The Whale Has Wings Vol 3 - Holding the Barrier (6 page)

Map 3 - The South China Sea

Force Z's best estimate of the position of the Japanese fleet was southeast of Cambodia point, which made sense if they were in fact covering the Japanese troop convoys.  Somerville intended to close to about 150 miles - closer than needed for a strike, but it allowed time for the radar-equipped Spearfish to locate the enemy if needed. For their part, the Japanese were less sure of the position (and indeed the composition) of Force Z, but their last location was off the coast of Sarawak, heading northwest. Accordingly, reconnaissance planes were sent out from French Indo China to get a fix, while the torpedo bombers and their fighter escorts were made ready for an attack. Force Z was in fact located by them at around 1400 on the 13th, some 400 miles from their own ships. This was thought fortunate, as that meant a surface torpedo attack would be possible, especially if their bombers could slow or sink some of the ships.

The Japanese plane was ordered to keep contact with the British fleet, something that it managed for half an hour before a pair of fighters was vectored onto it, despite its attempts to hide in scattered cloud. For his part, Somerville's main worry about being discovered was that the Japanese might pull back too far north for a safe engagement.  The reconnaissance plane did report three carriers, which worried Kondo slightly, but his air staff assured him that meant their own air power would have the opportunity to inflict a crushing defeat on the Royal Navy. The Japanese had been very disappointed that the attack on Pearl Harbor had not found any carriers, and hoped to at least partially remedy that by sinking the three British carriers they had located.

Kondo wanted to, at the very least, damage Force Z so badly as to force the British to keep out of the northern part of the South China Sea, in order to allow his convoys to travel safely to Siam. He had planned a series of attacks - first a land based strike to cripple the carriers, then a torpedo strike to sink or damage the big ships.  The following day would bring more air attacks from land and his own carriers, and if conditions allowed a final conclusion with his torpedoes and the big guns of his battleships.

Force Z was keeping a CAP of twelve planes in the air, with more spotted on deck; the range of the Japanese planes was uncertain, and Somerville wanted plenty of fighter cover just in case. This caution was justified when at 1530 a large formation of planes was reported approaching from the north at 90 miles. The carriers immediately turned to launch the ready fighters on deck, and additional planes were brought up to be fuelled and warmed up - this looked to be a substantial attack. All other planes were struck below, unarmed and empty, as the carriers prepared for an incoming attack. This was the strike from the land bases in French Indo China, and the Japanese knew the virtue of a single large attack as opposed to a series of small ones. The attack was actually made up of three kokutais (sections), and as a result (and the inexact position of Force Z), actually arrived in two parts. The first element consisted of 50 G3M Nells armed with torpedoes, and escorted by sixteen Zero fighters; the second element showed up on radar a few minutes later, heading to the west of Force Z; it consisted of 26 Nells with torpedoes, and a twelve Zero fighter escort. This was basically all the available naval aircraft in French Indo China.

As the fighters clawed their way up to altitude, the fleet formed into its AA defence formation with the ease of long practice - apart from HMAS Melbourne, pretty much all of the ships had done this before in the Mediterranean. By now, the CAP consisted of sixteen Goshawks and eight of the new Sea Eagle, and another sixteen fighters were being warmed up on deck. The carriers escort destroyers closed up to add their fire to that of the carriers, while the battleships moves to either side of them. The FAA pilots had been made aware of the initial reports of the RAF engagements with Japanese fighters - in any case, their job was to shoot down bombers rather than to get into a dogfight, and they had been reminded of that before takeoff. There was considerable speculation as to whether the incoming strike had fighter cover - the force seemed to be coming from land, and it would be at extreme range for a fighter to reach out this far. With two different types of fighter, the basic plan was for the Sea Eagle to engage the bombers - its speed would allow it to recover and make more attacks. The Goshawks would cover any fighters present, while also engaging the bombers. The plot showed the largest part of the formation losing height while a smaller part kept above it; to the experienced men on the carriers this meant fighters escorting a torpedo attack, and they informed their planes accordingly. The fighters already at altitude would try and keep the enemy fighters away from their torpedo planes, while the ones just launching would stay low and go straight for the torpedo planes if they didn't have time to get sufficient height. The light cruiser Bonaventure would be the pivot ship, and if possible keep the carriers safe inside the other ships.

First contact was made around 15 miles out by the Sea Eagles diving down onto the Nells. The speed of their diving attack shocked the Zero pilots escorting them, and the Eagles managed to shoot down four of the bombers in their first attack run. They also got credit for a kill on a Zero - a number of the escorts had instinctively dived to follow the fighters swooping on their charges, and one of them had flown out of its wings. The Eagles used their speed to climb for altitude again, turning to make another run at the bombers. The Goshawks were somewhat slower, and seeing the formation of Zeros breaking up, all but four went for it as planned. The result was a very confusing fight - the Zeros trying to draw the Goshawks into a turning dogfight, while the defenders were trying to make slashing attacks on the Japanese fighters then turn and come back again. The net outcome was inconclusive - the Japanese force lost six Zeros, the defenders seven Goshawks. That left twelve fighters to harry the slower torpedo planes, which they did with enthusiasm. A pair of the escorts broke off from the fight above to try and protect them, and had a shock when the Sea Eagle they were heading for simply flew away from their diving attack in level flight. They did draw the attention of some of the fighters, however, managing to shoot down a Sea Eagle who lingered too long in front of them before both were shot down.

