangement
chosen for Taiho was very different to that adopted by the British.
.P The Japanese had refused to ratify the 1936 London Naval Treaty and as a
result her design was not hampered by weight considerations. Even so, her armour
protection was not as comprehensive as that chosen by the British. Rather than an
armoured box being fitted around the hangar, Taiho had just an armoured deck that
varied between 2.95 and 3.14-inches in thickness, and this extended between the
two lifts.
.P These lifts served a single hangar and were constructed to take a much heavier
load than previous IJN carriers. As was standard with IJN carriers, there was no
catapult to assist take-off, but fourteen arrester wires were fitted to aid
landing; six forward and eight aft.
.P Taiho could carry up to eighty-four aircraft, although this was reduced to
around sixty for operational efficiency (some sources quote just fifty-three).
.P Primary defensive armament differed from the standard, but disappointing,
5-inch gun and instead the new 3.9-inch anti-aircraft (AA) gun was adopted and
fitted in six twin turrets. Close-range AA armament was provided by the 25mm gun,
although the number fitted varies considerably between sources.
.P Apart from the armoured flight deck, protection came in the form of a belt
that varied in thickness from 6-inches covering the magazines to 2.2-inches
guarding the machinery spaces.
.P Taiho was a fast ship, her 160,000hp producing an acceptable 33 knots. She was
the first Japanese carrier completed with an enclosed bow and this aided her sea-
worthiness.
.P In line with naming convention, Taiho was named after a mythical creature, her
naming translating as Great Phoenix.
.P Taiho was completed in March 1944 and was immediately assigned to Carrier
Division (CarDiv) 1, Mobile Fleet and she became the Flagship of Vice-Admiral
Ozawa the following month.
.P She was based at Tawi Tawi in the Philippines for work-up and aircrew training
which was carried out during most of April and May. The following month she took
part in her only operation, A-Go; an operation that led to the Battle for the
Marianas - or the Battle of the Philippine Sea as its known in the west.
.P The IJN plan was designed to finally halt the relentless American island-
hopping campaign that was taking them ever closer to Tokyo. A combination of IJN
carrier losses and US carrier construction meant that by early 1944, the
differential in carriers and carrier based aircraft between the IJN and United
States Navy (USN) was already acute; and getting worse every month. The Japanese
hoped to bring the USN to battle as the Americans launched an attack on one of
the key Japanese islands within their inner perimeter. The plan was to supplement
the IJN carrier force with as many land based naval aircraft as possible; and to
that end the Japanese and staged all the aircraft they could spare to their key
forward bases. The naval component of A-Go involved the sailing of a relatively
weak Japanese fleet that would attempt to lure the American fleet to attack it.
Meanwhile a strong Japanese force, commanded by Ozawa, would secretly sail to the
area and surprise the US forces.
.P The next American target was the Marianas, which the Japanese had recently
reinforced with around five hundred aircraft as part of the build-up to A-Go. For
the invasion, the US would deploy a Northern Attack Force to assault Saipan and a
Southern Attack Force to strike at Guam. The attack on Saipan was scheduled to
take place on the 15th June; the date for the invasion of Guam was fluid and
would depend on how the initial attack fared. The escort for the invasion fleet
numbered no less than seven battleships, twelve escort carriers and eleven
cruisers. However, the main strength of the US fleet lay with the Fast Carrier
Task Force - Task Force (TF) 58 - under Vice-Admiral Mitscher. This vast fleet
contained four task groups (TG)58.1 to 4, each centred around three or four fleet
and light carriers.
.P From June 11th, TF58 was tasked with softening up the defences on the Marianas
and they started with Japanese air power which was effectively neutralised within
two days. Already, the Japanese A-Go plan was fatally compromised, but incredibly,
Ozawa was not told that the land based naval aircraft on which he would rely, had
been seriously weakened. After mastery of the skies was achieved, the battleships
and cruisers of TF58 were able to approach the islands and bombard key military
installations. On the 15th, as scheduled, the Northern Attack Force went to work
off Saipan; they would take less than four weeks to secure the island.
.P The Japanese high command gave the order for his dispersed fleet to sail and
after they had rendezvoused, Ozawa split his force into three. Force C, commanded
by Vice-Admiral Kurita, was to act as bait to lure the Americans, and so sailed
ahead of the Main Body and this force contained: three light fleet carriers:
Chitose, Chiyoda and Zuiho; the battleships Yamato, Musashi, Kongo and Haruna;
the heavy cruisers Atago, Takao, Chokai, Maya, Kumano, Suzuya, Tone and Chikuma;
the light cruiser Noshiro and seven destroyers. The Main Body was composed of
Force A and Force B that sailed parallel to each other, about fifteen miles
apart. Force A consisted of the three fleet carriers: Taiho, Shokaku and Zuikaku;
the heavy cruisers Haguro and Myoko; the light cruiser Yahagi and seven
destroyers. Force B contained the three fleet carriers: Junyo, Hiyo and Ryujo;
the battleship Nagato; the heavy cruiser Mogami and seven destroyers. A message
was sent to every ship - a message that echoed that used before the great victory
against the Russian fleet at Tsushima in 1905 - "the fate of the Empire rests on
