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May 8, 1942
Milne Bay -- periscope depth

Lieutenant Commander Crawford’s jaw dropped as he stared thru the periscope. A Japanese carrier! Could it be, yes, it was the Hiryu. Where were the escorts, there two destroyers and a cruiser but there would be more. Could he get off a shot at the carrier?

This would be tricky, Crawford, never an aggressive commander, was already thinking about his escape. Quickly his crew changed course slightly to achieve the best firing disposition.

Surely he was undetected since sonar had reported no change in the surface ships speed. Sweat trickled down his nose as his targets neared and then with a shudder number one and two were away!

The crew and ship responded to every command, turning, diving, diving for safety. Crawford was proud, his job accomplished, the fish running hot and true. The seconds ticked by, and then they must have spotted the torpedoes, heavy cavitation from the surface ships but no explosion.

Running silent now and deep the escorts never even dropped a depth charge. Crawford had made good his escape, but always cautious he stayed deep and didn’t warn anyone that Japanese fleet carriers were south of Milne Bay.

Crawford had just made the biggest mistake of his career…

May 8th, 1942

Near Rossel Island

Australia was in peril. Deadly peril. Signal intelligence warned of more invasions on both the east and west coasts. Port Moresby was under siege and even Auckland was threatened with invasion and all along the eastern coastline Japanese submarines prowled looking for capital ships to surprise and torpedo. Dark days indeed.

But America had dispatched her Navy to bolster the tiny Australian and New Zealand forces. And at first there were many notable successes. After the initial unopposed victories, Japan had countered with long range bombers carrying torpedoes in addition to her silent and deadly submarines.

And then, in early May, Japan flexed her muscles and the world trembled.

Striking with surprising speed, super battleships, more than a match for any Allied ship afloat, closed Port Moresby down. Once closed, a narrow band of ocean was left unsearched by patrol planes and Japan pounced with lightning swiftness.

Luck or fate both played their part that day and in the days that followed. An Allied submarine spotted one carrier, but warned no one. Other warnings, and even sightings, somehow never reached the Allied Carrier Division as it steamed blissfully ignorant to Noumea.

Radar was the first warning followed by the klaxons sounding battle stations. The enemy planes were located with a scant 30 minutes warning. The carriers turned into the wind and reached flank speed to launch Wildcats and Buffaloes, while cruisers and destroyers circled the carriers and readied their antiaircraft guns, but really, it was already too late.

Scratch 2 flat tops !!!!

While sharks circled sailors swimming in the oily debris fields south of Rossel Island, Japanese capital ships moved on Port Moresby.

Tiny Ballard goes down swinging.

ORIGINAL: Andy Mac

Scratch 2 flat tops !!!!

I sense a certain amount of glee in your post. Not to rain on your parade, but only one is sunk.

So far.

May 8, 1942

Geraldton

Smoke plumed into the sky from burnt out Japanese tanks while General Savige sped north to oversee the Japanese retreat into Geraldton proper. Savige’s troops had fought well for they had every advantage; numbers and control of both the air and sea.

A Japanese flanking force threatened to cut off Savige’s supply line to Perth, but if Savige could take Geraldton quickly, it would be the Japanese out of supply where they would quickly fall to combined air and land attacks. Savige could rely up upon the British Navy to keep him supplied.

Further north at Carnavron, the Japanese assault had been destroyed on the beaches and in the sea. The 10th Light Horse had been exceptionally valiant in a dashing assault and the Mauritius surface action group continued to sink and burn Japanese ships wherever they were found.

Barring further Japanese reinforcements Savige could easily see the close of hostilities in western Australia shortly. Just in time, too, considering the bleak news from eastern Australia.

The Soerabaja is a neat little ship. Here she trains here large guns on Geraldton.

Unfortunately, the Japanese are much better at shore bombardment. Two mysterious battleships pound Port Moresby:

May 9th, 1942 am

East of Rockhampton at sea

All across the remnants of the American Carrier Division, crews worked furiously making emergency repairs. The light rain started sometime in the night, hindered their operations, but gave them hope of escape. If only they could hide in the darkening squalls.

But their enemy, the best pilots in the world, where too experienced and too determined to allow that to happen. Here was the gift, a sign that Japan was truly blessed for once again the combined might of Japan’s fleet carriers were over the hapless American fleet.

And although the American losses were terrible, the mighty Saratoga still steamed towards Rockhampton where well over one hundred fighters anxiously awaited their chance at retribution. But would they get the chance?

The rains intensified into the early afternoon, but the Japanese pilots would not be denied. The Saratoga fell victim to a perfectly executed anvil torpedo attack and combined with all her previous damage went down with great loss of life.

A dark day for the Allies.

The KB is well positioned to wreak more havoc on the Allied ships. The poor Hornet can only make 7 knots...

Ouchy... Hurts badly.

May 9, 1942

Port Moresby at sea

S-46 ran on the surface at full speed into the swells. Radar had many contacts along the coastline of New Guinea, and Crawford was attempting to get S-46 into position. The bad weather made for perfect cover on his approach.

