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This is the battleship HMS/HMCS Canada, ordered by the government of Chile in 1911 as "Valpraiso". The ship was purchased by the British government, re-named Canada, and served with the Grand Fleet through Jutland. The design is somewhat similar to Iron Duke class, but slightly larger and mounts ten 14" guns instead of the ten 13.5" carried by the Iron Dukes. After the war, she was sold back to Chile. In Iron Storm she is sold to her namesake country and heavily refitted in the 1920s.
The old Iron Duke battleships of the First World War. All except Iron Duke were scrapped due to the Washington Treaty, while Iron Duke served as a training ship through WW2. In Iron Storm, two of the ships in the class, Iron Duke and Benbow, were sold to Canada to get rid of excess ships in the RN, but also to improve the defense of the Commonwealth. There were four in the class, but Canada could not muster the will or the manpower to crew all 4 and the Canada. Again, both ships have been modernized to the extent that is possible with these old hulls.
In Iron Storm, Lexington and Saratoga are converted while under construction from battlecruisers to aircraft carriers, as historical, while the two following ships in their class, Constellation and Constitution, are completed to the original design.
HMS Tiger was Britain's most modern battlecruiser in the First World War and according to some the most handsome ship built for the RN. She was originally to be built as a member of the "Lion" class - however, the new Japanese Kongos were such a step forward that the Tiger was radically redesigned to match them. She fought at Dogger Bank and Jutland, her belt absorbing fifteen 11-inch shells in the latter battle, and continued to serve as part of the RN through the 30s, until she was sold for scrap in 1932. In Iron Storm she is sold to Australia (this was seriously considered at the time) to, again, bolster the defence of the Commonwealth, and renamed HMAS Australia.
The Settsu, completed in 1912, was Japan's first dreadnought battleship, with an all-big-gun armament of twelve 12" guns. She was converted to a target ship under the terms of the Washington Treaty, reboilered in 1940, and finally sunk by US aicraft in July 1945. In Iron Storm, the 1940 work is continued. Intended to provide fire support for amphibious landings, Settsu is rebuilt with updaded machinery and fire control.
Tosa and Kaga - essentially Nagatos with an extra 16" turret aft - were canceled under the terms of the Washington Treaty. Both hulls were nearly complete. Tosa was rebuilt as a target ship and sunk, while Kaga was converted into the aircraft carrier we all know and love. In Iron Storm the ships are completed and Amagi (Akagi's sister ship) converted to the CV role instead.
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And the turn, as promised. As you say, pretty significant losses on both sides - things are moving fast at the moment..
BTW I have lost a few more ships than are listed, probably because they were scuttled. At least one CL for example..
1/24/42
Today was a day of airstrikes!
The "airfield war" between Moulmein and Bangkok is still attriting both sides. An Oscar/Sally raid over Moulmein encountered no CAP and destroyed a P-40B on the ground. The Flying Tigers had already left for Bangkok, escorting a group of 35 Blenheims. They were met by 22 Oscars, which have been barely keeping an even kill/loss ratio with the AVG. Multiple Blenheims were damaged, but they still managed to destroy several aircraft on the ground.
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Sallies on the attack. For some reason we never seem to get as many bombers in the air as they do..[/center]
Meanwhile, a few hundred miles south of Singapore, Nagumo had launched a full strike at the island itself, the first of the war. 230 Japanese carrier-based planes descended upon the city and particularly its airfields. They met a very aggressive anti-aircraft defence and 45 British fighters on CAP! However, the pilots of the Kido Butai are of a different caliber than the IJAAF boys the RAF has encountered so far. Nearly 30 Vals were lost to various causes over the city - the Spitfires proved especially deadly - but the enemy CAP was mostly swept from the skies, allowing our Vals and Kates free runs at the airfields. They report dozens of aircraft destroyed on the ground!
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The carrier strike.[/center]
A second strike, launched from Kota Bharu, arrived over the city a few hours later. They met only 9 fighters on CAP out of the original 45. They were brushed aside, and 150 level bombers were free to make their runs.
Code: Select all
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Day Air attack on Singapore , at 22,51 Japanese aircraft A6M2 Zero x 54 D3A2 Val x 90 B5N2 Kate x 92 Allied aircraft Hurricane IIb x 25 Spitfire Vb x 20 Japanese aircraft losses A6M2 Zero: 6 destroyed, 1 damaged D3A2 Val: 23 destroyed, 44 damaged B5N2 Kate: 8 destroyed, 17 damaged Allied aircraft losses Hurricane IIb: 15 destroyed Spitfire Vb: 12 destroyed Wellington III: 5 destroyed LB-30 Liberator: 4 destroyed Blenheim IF: 2 destroyed Beaufort I: 1 destroyed Hudson I: 1 destroyed Allied ground losses: 97 casualties reported Airbase hits 18 Airbase supply hits 7 Runway hits 116 Port hits 4 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Day Air attack on Singapore , at 22,51 Japanese aircraft A6M2 Zero x 50 G3M Nell x 47 G5N Liz x 44 Ki-43-Ib Oscar x 17 Ki-21-II Sally x 29 Ki-48-I Lily x 30 Ki-46-II Dinah x 1 Allied aircraft Hurricane IIb x 4 Spitfire Vb x 5 Japanese aircraft losses A6M2 Zero: 1 destroyed G3M Nell: 20 damaged G5N Liz: 1 destroyed, 12 damaged Ki-43-Ib Oscar: 1 destroyed Ki-21-II Sally: 1 destroyed, 9 damaged Ki-48-I Lily: 8 damaged Allied aircraft losses Hurricane IIb: 12 destroyed Spitfire Vb: 8 destroyed Hudson I: 2 destroyed Beaufort I: 3 destroyed Wellington III: 2 destroyed Buffalo I: 1 destroyed LB-30 Liberator: 1 destroyed Allied ground losses: 48 casualties reported Airbase hits 14 Airbase supply hits 6 Runway hits 113
In the Philippines a similar "alpha strike" was launched at Manila, which has been more or less untouched since the December raids. Bettys and Nells from San Marcelino targeted the port, hitting at least two ships, while a follow-up Army attack on the naval base and airfield was even more succesful, putting multiple bombs into transports, an AS, and the Dewey Dry Dock.
Finally, in the far south, CarDiv 1 (Akagi and Kaga) made a high-speed run throughout the night in an attempt to catch the badly damaged battleship Valiant and battlecruiser Van Brakel. Instead, they found the same cruiser force that had so badly mauled our landing at Tarakan only a few days ago. Although not quite within range for their torpedoes, the Kates scored multiple hits with 250kg bombs - the most important of which penetrated De Ruyter's magazine, destroying the ship!
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De Ruyter takes a hit.[/center]
All in all we destroyed more than 170 aircraft today. Not bad!
Buffalos escorted various Blenheims and Hudsons (about 65 in all) on a raid to Kota Bharu. Of course the little tubby ones went down in droves but the bombers did an impressive job of destroying yet even more airplanes on the ground. I have a base force unloading at Singora now, actually, so I should be able to diversify soon... Still, the RAF is not dead. Yet. 
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