"And the dawn comes up like thunder"

 

The Inspiration

They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, so it is with the recent GQ2 scenario that I put together for our regular Saturday night gamers.

Christchurch based gamer Keith McNelly recently posted a battle report on his blog about a test game of a mini-campaign he has been involved with about Force Z meeting one of the various Japanese forces covering the landings in southern Siam and Malaya early on 10 December 1941.

I actual did have some thoughts about such a scenario which I had started months ago, but seeing Keith’s report inspired me to finish the scenario I had in mind. It was a little bit different, being set further up the coast and with Force Z having a few more ships that could have been present on that fateful morning. 

The Background

Sometime previous to the outbreak of war the British leadership had come up with a plan to dispatch a force of several heavy naval units to Singapore as a deterrent against any Japanese aggression in the Far East as the clouds of war grew darker. In the end the Admiralty, balancing the need to retain enough capital ships for use in European and Mediterranean waters, dispatched the near new battleship HMS Prince of Wales and the veteran battlecruiser HMS Repulse to undertake the mission to Singapore. This pairing, along with its escorting destroyers was designated “Force Z” under Admiral Sir Tom Philips, who assumed command of the Far Eastern Fleet on arrival in Singapore on 2 December 1941, less than a week before the outbreak of war.

Two years of war in other theatres meant that there was little available in the way of suitable cruisers and destroyers remaining in the Far Eastern Fleet to support the much- vaunted Force Z. Fortunately for the British the Americans were willing to honour earlier agreements made between the British, Dutch NEI and American governments if war should come to the region. Admiral Thomas Hart, the commander of the small American Asiatic Fleet based in the Philippines, agreed that a division of four USN destroyers would be sent to Singapore to assist with the defence of Malaya if war did break out. 

The IJN, as usual, came up with a complex naval plan to enable them to launch the Imperial Japanese Army’s invasion of Siam and Malaya. Some days prior to the start of the war a large, well escorted convoy of some 28 transports sailed from ports in Formosa (now Taiwan) carrying the invasion force itself.  The Japanese were only too well aware of the potential threat to their invasion plans that the recently arrived Force Z posed. As well as local escorts being provided for each of the invasion beaches the IJN plan provided for two covering forces to counter any Allied naval intervention.

Firstly Vice Admiral Ozawa, flying his flag in the heavy cruiser Chokai, with all four Mogami class heavy cruisers of the 7th Cruiser Squadron and escorted by the light cruisers Kinu and Yura and a division of destroyers would stand off the Malayan coast to form the Close Covering Force.

In overall command of the IJN’s Southern Expeditionary Fleet was Vice Admiral Kondo in the heavy cruiser Atago, which along with the battlecruisers Kongo and Haruna, heavy cruiser Takao and three destroyer divisions made up the second or Distant Covering Force which took up a position to the east of Cape Cambodia.  

The Japanese also mined the north-eastern portion of the Straits of Jahore with disguised minelayers just prior to the outbreak of war and had two divisions of fleet submarines deployed in patrol areas straddling the most likely routes that the British ships may have taken to attack the landing forces from Singapore.  But perhaps the most underestimated force that the Japanese deployed against the Royal Navy in the South China Sea were the 100+ land-based attack aircraft of the 22nd Air Flotilla, commanded by Rear Admiral Matsunaga, based at various airfields in Southern French Indo-China.

Admiral Philips sallied from Singapore in the early evening of 8 December and by taking a wide sweeping course to the east of the Anamba Islands, managed to avoid detection, aided by the worsening weather. He then turned north and around 1330 on 9 December was fleetingly spotted by the submarine I 65 on the eastern tip of one of the Japanese submarine patrol lines. I 65’s report created considerable consternation amongst the Japanese commanders.  Rear Admiral Matsunaga immediately ordered off search planes and a strike force was made ready. Some 50 mainly torpedo armed G3M and G4M bombers took off for the long flight to the area where the sighting had occurred. Ozawa likewise turned south to intercept the enemy force which he estimated to be about 120 miles away, his cruisers catapulting several seaplanes to assist with the search as well.

Unaware of the panic that his force was creating Phillips continued to the north, turning onto a course of 320 degrees at 26 knots at 18.50 with the intention of arriving off the invasion beaches of Singora and Pattani in Southern Siam at daybreak on 10 December.

Around 1900, an hour after sunset, the destroyer Electra reported sighting an aerial flare some 5 miles to the north. Phillips immediately turned sharply away to the south, thus avoiding a night action with Ozawa’s cruiser force which almost came within sighting distance of Force Z.

