Letters from a Prime Minister

[1275psi]

Dusk

Admiral Tom Thumb stares at his Communications officer hard
"Are we sure?"

"Absolutely sir. His kates have made multiple attacks on shipping near Oostenhaven,
destroyers, lots and lots of bombs, no fish"
"None?"
"None sir.....the count says he has expended all he has got"

The Admiral stares at the chart
It is covered in pins.

To his East.......the kaga.....undoubtably.
To the North of Palembang......invasion convoys
Enemy ships in the short cut

Bombers, apparently moving into Sambewang.......


But there are other pins, friendly pins

Hermes......coming North, with her cruisers
The Indian troop ships......
The Dutch PTs, his destroyer task forces


And its still raining.


The Orders almost come unbidden
"Herme's to come north.........we will hunt here, here, and here.......send the destroyers up
the short cut......"


I will stop these barsteds. I will, I will, I will............or die trying

[1275psi]

Mutsu, Nagato cover invasion Kendari.
Tarakan is lost

[1275psi]

from
ABDA
to Prime Minister Australia

Appreciation

battle for Palembang hangs in balance
44, 45, 46th Indian Brigades unloading Oostenhaven, or loading
for transport to Palembang.

18th Div has entered strategic area, enroute.

Malaya
22 brigade holds mersing. 2 Enemy Divs to North, one making for Kuala Lumpour.

North looks promising
Enemy does not seem aware of our advance towards Singora and patanai
Nor is there any movement towards Temolah.

Geargetown will become our base.

Even if Singapore falls, japan will be forced to choose, send divisions North, or
use against Palembang.

Anything that delays enemy will buy time for 1st Aust corps.


Enemy tactics
Enemy is using fast transports to grab what he can
But, and this is important, seems to have little back up if un expected resistance is
found

Finding the Indians at Palembang will disrupt his plans

Finally
I cannot promise holding the DEI's, but what I can do is this, promise that what
Japan takes will be nothing but ashes.........and no oil if I can have my way.
ABDA

[AllenK]

Great stuff.

Shaping up to be another epic.

[1275psi]

22 December 1941

Lt Jackson takes the expected signal, and rushes to the bridge
"Admiral!'

Scowling, the Admiral turns to him
"Are we killing japs Jackson, or still &^%$#ing about in the middle of nowhere?"
Jackson swallows
'Good news sir, two tankers will be with us in 2 days. Saratoga in 3. We can then proceed to Suva, there is plenty of
fuel there"

"I bloody hope so"


They are running on empty, them, the destroyers, everyone
In fact, not enough fuel to reach anywhere..........

They need those tankers

Jackson turns to go
"Anything from Signals on the Jap carriers?"
'Nothing sir, not a thing"



They could be any bloody where.

[1275psi]

22 December
"the Short cut"

3 Japanese destroyers, flush with victory from yesterday charge south.
They encounter no less than 9 AMc class patrol vessels.

Murder occurs.

But if they have been tasked to protect the invasion convoys, they have failed

20 miles out of Palembang, a confused action is occurring.
In the dark, in the rain, the little boys are taking on the big un's...and winning

6 Dutch PT boats cover themselves in glory, slotting 2 large AKs with fish.
2 are lost dodging the defending destroyers


It is, remember, dark.
It is raining.

In the minds of Japanese merchant men, the seas are alive with enemy ships.

The invasion convoy, no, both invasion convoys, turn about, and retire.


Palembang will tonight receive more troops.
Allied, not Japanese.

[1275psi]

0900 hrs

Prince of Wales


The reports coming in have been confusing, disjointed
Encouraging. Depressing

There has been a series of engagements in "the shortcut"
CL Ceres is retiring, her opponents r, 3 DDs, reported burning.
The Dutch seem to have done well

The American 4 stackers also report those same destroyers.

The rain is breaking up, dispersing , patches of sun.

Around them, the seas are empty.

Missed. Obviously, during the night, they have missed.

Would it hurt?
Soon to find out, undoubtedly.

And then, it all gets very busy.

"Message sir........enemy carriers sighted east of Letapang...course South"
CL Ceres reports 'am engaging 5 destroyers'
CVL Hermes reports "am launching strike"

But from Boise, 20 miles ahead
"Enemy aircraft, your way"

Well, you fail to pay the piper, he will want a price. Tom Thumb reluctantly places his
yet to be finished cup of tea into his stewards hands.

"I hope Guns, our torpedo counting has been good......Captain, Full ahead when you are ready, general course North,
but fight her as you please"

[1275psi]

The war in China is not going to plan

Chinese Troops take Foochow on the southern coast.
Inchang is retaken

A whole Japanese division finds itself trapped at Changten with the loss of Inchang

And the Changsha offensive fails to take the city

And everywhere east of there, it seems small companies of chines troops are fanning out,
cutting roads, creating chaos.

No, China, is not going to plan

[1275psi]

From
POTUS
to
Prime Minister Australia

Frank

Just a quick appreciation and update.
The Japanese carriers, my Admirals seem to think, are loitering north east of pearl harbour, hoping
I would think, to catch crippled Battleships returning to the mainland.

We, of course, are having none of that.

But, this, of course, effects our convoys to you and the south west area.
With Japanese ships running riot in the pacific, I am afraid that we will
have to route our convoys via the Atlantic /Indian ocean route. Painful, I know,
but with our current escort shortage, the only thing we can do.

My Admirals think Pearl itself is under threat.
I will coldly say this.
The war is going to be a long one.
Pearl harbour produces no oil, no fuel
Palembang does, Java does.