Crawford simply couldn't believe it...the American Carrier Division destroyed. He didn't have all the details yet, but knew it was bad. He had a shot at a fleet carrier and missed, and then hid to make good his escape. His fault, all his fault.

Well, the orders had changed and now he was expendable. S-46 still had lots of torpedoes left, and radar had many large contacts. Crawford knew that enemy battleships were along the coast, perhaps he could get a fish or two into one of them.

The hours rushed by in a frantic rush as S-46 managed to position herself in front of several radar contacts. Submerged now, and at periscope depth, Crawford was in perfect position to ambush the Japanese.

And what an ambush!

May 9th, 1942

A very bloody day.

May 10. 1942

West of Perth

The four freighters sailed in convoy on the same boring route. Cape Town to Perth and then Perth to Cape Town. Boring. Predictable. Long.

This trip had become so routine that the sailors had gotten quite lax. In fact so lapse, that when battle stations sounded, it took the crews much longer than required to assume battle readiness. And even then, they thought, quite wrongly, that a submarine might be spotted. After all, weren’t these shipping lanes patrolled by the British Navy to the north.

The Mauritius surface action group had sunk several raiders there, and surely they wouldn’t allow any raiders south of them to threaten the Perth run. Unfortunately these ships were unaware that the Mauritius group was out of position, blockading Geraldton and Carnarvon.

To add insult to injury it wasn’t even the Japanese. The Admiral Hipper made the long run from France to send them to Davy Jones Locker in the dark night…

ORIGINAL: Andy Mac

Scratch 2 flat tops !!!!

Way too early to challenge the KB ... especially a KB on steroids. I note that the torp hit percentage was ~25% .... very good. I would translate that to pilots of the ~90 exp variant.

You're in trouble now ... re-group. Don't think in terms of the historical war, think in terms of what you are seeing. I can hear Andy whooping it up. I'm just about ready to be able to start a "Revenge of the Dorniers" .... and I know those buggers have turbojet engines, nukes, and warp drive included. [:D]

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

May 9, 1942

Port Moresby at sea

S-46 ran on the surface at full speed into the swells. Radar had many contacts along the coastline of New Guinea, and Crawford was attempting to get S-46 into position. The bad weather made for perfect cover on his approach.

Crawford simply couldn't believe it...the American Carrier Division destroyed. He didn't have all the details yet, but knew it was bad. He had a shot at a fleet carrier and missed, and then hid to make good his escape. His fault, all his fault.

Well, the orders had changed and now he was expendable. S-46 still had lots of torpedoes left, and radar had many large contacts. Crawford knew that enemy battleships were along the coast, perhaps he could get a fish or two into one of them.

The hours rushed by in a frantic rush as S-46 managed to position herself in front of several radar contacts. Submerged now, and at periscope depth, Crawford was in perfect position to ambush the Japanese.

And what an ambush!

Will will not count that CV Soryu sunk.
No damage or fire massage. If You are lucky You probably send it do dry dock for 3-4 month. There is also prabability that CV Soryu is still able to keep up with KB

Last time my CV was hit by TT he took lest than ~10 flood damage and he fight in few battles before was send to Japan for repairs.

Yeah, IJ ships handle torps better than bombs. IJ ships are very susceptible to fire, not so much to flooding.

May 12, 1942

Townsville

A man of few words Marc Mitscher now commanded all ships in eastern Australia from the battered Hornet. Incredibly, the Hornet was now under the protection of land based air and might actually make port.

Hit by torpedoes, and left for sunk by the Japanese carriers, the Hornet had fought to live. Now all that remained was to run the submarine gauntlet -- a task the Minneapolis failed earlier. Run was a subjective word here, since damage to the Hornet’s power plants reduced her speed to 3 knots. However, she had many escorts and a large air armada protecting her.

Nothing in life had prepared Mitscher for the disaster that had unfolded. Mitscher’s forced resignation from Annapolis paled in comparison to the events of the last week. The Japanese had come out of nowhere to savage his ship. Only luck, and the Saratoga’s refusal to sink had saved her so far. The Japanese carriers continued south and raided Sydney to little effect while the remnants of the Carrier Division ran for port with all but the Minneapolis succeeding.

Now intelligence had provided concrete details about the attacking carrier division. Junyo, Shoho, Hosho, Nisshin, Chiyoda, and Chiho were the carriers involved not the large fleet carriers that struck at Pearl Harbor. Bombing raids off the coast of Australia had proven ineffective against them while the Japanese, now definitive masters of the Pacific, steamed back to port to resupply.

Mitscher could only ponder the future darkly with Allied battleships in drydock, and the now two fleet carriers lost and the Hornet laid up for months, nothing could hinder Japanese aggression in the Pacific. However, the British were still strong off both western Australia and in the Bay of Bengal and they still held Singapore but at the moment it all seemed so forlorn.