Letters from a Prime Minister
Moderators: wdolson, MOD_War-in-the-Pacific-Admirals-Edition
RE: Letters from a Prime Minister
ORIGINAL: 1275psi
Rats
literally
Rats
have chewed through my internet connection
we will resume when it is restored, and they are dead, dead, dead.
Yikes! Good Luck.
"Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm." - Winston Churchill
RE: Letters from a Prime Minister
ORIGINAL: 1275psi
Rats
literally
Rats
have chewed through my internet connection
we will resume when it is restored, and they are dead, dead, dead.
Ouch! That gives new meaning to the term 'rat bastards'!
RE: Letters from a Prime Minister
When we did rat hunts, we used gasoline or carbide - neither one good in or under a house though.
Common Sense is an uncommon virtue.
If you think you have everything under control, you don't fully understand the situation.
If you think you have everything under control, you don't fully understand the situation.
RE: Letters from a Prime Minister
MAY 31
From
POTUS
to
Prime Minister Australia
CICPAC
SOUTHWEST PAC
Australia Command
Immediate
Effective immediately
MGEN Thompson to immediately take command South West Pacific
End
From
POTUS
to
Prime Minister Australia
CICPAC
SOUTHWEST PAC
Australia Command
Immediate
Effective immediately
MGEN Thompson to immediately take command South West Pacific
End
big seas, fast ships, life tastes better with salt
RE: Letters from a Prime Minister
Mid Indian ocean
John bends to the sounding tube
"Revolutions 230, port ten......all hands on the upper deck, face to Starboard, BB Resolution"
Napier, her tanks again brimming, bounces away from the rusting flank of the battleship.
Useless at most things, as a floating refuelling station, superb.
It begins to rain again, hard, cold. The men curse, and shake their jackets out.
John does not curse the rain, nor the still quite violent seas. It has
rained everyday these last three, and the weather is reported further south by the pickets as
even fouler.
They remain unsighted.
He moves to the port bridge wing, judging carefully the distance to the Large transport
Napier is going to flank.
Raises his glasses, examines her empty decks.
He does not expect to see his older brother on those decks, not at this range, not in this
weather. Idly he wonders if Jason is seasick, but he doubts it.
Not Jason.
She's a big transport, fat, potentially fast.
But no assault ship if you think about it..
Still, Jason would find a way. The oldest son of the family always has.
John bends to the sounding tube
"Revolutions 230, port ten......all hands on the upper deck, face to Starboard, BB Resolution"
Napier, her tanks again brimming, bounces away from the rusting flank of the battleship.
Useless at most things, as a floating refuelling station, superb.
It begins to rain again, hard, cold. The men curse, and shake their jackets out.
John does not curse the rain, nor the still quite violent seas. It has
rained everyday these last three, and the weather is reported further south by the pickets as
even fouler.
They remain unsighted.
He moves to the port bridge wing, judging carefully the distance to the Large transport
Napier is going to flank.
Raises his glasses, examines her empty decks.
He does not expect to see his older brother on those decks, not at this range, not in this
weather. Idly he wonders if Jason is seasick, but he doubts it.
Not Jason.
She's a big transport, fat, potentially fast.
But no assault ship if you think about it..
Still, Jason would find a way. The oldest son of the family always has.
big seas, fast ships, life tastes better with salt
RE: Letters from a Prime Minister
3am
Kirribilli house.
Gently Frank places the phone down.
2 regiments .........gone.
And the 25th was at a friendly port, for gods sake.
His mind swings, naturally, to another convoy. Just how vulnerable was Jason's ship, were
all the ships that they depended upon?
Can the carriers do it?
And, what of the Japanese carriers, of this , what did they call it, Kido Baru?, what of
them?
3 am.
He slips out of his bed, slides to his desk. Sleep.....how can he, now?, will he ever again sleep
a full night through?
Kirribilli house.
Gently Frank places the phone down.
2 regiments .........gone.
And the 25th was at a friendly port, for gods sake.
His mind swings, naturally, to another convoy. Just how vulnerable was Jason's ship, were
all the ships that they depended upon?
