Ship of Steel, Men of Valor - Cuttlefish (A) versus Cribtop (J)

[ChezDaJez]

Been nearly a month and no update. Everything ok with CF?

Chez

[bradfordkay]

Well, he is still playing the game as Cribtop is still putting up nearly daily reports. My guess is that life has been too busy for CF to put in the effort at the moment that a story of this magnitude requires. Of course, it could just be that Gridley was sunk and he's been trying to come up with the right words to describe the loss... 

[adm]

Good News, edited to the part that gives nothing away;

RE: Wait, I can't read Cuttlefish's new AAR? - Cribtop ... - 1/10/2012 3:29:35 PM   
   On another note, CF informed me by e-mail that he's been letting his AAR languish because of his newborn grand baby but now plans to get back to the writing desk. BANZAI!



We are all glad to hear both that your grand baby is doing well, and that you may be able to return to giving us junkies our fix.  [8D]

[nashvillen]

CF: Found this website the other day and wasn't sure if you had seen this. It is a Fletcher class DD, but some of the things in it would be similar to the Gridley.

http://www.usskidd.com/

[John 3rd]

Congrats on the Grandbaby CF.

[PaxMondo]

Congrats GrandPA!!!!
 
[:D][:D][:D]

[nashvillen]

Congratulations on the grandchild. (Also, a bump [:)])

[vettim89]

Bump. also

Congrats grandpa! That said, you can't be my muse if you are not writing[:D]

[adm]

Bump?[:(]

[vettim89]

Shameless plug:

You know you gus are more than welcome to come over to read about the exploits of Greg, DJ, James, Hank, Brett and the rest of the gang at the Dogs of War AAR.

(perhaps a little competition will prod our absent writer of epic tales)

[thegreatwent]

CF is busy spoiling the kinder, still this needs a bump.

[temagic]

Congratulations on being a grandpa Cuttlefish. Looking forward to your updates though. Good hunting and scratch one flattop and all that.

[LoBaron]

Congrats, Grandpa! [:)]

Still looking forward to the continuation of the best AAR since Hibiki parted the waves!!

[adm]

Hello? Is there anybody out there?[:(]

[Cuttlefish]

June 11 – July 3, 1942

Aboard USS Gridley

Location: 180 miles northwest of Pearl Harbor
Course: Southeast
Attached to: TF 123
Mission: Surface combat
Ship's Status: Sys damage 4, Engine damage 3
Fuel: 307 (58%)


“Well, sir, that was a waste of time and fuel,” said Lieutenant Steubens. He was speaking to Captain Stickney in Stickney’s cabin. Gridley and the rest of the Allied warships had just completed a long and uneventful cruise that had taken them across the North Pacific and below the Aleutians and to almost within sight of the tip of the Kamchatka Peninsula. Pearl Harbor, at long last, was now just a few hours ahead.

“I’ve been hearing that a lot lately,” said Stickney. Gridley’s captain was dressed in khaki trousers and a t-shirt. Before him on his small desk was the stack of reports that Steubens had just given him. “I don’t think it’s entirely true, though,” he continued. Steubens gave him an inquiring look.

“For one thing,” said Stickney, “it gave us a chance to finish working in the new members of the crew. I’d like to give them some combat experience, sure, but after a month in those waters every one of them is a better sailor.”

“That’s true, sir,” conceded Steubens.

“And for another thing, we spent a week sailing around between the Aleutians and the Kuriles,” said the captain. “Everybody complains that we didn’t find a damned thing. But that’s rather interesting in itself, don’t you think? No Jap convoys, no search planes, nothing. We were right in their back yard and they never even knew we were there.”

“I see the point,” conceded the XO. “Whatever the Japs are up to, it isn’t in the north.”

“It’s negative evidence,” Stickney said, “but it’s still interesting. And anyway, we’re pretty sure now those rumors of Japanese raiders are just rumors.”

“It’s sure going to be nice to be home, though,” said Steubens. Captain Stickney heaved a sigh.

“It will be at that,” he said. “And we’re scheduled to have those depth charge throwers installed as soon as we tie up, so we’ll have at least a few days in port.”

“I’ll draw up a liberty schedule,” said Steubens. The captain nodded.

“Coordinate personnel requirements for the yard work with Yards and Docks,” said Stickney. “That comes first. But be as generous as you can.”

“Yes sir,” said Steubens. The young XO felt cheerful as he left. This was one paperwork chore he was going to be happy to do.

[Cuttlefish]

July 4-5, 1942

Aboard USS Gridley

Location: Pearl Harbor
Course: None
Attached to: None
Mission: Disbanded in port
Ship's Status: Sys damage 3
Fuel: 525 (100%)


The Mark 6 depth charge projector, better known as the K-gun, had actually been around since 1936. The Navy had not started producing them in quantity, however, until shortly before the outbreak of the war. Now it was Gridley’s turn to be equipped with the weapon.

