Chapter 3
- 05JAN, off the coast of Somalia-
Arthur continued staring at the operations map for Southeast Asia that Elizabeth had given him. He went over the likely enemy forces that the Royals and Eagles had discerned were there and how those forces might impact the upcoming operation. 'The main failings of the Japanese in my world was their lack of logistical capacity, their inability to properly utilize the resources they captured, and their damn near fanatical belief in the decisive battle doctrine which blinded them to their logistical heel and its lack of security. If the pattern holds true, then we will need to hit their logistical nodes hard and fast.' He thought as he continued reading over intelligence reports and looking at the battle map.
Repulse and Renown had already arrived with Indomitable at Ceylon with Formidable and Warspite moving up from Madagascar after supporting Iris operations there. Iowa was cruising toward India and would take 4 days from his current position moving at 25 knots. '4 days to plan an alternate operation.' He grimaced as he looked at a rough draft of what the Royals had in mind. In short, they would seek to create the conditions for ambushing any Sakuran task force that tried to move past the Straits of Malacca by spotting them and hitting them with land-based aircraft during the day and conduct strikes with radar equipped naval aircraft at night followed by a night surface action. Overall, it was a good plan, relying mainly on the Royals ability to conduct night fighting which had proved so successful against the Sardegnans. 'The problem is that the Sakurans, if they are anything like their Japanese counterparts also excel at night actions and are likely to have air supremacy during the day since they will probably deploy most of the Kido Butai to secure their new holdings. Not to mention that I do not have much faith in the Royals ability to retain land-based airpower, especially with the reports coming in from Malaya and the Dutch East Indies.' He looked up from the map and rubbed his eyes from staring at the reports and map for too long.
'Too many targets, not enough assets. Not to mention we are outnumbered and outgunned should they bring in the Yamato and Musashi.' He sat down and leaned back into his chair closing his eyes for a small nap as the ship continued. His radar scans were the first thing to wake him up. A small force of ships was starting to appear at the edge of his radar screen, 2 capital ships, 3 cruiser types, and 7 destroyers from what he could tell. 'That must be the force from Madagascar, odd since they are expected to arrive at Ceylon later than me.' he mused as he checked his watch and found that his unintentional nap had lasted 10 hours. 'Damn, must have been more tired than I thought I was.' He then went into a nearby washroom and splashed water on his face to wake him up. 'Well might as well meet the neighbors.'
He moved to the bridge and managed to get out a message to the oncoming force who after having an aircraft fly over him to confirm it was him arranged to meet up with him. A couple hours later he was in the center of the task force near the Warspite and Formidable who decided to meet with him on board the Formidable. As he boarded the hangar deck of the aircraft carrier, he was surprised to find two females, one who looked like a child with hair that looked like how a dog had the ears when alert, with purple eyes and blond hair with a weird short dress on and a sword, and another who had a gothic outfit on and had a set of red eyes like his own, with silver hair and a rather generous bust. 'How the hell can she walk with those?' Arthur thought before quickly reprimanding himself mentally.
"Commodore Strider, USN, Shipmaster of battleship Iowa, permission to come aboard?" he asked.
The maid replied, "Permission granted, Commodore. Welcome to the Formidable." She then curtsied, "I am the Formidable and the Kansen beside me is Warspite."
"Greetings Commodore." the smaller girl greeted him.
'Not how I imagined Warspite looking like, but ok.' "Greetings Formidable, Warspite. Your reputations precede you. I had thought we would be meeting in Trincomalee with the rest of the Eastern Fleet." He responded by holding out his hand and shaking the female's hands.
"That was the original plan, but that has changed." Warspite stated as she turned to Formidable. "Formidable would you be so kind as to lead us to a stateroom where we can discuss this in detail?"
"Of course, Lady Warspite. If you would be so kind as to follow me Commodore?" Formidable said as she looked toward Arthur.
"Lead the way." he said.
They moved through the ship eventually moving toward the stateroom of the ship where a large map and table had been set up surrounded by chairs. Portraits of previous Formidables lined the walls as well as a portrait of King George VI. Warspite and Formidable took one side of the table with Arthur taking the other side. Once they were all seated Warspite began the brief.
