April 1942 Alternate Indian Ocean

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Zheng He

1000 Hours, 25 May 1942, HMS Indomitable, Colombo Harbor, Ceylon – After going over the photographs and crew reports from the reconnaissance mission to Sabang along with reports from the submarines HMS Trusty and K-XV an attack plan for OPERATION COCKPIT was beginning to take shape. Every stream of reporting suggested that shipping at the base was fairly light and that in all probability Boyd's pilots would encounter a few merchant ships and some small combatants. However, it was also clear that the air base at Sabang hosted at least two squadrons of the deadly long range torpedo bombers that everyone in the Royal Navy was all too familiar with following the Force Z debacle in December 1941.

To Rear Admiral Boyd, hitting the enemy's planes on the ground and hitting them hard represented the number one priority for the operation. Not only were these bombers the greatest threat to his carriers, they were the enemy's primary offensive weapon at the base. The Royal Dutch Shell oil storage tanks were also viewed as an important target that would need to be hit. Despite a lack of major warships in the areas, Somerville still wanted some aircraft detailed to hitting ships in port as well as merchant ships were vital to the ability of the Japanese to supply their forces in Burma and the Andaman Islands.

With an overall notion of targeting priorities in mind, the Eastern Fleet's planners began working with the aircrews from No. 215 Squadron and the 10th US Air Force to formulate a plan of attack for the operation.
 
Fearless Leader

Fearless Leader

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I suppose without a threat to the Aleutians, that will change USN deployments around Midway as well. 5 cruisers, 11 destroyers, and 6 submarines to play around with could change things. Certainly the two oilers up north could help the USN deploy a larger force around Midway.

Not having the S-boats being Diverted to Alaska would mean that Christie's submarine squadron out of Brisbane is much stronger than OTL and numerically superior to Lockwood in Fremantle. I'd wager that Lockwood gets to hang on to a few more submarines for a bit longer than OTL.
 

Zheng He

Note - Miwa's comment is OTL.

1000 Hours, 26 May 1942, HIJMS Yamato, Hashirajima Anchorage, Japan - With most of the forces participating in OPERATION MI due to sortie the next day, one last meeting was held onboard the battleship Yamato. The main concern was the location of the American carriers. Aerial reconnaissance had fixed Enterprise and Hornet in the South Pacific ten days earlier but that was not necessarily conclusive regarding their current location. Radio traffic intercepts suggested American carriers were still operating in the South Pacific and in the vicinity of American bases well to the south of the Hawaiian chain indicating that at least some American carriers were not in Hawaiian waters. However, this did not mean carriers were not near Hawaii either, particularly since it was unknown if the carrier USS Wasp had transferred to the Pacific from the Atlantic Fleet. It was also possible one of the carriers believed sunk had only been damaged. Overall nobody on the Combined Fleet's staff could understand why they were getting hits on possible American carriers operation in such a dispersed manner. Captain Miwa Yoshitake, air officer for the Combined Fleet summed up the general attitude, "This kind of enemy movement makes us feel that their tactics are poor. Since they are employing carriers in dispersion, they are being beaten into a corner."

Given the manner in which the Royal Navy's Eastern Fleet had operated during OPERATION C there was real concern among the officers gathered that the Pacific Fleet's carriers would try similar indirect tactics during OPERATION MI. Several scenarios came up such as what if the Americans launched a mass carrier strike against Rabaul or even Truk while the main strength of the Combined Fleet was occupied near Midway. There was also concern that since the plan called for Nagumo's carriers to operate north of Midway, any American carriers to the south would have free run at the Midway Invasion Force and the covering ships from Admiral Kondo's Second Fleet.

While no one would say it outright, it was a belief among many of the officers present to include Admiral Yamamoto that if the upcoming operation unfolded in that manner it was just fine. After all, the primary goal of OPERATION MI was to lure Nimitz's carriers into an ambush, if the invasion force and its supporting warships ended up serving as the bait that ensnared American flattops coming up from the south, then so be it.

Not surprisingly the one officer who was not happy with this arrangement was Vice Admiral Kondo Nobutake, commander of the Second Fleet and the Midway Invasion Force and its supporting task forces. Already skeptical of OPERATION MI, the notion that his forces could end taking it on the chin from American carriers in much the same way that Ozawa's ships got pummeled by the British during OPERATION C did not sit well with the cerebral Kondo.

Unfortunately for Kondo, his concerns were largely brushed off. Yamamoto and most of the other officers in the room felt that since Kondo commanded a much more powerful force than Ozawa did and would have one light carrier and three seaplane carriers at his disposal, his ships could handle themselves against the Americans until Nagumo's carriers came riding to the rescue. In such a scenario it was also hoped that Kondo's forces could attrite the Americans to some extent.

In order to try and better ascertain the location of the American carriers, Yamamoto agreed to expand OPERATION K, the planned aerial reconnaissance mission against Pearl Harbor to also include long range flights by H8K flying boats from Wotje and Tarawa against Johnston and Palmyra Atolls south of Hawaii.
 
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ViperKing

Banned
Fearless Leader said:
Ack you're right...the planes never did make it to the atoll as they were shunted off to either Midway or Australia. Sorry my mistake.
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Probably sent to Australia or pulled back to Hawaii at some point. In every book and website I've read that has an ORBAT for Midway, I've never seen any P-40s or any other type of Army Air Force operated fighters being stationed at Midway, at least not at the time of the battle itself.
 
