Location: Tjilitjap
Course: none
Attached to: TF 72
Mission: Air Combat
System Damage: 4
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 381
Orders: Escort damaged carriers to Tjilitjap for emergency repairs
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The harbor at Tjilitjap is shallow and the port facilities, as already mentioned, are barely adequate. The access channel is narrow. It is bounded on one side by Nusa Kambagan, the notorious prison island, and on the other by the old Dutch fortress of Bendeng Pentem.
The Japanese ships make their way up this channel in the late afternoon. They arrived earlier but had to wait until high tide to try and get Hiryu to the docks. The stricken carrier is by now so low in the water that grounding her within sight of the repair facilities is a real possibility. As it is her bottom scrapes mud as she is towed into position.
Nonetheless Admiral Ozawa breathes a deep sigh of relief. If the men waiting to aid in the repairs do their work at all well Hiryu should be able to leave Tjilitjap under her own power before long and proceed to Singapore for further repairs. Hiryu’s air groups fly off the other carriers before they drop anchor and head for Singapore, where they will wait for their carrier. The men on the ships look around at the small town and base, surrounded by wooded ridges and fetid swamps, and gaze after the planes with envy.
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Hiryu watch: Sys 43, Flood 80, Fires 0: In port (size 4, 1 AR and 1 fleet HQ)
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Map of Tjilitjap (aka Tjilitajap, aka Cilacap):