Can the carriers do it?
And, what of the Japanese carriers, of this , what did they call it, Kido Baru?, what of
them?
3 am.
He slips out of his bed, slides to his desk. Sleep.....how can he, now?, will he ever again sleep
a full night through?
big seas, fast ships, life tastes better with salt
RE: Letters from a Prime Minister
Nimitz stares at his map.
He too thinks about those Japanese carriers.
Can he trust that sighting west of Kodiak? 2 fleet, 1 light?..
Or something less dangerous?
I would give anything right now to just know..........
He too thinks about those Japanese carriers.
Can he trust that sighting west of Kodiak? 2 fleet, 1 light?..
Or something less dangerous?
I would give anything right now to just know..........
big seas, fast ships, life tastes better with salt
RE: Letters from a Prime Minister
[:D]ORIGINAL: Ol_Dog
When we did rat hunts, we used gasoline or carbide - neither one good in or under a house though.
When I was serving with the UNEF2 force in Egypt, one of the African battalions in the buffer zone had the habit of dumping their food scraps beside their building. They soon had a rat problem, and chose the gasoline method to get rid of them. They just didn't think of that part about not pouring the gasoline in the holes under the building .....
I'm pretty sure none of them had ever seen a jerry can of gasoline poured out and ignited before, but still ....[8|]
No matter how bad a situation is, you can always make it worse. - Chris Hadfield : An Astronaut's Guide To Life On Earth
RE: Letters from a Prime Minister
June 1
Zeros sweep port Moresby, and the skies fill with machine gun chatter as 16 P40Es take them on
Both sides score, both sides lose.
Nimitz gets an answer.
Car div 5 IS in the Aleutians.
Kodiak launches 15 wildcats, 7 P40e, escorting 4 dive bombers and 18 Avengers at a large
convoy operating to Kodiaks south.
35 zeros intercept it, and score heavily, killing 13 wildcats for only 2 in return.
2 large APs are however, sunk.
A second raid, 16 dive bombers arrive un escorted, the Japanese fighters take down over half of them.
It is a bad day for NORPAC, yet to actually have the carriers position fixed.......
Fletcher in the Indian ocean is counting carefully.
And the count a hardens. A coast watcher at Tulgia sends word of another carrier sighting, not
one, but two Hiyo class........
Zeros sweep port Moresby, and the skies fill with machine gun chatter as 16 P40Es take them on
Both sides score, both sides lose.
Nimitz gets an answer.
Car div 5 IS in the Aleutians.
Kodiak launches 15 wildcats, 7 P40e, escorting 4 dive bombers and 18 Avengers at a large
convoy operating to Kodiaks south.
35 zeros intercept it, and score heavily, killing 13 wildcats for only 2 in return.
2 large APs are however, sunk.
A second raid, 16 dive bombers arrive un escorted, the Japanese fighters take down over half of them.
It is a bad day for NORPAC, yet to actually have the carriers position fixed.......
Fletcher in the Indian ocean is counting carefully.
And the count a hardens. A coast watcher at Tulgia sends word of another carrier sighting, not
one, but two Hiyo class........
big seas, fast ships, life tastes better with salt
RE: Letters from a Prime Minister
June 2nd
The signals flow into Enterprise, are deciphered, and carried to Fletcher.
They say many things.
Some are true, immutable.
Some......some, well with some you have to take with a grain off salt.
The trick, of course, is to sort which one was which.
First the Aleutians. Good news here, up to 9 Jap transports sunk trying to get something
through....and further sightings of Car Div 5 retiring West.
Another one sunk at Coxs bizaar.
But then.......
CV Kaga reported at Tulgia. And CV Hiryu at Merauke.
And 44 ships in Rabual.
Fletcher glances about him, about at the great armada ploughing south about him.
I want to believe Port Moresby is the target.....I so want to believe.
"Jackson!"
"Tell me again that nobody has sighted a bloody thing"
"Nobody has sighted a bloody thing Admiral"
It has to be Port Moresby, it has to be.
