Force Z in the Dark
Admiral Phillips peered ahead into the gloom. He could see little or nothing in this soup. The steward handed him a cup of tea and he looked at it blindly while he considered asking Flags his opinion on whether they should slow down. But Admirals do not ask lieutenants what they think and Force Z continued at 25 knots.
Force Z was heading due North parallel to the Malayan coast out of Singapore for Kota Bharu-Singora where aerial reconnaissance said another landing was on. They were a week into a war with Japan and there had already been one landing at Kota Bharu. Force Z’s last foray had been in daylight and ended abortively when what seemed like every Japanese bomber in their inventory had swarmed them. And if British AA fire had not been any more effective for real then it had in practice, they had enough luck to survive with only near misses before escaping into a series of squalls and running for home. Phillips had vowed, no air cover, no daylight sorties after that.
It was midnight and Phillips hoped to be in and out before dawn and that was the real reason that slowing down was not an option. All the rest was the jitters.
Force Z was led by the only relative modern destroyers (Electra, Encounter, Express & Jupiter) that he had in line abreast as a sub screen, 3,000 yards ahead of the column that was comprised of the battleship squadron (Prince of Wales FF & Repulse) and a cruiser squadron under RAdm Palliser (Exeter SF, Danae, Dragon & Durban). A destroyer division of old S&T class (Scout, Stronghold, Tenedos & Thanet) was 3,000 yards to port to guard his inshore flank. Phillips would trust to radar to seaward.
The wind was a Force 2 from the Northeast at 4 knots. Smoke, squalls and haze were just going to hang there in these conditions. There was sea haze to the east that reduced visibility by some 6,000 yards in that direction. They were presently in a squall that they could not see more than 1,000 yards in and he was sure there was more to come. The moon was in a quarter state but out side the squalls the sky was only partially cloudy.
The 4 leading destroyers’ radar was performing rather poorly (die rolls of 9, 10 & 12) except for Jupiter who had a sharp operator (rolled a 1) and he picked up on a contact at 16,000 yards.
The contact report put Phillips in a quandary. His original intention had been to use star shell and his big guns to shoot the hell out of the Japanese before sending his cruisers and destroyers in to finish the matter. But in this soup visibility was so constricted that he now doubted that would work. Phillips now decided to send in the old S&T. Their 4” popguns range was so limited that the soup wouldn’t affect them as much. Phillips would have Palliser’s cruisers and the newer destroyers follow them in. He’d start this with torpedoes and go from there.
At 0012 hours DesDiv B (S&T class) accelerated upon order to 36 knots and turned towards the reported contact on a heading of 315 degrees.
Mean while the Japanese under VAdm Kondo were split into three groups. The 12 APs and AV Kamikawa Maru were anchored in 2 lines, facing NE about 2,000 yards off shore. DesDivs 11 (Hatsuyuki, Fubuki & Shirayuki) & 19 (Uranami,
Ayanami, Isonami & Shikinami) were 2,000 yards further from shore in a 10,000 yard race track patrol pattern. Cruiser Sqdn 4 under VAdm Kondo (Takao FF & Atago) followed by Battle Sqdn 2 (2nd section, Fuso SF & Yamashiro) and then the rest of DesFlot 3 under RAdm Hashimoto in Sendai DF with DesDivs 12 (Shirakumo, Murakumo & Shinonome) and 20 (Yugiri, Amagiri, Asagiri & Sagiri) were 4,000 yards further out in a 7,000 yard patrol box.
At 0024 hours Scout emerged from a squall and immediately acquired a long column of ships led by cruisers 8,000 yards off her port bow. If it had not been for the squall Takao would have seen Scout 4,000 yards earlier but she just come out of the soup as Takao was turning 90 degrees to port to a heading of 360 degrees to continue her box patrol. The sighting was Kondo’s first awareness that his patrol under VAdm Ozawa had failed in its purpose. The convoy’s defense now devolved onto its escort.
Scout followed her division turned starboard to a heading of 360 degrees and got off her sighting report that would alert Palliser that it was better to head due north now. Scout and her division fired star shell (2 each) to illuminate the enemy.