Derek Pullem

Derek Pullem

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Zheng He

ViperKing said:
Probably sent to Australia or pulled back to Hawaii at some point. In every book and website I've read that has an ORBAT for Midway, I've never seen any P-40s or any other type of Army Air Force operated fighters being stationed at Midway, at least not at the time of the battle itself.
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No but in late June SARATOGA ferried 25 P-40s and 18 SBDs to Midway to make good the combat losses.
 

Zheng He

1100 Hours, 26 May 1942, Cocos Islands, Indian Ocean – The second Japanese raid against the Cocos Islands was fairly similar to the first. 10 G4M Betty bombers attacked in the late morning after the lengthy flight from Sabang. As before there were no fighters to oppose them although this time they did pay attention to the nearly completed airfield. Several exposed construction personnel were killed, two bulldozers were destroyed, and a transport aircraft that had arrived early that morning with advance personnel from No. 25 Squadron was wrecked. Two bombs also hit a small merchant ship although it was not in danger of sinking.

Anti-aircraft fire was sporadic and inaccurate so none of the bombers were shot down. After dropping their bombs, the 10 planes leisurely turned northwest for the six hour long flight back to Sabang.

As soon as the all clear was sounded the Australian and other Allied personnel at the base immediately began cleanup and damage control, filling the craters in the runway and clearing damaged equipment. The convoy with No. 25 Squadron’s fighters was due to arrive in two days and everyone at the base looked forward to being able to give future raids a hot reception.
 

Zheng He

0800 Hours, 27 May 1942, Colombo Harbor, Ceylon –27 May 1942 saw the carrier fleets of three great navies on the move. During the early morning hours the four carriers of the Kido Butai once again under the command of Vice Admiral Nagumo and their escorts departed the Hashirajima fleet anchorage for OPERATION MI. At Pearl Harbor, the US Navy’s Task Force 17 arrived with the damaged carrier USS Yorktown entering Dry Dock No. 1 for to repair the damage she sustained during the Battle of the Coral Sea while the replenishment of aircraft carriers of Task Force 16 continued.

In the Indian Ocean, Force A of the Royal Navy’s Eastern Fleet centered around the carriers HMS Illustrious, HMS Indomitable, HMS Formidable, and HMS Hermes and the battleship HMS Warspite cleared Colombo Harbor just after 0900 in the morning for OPERATION COCKPIT. Commanding Force A was Rear Admiral Dennis Boyd with Admiral Somerville electing to remain ashore in Colombo to coordinate the operations of the fleet with those of the land based air forces. Somerville also believed that Boyd’s performance over the past two months had earned him the right to take command during a major operation.

Escorting the capital ships of Force A were the heavy cruiser HMS Cornwall and the light cruisers HMS Gambia, USS Phoenix, and HNLMS Heemskerck and the destroyers HMAS Napier, HMAS Nestor, HMS Hotspur, HMS Foxhound, HMS Fortune, HMS Paladin, HMS Panther, HNLMS Isaac Sweers, HMAS Norman, HMS Laforey, and HMS Lightning.

Departing with Force A was a small convoy consisting of the Dutch transport Westerland, the light cruiser HMS Emerald and the destroyer HNLMS Tjerk Hiddes scheduled to deliver supplies and additional construction personnel to Port T in the Maldives and the Cocos Islands. Remaining behind in Colombo undergoing repairs and maintenance much to the disgust of the their captains were the light cruisers HMS Birmingham and HMS Enterprise and the destroyer HNLMS Van Galen.

As soon as the fleet was out to sea flight operations commenced as the carriers began taking aboard their air groups. Standing the flag bridge of HMS Indomitable, Rear Admiral Boyd took note of the multi-national character of his fleet – British, Australian, Dutch, and American ships gathered together in one of the most powerful task forces the Royal Navy had assembled up to this point in the war. Boyd was proud to have this force under his command. Several successful operations along some substantive training in air defense and strike tactics over the past two weeks had honed the Eastern Fleet into a much more capable combat force than it had been when it first assembled at Colombo in late March. Once the air groups were recovered the Boyd ordered his ships to head south toward Dondra Head. It was finally time to start taking the fight to the enemy.
 
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Zheng He

1100 Hours, 27 May 1942, Cocos Islands, Indian Ocean – The merchant ships Torrens and Hawaiian Merchant and their escort of four old American destroyers arrived at the Cocos Islands to the relief of the garrison and the construction crews. While the ships disembarked the personal from the flying squadrons, all available hands were drafted to assist with the unloading and assembly of the 17 B-439 Brewster Buffaloes of No. 25 Squadron. Everyone on the island was keenly interested in having the fighter planes flying as soon as possible. As the fighters were assembled and prepared for their initial ground and flight tests, the airfield personnel with the assistance of the newly arrived squadron staffs began preparations to receive the Battle and Beaufort equipped No. 15 and No. 100 Squadrons due to arrive the next day.
 

Cash

Great updates. Looks like the Japanese will get more than they expected, and not in a good way.

BTW, you have HNLMS Isaac Sweers as both a light cruiser and a destroyer above in the list of ships in Force A.
 

Zheng He

Thanks for catching that, I meant the HNLMS Heemskerck:

12_embarking.jpg
 
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