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19/1/42
"I have the Helm"
"Very good sir, course is 270, speed 12 knots"

Ford moves to the binnacle, bends, squeezes a bearing to Northampton sliding across the
liquid mirror of the Indian ocean.
She is, of course, in position.
A shuffle around the binnacle, another sighting, Destroyer blue 2000 yards ahead.
He straightens, wipes his brow. Another hour before the swing to the eastward leg.
Its going to be another long morning.
Out of curiosity he moves to the 2JV circuit.
"Engine room bridge, whats our BFR?"
"One moment bridge"
BFR.........burnable fuel remaining.
"Bridge, Engine room, 32 percent sir"
"Thankyou"
32 percent. Not enough to get home.............

Young Peter enters the bridge, flimsy in hand

A single short message
"Am under Carrier air attack, Sunda straight.......hit fwd........burning"

Its the Dutch Tanker due to rendezvous in 3 days time.
Ford crumples the message. Looks around the task force, as if he could will
a Tanker to appear.

32 percent
Jesus.

Even as Chester continues to mark time, the radio works overtime.

The first air raid over Soerabaya.......met by P40e's
CA's Indianapolis reports air attacks in the Java area.
Portland too
And Batavia falls.

Hey Herb
Excellent to see you still have that creative streak to feed. Finally finished my masters and thinking of getting back into AE. Maybe this AAR will inspire me mate

Cantona,

Welcome back old salt!

[&o][&o][&o]

ORIGINAL: PaxMondo

Cantona,

Welcome back old salt!

[&o][&o][&o]

Thanks Pax

Hi Cantona!!!, if you do come back you wan't have any trouble getting an opponent, your
reputation is gold standard!

20/1/42

Mirror calm
Blazing sun
110 percent humidity
700 men sweating like pigs.

Over Batavia, over Soerabaya , the Hurricanes and flying tigers snarl and snap against
the empires eagles.
But Palembang falls.


And Chester waits.
Burning a ton of fuel per hour.

21/1/42

It is 30 minutes before dawn, the horizon already beginning to hint at the suns rising.
Chesters bridge is quiet, the men silent shadows, mostly still, sentinels, statues.
For now, just for this brief time, it is almost...almost pleasant here. The cruiser is making
a small breeze of her own, and one can hear the hiss, hiss, of her bow as it gently kisses
the Indian ocean.
In 30 minutes of course, the sun will rise, and the cool will vanish like a dream.
Within an hour, the sweat will begin again.

The task force remains undisturbed, undisturbed, undiscovered.
It is going to be another, yet another long, long day.

To the east, the war burns on. 30 B17s from Soerabaya strike Palembang.
Tarakan falls
And just after dawn Peter brings Shock yet another deadly flimsy, another portend of doom.
Near Kendari, hunting, CA Salt lake city swallows two betty launched Torpedoes.

Two cruisers in the same month.
In the same bloody waters
By the same bloody bomber.

22/1/42

Ford again bends to the speaking tube
"yes engines?"
"Request permission to commence ballasting"
Inwardly Ford grimaces. Ballasting of fuel tanks, a sure sign of the impending fuel
shortage catastrophe. An already tender ship by design, Chesters Metacentric height
is now almost in deadly territory.
Should the weather worsen ..........
Ballasting, filling empty fuel tanks with sea water will mean tank cleans down the road,
alongside time, system damage, gods knows what else for the poor engineers.

BFR 26 percent.
No choice, none at all.
"Approved"

ORIGINAL: 1275psi

Hi Cantona!!!, if you do come back you wan't have any trouble getting an opponent, your
reputation is gold standard!

Thanks mate. How is the publishing of the Little Ship going?

Gawd, real life so busy............
Hi Cantona.......slowly, very slowly, but it is progressing.

23/1/42

Another dawn, another red sun, another morning haze so quickly
burning away under the blazing sun so soon to come.

The atmospherics show their quirks again.

For almost an hour, the BBC world news plays on the radio loud and clear.. For those listening
it may almost have been better not to have heard at all.

The Japanese storm the straights at Singapore. The British counter attack.
They fail.
It must be only a matter of time.

Chesters fuel situation becomes grimmer. And there are other things. Her Engineer,
a tall quiet man of few words, and fewer dramas, is seen coming up from below, a
distinct look of worry upon his face.
Thing is, he's never seen below..............

24/1/42
Yet another dawn
Chester awakens. Dawn action stations passes slowly, quietly, again.
The men fall out, and begin a new day.

Ford finishes his watch, writes up the log, a few sparse words. He looks around
the ocean about him, the squadron remains spread, as always.
All quiet, all still undisturbed.
Hard to think war rages just over there, over the horizon.

