Turn Synopsis 6th April 1942
The news hit the Admiralty like a tidal wave. It hit Churchill like a hammer blow. It the family members of the deceased like an insurmountable wave of grief. The aircraft carrier Formidable along with the majority of its escorts had been sunk by Japanese aircraft carriers just off the Nicobar islands. It had been lining up an ambush on Japanese transports unloading on the Nicobars but instead it bumped into the main Japanese carrier force and in the simple physics of superior force and numbers the Royal Navy squadron was imply slaughtered.
The first indication something was up came when the Dutch submarine, SS-KXVII engaged cruisers and destroyers off Trinkat. The heavy vloume of shipping indicated that something major was up.
As dawn broke the air was full of search planes of both nationalities. Officers on the British ships began to get very concerned went reports began to come in of sightings of enemy carriers to the east of their current position. When a carrier model torpedo plane was spotted by the CAP of FAA Martlets the squadron was put on full alert. 35 minutes later the news of an inbound enemy strike broke over the ships.
300 bombers escorted by nearly 80 Zeroes made short work of the Martlets flying overhead and 10 minutes after being spotted the first planes began diving on the Formidable.
PLanes and flak filled the air as the Royal Navy ships and their Dutch destroyer escorts circled and sped around as Japanese bombs and torpedoes fell among them. The great carrier took one torpedo early on in the massacre that severely hampered her ability to maneouver, and she was far from being the only ship hit.
Raid detected at 120 NM, estimated altitude 14,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 45 minutes
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 77
B5N2 Kate x 152
D3A1 Val x 143
Allied aircraft
Martlet II x 18
Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 1 destroyed
B5N2 Kate: 21 damaged
D3A1 Val: 9 damaged
Allied aircraft losses
Martlet II: 7 destroyed
Allied Ships
CV Formidable, Bomb hits 7, Torpedo hits 6, and is sunk
DD Isaac Sweers, Bomb hits 4, and is sunk
CL Mauritius, Bomb hits 4, Torpedo hits 3, and is sunk
CL Dauntless, Bomb hits 7, Torpedo hits 2, and is sunk
DD Stronghold, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Panther, Bomb hits 1, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
DD Tjerk Hiddes, Bomb hits 3, and is sunk
CL Glasgow, Bomb hits 12, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
120 miles to the east, FAA Albacores found the enemy carriers and with great valour started attack runs against the steel behemoths. Yet their slow speed was no shelter from the A6M2s on CAP and by days end all Albacores had been shot down with not even a sniff of a Japanese ship.
The news was kept secret in the United Kingdom as much as possible but the First Sea Lord immediately launched a board of inquiry. The immediate thoughts, however, were with the next move on the part of the Japanese. Was their target Ceylon, or did the presence of the main carrier battle fleet indicate an operation on a much wider scale? Surely the small landings on the Nicobars did not need such a massive presence of firepower and protection?
