More American planes?!? Surely we have shot them all down already!
Bummer about the react - it seems to work in all the times you don't want it to work, come to think of it. I shudder to think of what all three of those ships could have done together..
Capt. Harlock - Agh! Boise! The ship is pure heathen Westernism incarnate! Oh, and Dutch BCs in action? Firstly, De Zeven Provincien is probably still in the Indian Ocean, having only recently transitted through the Suez Canal. Secondly, lucky you [:D]
1/23/42
Manado must be very heavily mined. 3 ships have been lost so far, even with half a dozen minesweepers in the various task forces..
On that sour note, today was a good day. A very good day, in fact. The "sinkhole effect" Manado has had on naval forces is now working in reverse!
We had assumed that the surface combat force we attacked yesterday would turn back, after both Valiant and Van Brakel took multiple torpedo hits. However, Admiral Palliser, RN (the same man who had delivered a nasty beating to us off Kuching on December 13th, killing Admiral Komatsu) was undeterred. He simply transferred his flag to the third capital ship in his force, Dutch battlecruiser Wilem Warmont, and continued towards Manado in company with 4 USN destroyers. Persistance just might win the day!
[center]
Rear Admiral Sir Arthur Francis Eric Palliser (K.O.B), R.N.[/center]
It should also be noted that although the main part of the CL force locally defending Manado yesterday retired (or was sunk
), CL Celebes, along with destroyers Van Ghent, Edsall, and Parrott, stayed behind. Both Allied naval forces were closing in on Tanaka's
Fuso, whose ammo had been severely depleted by last nights fight. The crews of Tanaka's force hadn't slept, in many cases, for more than 4 hours in the last 2 days. Wilem Warmont and her friends were fresh and eager to avenge their comrades.
Luckily for us, we still had not lost our edge in night fighting, at least not tonight. Strained eyes caught sight of the approaching American destroyers, along with one "large ship", at 0245. All ships were put at battle readiness and Fuso's main guns opened fire on the distant targets at 0253.
[center]
The 14"/45 guns of battleship Fuso.[/center]
The Americans led the column, with Wilem Warmont, and Admiral Palliser, bringing up the rear. Bother Palliser and Tanaka immediately sent their destroyers forward to attack their opposite number and the light forces clashed only minutes later. It was the naval equivalent of a knife fight. The Japanese quickly gained the upper hand, using their superior training and numbers advantage to overwhelm and sink Bulmer and Alden in a well-timed torpedo salvo from Hikugumo, Kaosame, and CL Hirado. Barker and Stewart soon followed, coming close enough to be engaged by Yamashiro's 6" secondaries before finally going under, but they had accomplished their purpose - buying time for Wilem Warmont to get close enough to become effective with her 13.8" guns.
[center]
Barker goes down in a flurry of gunfire.[/center]
Wilem Warmont's "A" and "B" turrets thundered out, her first well-aimed shells smashing into the heavy cruiser Chokai and rendering her useless for the coming battle. Chokai's damage control teams worked deperately to control the flooding as the ship shuddered to a halt, dead in the water. Tanaka was beginning to worry - he had not anticipated another duel with a capital ship and his 14" shell supplies were running extremely low. Instead of replying immediately, her resolved to send his light forces out and only use his main guns when he was almost guaranteed a hit. The enemy was nearly surrounded by Japanese light cruisers and destroyers, which deftly maneuvered and dueled with her secondary 5.9" guns while peppering the superstructure with shells and inflicting many casualties.
Still, Wilem Warmont charged on, and her fire was becoming uncomfortably accurate. Tanaka himself was thrown to the floor when 3 shells penetrated Fuso's armour and killed the power, leaving the ship in the dark. It was quickly restored, and Tanaka knew he had to act quickly. He ended his restriction on main battery fire and ordered the destroyers to do anything they could to stop the Dutch warship. The destroyers begun spraying the battlecruiser's path with Long Lances, and eventually two struck the port side, slowing the ship's speed to 17 knots. Even as Tanaka sighed in relief, gunfire rang out - from the opposite direction. Celebes, Van Ghent, Edsall and Parrott had opened fire from only 2000 yards away!
[center]
Light cruiser Celebes in happier times.[/center]
The Japanese line disentegrated into total concfusion and disarray as the Dutch and Americans careneed through it, blasting away. In many cases the ships were close enough for their crewmen to fire at each other with rifles and light anti-aircraft weapons! But at this range and speed, neither side got many hits with their main armament, and as the Allied ships streaked away, the old Japanese advantages began to reassert themselves. All four ships were sunk in quick succession. Celebes herself was destroyed when an 8" shell from the stationary Chokai penetrated to her forard 5.9" magazine. The light cruiser's explosion lit up the night.
[center]
Brave little ones.[/center]
All Allied ships had sunk except for Wilem Warmont. The ship's list kept her main guns from firing accurately, but the threat of a hit, combined with her still-deadly secondary weapons, kept Tanaka's force at a respectable distance. Nevertheless the ship had to be dealt with. Fuso and Yamashiro opened fire with their carefully-conserved 14" shells at 0335. Shells begin smashing through the decks of the wounded ship, knocking out both of her forward turrets and causing massive structural warping to the bow. RADM Palliser was killed when a 14" shell sliced through the bridge.
[center]
Wilem Warmont comes under heavy and accurate fire.[/center]
But the ship refused to die, even with only a few secondary guns still in action. Aflame from stem to stern, with no power and no leadership, the Dutch fought on alone with only a handful of 5.9" guns. Tanaka's destroyers and cruisers closed to point-blank range again, hammering at the ship with 5" shells, whittling the superstructure into an unrecognizable hulk. Finally, Tanaka ordered all ships to cease fire, and the brave ship quietly sank.
After a few hours spent collecting survivors, daylight arrived, and an exhausted Tanaka surveyed the state of his force. Although no ship had been sunk, ammunition was nearly exhausted and several ships were in poor shape. Chokai had been nearly gutted by 13.8" shells, destroyer Kaosame was in roughly the same condition, and his flagship Fuso had taken moderate damage after several damaging hits. He quickly called for Nagato and Mutsu to sortie from Davao to take his place, while his personal force moved back towards Palau, exhausted but victorious.
[center]
Chokai and Kaosame after the night battles of the 23rd. Fuso has 20 system damage.[/center]
Other events of the day - a small night interception of transports southwest of Manila by PT boats, an air attack on Kuala Lumpur that did very little damage, and a continuation of the aerial Burma-Thailand border war - seem very small in comparison, and the author is frankly very tired. Suffice it to say that IGHQ is quite happy with today's results. Has ABDA's back been broken already?
===
Good lord I wrote a lot.
Well, that was fun. I have attached the combat report to this post to show you just how ridiculous the fight got, towards the end. Wilem Warmont took literally
hundreds of medium- and small-caliber shells, not to mention at least a dozen 14" shells and two 21" torpedoes, before finally sinking. She managed to cripple Choka and put Fuso out of action in the process. Cornered beasts do not go quietly..
Oh! The Iron Storm site is back up here:
http://www.owlnet.rice.edu/~tgh4635/manual/ . Thanks to
Trevor for hosting. [:)]
