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[W. Clark]

Bar Room Brawl at Balikpapan

16-31 January 1942

0400 hours. There are 8 turns of darkness to start. The wind is a Force 4 Northwesterly at 15 knots. The sky is overcast. The moon state is a quarter but the overcast makes it like new (the Dutch are cheap but still like new). There is a squall but no Sea Haze. The squall reduces visibility inside or through by 1,000 yards.

 

RAdm Doorman (RNN) had just taken a cup of green tea from his steward. Something to warm him on this dark but not so stormy night. The Striking Force was steaming NW on a heading of 315 degrees at 25 knots for Balikpapan. A Japanese invasion convoy was reported to be heading for there. He hoped to have better luck this time. He had searched for and failed to find another Japanese invasion convoy at Banjermasin and the port had fallen before he got there. He could just hear “Ship a Day” Helfrich now, saying you need to be more aggressive. The overcast sky had protected his force from Japanese LBA during the day and just maybe that luck would hold into the new day. The Dutch steamed on.

 

The Striking Force was deployed in three columns (3,000 yards apart). The central column was comprised of two cruiser divisions. HrMs Haarlem (flag), Delft and Maastricht was one. HrMs De Ruyter, Java and Tromp were the other. DesGrp 1 (HrMs Evertsen, Van Ghent & Van Nes) was to starboard. DesGrp 2 (HrMs Banckert, Kortenaer, Piet Hein & Witte de With) was to port. There was 1,000 yards between ships (Doorman was leery of collisions and had otherwise been accused of being spaced out). The Striking Force was just passing through a squall. A later test of the lookouts would determine that from port to starboard they could see 8,000, 2,000 and 4,000 yards respectively. A poetic soul was reciting “The Charge of the Light Brigade”; something about “Theirs not to reason why?” Into the Makassar Strait steamed the 600; some wit replied.

 

Unbeknownst to the Dutch, the Japanese invasion convoy was still at sea and was approaching on a heading of 270 degrees and bearing 8 points to starboard at 11 knots. The IJN was also in three columns ahead of the convoy. VAdm Takahashi led the central column in Kongo (flag) followed by Haruna and then Sentai 5 (Nachi) and Sentai 16 (RAdm Hara w/Ashigara & Nagara). The Port column was comprised of 15^th (Natsushio, Hayashio, Kuroshio & Oyashio) and 16^th (Amatsukaze, Hatsukaze, Yukikaze & Tokitsukaze) Destroyer Divisions. The Starboard column was the 9^th Destroyer Division (Asagumo, Minegumo, Natsugumo & Yamagumo). The IJN spacing was the same as the Dutch. As usual the Japanese night acquisition was better as their columns from port to starboard could see 8,000, 4,000 and 6,000 yards respectively. Because of approach angles the closing speed was 11 knots.

 

Natsushio acquired Evertsen at 8,000 yards at 0409 hours and reported the sighting at 0412 hours. Takahashi order the destroyers to flank speed (it would take then about 9 minutes) and ordered them to attack with torpedoes. Takahashi ordered the Kongos to 30 knots (it would take them about 20 minutes) and to make smoke to cover the cruisers. Takahashi ordered the cruisers to 32 knots and take station on the Kongos to their unengaged side.

The 15^th and 16^th DesDivs turned towards the Dutch destroyer in divisional columns and at 4,800 yards they turned to a heading of 315 degrees to parallel the Dutch. The 9^th DesDiv was about 6,000 yards further away and was not yet in position at 0421 hours when the 15^th and 16^th DesDivs launched every tube that would bear. By this point they had seen the rest of DesGrp 1 and the cruiser column beyond. The 15^th DesDiv reported the cruiser column and targeted the lead cruisers and the 16^th DesDiv the trailing cruisers.

 

Dawn, the rising sun reduced visibility to the East by 4,000 yards. That would decrease by a 1,000 yards every 6 minutes until the full visibility of 30,000 yards was achieved at 0445 hours.

 

The 16 quad mounts targeted at the cruisers had to pass the destroyers enroute and encountered them immediately. Evertsen and Van Nes tried to evade but Van Ghent never saw them. Natsushio’s aft mount hit Evertsen once. Van Ghent unknowingly slid past 8 torps from Hayashio and Van Nes evaded the torps from Kuroshio. Evertsen sank.

 

Kongo targeted Haarlem and Haarlem returned fire. Kongo hit Haarlem 6 times. Haarlem missed. Haruna missed Delft; Delft and Maastricht targeted Haruna and hit her 7 times. Haarlem, Delft and Maastricht fired their SB at the 9^th DesDiv. And hit Asagumo, Minegumo and Natsugumo thrice each. DeRuyter, Java and Tromp fired at the 16^th DesDiv and hit Amatsuskaze once and Hatsukaze and Yukikaze thrice each. Van Ghent and Van Nes fired rapidly at Natsushio and Hayashio and hit them once and twice respectively. The 15^th DesDiv fired at Van Ghent and hit Van Ghent 6 times. The 16^th DesDiv fired at Van Nes and hit her three times.