this one battle. Every Man is expected to do his utmost."
.P Although US submarines spotted the movements of the Japanese ships as they
departed their bases, contact was not maintained and so, by the evening of the
18th, Admiral Spruance - in charge of the overall US naval forces - was in the
dark as to the exact whereabouts of the Japanese and the composition of their
force; and he was all too aware that the one advantage the Japanese did have was
in aircraft range.
.P Spruance ordered TF58 west of the island of Tinian and re-arranged his ships,
creating a fifth task group - TG58.7. This was the "Battle Line" and was formed
of seven fast battleships and four heavy cruisers that would act as a barrier
between the Japanese fleet and the American carriers. The invasion fleet,
remaining off Saipan, provided additional ships to TG`s 2 and 3 as these had
given up the most ships to form the Battle Line. The five TG`s were spaced 12-15
miles apart and TG58.3, placed to the north of the Battle Line, was given the
specific role of covering TG58.7.
.P Having got his ships in position by midday on the 18th, Spruance searched in
vain for the Japanese. And so, With nightfall approaching, he decided that he
should withdraw eastwards. The American commander was responsible not just for
destroying the enemy, but also for protecting the invasion fleet off Saipan, and
without accurate knowledge of Ozawa`s ships, he chose to withdraw rather than
find himself outflanked. When a report was received just before midnight that the
enemy had been located three hundred and fifty miles southwest of TF58, Spruance
was asked by Mitscher for permission to head west with the intention of being in
a position to attack them during the early hours of the 19th; but Spruance,
thinking of his transports, would not allow this.
.P The early morning of the 19th saw both sides launch their reconnaissance
aircraft and the Japanese were successful in locating both the Battle Line and
the TG58.4, although at heavy cost to the search aircraft, many of which were
intercepted and shot down by US combat air patrols.
.P Ozawa needed no second invitation however, and at 0830hrs sixty-nine aircraft
were launched from the carriers of Force C. Half an hour later one hundred and
twenty-eight aircraft were launched from Force A and after a further thirty
minutes, a force of forty-seven aircraft took off from Force B. But while the
aircraft from Force A were being prepared for launch, the Japanese were dealt a
serious blow when the US submarine Albacore torpedoed Taiho. The carrier was hit
by just one torpedo and was able to continue to launch her aircraft as the damage
control parties set to work. However, this was just the start. Things were to get
much, much worse...
.P To help defend Saipan and at the same time to aid Ozawa, the Japanese had
started to reinforce Guam with aircraft from Truk and elsewhere, and in response
Mitscher ordered his Hellcats into the air to patrol the skies over Guam. The
attempts at reinforcing the island was a fiasco and by mid-morning the Hellcats
had control of the skies over the island.
.P Meanwhile, the aircraft from the first Japanese strike force were approaching
the US carriers around the same time, and the situation was soon as equally
desperate for the Japanese. Their largely inexperienced flyers struggled to get
anywhere near the American ships and of the first wave, forty-two of the sixty-
nine aircraft were shot down. The second wave fared no better, and only around
two dozen aircraft managed to reach the enemy ships. The third wave was equally
as unsuccessful, although the losses to Japanese aircraft was not as high as the
previous attacks as this wave failed to find the American ships.
.P The next disaster to befall the IJN was the loss of Shokaku, which was struck
by either three or four torpedoes fired from the submarine USS Cavalla. She took
almost four hours to sink, but unlike Taiho, she was unable to operate her
aircraft from the time she was first hit. Her loss only just preceded a fierce
explosion on board the Taiho; an explosion that doomed Ozawa`s Flagship.
.P Since her earlier torpedoing, Taiho`s damage control parties had been working
to save the ship; of particular concern was the build up of deadly fumes that had
been slowly filling the ship. The vapour could not be released easily from the
enclosed hangar deck, and it is believed that a junior officer ordered that the
ventilation system be switched on to aid the clearance of the fumes. The result
was a single violent explosion, so great that it buckled the armoured flight deck
and blew out the sides of the hangar deck; the time was 1432hrs. Taiho survived
for two more hours but eventually sank with the loss of 660 officers and men.
.P A further attack on the American fleet was ordered by Ozawa, who had
transferred to the cruiser Haguro after the loss of Taiho. As an indication of
the losses being taken by the Japanese naval air arm, just eighty-seven aircraft
from Zuikaku and the light carriers could be gathered together. This raid was no
more successful than those that went before them. Almost half of the attackers
were shot down and forty-nine aircraft flew to Guam to refuel and re-arm; thirty of those
never reached their destination.
.P In what became known as the Great Marianas Turkey Shoot, the IJN had lost two
fleet carriers and their naval air arm had effectively ceased to exist, while the
USN had suffered light damage to the battleship South Dakota and the loss of
thirty aircraft. Nevertheless, there was still no end to the Japanese agony and
further misery was heaped onto the IJN the following day (see Hiyo).