Takao followed by the remainder of the column accelerated to 20 knots and engaged Scout. But the turn and the fact that the targets were destroyers resulted in a total whiff. The Brit star shell must have come from a batch either newly made (unlikely) or stored properly as all 8 rounds functioned correctly (none rolled over 8) and illuminated the first 8 ships (all the bats, cruisers and DesDiv 12) in the Japanese column.
RAdm Palliser’s cruisers at 29 knots and his destroyers at 35 knots and having started further North than the old crocks were now due East of Kondo and Palliser was aware of the Japanese location because of radar contacts from Exeter and his destroyers, turned 45 degrees to port to a heading of 315 degrees to close the range and get out of the squall.
0027 hours Scout and her division disappeared into the fog due east of Kondo but their star shell continued to illuminate him as he accelerated to 25 knots while the bats could only do 24. Kondo ordered Hashimoto to flank speed to close with these irritating old cans with his cruiser and destroyers. Kondo would support him if he could ever see anything.
0030 hours, Hashimoto in Sendai and followed by DesDivs 12 and 20 accelerated to 33 knots and turned to starboard on a heading of 45 degrees and went straight at the guns flashes he could see buried in the fog ahead.
0033 hours Palliser emerged from the squall and acquired Kondo’s cruisers and the bats and reported the sighting to Phillips who at 29 knots decided to follow Palliser in.
0036 hours Palliser’s cruisers and destroyers fired off every TT that was in arc at Kondo’s cruisers and the bats for a total of 1 quintuple, 3 quads and 7 triples. With quin and quads at the cruisers and the triples targeting the bats. They were just inside 8,000 yards when fired. Scout and her division fired their TT (8 twins) at Sendai but they were bow shots.
0042 hours Takao was able to attempt evasion against one of the two spreads targeting her and that might have saved her if she had not taken 3 out of 5 from Jupiter. Takao took 7 hull, lost her aft turret, was set afire and had her rudder jammed to starboard. Takao turned out of line at 5 knots. Atago failed to evade at all and took a hit each from the two spreads targeting her for 6 hull, a fire and a hit to her engines. Atago was reduced to 10 knots. Fuso attempted to evade one of the four spreads targeting her and the others missed on their own. Yamashiro was not so fortunate and took two hits that damaged her hull thrice and knocked out her forward turrets. Yamashiro was reduced to 16 knots. Sendai evaded the only real threat.
0045 hours Palliser knowing that Phillips would be up soon held fire and reversed course to bring his starboard tubes to bear. Scout and her division turned back into the squall and disappeared yet again. Hashimoto not having seen Palliser’s group turned East after Scout and her gaggle.
0048 hours Hashimoto continued his pursuit East after Scout. Palliser’s cruisers now fired their remaining 7 triple TT at Fuso and Yamashiro. Only Exeter targeted Yamashiro, who at 16 knots could not evade and took another hit for another hull and a fire. 6 spreads targeted Fuso who took two hits for 3 hull and the loss of fore and aft turrets. Fuso was reduced to 16 knots while Yamashiro was down to 11.
0051 hours Phillips emerged from the squall and PoW targeted Fuso with her MB while her secondary took on Atago. Repulse engaged Yamashiro.
PoW hit Fuso 4 times, knocking out her fore starboard secondary, damaging her hull (down to 11 knots), knocking out her remaining fore turret and her FC. PoW secondary firing rapidly hit Atago twice, knocking out her fore starboard TT and bouncing off her belt. Repulse hit Yamashiro once in the hull reducing her to 7 knots.
Palliser’s cruisers also got into the act with Exeter and Danae targeting Takao and Dragon and Durben targeting Atago. Exeter hit Takao twice, knocking out a turret and damaging her hull (that was enough to sink her). Danae also hit Takao once, knocking out another TT and setting a fire the sea quickly put out. Dragon and Durben hit Atago 4 times, knocking out her FP, setting her afire, knocking out a starboard secondary and hitting her hull twice sinking her.