Ozawa’s ships had continued south after I 65’s sighting and were nearing the position of the sighting as darkness rapidly fell. Unfortunately for the Japanese the searching planes from 22nd Air Flotilla also now arrived on the scene and in the darkness one plane spotted darkened shapes of ships below. A flare was dropped and other planes summoned to commence their attacks. To the horror of those on the bridge of the Chokai it dawned on them that it was the flagship itself that had been illuminated! Ozawa hurriedly turned away to the north and signaled Matsunaga to recall his planes at once, narrowly avoiding a disastrous turn of events.

The Scenario

This scenario presumes that Ozawa’s evasion to the north during the night resulted in the Japanese Close Cover Force not being able to interfere with Force Z as it proceeded en-route towards the waters off Singora.

Instead, realizing that Ozawa’s cruisers had lost contact with Force Z, Vice Admiral Kondo raced westward at high speed with his Distant Cover Force in an effort to protect the vulnerable beachheads that the Japanese Army had just secured on the East coast of Malaya and Siam.

This game seeks to explore what may have occurred if Admiral Phillips had a some light cruisers and USN destroyers available and the two forces had met at dawn, before Matsunaga’s planes could return.

The victory conditions require Force Z to navigate the length of the table and exit the opposite corner in order to approach the Japanese landing forces. However they must also take into account the need to keep their fleet intact as possible for future operations as no further reinforcements could be expected to arrive for some time, if at all. So, if any Allied ship receives more than 4 complete damage boxes, either hull or armament, it must withdraw to the south and attempt to return to Singapore for repair.

Historically, the bombers of the 22nd Air Flotilla did finally track down Force Z off Kuantan during the afternoon of 10 December 1941 and sent both Prince of Wales and Repulse to the bottom with the loss of 47 officers and 793 ratings.        

The Game

The game started at dawn, on another hot sunny day in the South China Sea so visibility was not an issue. The IJN had their three destroyer divisions in the van, both to cover their heavy units and to be able to launch a torpedo attack if so required.

 

The RN players had decided to lead with their heavy units and keep their cruisers and destroyers back to counter any offensive moves that the more numerous and better armed Japanese destroyer divisions may perform.

 

The IJN destroyers soon found themselves under heavy fire from the Allied ships, with several being hit. HMS Repulse started strongly, opening fire and straddling the Huruna with her first salvo, which slowed the Japanese battlecruiser’s speed for the rest of the game.

But the British didn’t have it all their own way, as both the British capital ships and the light cruiser Dragon were hit in subsequent turns by the Japanese heavy units. As this exchange was going on the Japanese destroyers were attempting to close with the British battleline. In GQ1/2 Japanese 24” torpedoes have tremendous range (80cm) compared to all others (40 cm), but it takes them two turns to arrive at anything over 40cm, meaning that the Japanese players must correctly guess the sector that the target ship will end up in for two turns. Sounds easy? It’s a bit of an arcane art believe me! So we decided to try and close to within 40cm of the British line before firing.  

 

 

    The Japanese destroyer Akatsuki was hit hard by a storm of British fire and eventually hauled round to port out of line, unable to keep up with her squadron mates. Meanwhile the Takao continued to pound the Dragon for several turns, eventually forcing her to withdraw from the fray and begin the long limp back to Singapore as she was over 50% damaged with 6 1/2 out of 8 damage boxes lost.

The Japanese battlecruisers also found their range, especially on the Repulse which was hit several times, though Prince of Wales came in for some punishment as well.  

At this point the British line was taking a bit of a pounding and so they decided to bring up the USN four stackers to counter the approaching Japanese destroyers that were coming into range.

 

 

   

The leading USN Destroyer, USS Whipple, was pounded by the modern 5” guns of her Japanese oppenents and forced to turn away. Unforturnately for the Allies the Repulse was also hit again at this point, taking her over the 50% damaged threshold.

Taking into account his various damaged ships and the fact that the Japanese destroyers were well within torpedo range Admiral Philips reluctantly decided that Force Z must be kept intact and ordered a turn to the south, hopefully to be within range of the promised RAF fighter cover before the 22^nd Air Flotilla could arrive to attack later that morning.

No ships were actually sunk in the game though several ships from both sides were quite heavily damaged, including 3 Japanese destroyers, though of the larger Japanese units only the Haruna was hit.

Thanks to Paul R for providing the Japanese ships and the four usual Friday/Saturday night regulars for agreeing to play my scenario.