German Motor Torpedo Boats in WWII
By John Dudek @ The Wargamer
These German torpedo speedboats, also called S-Boats or E-Boats, proved their worth on escort and security missions, sea reconnaissance, mine laying and in particular in combat against enemy submarines and surface craft. They operated primarily off the Dutch and French coasts, along the English coast and in the English Channel, North Sea, Baltic and were also used in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea.
The US Navy’s most combat decorated ship of WWII
By John Dudek @ The Wargamer
Enterprise and her aircraft carrier kith and kin were still considered something of a revolutionary anomaly when she first entered the waters of the Newport News Shipyard and Dry Dock Company on an October Saturday in 1936. Theodore Mason in his book “Battleship Sailor” later observed. “If some seer had told me then that the Enterprise would steam to glory on one of the most brilliant combat records of any ship in the history of the US Navy, I would have given him the pitying smile one normally reserves for fools.” She was christened Enterprise, the seventh ship so named to serve the United States Navy. The aircraft carrier was then one of two ships in the Yorktown Class of warships. She was 824 feet in length and 114 feet wide. She was powered by 9 x Babcock & Wilcox boilers with 4 x Parsons geared turbines that generated 120,000 ship horsepower to her four huge bronze propellers, giving her a top speed of 32.5 knots. Enterprise had a range of 12,500 nautical miles at a moderate cruising speed of 15 knots. The crew compliment she took into battle in 1941 was some 2,217 officers and men. Her defensive armament consisted of 8 x single 5in/38 caliber guns, 4.x quad 1.1″ flak guns and 24 x .50 caliber water cooled machine guns. This armament would be changed and greatly augmented many times over in the coming months, especially after the ship’s first taste of battle against enemy aircraft. Enterprise’s primary offensive and defensive punch lay in the 90 fighter planes, torpedo planes and dive bombers carried in her hangar deck below. To warn of incoming enemy aircraft, the aircraft carrier carried a CXAM-1 RADAR atop her main mast that enabled them to see the approach of planes at a range of 70 miles or more.
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The Battles of Mons and Nery, 1914
By John Dudek @ The Wargamer
Many, if not most, historians agree that the most professional, well trained and effective army to enter the fighting on the European continent during that summer of 1914 was the British Army. Although comparatively small when compared to the opposing million man armies fielded by both Germany and France, it numbered but 80,000 men in two corps. However the British Army Expeditionary Force was comprised primarily of long service veterans and territorials who’d served a minimum of seven years for both king and country in wars ranging in size from the small colonial wars of empire to the Boer War in South Africa 14 years before. They were a hard bitten, professional lot of “Old Sweats” who saw the army as not only their occupation, but as an integral part of their very core of being and not merely as a temporary term of enlistment and national service. They knew the savage killing art of soldiering and every aspect of their terrible trade from muzzle to butt-plate. They could put a life saving tourniquet on a wounded arm using their teeth to tighten the knot, and still roar defiance at an oncoming enemy by firing 30 aimed shots at them in a “mad-minute” from their Lee-Enfield rifles. “These long service veterans had made the British Army their home and they would no more not be a part of it than for a fish to exist out of water.” The aforementioned .303 calibre Short Magazine Lee-Enfield rifle MK.III was perhaps the best designed bolt action rifle ever used on the battlefield and it continued to serve the British Army well into the 1950′s. Its smooth pull bolt action meant that a rifleman skilled in its use could quickly chamber and fire numerous rounds without ever losing the enemy’s sight picture, giving every British infantryman a devastatingly effective high rate of fire. It was said that Germany’s ruler Kaiser Wilhelm upon hearing of Britain’s declaration of war against them on 4 August 1914, derisively dismissed the six divisions and five cavalry brigades of the British Expeditionary Force soldiers now arriving in France as members of “This Contemptible Army”. Whether he ever spoke these words or not, the average German soldier would soon discover the British Army’s true worth and learn much from the bitter experience after meeting them in battle.
The Japanese Battleship Fleet in WWII
By John Dudek @ The Wargamer
Location: Somewhere in the Formosa Strait off the coast of Formosa (Taiwan) and the Pescadores Islands.