In the meantime, the remaining fighters were swooping onto the Nells, another nine being destroyed before the rest of the fighters arrived. They made a head-on attack, having been unable to gain sufficient height for the usual diving attack from the rear, and another five Nells burst into flames and fell into the sea - this was becoming the usual fate of these bombers, and would lead to the FAA crews derisively terming them 'Ronsons' (from the US lighter companies famous advert, 'light first time'). The planes, despite their losses, were heading steadily for the fleet, and their speed meant that some were going to get through. By the time they reached the AA zone, the fighters had dispatched all but eighteen of them, although two injudicious Goshawks had been hit by their defensive fire, one fatally, the other managing to bail out, to be picked up later by a destroyer.

The Nell pilots then had an unpleasant introduction to the amount of AA fire the Royal Navy considered appropriate for a carrier group. Even the destroyers mounted twelve 40mm, plus a number of 20mm AA guns, and the fleet carriers and battleships  close to 80 40mm each. The remaining torpedo planes drove into a storm of light AA tracer and 4.5" shellbursts as they headed for their targets, the battleship Prince of Wales and the fleet carrier Illustrious. Only twelve of them managed to launch - four had already been shot down, and two more damaged so they were unable to get a clear launch. Somerville, standing on the bridge of HMS King George V, was impressed with the skill and determination with which the attack was made - this was easily as good as anything the Luftwaffe had managed, and he would have to plan his future tactics accordingly. The first group of planes launched six torpedoes in two groups against the Prince of Wales, who turned into them to comb the tracks. She almost managed to get away with it, but not quite - one of the torpedoes hit her forward on the starboard side as she attempted to jink between the tracks. The huge ship shuddered, slowing as the Captain tried to minimize the damage caused by the ships own speed. The ship got some revenge, as its 40mm guns shot down another of the bombers as it tried to make its escape.

The second group were still heading for the Illustrious, and although two of them were hit by the carrier and her escort's fire, they managed to launch. The Captain of the Illustrious again turned towards the torpedoes, the men on the flight deck clinging on as the big carrier heeled over as it did its imitation of a 25,000-ton destroyer. Thanks to this, and the weight of fire having its effect on the planes attack, he managed to avoid all the torpedoes. The ship, however, did not get away from the attack unscathed. One of the Nells, already streaming fire from one engine, made what was afterwards described as a 'deliberate' suicidal crash onto the ships flight deck. Illustrious was still a lucky ship; the plane struck at quite a shallow angle, and almost bounced off her thick flight deck, before exploding and sending burning aviation fuel over the forward part of the deck. Sadly, this caught a number of the deck crews, as well as two Goshawks being prepared on deck, which also started to burn. A thick pall of smoke started to climb into the air above the carrier.

While the first attack was dissipating, the radar plot had seen the second raid turning in their direction, presumably alerted to their position by the first raid. Although this looked smaller, it was still a substantial force. The fighters were brought back and started to gain height although two of the Sea Eagles and a Goshawk had to be landed on the Implacable as they were out of ammunition. There was concern that some of the other fighters were also low on ammunition, but there wasn't enough time to rearm them. Implacable did manage to catapult off two more Sea Eagles, but Illustrious's flight deck would be unusable for some time.

As with the first raid, this too seemed to consist of escorted torpedo planes. With the planes in the air, the controller managed to get all of them up to altitude and vectored onto the raid as it closed. With the burning fuel on the Illustrious visible for a considerable distance, it was clear that there was no chance of evading them. This time, with a height and position advantage, the Goshawks dived down on the bombers first, while the Sea Eagles turned in to attack their escort. This raid only consisted of 26 bombers, and the sixteen Goshawks managed to shoot down 18 of them as they bore in. They had hoped to claim them all, but a number of the fighters ran out of ammunition during their attacks. Meanwhile the battle between the Eagles and the Zeros had held off the escort from defending the bombers, only three of them managing to get in a position to attack the Goshawks. They managed to shoot down three of the Goshawks (another one was lost to the bombers), for the loss of two of their number.  The Sea Eagles were proving to be more than a match for the Zero, able to attack and then use its considerable speed advantage to disengage and make another attack. The Eagle pilots tended to be experienced - there had been considerable competition for a place in the new squadrons - and although the Japanese pilots fought with both skill and determination, they lost seven Zeroes for five of the defenders.

The last eight Nells entered the AA zone, and again flew into a storm of fire. Three of them were destroyed before they could launch their torpedoes, and the remaining five turned with the aim of attacking the one carrier they could make an approach on, HMAS Melbourne. The light carrier turned into the torpedo tracks to try and comb them, but had less time and was less agile than one of the fleet carriers. The ship shuddered and slowed to almost a halt as two of the Japanese torpedoes hit her port side and right forward, causing her to list over to port. With the fighters out of ammunition, the remaining five planes fled north away from the fleet.

As the last Nell fled the fleet, followed by the fleets vengeful AA fire, the main concern of Somerville was his damaged ships, foremost among them HMAS Melbourne. The ship had stopped and was listing, but after a short time, she reported that while she had considerable underwater damage forward, she was in no danger of sinking, and expected to be able to proceed in an hour, once she had made immediate repairs and counter-flooded. However, her engineer expected her speed to be cut to under 20 knots due to the damage (in fact she proved unable to exceed 18 knots without starting to damage her emergency repairs). Once she was stable, she would even be able, albeit with some difficulty, to operate aircraft. This was pleasing, as the initial strike had left Somerville worrying that she would sink, or be so badly damaged that he would have had to sink her himself