The signals flow into Enterprise, are deciphered, and carried to Fletcher.
They say many things.
Some are true, immutable.
Some......some, well with some you have to take with a grain off salt.
The trick, of course, is to sort which one was which.
First the Aleutians. Good news here, up to 9 Jap transports sunk trying to get something
through....and further sightings of Car Div 5 retiring West.
Another one sunk at Coxs bizaar.
But then.......
CV Kaga reported at Tulgia. And CV Hiryu at Merauke.
And 44 ships in Rabual.
Fletcher glances about him, about at the great armada ploughing south about him.
I want to believe Port Moresby is the target.....I so want to believe.
"Jackson!"
"Tell me again that nobody has sighted a bloody thing"
"Nobody has sighted a bloody thing Admiral"
It has to be Port Moresby, it has to be.
big seas, fast ships, life tastes better with salt
RE: Letters from a Prime Minister
2nd June
"Open fire when ready guns"
"Always ready sir"
Warspites Captain grins. If any old girl is going to be ready for action, its this one.
The bells ring, and the great rifles commence their work.
A thousand yards astern, Battleship Idaho also erupts.
Efate is hammered.
The battlewagons do not hang around. The Japanese search down here in the south Pac has, it seems,
still a great many holes.
Alright, lets exploit them.
"Open fire when ready guns"
"Always ready sir"
Warspites Captain grins. If any old girl is going to be ready for action, its this one.
The bells ring, and the great rifles commence their work.
A thousand yards astern, Battleship Idaho also erupts.
Efate is hammered.
The battlewagons do not hang around. The Japanese search down here in the south Pac has, it seems,
still a great many holes.
Alright, lets exploit them.
big seas, fast ships, life tastes better with salt
-
Major Shane
- Posts: 195
- Joined: Thu Jul 19, 2007 6:08 pm
RE: Letters from a Prime Minister
What happened to Halsey? I thought Jackson was an aide to Halsey not Fletcher? Maybe I missed a change of command or am altogether mistaken
RE: Letters from a Prime Minister
He got shingles, just one line somewhere back in the past..........
big seas, fast ships, life tastes better with salt
-
Major Shane
- Posts: 195
- Joined: Thu Jul 19, 2007 6:08 pm
RE: Letters from a Prime Minister
Damn, break out the calamine lotion[:)]
RE: Letters from a Prime Minister
June 3rd
The Japanese try to push the remains of a convoy into Chittagong.
Staff Officer Graham places nearly 100 P 40e's over the base, adds in a nice mix off
Banshee dive bombers, and sinks the rest.
A bonus over Lashio, where 10 betties are shot down as well.
This, is, of course, all well and good. The Japanese fighter/bomber strength here in Burma
is thin. It has to be.
Its bloody thick in other places.........
The Japanese try to push the remains of a convoy into Chittagong.
Staff Officer Graham places nearly 100 P 40e's over the base, adds in a nice mix off
Banshee dive bombers, and sinks the rest.
A bonus over Lashio, where 10 betties are shot down as well.
This, is, of course, all well and good. The Japanese fighter/bomber strength here in Burma
is thin. It has to be.
Its bloody thick in other places.........
big seas, fast ships, life tastes better with salt
RE: Letters from a Prime Minister
3rd June
120 miles east of Kalgoorlie
The heel on Jacks boot is becoming loose. The right boot to be precise..
He's not surprised, the bloody things made for flying in, not trekking 45 miles
across the stones and sands of the Simpson desert.
He regrets now the squeamishness he felt at the trucks demise, when, yesterday?, the day before?
when ever the hell the bomber got it.
The driver, ( poor barsted) he had size nines....proper army issue size nines at that.
He should have taken them, separated as they were from the rest of his body.........
But that was 45 miles back. 45 miles, and god knows how many bombing attacks back.
At least they now had those 45 miles between them and the Japs.....the Matildas could,
in the quiet of the night, still occasionally be heard to the west sniping at the Japs.
Rumours had it though, that some were again ahead of them.......
Jack stumbles in the dark.