"The original plan has been revised due to the fallout of your actions in the Mediterranean. Since your ambush, the Sardegnans have brought most of their fleet back to Genoa, under the cover of their air force. Since it appears that they are laying low for the time being, we have a limited opportunity to strike the Sakurans. We have shuffled Victorious to the Atlantic where she will work with the Eagle Union in a strike group operating eventually in the Pacific. We are receiving Illustrious to help supplement our striking power and she will arrive in Ceylon in 2 weeks since she must be resupplied after her operations off Madagascar. We will be operating as 3 fleets since it appears to be the most effective way to protect our ships from Sakuran airpower. We will be operating with Illustrious and will be the primary striking force, with Indomitable acting as a supporting force. Hermes will be conducting escort missions to resupply our troops in Burma and will not be involved in the major fighting. Working like this allows us to spread our power out and give us more of a chance to catch any Sakuran formations looking for a breakout into the Indian Ocean." Warspite said as Formidable left and brought back a tea set which she set between Arthur and them.
"While your plan has merit, it would open us up to being destroyed in detail should the Sakurans bring more than a Carrier Division to play. Also, it would decrease out striking power and would force the individual groups to fight for themselves which would lead to disaster in my mind. Concentrating our forces into one big carrier group would allow us the ability to strike first with more power and the number of tubes for the fleet would help with anti-air defense." Arthur pointed out.
Warspite looked at him for a second as if evaluating him before turning to Formidable. "Formidable would you please educate him on the problem with fleet defense against airpower and more specifically reconnaissance against enemy formations?"
"The problem lies in reaction time and positioning." Formidable stated. "Were we to have sufficient enough notice, say 30 minutes we could scramble our compliment of fighters to defend ourselves. The issue is that we are unable to gain that notice unless we spot and track the enemy air formations in time, which goes into reconnaissance since the one who spots the other first will more often than not get the strike in and inflict damage. In order to do this, we must spread out our scouting aircraft further to not only see the enemy fleet but also to detect the enemy air formations which decreases the number of fighters on hand for defense. Should we have all our carriers together this may increase the amount of CAP we have but also makes it more likely to be spotted first since we can cover less area than if we were separated. Furthermore, one of the most effective ways to avoid or decrease the effectiveness of a strike is by maneuvering the ship, should we all be concentrated, this limits us in maneuvering since we must be in effective distance to cover each other with AA but also far enough apart to maneuver. Finally, while we have some advanced AA equipment, it is not sufficient enough to ward off a concentrated strike."
Arthur looked at Formidable for a while digesting this information. "What if you had that AA firepower and enough warning to vector in your fighters?" he asked.
"We would need at least a radar with 200 kilometers range with the ability to tell us their altitude speed and direction and even then, depending on the size of the strike we may or may not be able to break it up sufficiently." Formidable calculated.
"I can give you that." Arthur stated.
Warspite and Formidable looked at each other for a second before looking back at Arthur. "While I don't doubt that you have some amazing capabilities should my sister's report be believed. I highly doubt that you have an air search radar that powerful and accurate." Warspite stated.
"Let's run a test then. I will link in with your radios and will relay to you information about incoming aircraft provided by our lady here." Arthur said motioning to Formidable. "Should I provide correct data with 1 mile of the planes location and 5 degrees of their bearing then we will put together and present a plan to Higher utilizing the Aircraft carriers together. Should I fail to be that accurate or indeed miss a plane I will go along with your plan without any complaints and will follow your orders in the coming fight."
Warspite looked again to Formidable who looked back as a silent conversation took place, before looking back at Arthur. "We accept. I will be on Formidable's bridge overseeing this experiment. We will begin at 0100 hours and continue until I am satisfied."
"Sounds like a deal." Arthur agreed before getting up to leave, the ladies doing the same. "Should you need me I will be on my bridge."
"Very well. It seems that our conversation lasted long enough as is."Warspite stated as she looked at the clock and saw that 5 hours had passed due to them going over supplies, plans, intelligence reports and that it was now turning into dusk. "I expect an adequate performance tomorrow, Commodore."
"You'll have it." Arthur said as he left.
-7 hours later-
Arthur stood in the CIC(Combat Information Center) of the Iowa waiting for the Royal aircraft to take off and he saw them slowly at least to him take off, circle and then head out on his SPS-49 radar set before he shut it down. 'They should head out for about an hour, maybe an hour and a half to let them get to around 300km away then they will start their approach, probably from multiple directions. With around 36 aircraft on board 4 on cap with 4 on standby that means we are dealing with 28 attackers give or take a few, with torpedo bombers and fighters, so low altitude approaches at slow speed with high altitude overwatch say around 15,000 ft to allow for fast intercept.' he calculated.