The K-gun was basically a smoothbore black powder mortar that allowed a depth charge to be hurled a modest distance, from 60 to 150 yards, to one side of a ship. This allowed ships equipped with them to attack targets that weren’t directly below them. This was useful because it allowed greater flexibility in pursuing ASW attacks and because it was difficult for sonar to track targets that were directly underneath the ship.

The new projectors used the Mark 6 depth charges, as opposed to the larger Mark 7 charges Gridley used in her over-the-stern racks. Except for the amount of explosive (300 pounds of TNT for the Mark 6, as opposed to 600 pounds for the Mark 7) and the size of the case the two types of depth charges were identical, with one important difference. The depth charges had water inlet valves at both ends, to allow water pressure to fire the depth charge at the appropriate depth setting. On the Mark 7 these valves had safety covers with knobbed ends which were automatically stripped off as the depth charge rattled down the racks and off the stern. When used with the K-gun the Mark 6 charges were fitted with safety covers lacked the knob and had to be removed by hand before the projector was loaded and fired.

Gridley was being fitted with four K-guns, all astern, two each on the starboard and port sides. These, combined with the over-the-stern racks, gave the destroyer the ability to deploy six depth charges at once, with a combined 2400 pounds of TNT. Already Gridley’s crew was learning to fear and despise Japanese submarines. They looked forward to a chance to use this new equipment against them.

***

Restored K-gun projector (aboard USS Slater):

[Cuttlefish]

July 6, 1942

Aboard USS Gridley

Location: Pearl Harbor
Course: None
Attached to: None
Mission: Disbanded in port
Ship's Status: Sys damage 3
Fuel: 525 (100%)


Gridley at Pearl during refit. Note the increase in ASW rating from 2 to 6. The crew’s day/night experience has also increased since the last refit, from 59/48 to 59/55 (it was 59/37 at the start of the war).

[Cuttlefish]

July 7-19, 1942

Aboard USS Gridley

Location: Pearl Harbor
Course: None
Attached to: None
Mission: Disbanded in port
Ship's Status: No damage
Fuel: 525 (100%)


Excerpt from War on Two Oceans, by Morris Elliot Samuelson (1963, Little, Brown, and Co.):


Cincpac Intelligence had reported the possibility of Japanese raiders off the West Coast at the end of May and the Navy had responded by increasing submarine patrols in the area and recalling the aircraft carriers back to Pearl Harbor. But after the carriers had spent several futile weeks first covering the main convoy routes between California and Hawaii and then scouring the North Pacific, most in the US high command were ready to dismiss the intelligence reports as the result of overheated imaginations. Legend even has it that the young intelligence officer responsible was assigned to a weather station in Alaska as punishment.

The reports, however, were not erroneous. The Japanese had not only sent several armed merchant cruisers eastward as raiders, they had dispatched a modest force consisting of three auxiliary carriers to raid the busy West Coast – Hawaii convoy routes. These ships had been converted from passenger liners into small carriers before the war. They were deemed by the Japanese high command to be too small and too slow to participate in fleet actions, but it was thought they might be able to do some damage against merchant shipping – especially since the American carriers were believed to be in the South Pacific, too far away to respond.

On July 8, some 1100 miles off the coast of northern California, the Japanese raiders made contact with Convoy 111. This convoy consisted of eight freighters and two escorts, destroyers Cushing and Perkins. The convoy was loaded with a miscellany of war material and was bound from San Francisco to Pearl Harbor. The destroyers escaped but Japanese torpedo planes sank all eight of the merchantmen. The attack cost 112 lives.

The American carrier force, which had just returned to Pearl a few days earlier, turned around and hurried back north in a bid to find and destroy the intruders before they could escape. The interlopers were alerted to their danger when the American carriers found one of the armed merchant cruisers. It was sunk, but not before broadcasting a warning. There then followed a week of tense cat and mouse pursuit between the two forces.

The American task was perhaps more difficult than it sounds. The North Pacific is a wide and bleak expanse of ocean, without islands or landmarks. Trying to find three small Japanese carriers and a handful of escorts in those waters was a little like looking for a needle in a haystack when the needle does not want to be found. But finally, just when the American carriers had given up and were heading back home, they stumbled right into the Japanese force, which was trying to sneak past them to the south.

The resulting battle was the first carrier duel in history, and it was an unequal contest. The Americans had all six of their carriers present, while the Japanese had only the small carriers Hosho, Unyo, and Taiyo. A small air attack against Yorktown was brushed aside and the counterattack by dive and torpedo bombers quickly sank all three Japanese carriers. Two of their accompanying destroyers were also sunk.

The modest victory was greeted back home in America with an enthusiasm out of proportion to its military significance. Not only was the public eager for any kind of naval triumph, but the loss of Convoy 111 had reignited fears of an attack on the West Coast. The destruction of the raiding force calmed those fears and gave evidence that the Japanese were not invincible at sea.

[Cuttlefish]

I am back! And with a lot of catching up to do.

[Admiral DadMan]

I wonder if Lt. Conwright gets to come home now?