Its not a rock this time. He emerges from the stupor of fatigue, and examines his feet.
Not a rock. A rail. A steel bloody rail. The rail line!
For the first time in hours Jack stops blindly following the column of men he is part of,
and looks around.
Gun pits to the left
And the right.
Trenches........
The aussie Army has re combined, and astride the railroad, will make a stand.
120 miles east of Kalgoorlie
The heel on Jacks boot is becoming loose. The right boot to be precise..
He's not surprised, the bloody things made for flying in, not trekking 45 miles
across the stones and sands of the Simpson desert.
He regrets now the squeamishness he felt at the trucks demise, when, yesterday?, the day before?
when ever the hell the bomber got it.
The driver, ( poor barsted) he had size nines....proper army issue size nines at that.
He should have taken them, separated as they were from the rest of his body.........
But that was 45 miles back. 45 miles, and god knows how many bombing attacks back.
At least they now had those 45 miles between them and the Japs.....the Matildas could,
in the quiet of the night, still occasionally be heard to the west sniping at the Japs.
Rumours had it though, that some were again ahead of them.......
Jack stumbles in the dark.
Its not a rock this time. He emerges from the stupor of fatigue, and examines his feet.
Not a rock. A rail. A steel bloody rail. The rail line!
For the first time in hours Jack stops blindly following the column of men he is part of,
and looks around.
Gun pits to the left
And the right.
Trenches........
The aussie Army has re combined, and astride the railroad, will make a stand.
big seas, fast ships, life tastes better with salt
RE: Letters from a Prime Minister
From
CICPAC
to
Enterprise
Additional report.
CVL Zuiho reported at Mearuake
CICPAC
to
Enterprise
Additional report.
CVL Zuiho reported at Mearuake
big seas, fast ships, life tastes better with salt
RE: Letters from a Prime Minister
4th June
John admires the newest vessel joining this task force
He turns to Captain Smith
"Now that's a nice looking ship"
She dwarfs Napier. And Repulse does look immaculate, direct from the yards that she is.
She looks immaculate, yes. Her reputation, her performance in the battle off Singapore,
is far, far from it.
John is pleased to have her alongside them.
This time, he knows, she will fight.
John admires the newest vessel joining this task force
He turns to Captain Smith
"Now that's a nice looking ship"
She dwarfs Napier. And Repulse does look immaculate, direct from the yards that she is.
She looks immaculate, yes. Her reputation, her performance in the battle off Singapore,
is far, far from it.
John is pleased to have her alongside them.
This time, he knows, she will fight.
big seas, fast ships, life tastes better with salt
RE: Letters from a Prime Minister
June 5th
Nagato, Mutsu, Ise, Hyuga revisit Port Moresby.
Their bombardment sinks a small AK, cluttering the harbour still further with future
dive wrecks
Mostly, how ever, the bombardment achieves little.
It does reveal one interesting tid bit, 4 battleships escorted by a single DD, a APD and 3 DMS only.
Are the Japanese already short of escorts?
Jefferies transport reaches the halfway point to Australia.
A long way from anywhere, hopefully a long way from non friendlies.
John on Napier also reaches the halfway point. The day is spent refuelling from
a cargo ship, "an interesting exercise"
Jack does what he has done seemingly forever, ducking Japanese bombs.
Jason spends his day sharpening steel.
Nagato, Mutsu, Ise, Hyuga revisit Port Moresby.
Their bombardment sinks a small AK, cluttering the harbour still further with future
dive wrecks
Mostly, how ever, the bombardment achieves little.
It does reveal one interesting tid bit, 4 battleships escorted by a single DD, a APD and 3 DMS only.
Are the Japanese already short of escorts?
Jefferies transport reaches the halfway point to Australia.
A long way from anywhere, hopefully a long way from non friendlies.
John on Napier also reaches the halfway point. The day is spent refuelling from
a cargo ship, "an interesting exercise"
Jack does what he has done seemingly forever, ducking Japanese bombs.
Jason spends his day sharpening steel.
big seas, fast ships, life tastes better with salt