"Alright Commodore, you are free to begin tracking." Warspite said over the radio.
He then turned on his radar set and noticed the incoming aircraft. "I've got 8 aircraft going low and slow approaching from heading 285 degrees at 1000ft moving at speed of 250kmh current distance 270km. Another flight at heading 15 degrees this one is 6 aircraft moving at speed of 300kmh at 17000ft current distance is 240km. 4 aircraft approaching from heading 187 degrees at speed of 200kmh, altitude 500ft, distance 210km. Group of 10 aircraft approaching from heading 120 at distance 250km, speed 250kmh at altitudes 1500 ft and 15000ft." He reported to Warspite.
The radio was silent for a while before an answer. "Very good, Formidable confirms headings, distances, and altitudes. I'm impressed, let's see if we can get consistent results a few more times, Warspite out."
They continued the exercise 2 more times before Formidable had to recall her aircraft to refuel and rearm and then start out again for the day runs when they ran a total of 9 more runs before Warspite felt confident enough in Iowa's air search and tracking radar that she would support Arthur's plan. By afternoon Illustrious's task force joined up with them and with her inclusion they ran even more drills this time using the Iowa to vector in the carrier's CAP to intercept the incoming flights from both carriers. Overall, the Royals were impressed by the Iowa and tried to gain more information regarding the SPS-49 but were rebuffed by Arthur who stated that while he would be willing to give them the information gathered by the radar, that he had no authorization to give them the technology. Eventually they reached Trincomalee where the rest of the Eastern fleet was assembled. Once the Task force was put into dock Warspite, Formidable, Illustrious, and Arthur were called to speak with Vice Admiral Somerville.
They were escorted to his headquarters just outside of the town by a squad of Royal Marines who left them with the Vice Admiral's aide. Once the Admiral was ready, they were escorted into his office and found him pouring over documents on his desk.
"Ladies, Commodore." he greeted them not looking up from his papers.
The shipgirls curtsied and greeted him while Arthur saluted him.
"Sir, Commodore Strider USN, reporting for duty." Arthur stated.
Sommerville continued looking into his papers for a while before looking up at the assembled group. "At ease Commodore, I have heard much about you. Thank you, Ladies, if you would wait outside, I believe Captain Lawson would like to debrief you about your trip. That is all." he said as he dismissed them. They curtsied and left quietly before the aide closed the door.
Sommerville continued looking through his papers as Arthur remained at attention, this went on for a few minutes before Sommerville looked up from his papers again. "Do have a seat Commodore, can't have you faint in my own office."
Arthur moved to one of the two seats in front of the Admiral's desk and looked around the office finding it to be quite illuminated by the afternoon sun peeking through the large window behind the Admiral. Sommerville looked at him intensely for a few seconds.
"When the admiralty became aware of your existence, it created quite a stir." Sommerville stated.
"Sir?"
"A male Kansen, and a powerful one at that, shows up in the Atlantic sinks the pride of the Ironblood fleet and its escort, leaves without a trace, and then pops back up in the Mediterranean with an Sardegnan Kansen unconscious, having just destroyed a significant portion of the Sardegnan fleet including one of their newest and best battleships without a scratch." Sommerville pulled up his chair and sat straight. "Then claims it is part of the Eagle Union and sure enough its registry exists, but that ship is still in the process of being built. You can see how this creates a bit of an issue regardless of what the leading Kansen says about your loyalties."
Arthur went to verbally defend himself before Sommerville pulled up his hand. "I'm not saying her report is false, I'm saying that it seems rather incredible for this to occur especially since we need a powerful fast surface warship at this time. Furthermore, with the reports from Warspite regarding your radar capability, you seem to be a rather useful fellow. Now I have heard that you wish to be under Eagle command as soon as possible, is this correct?" he asked as he put his hand down.
"Yes sir." Arthur answered.
Sommerville looked at him for a little while before smiling. "Unfortunately, at this time we are unable to turn you over to the Eagle Union. The Sakurans made a mess with Pearl, sinking 4 battleships outright, the Arizona, Tennessee, California, and West Virginia and badly damaging 5 more, the Maryland, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, andthe North Carolina, which happened to be in port undergoing sea trials at the time. In addition to that most of the Eagle Union's surface vessels are busy raiding the Marshalls at this time. That being said, we have a small collection of American vessels here that were going to be part of ABDA at least until Java was taken a few weeks ago. They include the heavy cruiser Kansen Houston and about 4 destroyers, by themselves they would get annihilated, were they to work with the Eastern Fleet they would stand a better chance at surviving."
