Quote:
Originally Posted by torpedobait
I'm in the (unnamed) channel approximately 325 Nm NE of Singapore in Gato. Left from NAB Manus Island to patrol an area East of Malaysia and on August 13, 1944 at 1400 encountered a Small Group in said channel consisting of a DD B Class, a KyokutuMaru, a DE Kaibokan, a DE C Class, and a Torpedo Boat Otari.
The KyokutuMaru was literally pushing the DD-B Class - had its bow (how shall I put this delicately) shoved right up the stern of the escort. Both sank when the Kyokutu exploded. Surprisingly I got credit for both sinkings - usually when a target causes the nearby ships to sink I only get credit for the target I actually hit.
Anyway, the behavior of the other 3 escorts was a bit off. The DE Kaibokan was rocking and rolling side to side as it would in a heavy sea, but the seas were flat calm.
The other two were perched high in the water so much so that the props were about 80% exposed. Not the usual displacement, for sure. It's been a long time since I've seen these odd behaviors. Speaking of which, only the Otari bothered to look for us. The other two escorts stopped and eventually ran off. The Otari was still circling the supposed torpedo launch site when last seen or heard.
Not a big deal, but I know you've seen it before elsewhere. Have fun!
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325 nm would put you closer to that Riau Island than to where I'm guessing you were, which would be the Balabac Strait maybe, after crossing the Sulu Sea and coming into the South China Sea?? The Strait is labeled, but you have to be at the proper zoom level on the map.
Overall image of the South China Sea, Palawan to the upper right, Singapore to the lower left, French Indo-China toward the upper left...
The Mission Editor showing one of two or three zoom levels that will show the Balabac Strait text. Zoom further in and it "disappears" so as to not "hide" ships underneath the text
You are nearing the end of the 44a layer, getting ready to head into the "no targets" time frame, but there are two "Task Forces" that go through the Balabac, one each direction, but they would both have at least one light cruiser(Leader) and probably one Heavy, along with the escorts, which would vary in type. Which direction was the group traveling? The TF101 traveling east & north has a tanker 100% of the time, but has those CA & CL, along with 4 regular DD, only has 1DE chance, and no torpedo boats. There are no Hunter/Killer groups anywhere near the area... None of the Merchant traffic comes close in Rostering. My primary suspect for now is Convoy 117, which has up to 3 tankers at 100%, 90% & 60% of the time. It can have 2 generic freighters at 70 & 50%, and then escorts as 2x DE 100 & 60%, 2x Corvettes at 90 & 25% and 2xFrigates (the Chidori etc) at 74 & 51% chances... The group can do a top speed of 12knots, and does 9 knots eastbound into the Balabac Strait, with a hard move to starboard and 7 knots a bit after clearing the strait. Combine that with your torpedo attack and them being single file at 816m spacing and the escorts cutting in and out of the tanker's path like they usually do, and that could have been part of the issue. I see no reason for the Kaibokan being light in the skirts, unless they tried to run over the little barrier island while leaving Brunei Bay... I dunno. I'll do a couple of test missions there tomorrow though and see what I see. Thanks for the details!