0054 hours Phillips sent Palliser after the anchorage while he finished off the Fusos. PoW hit Fuso 5 times, knocking out her FP, setting her afire, knocking out another starboard secondary as well as a tertiary and both her amidships turrets. Repulse hit Yamashiro twice, knocking out a secondary and hitting her engines.
0100 hours Phillips recalled Scout’s division. PoW and Repulse sank Fuso and Yamashiro and pressed in on the anchorage. Scout having turned towards the anchorage ran into Sendai and DesDivs 12 & 20 who sank Scout and her division almost without any damage in return due to the 4” being only half damage to DDs and the S&Ts inability to roll odd even when they got a hit.
0103 hours Palliser’s cruisers and destroyers took on DesDivs 11 & 19. This would have gone better if the cruisers had been better suited to shooting at DDs. But Exeter’s 8 inch were shooting with a negative and the D class’s 6 inch do not rapid fire. But they still had shell weight. It was the rapid firing 4.7” of the 4 destroyers that really told. Jupiter hit Hatsuyuki 7 times right off, knocking out a TT, a gun mount, damaging her hull twice and her engines, her FC and jamming her rudder amidships. Express and Encounter whiffed but Electra hit Uranami 4 times, knocking out all her guns and damaging her hull. Exeter and Danae whiffed but Dragon hit Isonami 4 times, knocking out a TT, damaging her hull twice and a bulkhead, Durben hit Shikinami 5 times, knocking out 2 TT, damaging her hull twice and her bridge.
Uranami failed morale and tried to withdraw. DesDiv 11 made their morale and decided to fight it out.
0106 hours But Palliser had gotten too close and the Japanese acquired his force (fog can only do so much). The Japanese fired off every TT that could bear. DesDiv 11 got 8 triple Type 90 TT off at Palliser’s cruisers and destroyers, 1 each just to be fair. Of the destroyers targeted, only Encounter managed to evade. Of the 4 cruisers, it was Danae that managed to try and evade.
Jupiter took a hit that damaged a bulkhead and set her afire. Express was missed outright as was Encounter. Electra took a hit that sank her. Now for the cruisers. Exeter was missed. Danae almost evaded but this was not horseshoes and close does not count, Danae took a hit that gave her 3 hull and knocked out her two aft gun mounts. Dragon was missed. But Durben took a hit that gave her 3 hull and knocked out her aft 2 gun mounts.
0109 hours Jupiter repaired her bulkhead. Japanese failed to repair (their dice went south again). DesDiv 19 was running under smoke as fast they could for the exit. The rest were in a swirl of ships in various states of damage fighting to the death.
Jupiter’s guns were still working and firing rapidly she hit Fubuki twice, knocking out a now empty TT and damaging her engines. Encounter hit Shirayuki twice, damaging her hull and her engines. The cruisers whiffed. DesDiv 11 return fire did nothing.
0112 hours into this mess steamed PoW and Repulse. PoW’s rapidly firing secondary sorted Fubuki with 7 hits, that having knock her FC then took out all her guns and two of her TT mounts as well as damaging her hull. PoW’s MB hit Hatsuyuki 4 times. Finishing off her guns and damaging her hull twice. Repulse hit Shikinani 12 times, damaging her DC, setting her afire, knocking out all her TT as well as her last gun mounts, damaging her hull thrice, a bulkhead and her engines.
DesDiv 11 now failed morale and also tried to flee the field.
0115 hours Now it was the anchored transports and the AV’s turn. They were trying to get up steam but needed 15 more minutes just to get under way. They were not going to get it. PoW and Repulse went past them at point blank range creating 14” and 15” port holes with rounds that didn’t find something hard enough to detonate them and total devastation if they detonated. The slaughter went on for some 15 minutes. The Japanese would later claim that it was a merciless atrocity but their outrage, given their behavior throughout the war would find very little sympathy anywhere for several decades.
Phillips’ s Z Force or what was left RTB’d to Singapore. The landing as Kondo ruefully admitted when fished out of the water by Hashimoto was aborted.
WMC