So I still support plan 1.

I salute your efforts so far.
We, of course, are facing the task of mobilising the might of this Nation.
Rest assured, when it is realised, Japan will be ground to dust....


POTUS

[1275psi]

From
Prime Ministers Office
to
The Admiralty

Fully support plan to concentrate Australian station vessels Auckland.
Can we spare (say the Adelaide) for a visit to our Vichy French friends at Noumea?

If French un co operative, do we have any forces we can spare 'to make them co operative?"

Ford

[1275psi]

From
Commander forces Palembang
to
ABDA

Enemy have not, repeat , have not landed extra troops
Indian 44, 45th Brigade have arrived safely
46th, Gurkha's enroute, due tomorrow, although think
Gurkha's should remain Oostenhaven.

Is it true 18th Division enroute?

[1275psi]

From
ABDA
to Palembang Commander

Enemy forces suspected to be 1 CV (Kaga), 2-3 cvl, 1 BB (Kongo), 4 heavy cruisers,
2 light cruisers, some 20 destroyers

If , repeat, if, the Navy succeeds in driving them off, 18th Division will be landed
and given to you

A Naval battle is occurring as we speak java sea
Palembang immediate fate soon to be known

ABDA

[zuluhour]

All right, I got one more glass of wine..........

[1275psi]

The first strike actually passes over the POW, continues south

It finds the Hermes, 7 zeros.
A single Val

Miss


The second goes for them

14 Val dive bombers shriek down upon the battleship, the Battlecruiser.
2 small bombs land aboard repulse amongst the forest of near misses.
She is more than stout enough to all but ignore them
"from Repulse, to POW..Damn, I have spilt my tea"

9 more Vals, 4 zeros go for the shipping at Oostenhaven.
16 P40e's respond, the Vals sheer away, ditching bombs

10 kates attack the crippled Ceres, bombs again, no torpedoes.
Accurate bombs though, she will go down.

Hermes strike finds the convoy, and sinks a third transport for the day. A brilliant attack
through, around the clouds as the zeros hunt them.

And then, time for lunch under a now clear , hot sky

The Japs come again, POW the target.
She takes a bomb, right on armour near port fwd 5 inch aa gun, it bounces. It
scares the begeebies out of the gun crews, but little else

"From repulse to POW...this is getting annoying, that's another cup spilt"

At 5 PM, Tom Thumb makes his decision
"Boise, American DDs, detach, attack any ships "the shortcut, or Palembang"

There are 60 bombers reported moving into Simbawang. KB will need to retire that direction.
I have the fuel. The enemy convoy will go that direction.....

I will stop him, or die trying.........

'Make course NE, Full ahead all......I intend to bombard the airfield, or, failing that,
make a damn nuisance of myself"

Warships are built for but one purpose.
The British navy has always had but one purpose
Find the enemy, and bring him to battle.........




And find him, Tom Thumb will.

[1275psi]

Dec 23rd

Do you like sports?
is it the skill, the tension of the contest?
or watching a team "just click"
Boise's bridge team "just click"

There is tension, yes, maybe even, hidden away, a touch of fear.
But there is no raised voices, no unnecessary orders, no confusion

Just the team. The professionals, at work.

Ahead, 6000 yards ahead in the dark, the four stackers are exchanging shots in a running fight with yet
unseen destroyers, 4, or is it 6 in number?

And even further on, reports of PTs in action (again) against light cruisers.

She enters a rain squall, visibility plummets.
Cooley, calmly, she swings her guns to starboard..........

Bursts into the clear, and there is Ushio, a destroyer that never has a chance.
Nor, minutes later does the Akatsuki, the Hibiki, smashed, blown away.

Palembang harbour is empty, the enemy are retiring.



This invasion attempt has failed

[1275psi]

Hermes swordfish sink the destroyer Isonami

Japanese troops enter manilla
Australia's 22nd brigade engages the 18th division near Johore bahru

Midway holds, still, but for how much longer?


Prince of wales moves North, mainly in the rain again. She refuels her escorts, then begins her run
for Singawang.

She won't reach there.
Just after midnight, Kongo crosses her path.

[zuluhour]

I got my suspenders on, (for suspense) .......

[kaleun]

POW vs Kongo.
[X(]

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: kaleun

POW vs Kongo.
[X(]

Not a foregone conclusion - Kongo will have escorting DDs and maybe CAs/CLs - and they all carry torps.

[1275psi]

Prince of wales
The unlucky ship
The cursed ship


We will never know what confusion reigned on her bridge, what Tom thumb was thinking,
what his captain was thinking to allow the Japanese battleline, Kongo, 4 heavy cruisers,
a pack of destroyers to cross his T

At 5000 yards

Maybe he was aware of the danger of swinging his line, of the waiting fish
nestled in so many tubes.
We don't know.

Kongo fires first, POW a moment later
POW misses
Kongo does not

For the second time in her short career, heavy metal reduces a bridge to a charnel house

Completely out of control, bridge aflame, the battleship arrows straight at the thundering Japanese line,
a hundred tracers seemingly arrowed onto her carcass from compass point to point.

2 minutes later no less than 3, or maybe 4 fish tear apart her bow from stem to beyond the
bridge

Blazing, her great screws will help drive her under.

Repulse is pounded, she sheers away, ablaze, she will live though, courtesy to the dying of
two of the destroyers who follow POW towards that blazing wall of fire..


One 14 inch hit on Suzaya, such a poor return for a battlewagon, for so many lives........


It is the beginning of disaster, upon disaster.