Defending the Malay Barrier: Turn 1, 16th - 31st December 1941, 1st Contact

 IJN Western Attack Force (WAF) - Allied WESGROUP (RN)

Rear Admiral Arthur Palliser commands the WESGROUP sweep intending to intercept the Batu Kharu supply convoy. His flagship is the heavy cruiser Exeter, with the light cruisers Dragon and Durban, the destroyers, Encounter, Jupiter, Scout and Tenedos sailing out of Singapore. Intelligence has been received from a sub reporting a sighting of what is believed to be this convoy. It has been confirmed this intelligence has been deemed accurate and therefore increasing the possibility of interception.

The weather is a rough Force 7 and overcast reducing visibility. As the fleet heads north Japanese land-based aircraft sortie to intercept but failed to locate them.

The wind drops to a Force 5 and still cloudy. Palliser curses the weather improvement raising the prospect of his force being located by the Japanese Distant Cover Group patrol. He need not have worried. The veteran Vice Admiral Ozawa was demanding answers from his lookouts as to why they failed to spot the Royal Navy ships. It was now just a question of locating the supply convoy.

IJN Eastern Attack Force (EAF) - Allied EASGROUP (US)

Rear Admiral William Glassford in the aging light cruiser, Marblehead, prepares to lead out his similarly aging flotilla of destroyers. Each has to test to ascertain if any have mechanical problems. As they slip their moorings, the Paul Jones announces it has engine damage. It could continue but its speed would be reduced. Believing it would be more of a hindrance than an asset, it was decided it would remain alongside for repairs.

Heading out of Tarakan in Borneo, Glassford's force is now reduced to 4 Clemson class destroyers, the Stewart, Parrott, Barker and Bulmer. They hope to intercept one of the Philippines invasion convoys. The weather is a relatively calm force 4 and cloudy allowing for carrier born air operations. The IJN light carrier, Ryojo, launches its aircraft but they fail to make contact with the US group.

As the Marblehead and its escorts continue the wind speed drops to a Force 2 and the skies clear. Not exactly what Glassford was hoping for with a Japanese patrol lurking out there somewhere. Sure enough, the EAF Distant Cover Group made contact during daylight 0800 - 1200. 

Contact was made at a distance of 23,000 yards (115cm). Both forces steaming at 25 knots with the Marblehead heading north-west and the Japanese south-east. The Japanese are located 4 points off Marblehead's quarter. 

Continued - 

Glassford in the Marblehead considers his options. He is severely outgunned but he does have a good number of torpedoes, albeit of the unreliable variety, that could give the Japanese a headache.

The Japanese flagship, Myoko, a Nachi class heavy cruiser, leads its sister ship Nachi and two Kagero class destroyers, the Natsushio and Hayashio.

Turn 1

Marblehead peels away seeking to close the gap on the Japanese cruisers while the destroyers do likewise aiming to acquire torpedo solutions. 

Turn 4

With little happening in the first turns I have skipped to turn 4 where the action began to ramp up. The destroyers exchange gunfire with US destroyers concentrating on the lead Japanese destroyer, Natsushio. Several hits were registered knocking out its forward torpedo mount and flooding caused by bulkhead damage.

Myoko and Nachi fire on the Marblehead with their 8" batteries knocking out a turret and a couple of hull boxes.

An overview of turn 4.

Turn 5

The situation turned decidedly ugly for the Americans with two torpedoes striking the Marblehead and two the Bulmer (top left). The Marblehead  was crippled with two fires breaking out. It was also hit by more 8" shells but most of its main armament was still operating. The Bulmer had no chance and was blown out of the water.

The Stewart (bottom middle) failed to repair its rudder and was circling to starboard. This prevented the Barker and Parrott (bottom left) acquiring torpedo firing solutions on the Japanese cruisers as they turned to avoid colliding with the Stewart. 

Turn 7

Skipping forward to turn 7 after an uneventful turn 6, the USN took a battering. Stewart on the left took a torpedo hit from the Japanese destroyers sinking it outright. The Parrot (middle bottom) suffered several 8" gun hits causing a bulkhead flooding and two fires.  

Even worse was to come when the Marblehead (bottom middle) struggled to extinguish the fires and received more 8" gun hits. This was all too much for the veteran cruiser which began to sink. It did have one last hurrah. It's final 6" gun salvo, now close enough to penetrate the Myoko's armour (far right), straddled the Japanese cruiser. Potentially this could have been serious for the Myoko which suffered flooding from a bulkhead breach. Sadly for the Americans the flooding was quickly contained.

An overview at the end of the turn.

Turn 8

The end came quickly for the last 2 USN destroyers (middle of photo). In desperation they fired off their port torpedo tubes but failed to register any hits. The burning Parrot succumbed to the inferno and the crew abandoned ship. Both Japanese cruisers concentrated their main batteries on the last of the USN flotilla, the Barker. Already heavily damaged with its speed reduced to 11 knots, the incoming 8" shells ripped it apart ending the action.

A serious loss for the USN but not unexpected. They did not have the speed to outrun the Japanese ships so their only hope was to score some lucky hits, particularly with their unreliable torpedoes. It was now all down to the WESGROUP  in locating the supply convoy.