Time and Date: Twenty minutes after midnight on the overcast night of 21 November 1944 …
Submarine USS Sealion’s Skipper, Lt. Commander Eli Reich, stands on his surfaced submarine’s open bridge hoping to fire his torpedoes at a column of three Japanese battleships and escorts located miles ahead of him. His submarine is running in hot pursuit at full flank speed attempting to make an “end run” in order to get ahead of the Japanese warships and gain an optimum firing position as soon as the column comes to bear. The three battleships, IJN Kongo, Nagato and Yamato and the heavy cruiser Yahagi astern are moving at 16 knots on a steady course while not zigzagging. Three destroyer escorts flank both sides of the Japanese column of warships. Three hours later, as the seas and winds continue to rise and freshen, Reich turns his submarine directly at the column and fires all six of his bow torpedo tubes at the lead battleship. He then puts his submarine’s helm hard over in order to come about and bring his stern tubes to bear. He fires three stern tubes at the third ship in the column. At 0301 hours Reich sees three flashing torpedo hits strike the Kongo, sending towering waterspouts skyward. Three minutes later a much larger flashing thunderclap explosion is seen on the opposing, far distant side of the column as the Pearl Harbor veteran destroyer Urakaze runs afoul of several of Sealion’s torpedoes. She blows up and sinks immediately with all hands still aboard. Battleship searchlights snap on, probing the dark skies above with blinding fingers of brilliant light as their anti aircraft guns open fire, sending bright strings of tracer fire skyward in a vain search for non-existent enemy aircraft. For the stricken Kongo, one torpedo has struck its port bow in the anchor chain locker, ripping a major gash in her bow. The remaining torpedoes hit her port side amidships beneath the number 2 smokestack, flooding two of the boiler rooms. Nonetheless, Kongo is still able to continue steaming along with her escorting battleships, which are now zigzagging at 16 knots. However, her list to port is slowly beginning to increase. As the seas and winds increase, Reich orders Sealion’s engine room to go to full emergency overload speed in order to catch up and pass ahead of the Japanese column of ships to again attain another attack position on them. He keeps up the chase on the surface for the next two hours as Sealion begins taking on water in its engine room from huge waves now breaking over its open bridge and into its main induction valve. For the Kongo the constant pounding of the heavy waves and high rate of speed is beginning to tell on the damaged old battleship. In spite of her damage control crew’s constant shoring up and patching of the gash in the ship’s bow, the rate of flooding continues. As the damage to her torn bow increases, her list to port also grows. Kongo’s captain has no choice but to slow the battleship down to 11 knots as the remaining escorting warships move away and continue on their base course. At 0512 hours Reich slows his submarine to give his overburdened diesel engines a rest as he reaches attack position on the Kongo, who is slowing down even further. Sealion’s radar now shows the Kongo at a dead stop at a range of 17,000 yards, but her radar image seems to be shrinking and getting ever smaller with every passing second. Suddenly, a brilliant explosion lights up the darkened skies above the South China Sea, bathing the Sealion’s bridge in an unearthly light as the Kongo’s ammunition magazines detonate, sending her to the bottom. Kongo is the only Japanese battleship sunk by a submarine in WWII and the last battleship ever to be sunk by a submarine.
The Japanese Battleship Fleet in WWII
By John Dudek @ The Wargamer
At the start of Japan’s Pacific War against the Anglo-American Allies, their Imperial Fleet’s ten, later twelve, battleships were placed in multiple divisions of capital ships. Battleship Division 1 (BatDiv 1) initially consisted of the sister ships Nagato and Mutsu. This was later greatly augmented with the addition of the super battleships Yamato and Musashi after they joined the fleet in early 1942. Bat Div 2 were the battleships Ise, Hyuga, Fuso and Yamashiro. BatDiv 3 consisted of the fast battleships (upgraded former battle cruisers) Kongo, Kirishima, Haruna and Hiei. All of Japan’s battleships were comparable to their British and American counterparts in terms of armament, although in some cases many were greatly superior in speed, with four of these being the much faster aforementioned former battle cruisers, Kongo, Kirishima, Haruna and Hiei. Their top speed of 30 knots meant they could easily operate in a support role along with Japan’s aircraft carriers. American and British WWI era battleships of the day had a maximum speed in the low 20 knot range. It would take the arrival of the modern generation of new and much faster Allied battleships before their aircraft carriers could enjoy that same degree of protection and support from big gun warships the Japanese possessed. In terms of main gun armament too, the Japanese battleships were very much comparable to their Allied counterparts with most carrying 14″ guns. Two of their battleships (Nagato and Mutsu) carried 16″ guns and when the super battleships Yamato and Musashi joined the fleet in 1942, the twin sisters mounted 18″ guns, the largest and most destructive main gun armament ever placed aboard a battleship.
The Japanese Battleship Fleet in WWII
By John Dudek @ The Wargamer
The Japanese Navy began WWII in the Pacific with 12 battleships in its inventory or still in the final stages of completion. All but two of these capital ships had joined the fleet before, during, or immediately following WWI. Japan’s final two battleships IJN’s Yamato and Musashi were laid down in the late 1930′s. The twin sister ships were the largest, heaviest armed capital ships ever designed and built by any power until the emergence of the modern, post-war era US aircraft carriers in the 1950′s. Five of these enormous Japanese battleships were called for, of which two would be built to original specifications with the third ship being converted into a giant armored aircraft carrier. All of Japan’s older battleships were modernized or improved throughout the interwar years and later, during the war, to increase both their speed and to improve their survivability in battle. At the end of World War II, only one of the 12 Japanese battleships, the IJN. Nagato, survived the years of fierce fighting. Its fate was to be destroyed as a target in post-war atomic bomb tests at Bikini Atoll.