Arthur looked at him. "You want me to command them." he stated.
"Yes. While we are allies, the captains of those ships look toward Washington to give them orders. Orders which are out of touch with the situation here. Were you to command them that would give them an authority figure in the area, one that knows what is going on and is willing to work with the Eastern Fleet." Sommerville explained.
"And in the process, you would get a Heavy cruiser Kansen and 4 destroyers, as well as binding me to your chain of command." Arthur pointed out.
"I won't lie to you and say that is my end goal. Indeed, with your capabilities I would hardly need them, however they need someone to give them orders that actually knows what the hell they are doing. Once we have reopened the shipping lanes to Australia and kicked the Sakurans out of the Indian Ocean, you all will be free to link up with whatever command has been organized there." Sommerville said.
"The captains and Kansen don't know me, why would they be willing to listen?" Arthur asked.
"Because your commission has already been validated by the Eagle War Department. Courtesy of a little bit of political rangling on the Eastern side of the Atlantic." Sommerville grinned. "You are currently under assignment with the Eastern Fleet so you will be under my command until the situation calms down in this theatre. So, what will it be?"
Arthur looked down at his hand for a while before answering. "Let me talk to them first and see what they have to say."
Sommerville nodded his head. "As you should. Now what was this about rearranging my force structure for this campaign?"
Arthur told the Admiral about the exercises the carriers and himself conducted as well as his recommendation about the combined fleet and what the Sakurans were likely to send against them. Sommerville seemed interested in the proposal and asked about the limited scouting the fleet would be able to do since they would have limited capabilities due to the concentration of force.
"We don't have to necessarily beat the Sakuran Navy, all we have to do is attrite their Air Arm to such a degree that they are forced to withdraw. It will take them a long time to retrain those veteran air crews while we can retain ours which will be more experienced. The Sakurans lack longevity and are strategically compromised by their long supply lines and lack of any anti-commerce raiding training. Furthermore, they are fighting a war on 2 fronts, so our mere existence is a victory in and of itself especially our capital units. The Sakurans are focused on the direct approach, which is force on force, to the determent of their logistical capabilities. If we can avoid their force and instead hit them in their logistical nodes, we can force them to either fall back to the home islands or leave them open to attack from the Pacific Fleet once they are up and operational." Arthur explained.
Sommerville pulled out a map of Southeast Asia and the Dutch East Indies. "Your idea has merit, however remaining passive will not necessarily allow us to keep the ships we have, nor will it do anything to stop the Sakuran advance now."
"It can if we attack what they want."
"Explain." Sommerville stated.
"We need to hit their dockyard facilities and their rubber and oil fields they just captured. That is what they are here for. We hit those areas hard enough for the Sakurans to have to rebuild them and it forces their advance to slow if for nothing else than to protect their raw resources." Arthur pointed out.
"That would alienate our Dutch friends." Sommerville countered.
"Sir, with all due respect the Dutch have already lost. Their country is overrun, and their colony will likely be supporting the Sakurans if for no other reason than they hate the Dutch. What we would be doing would be shortening the war and denying the Sakurans of any valuable gain they would otherwise receive." Arthur argued.
Sommerville looked at him for a minute before calling in his aide. "I will have to get in touch with London regarding your strategy Commodore. In the meantime, I advise you enjoy yourself in port since we don't know how long we may have before we get another opportunity."
Arthur stood up and saluted Sommerville. "Sir."
Sommerville also stood up and returned the salute before dismissing him. Arthur then did a quick about face and left to see to the resupply of his ship.
- 1 Week Later-
Arthur was staring at the fleet around him as they continued conducting anti-air exercises. Warspite's experiment had turned enough heads that all the carriers in the Eastern Fleet were now required to get in their practice with Arthur spotting incoming formations on radar and vectoring the CAP to intercept. The problems that had arisen were initially a lack of radio coordination and the time it took to get the rest of the carrier-based fighters launched from their flight decks. Thanks to a little advice and due in part to the Langley, which had just shown up fleeing the Sakurans, Arthur was able to introduce the Royals into deck parking which in and of itself was a feat due to the unwillingness of the Royals to lose their limited aircraft to storms and rough seas. Luckily Langley was able to assist and formed with Hermes the OPFOR in many of these exercises. Over time Arthur saw improvement in the ability of the Royals to use not only vectoring but also a concentrated strike from multiple carriers. These exercises were of course done to the West of India in order to keep operational secrecy.