Captain Shock enters the bridge.
Ford instantly can tell that today, today is for one of "Those" days.
The man is scowling.
Ford nevertheless straightens, salutes "Örders for the day sir?"

"Keep a bloody good watch........that is all"
"Very good sir"

Ford leaves the bridge, the sense of annoyance gnawing at him.
Another day on station.........another day of nothing??
How long since they had conducted gunnery drills?, any sort of drills?
And now fuel is at 20 percent. What in the hell are they waiting for?

He descends below, preparing to tour his ship.
Chester rolls gently in the swell. Lethargy rolls down her passageways in time...........

25th January

She joins them at dawn, her sides streaked with rust. Ford raises his glasses, runs
his eyes over decrepit superstructure, shabby rigging.
The swell slaps at her fat arse, stolidly she pushes them aside.

One ugly worn out daughter of a whore this ship.
Almost worthless

Ford lowers his glasses, and smiles.

But a daughter with a heart of gold.
10000 tons of liquid gold.
A tanker arrives at last.

26th January

The tanker brings fuel
She brings enough of the liquid gold for everyone.
And she brings a flashing lamp, a lamp that remains busy flashing for many a long hour.
She brings the news

The Japanese push north towards Sian in china. The chinese have anticipated the blow,
deployed the bulk of their army in this area.
And be defeated anyway.

Bataan holds in siege. So does Singapore
Ambon has been bombed, so has Kendari, they must be under threat.
But in the Solomons, Tulgia is gone, Lunga is gone.

And Australia finally seems to understand her great peril. Port Moresby flies the rising
sun, and her defenders lie rotting in the sun in numbers far far to many.

In the early 80s, I was on USN FF-1079 (DE in WW2 terms) doing ASW work in Med. The AO came to us and did the refueling alongside rather than us moving to meet her. We NEVER lost contact with the Soviet sub we we tracking!! [&o] Ship got an award for that Med cruise and the Commander (Captain) got his promotion to full Captain shortly after we got back to Charleston, SC. We did independent steaming from Gibraltar to Israel and back for weeks on end.

ORIGINAL: ny59giants

In the early 80s, I was on USN FF-1079 (DE in WW2 terms) doing ASW work in Med. The AO came to us and did the refueling alongside rather than us moving to meet her. We NEVER lost contact with the Soviet sub we we tracking!! [&o] Ship got an award for that Med cruise and the Commander (Captain) got his promotion to full Captain shortly after we got back to Charleston, SC. We did independent steaming from Gibraltar to Israel and back for weeks on end.

Double impressive for both crews. On this Memorial Day weekend I just wanted to say thank you for your service.

27/1/42

Dear Mother
I have no idea when you will receive this letter, nor, for that matter, any idea
when I will even be able to post it!
Incredible as it seems, with the whole world at war, I am , (along with just about
every one else on Chester) bored out of my mind. In fact, your son is thoroughly browned off!
We seem to be doing nothing, marching back and forth across the same patch of water, waiting, it seems
for something.........or some one!
We are south of Christmas island, waiting to ambush someone I think.
Trouble is, the Japs don,t seem to be playing the game...............




They are called booster pumps. Taking water from the de aerator, they provide positive
pressure to the feed pumps. There are three in each boiler room, one steam driven, 2
electric.
Big Ben stands , hands on hips, staring at "his" steam driven pump, number 1 A
Above the howl of the blowers, the whine of the feed pumps, his ears pick up a new noise,
a foreign noise.
A noise signalling trouble.
Rattle, ping............rattle.

Pump impeller wear ring........worn, loosening..........for sure.
He glances at the pump discharge gauge .yes, flickering, lower than it should be.

Damn, damn........another rebuild due.



Chester gains yet another system damage point, its 9 now and climbing

This letter won't make it past the censors as you stated your location. If it does show up it will have several holes in it.

ORIGINAL: ny59giants

In the early 80s, I was on USN FF-1079 (DE in WW2 terms) doing ASW work in Med. The AO came to us and did the refueling alongside rather than us moving to meet her. We NEVER lost contact with the Soviet sub we we tracking!! [&o] Ship got an award for that Med cruise and the Commander (Captain) got his promotion to full Captain shortly after we got back to Charleston, SC. We did independent steaming from Gibraltar to Israel and back for weeks on end.

A F. Knox class?

Dawn breaks again

Its now the 32nd. More red sunsets, more glorious dawns, more slow, slow passes of the sun
across the skies, as the men on Chester sweat.
Watches come, watches go. Food consumed, fuel burnt.
Nothing seen.
Nothing

Morale...........well Fordfeels it.
Moral is falling.

But this dawn differs
This dawn brings a fillip greater than anything Ford could ever manage.

She is already a veteran. Has already fought 2 big battles. Has already killed
Better than a battleship
Boise joins.