Re: PT Boats
Posted: Tue Mar 17, 2026 4:26 am
by BBfanboy
Yakkface wrote: Sun Mar 15, 2026 3:50 pm
Well, thanks Chaps. It was a joint effort and we appreciate your kind words.
As for an AAR - for my part, the muse only takes me anywhere good about twice a year. I remember back when I was a regular on the boards there was an AAR by someone (name escapes me) who could post funny shit every day of the week and twice on Sunday (he did a Catch 22 parody with M&M enterprises and had some thing going on with 'Stalker girl'.........and 'stalker girl's' mum
) - I'm afraid that's not me
That would be Cap Mandrake. Here is a link to one of his AARs. Not sure how much the Catch 22 gang figures in this one ...
https://forums.matrixgames.com/viewtopi ... 7#p3608227
Re: PT Boats
Posted: Tue Mar 17, 2026 5:56 am
by PaxMondo
Re: PT Boats
Posted: Tue Mar 17, 2026 11:58 am
by btd64
Yeah, I almost spilled my coffee on my laptop once or twice....GP
Re: PT Boats
Posted: Tue Mar 17, 2026 4:06 pm
by PaxMondo
Re: PT Boats
Posted: Sat Mar 21, 2026 10:49 pm
by Yakkface
Cap Mandrake, that was it. Thanks for the link
At the risk of spamming my own thread with OT stuff, got one more piece:
Night Naval bombardment of Launceston at 82,176
Japanese Ships
CA Kako
CA Furutaka
Airbase hits 3
Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 9
Port hits 5
Port supply hits 1
CA Kako firing at Launceston
CA Furutaka firing at Launceston
Wheelhouse of the heavy cruiser Kako, 3.15am February 15th - middle watch, as the ship makes best speed away from Tasmania. The sea is a smooth black under a moonless sky, with only the stars noting the boundary. Three hours previously the blinding flashes of Kako's 8 inch guns had finally ceased and the task force had turned to head back to Noumea, some 2000 miles distant.
Present: Kaigun-tai-i (Lieutenant Commander) Hideo Fujiwara; Kaigun-shoi (Ensign) Hiroto Yoshikazu,
HY - Sir, I hope you will forgive my impertinence, but I am confused
HF - What is it ensign?
HY - Was there a munitions factory in Launceston, or maybe a naval repair facility? We seem to have come a long way to shoot at whatever it was, but there didn't really seem to be much there.
HF - So the plans of the Imperial Japanese Naval command do not make sense to an Ensign? Who would have thought that.
HY - I apologize sir, I did not mean to question our orders, merely understand them. One of my classmates at the naval college is aboard the Abukuma. They were due to set sail a few days after us. He heard they were to bombard Pago Pago.
HF - And, if true, that sounds like a serious breach in security.
HY (flustered) - Sir, sorry........I........sorry
HF - taking pity, deciding not to bait the Ensign further - relax Hiroto none this is going any further. To answer your first question, I think read that they had a canning plant - fish if I remember correctly.
HY - May I ask then, sir, with respect, why *did* we make a 4000 mile journey to deliver shells onto a fish factory?
HF - Would it surprise you, ensign, to learn that, not only has senior command not shared the intricacies of the plans to defeat Britain and her Commonwealth, the United States, the Chinese and the Dutch all at the same time, with you, they have also not shared them with me
HY - (looking confused) ...............
HF - Well, they haven't......at least not formally.........however, there are theories amongst the senior staff of this ship. Some say the Emperor doesn't like Tasmanians. Others think he doesn't like Tasmanian Devils.
HY - (disappointed) - oh
HF - But they are all wrong. I, and only I aboard this ship, can tell you the real reason we demolished Launceston. Indeed I can tell you the real reason we are in the southern Pacific at all, why we have taken the islands we have and what is to come next. That is because only I have a brother that works directly under Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto himself.
HY (smug) - That's been clear to me from the start sir. Stop the Americans building up their forces in Australia and force them to operate out of only Pearl Harbor. We studied Napoleon at the college sir. When facing a superior force split into two parts, place yourself between the two and defeat each in turn.
HF - Oh, you think you know do you? There is much more here than first meets the eye
HY (skeptically) - oh, really?
HF - I am informed by my brother, that when the delegation presented the final version of Japan's plan to fight and defeat the western colonial powers that infest Asia, the plan did not include many of the places we now occupy. (seeing his young audience hanging on every word). Specifically it did not include invasions of Fiji, New Caledonia, Pago Pago or Tasmania. Those islands were considered too distant to effectively support and supply. However, when the plans came back to the ministry from the Chrysanthemum Throne, those additions had been made*in* *the* *emperor's* *own* *hand*
HY (very close to fainting with the suspense) - But why?
HF - Sir
HY - Sorry - But why, sir?
HF - Have you considered what all these islands have in common?
HY - um................ports............potential for airfields to control the shipping lanes?
HF - Each of these islands has indigenous animal species found nowhere else. New Caledonia has a species of giant Gecko, Tasmania has it's Devils, on Fiji there is a species of bat with the face of a monkey, and Pago Pago is home to red-footed booties.
HY (spell broken - scoffing) - Really sir, you think me so green that I would swallow that an run off to tell all my friends that we are only here, doing what we are doing because the Emperor is an animal lover?
HF - Firstly, you are strictly forbidden from telling anybody about this, not least because we do not yet hold Tasmania or Pago Pago. Secondly, you *are* horribly green, ensign. Thirdly, this comes straight from my brother..............and fourthly - if by animal lover you mean, loves-them-in-a-tempura-batter, then yes, that is exactly why we are here
HY (shocked) - He wants to eat them? The whole war is down to the Emperor wanting to eat exotic foods, I find that hard to believe.(never-the-less, the Ensign is once again captivated)
HF - So, this all goes back to the British ambassador's meeting with the Emperor, years ago. During their conversation the Emperor happened to ask what the King of England liked to eat. Sir Charles Norton Edgcumbe Eliot...........yes, I know.........anyway, his reply was that King George the fifth was 'particularly partial to roast swan' and further, that in Britain only the monarch was allowed to eat the bird. Personally, I think the British ambassador was *pulling the Emperor's leg*, but ever since, so my brother was told by Admiral Yamamoto, the Emperor has been searching for something really tasty, that he can ban everybody from eating.
HY - .......and that's the reason for the whole war?
HF - No, no lad. The reason for the war is that our homeland does not contain the resources required for a modern industrial nation, and whilst were undertaking a peaceful expansion of our borders to acquire these resources, our bombs and torpedoes were ambushed by American battleships. It's just the occupation of the additional areas that are down to the emperor's palate.
HY - Oooooooh, I see now. So our mission tonight was reconnaissance. Preparing the ground for an invasion.
HF - Exactly
Long pause filled only by the gentle hum of Kako's engines
HY - ..................................................umm, one further thing, if you will permit sir?
HF - Yes, yes, what is it?
HY - You didn't mention the islands of New Zealand. Did the Emperor not add those to the plan?
HF - Why? Because occupation of the islands would sever the last direct shipping route between the United States and Australia, or because......
HY - (together) - ..........because of the Kiwi.......... (singly) I understand it is flightless and very easy to catch
HF - Oh - I think an invasion of New Zealand is very unlikely. Whilst you are right, Kiwi's are very easy to catch, apparently they taste like shit.