2 days after their conversation Sommerville greenlit Arthur's plan. The plan called for a concentrated strike at Jakarta, skirting around the western and southern edges of Sumatra using the fast capital ships to clear the Sunda Straits with destroyers and cruisers screening any enemy light forces as the now 3 fleet and 2 light carriers hit the city, its port facility and the oilfields nearby in 2 waves before leaving as quickly as they came. Arthur was able to convince the Eagle ships to follow his lead for this operation, which they saw as revenge for their earlier humiliation in being chased from the Java Sea. The operation would occur in late February giving time for the carriers to train together while also allowing the other ships to learn how to cooperate with each other. They received intelligence reports that since they had left their base in Trincomalee due to a security breach and the need to train together, the Japanese had assumed that the Eastern fleet had pulled back to East Africa, leaving few capital forces in the region while the Kido Butai went after the Eagle Carriers that had been raiding the Marshalls.
Summerville had moved his flag to the Iowa due to its superior CIC and speed and oversaw the exercises with Arthur, the two of them forming a good team with Arthur acting as an aide and advisor. The operation named Operation Domino, would be a risky one especially if the Sakurans spotted them on their approach, to counter this the Fleet would move at night and during the day the Storm Generator on board the Iowa would screen them from recon aircraft. Once the raid was complete, the entire fleet would run like hell back to the Maldives where they would refuel and rearm and be ready for a possible counterattack.
The fleet moved out on February 14 under the cover of darkness from its new port in the Maldives and began moving South by Southeast knowing it would take approximately 5 days and nights to get to the target, Sommerville ordered the fleet to remain in strict radio silence. On 19th of February the fleet arrived just to the west of the Sunda Strait and just before dawn was moving into the engagement area with the carriers already launching their strike. As the Iowa moved through the Sunda Strait Arthur noticed radar contacts on shore with more contacts further out in the strait. Identifying the shore targets as transports, Sommerville ordered the Light cruiser Kansen Pheonix and Perth to engage those targets with the destroyers as the heavier ships engaged the shipping in the channel which Arthur was able to identify as 4 heavy cruisers, 1 light cruiser, 12 destroyers, 1 minelayer, and what appeared to be a light carrier and a seaplane tender, these ships he hypothesized were there for shore bombardment and would not be expecting an attack. Sure, enough he was correct as Iowa began blasting at the heavy cruisers and the other Allied ships targeted the other warships. The two heavy cruisers Mikuma and Mogami were hit first by Iowa with 16in shells followed shortly thereafter by 15in rounds from Warspite. Since the Eastern fleet were approaching from the west and south, they were able to use the outline of the sun and their targets to their full advantage quickly identifying and engaging targets as they pleased. The Sakuran commander, seemed to be confused as Sakuran ships were anxiously and rapidly signaling that they were friendly. Due to this confusion the Allied light ships managed to get into the Sakuran shipping and start destroying the transports. The heavy units led by Iowa moved quickly through the now broken forms of the two cruisers to engage the carriers and remaining shipping with Warspite managing to get hits on the Kumano while Houston and Exeter managed to sink the Suzuya.
Iowa focused on the now identified Chitose and the Ryujo, and began blasting them with high explosive rounds which quickly tore apart the ships and left them in flaming wrecks. Once the surface forces cleared the strait they immediately turned around and steamed high speed out of the engagement area. Once they were cleared Arthur gave the rendezvous signal to the carriers who had finished their strike on Jakarta. Within 3 hours they had met up and began steaming toward the Maldives. The Iowa kept the Storm Generator going for the next 72 hours allowing them to get away from any Sakuran recon aircraft. By 25th February the Fleet had arrived back at their home port and took stock of what they had managed to accomplish.
"By my estimates 10 transports destroyed, 3 heavy cruisers destroyed, 1 heavily damaged, 1 light cruiser destroyed, 6 destroyers sunk, 4 heavily damaged with 2 more running aground. 1 Light carrier and 1 seaplane carrier destroyed. Overall, not too bad and combine that with the onshore equipment destroyed we definitely slowed down their advance into Sumatra. The carriers managed a good tally too, with 6 transports and 2 destroyers sunk. The dock fuel tanks destroyed, and the drydocks left in critical condition." Arthur summarized to the assembled captains and Kansen.
"Not bad at all, but this is just the beginning." Sommerville stated as he looked toward the group.