Haarlem lost both her turrets and was hit in the hull twice. She took a magazine hit and her rudder was jammed prohibiting her turning. Haruna lost 3 PS SB, her fore turret and three hits to her hull. Asagumo lost her fore turret and had her hull and a bulkhead damaged. Minegumo lost a TT, a hit to her engineering and a critical hit to her FC. Natsugumo lost a TT with a major fire and her forward gun mount. Amatsukaze took a hit to her DC racks and a minor fire. Hatsukaze took a hit to her DC racks and a minor fire, damage to her hull and a critical hit to her engineering. Yukikaze lost 2 turrets and damage to her hull. Natsushio took a hit to her DC racks and a minor fire. Hayashio lost fore turret and damage to her hull. Van Ghent took a hit to her DC racks and a minor fire, she lost both TT, her fore gun and damage to a bulkhead and her engineering. Van Nes lost a TT and two hits to her hull.

Doorman checked morale and just managed to fail (he needed a 7 and rolled an 8).

 

0424 hours. Every Dutch ship that could turn did so directly away from the EAF under smoke. This of course did not apply to Haarlem. She tried to hide in chemical smoke and there for just a bit it appeared that “Cotton had come to Haarlem” but it was all, in vain. Because the mass of the Japanese torpedoes arrived at this point. Haarlem took a hit from Natsushio that gave her three hull and a minor fire. Delft failed to evade and took a torp from Kuroshio in the stern that damaged 5 hull and her engineering. Maastricht took three hits (out of 8) from Oyashio that damaged 8 hull and sank her. There was other damage but no time to assess it above water. De Ruyter and Java escaped but Tromp took a hit from Tokitsukaze that damaged her hull and knocked out her aft turret.

 

0430 hours. Gunfire from the Kongos would sink Haarlem along with RAdm Doorman. The overcast sky would keep the LBA from finding the battered Dutch fleet and they would limp into Surabaya. All three EAF convoys would go through.

 

 

 

 

[simanton]

This alt hist East Indies campaign gets more and more interesting!  It took me a minute or two to realize that the proposed Dutch "Scharnhorst knock-offs" were in action, but that being a long-held fantasy of mine, I was quite happy to see it!  It being the Japanese Navy of 1941/42 in the scenario, I was not surprised to see the Dutch receiving one of the "rude awakenings" that the Allies experienced for real at that time.  All in all, a realistic action well played!

[W. Clark]

I was being much more exotic than the Scharnhorst knock offs. I went with the Cruiser D design (improved Deutschland class) variant instead. The Dutch get three copies of Cruiser D PBs in a division as their fourth capital ship option. I actually see these as much more likely than the Scharnhorst Knockoffs. The reason is that if Dutch had purchased the plans shortly after they were completed then they would predate Hitler coming to power. Once, Hitler comes to power all bets are off for real cooperation between the Dutch and Germany. The reason is that Hitler publicly and repeatedly made known in print and verbally that he despised the Dutch for sitting out WWI and if it was ever up to him; he would not allow it to happen again. The German invasion of Holland on 10 May 1940 is overwhelming proof IMHO that he meant everything he stated on the issue. That he hated the Dutch is evidenced by his trying to starve them to death in 43/44. It is my opinion based on the above that he had no intention of arming the Dutch against his ally, Japan and negotiations over the Scharnhorst Knockoffs was a straw dog meant to keep the Dutch quiet until the invasion. The timeline of the negotiations and when the Germans terminated them IMHO supports this conclusion.

 

Of course, the real issue with Tiger, the PBs or the Mackensen class is the Dutch Legislature's conclusion that Japan would seek to redress its lack of oil and other resources in Siberia. They were absolutely convinced of this despite the Navy's opposite contention (since at least 1908) until Khalkin Gol. But by that time, it was too late wherever they turned for a capital ship option. They simply did not see the need to spend the money until then. That is further evidenced by their refusal to provide the funds needed to maintain Java and Sumatra, the cancelation of Celebes, the down grade of Celebes replacement, the De Ruyter and delaying the replacements for Java and Sumatra until it was too late to complete the Endratch class. They were warned repeatedly by the Navy for at least 30 years and they repeatedly refused to heed the warnings.

 

Their absolute sojourn in that fantasy is further evidenced by what else they intended on the off chance they had got it wrong. They fully expected the UK and the US to drop everything regardless of the world situation and come to their defense with every man, ship and plane they possessed. They expected that help despite the fact that they made no effort to secure it by negotiation and thwarted any effort by the UK or the US to talk about it prior to the war. They saw it only from their POV and ignored the worldwide commitments of the RN and the fact that the US did not like the existence of colonial empires. In other words, the only political needs they made any attempt to take in consideration before forming this expectation was their own. The interview between Admiral Hart and the Governor General of the DEI in January 42 brings this out quite clearly.

 

WMC

[W. Clark]

There are several reasons why I prefer the PBs to the other Dutch capital ship options from an operational and tactical POV.

1. They are cruisers and only generate a torpedo/heavy bomb load out by Japanese LBA if the contact report describes them as capital ships in error. Otherwise, LBA is restricted to medium bombs and level bombing requiring a successful straddle roll (a 1 result on a D12) for each attack before it can even try to hit. This is the exact opposite of capital ships who need an under report that describes them as cruisers to get the same effect.

2. You get three of them instead of two.

3. They have quad TT instead of none.

 

The downside is their reduced MB and their CA protection. They need to get the first blow in, and they need it to be decisive or they are in trouble. But every other option besides the Mackensen class (with its BB armor) has a similar issue versus other capital ships.

 

In the end I see them as the most balanced option in that they seriously upgrade the Dutch without making them too powerful and hurting the play balance of the campaign.

 

WMC