[Josh]

P The IJN plan was designed to finally halt the relentless American island-
hopping campaign that was taking them ever closer to Tokyo. A combination of IJN
carrier losses and US carrier construction meant that by early 1944, the
differential in carriers and carrier based aircraft between the IJN and United
States Navy (USN) was already acute; and getting worse every month. The Japanese
hoped to bring the USN to battle as the Americans launched an attack on one of
the key Japanese islands within their inner perimeter. The plan was to supplement
the IJN carrier force with as many land based naval aircraft as possible; and to
that end the Japanese and staged all the aircraft they could spare to their key
forward bases . The naval component of A-Go involved the sailing of a relatively
weak Japanese fleet that would attempt to lure the American fleet to attack it.
Meanwhile a strong Japanese force, commanded by Ozawa, would secretly sail to the
area and surprise the US forces.

Is that written correctly?

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: Josh

P The IJN plan was designed to finally halt the relentless American island-
hopping campaign that was taking them ever closer to Tokyo. A combination of IJN
carrier losses and US carrier construction meant that by early 1944, the
differential in carriers and carrier based aircraft between the IJN and United
States Navy (USN) was already acute; and getting worse every month. The Japanese
hoped to bring the USN to battle as the Americans launched an attack on one of
the key Japanese islands within their inner perimeter. The plan was to supplement
the IJN carrier force with as many land based naval aircraft as possible; and to
that end the Japanese and staged all the aircraft they could spare to their key
forward bases . The naval component of A-Go involved the sailing of a relatively
weak Japanese fleet that would attempt to lure the American fleet to attack it.
Meanwhile a strong Japanese force, commanded by Ozawa, would secretly sail to the
area and surprise the US forces.

Is that written correctly?

Warspite1

No - now you see why I choose to post these!

The superfluous And has been removed - thanks [:)]

[Josh]

Glad to be of help.
And here's another one... I think [:)]

.P As a result of the RN`s inability to stop the German invasion of Norway (see
HMS Valiant), their main task became helping Allied forces trying to stop the
conquest of the Scandanavian country. It must be remembered that although the RN
had failed to stop the Germans from landing, they and the Fleet Air Arm had
dealt the Kriegsmarine a number of blows during the course of the landings and
shortly after. Brief details are given in the paragraph below below.

Shouldn't that be "Scandinavia"?

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: Josh

Glad to be of help.
And here's another one... I think [:)]

.P As a result of the RN`s inability to stop the German invasion of Norway (see
HMS Valiant), their main task became helping Allied forces trying to stop the
conquest of the Scandanavian country. It must be remembered that although the RN
had failed to stop the Germans from landing, they and the Fleet Air Arm had
dealt the Kriegsmarine a number of blows during the course of the landings and
shortly after. Brief details are given in the paragraph below below.

Shouldn't that be "Scandinavia"?

Warspite1

Not this time [;)].

The Germans were trying to conquer Norway i.e. a Scandanavian country, not the whole of Scandanavia!

Thanks for checking these - I am sure there are more errors but I find proof reading something I have written really difficult.

[SirWhiskers]

I believe he is referring to the spelling.

You have "Scandanavian".

It should be "Scandinavian".

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: SirWhiskers

I believe he is referring to the spelling.

You have "Scandanavian".

It should be "Scandinavian".

Warspite1

Indeed so - thanks - amendment made [:)]

[Josh]

Thank you sir SirWhiskers. [:D]

[micheljq]

Although at some point the germans were thinking of attacking even neutral Sweden.

[warspite1]

HELP PLEASE

I began looking at the Japanese escort carrier Ibuki, and saw that she was laid down as a modified Mogami - or possibly Tone type cruiser.

Has anyone got any more info on this? Was she a one off? - were others planned? What class was she?

Please help - the Japanese are so difficult to get quality info on [&:]

[mldtchdog]

In need of help too.
 
Can someone please check some unit id's for me?
USSR   [3026] is this the Bucharest Militia?
          [3027] Sofia Militia of Para Banner?
          [3028] Para Banner or MTN Banner?
          [3029] MTN Banner or Sofia Militia?
 
Thanks!

[michaelbaldur]

ORIGINAL: mldtchdog

In need of help too.

Can someone please check some unit id's for me?
USSR   [3026] is this the Bucharest Militia?
         [3027] Sofia Militia of Para Banner?
         [3028] Para Banner or MTN Banner?
         [3029] MTN Banner or Sofia Militia?

Thanks!

Para Banner 3027
MTN Banner 3028
Sofia Militia 3029