British Midnight Raid on Taranto Italy, 11-12 November, 1940
By John Dudek @ The Wargamer
The night-time skies over Taranto Italy were criss-crossed with dozens of blindingly brilliant shafts of probing, search light beams interspersed with cracking flak bursts and the staccato sound and sights of thousands of machine gun tracers arching upwards across the black sky like so many thousands of fireflies in search of a still unseen enemy. Air dropped flares suddenly lit up the Italian battleships and cruisers of their Battle Fleet anchored seemingly safe within its well protected harbor. Out of the darkness came a sight more appropriate from the past “Great War” of 1914-18 rather than this current Second World War. Nearly two dozen British Swordfish bi-plane torpedo aircraft approached flying low and slow for their final attack runs upon the capital ships of the Italian Battle Fleet. Within minutes three of the anchored battleships of the Regia Marina were staggered by numerous torpedo hits that sank one battleship and badly damaged two others, while badly damaging a heavy cruiser and two destroyers. Historically speaking the Taranto Raid was the very first successfully carrier launched air attack ever made against an enemy fleet. Following the British torpedo bombing raid only two of the three damaged Italian battleships were ever returned to active service. In one night, the Royal Navy succeeded in cutting down the size of the Italian battleship fleet by half, while tipping the balance of power in the Mediterranean once again back into her favor. For the remaining three years of Italian participation in World War II as a member of the Axis Powers, the Italian Battle Fleet avoided any further fully fledged fleet engagements against the Royal Navy, and no longer seriously sought to prevent British reinforcement from reaching North Africa or its Mediterranean colonies through the massed use of capital ships in a concerted fleet action.
The Doolittle Raid on Tokyo, 18 April 1942
By John Dudek @ The Wargamer
The English speaking Japanese propaganda radio broadcaster stood atop the radio station building in downtown Tokyo speaking into his microphone on a sunny mid April spring day. He spoke of the warm sunny weather and about the city’s social events planned for that day, ranging from a cherry blossom parade to the two baseball games scheduled for that afternoon. He happily rhapsodized philosophically about the invincible strength of Imperial Japan and how of all the many nations now at war in the Pacific, only Japan was free from any fear of aerial bombing because the skies above were filled with iron defenses. Suddenly, the ear shattering wail of an air raid siren was heard, followed by an unbroken string of Japanese curses ending with “Bakayro!!” (Bastards!) Several hundred miles away, aboard an American aircraft carrier task force Admiral William Halsey listened to the static filled Japanese radio broadcast before smiling an evil grin. The B-25 medium bombers he so recently launched from the carrier USS Hornet were now bombing Tokyo. Lieutenant Colonel Jimmy Doolittle, the mission’s leader had done the seemingly impossible.
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Allied Code Breakers and their hunt for Admiral Yamamoto
By John Dudek @ The Wargamer
Following the complete Japanese military defeat and evacuation during the bloody seven month long Battle of Guadalcanal in February 1943, Admiral Yamamoto scheduled a morale building inspection tour of a number of the Japanese occupied island bases of the northern Solomon Islands. He’d be traveling by plane and his itinerary was worked out well in advance. This was broadcasted to the respective island commands. US code breakers received and read the information before sending it all the way up the chain of command. US President Roosevelt, upon hearing of the information had but two words to say to his Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox. “Get Yamamoto!”
HMS Campbeltown and the Raid on St Nazaire, 28 March 1942
By John Dudek @ The Wargamer
The embattled German battleship Bismarck shuddered as British 14 and 15 inch shell salvos rained down around her, sending huge, cascading waterspouts skyward. One British shell struck her up forward at the waterline near the bow, piercing a number of fuel tanks and venting her to the sea. Bismarck’s 15 inch guns thundered back at her British tormentors HMS Hood and Prince of Wales, straddling and striking both ships. Bismarck’s heavy cruiser escort Prinz Eugen fired her lighter, but still dangerous main battery 8 inch guns at the British as fast as they could be serviced. In the highly confused sea battle that followed, a German shell struck the lightly armored battle cruiser Hood amidships, causing a massive chain reaction explosion that touched off her secondary magazines and broke her back, splitting the ship in two. Hood immediately sank, taking all but three of her crew to the bottom of the Denmark Strait. German observers on both their warships momentarily froze in shock and horror as they gazed uncomprehendingly at the sight of the mighty Hood exploding and sinking. The greatest and most storied, symbolic warship of the Royal Navy had just blown up before their very eyes. The two German warship’s guns now switched targets to bring all their fire down upon the newly built HMS Prince of Wales. The new British battleship was rocked while taking a number of direct hits, tearing up her upper works and setting fires, but her armor belt prevented more serious damage. Just as Prince of Wales appeared about to undergo the same fate as the Hood, the German task force sheered off and withdrew from the action. The battered Bismarck, now trailing an oil slick and running a few degrees down at the bow, set a course for German occupied France to repair damage to her shell punctured hull. There was but one dry dock outside of Germany that could repair and accommodate so large a warship as Bismarck. The Normandie dry dock at St Nazaire, France.
