lordroel
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Post by lordroel on Nov 13, 2021 6:32:49 GMT
Firstly, I find your tone and use of profanity regrettable. The balance of the interchange does show that you have sustained such an approach from your very first line of “Um how exactly” through to “ You have yet to provide any proof” whereas I have simply responded with argument and fact in clear, coherent fashion set out in logical points. The W2F was going to be acquired, but it was also required in order for the F6D to approach some modicum of tactical flexibility. I’m not altogether sure why you emphasise the word “experience”, given that I have not used it in any of my posts. The Sparrow issue is related to that of the Eagle, but only tangentially, given the considerably different roles and place with a combat system. Your fourth paragraph contributes nothing in either argument or evidence. Your argument regarding the putative entry by 1965 would require some evidence beyond a vague invocation of the W2F. Ok seriesly "profanity" what the hell did i put in that post that you considered profanity? I thought this was a nice calm discussion untill you out of the bule called me baligerent. Apologize for that and were done here sense we clearly aren't going to agree on this (even if I did think the conversation was nice untill the end) As i have made clear in a post above, this discussion has ended, as you decide to ignore it i going to give you a WARNING, if you have issue then report or PM me, do not keep going when a member of the staff has made it clear to stop and bring back the thread on track. |
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ssgtc
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Post by ssgtc on Dec 8, 2021 0:48:54 GMT
February 15, 1959
Subic Bay, Zambales, Philippines
The lines to the largest ship at Naval Base Subic Bay were singled up and a plume of heat mixed with pale grey smoke issued forth from the tall exhaust stack. All shore leaves had been canceled less than forty-eight hours earlier, which meant that quite a few sailors had to be dragged out of the flesh pots and bars of Angeles City to get them to return to duty. Some of those men were even now nursing some of the worst hangovers of their lives. But none of that mattered to the men up on the bridge of the great ship. The orders had come and they would be followed. Besides, Captain McCampbell figured, ship's captains had been getting cursed by their crews for cutting shore leave short for centuries. Why should this time be any different? One thing was for certain however, his tour as Captain was off to an interesting start.
The United States was sending a message to Indonesia. Already aircraft from the Nineteenth Air Force were arriving at Clark Field and beginning operations from there. Now the Navy was doing their part to warn the Indonesians. Unlike the Air Force which had chosen to remain safely removed from the action, the Navy was heading straight for the belly of the beast. Already Yorktown and her antisubmarine task group were heading into harm's way on a "freedom of navigation exercise," in essence thumbing their noses at the Indonesians in the most threatening/non threatening manner possible. Now it was time to back up the show with some real muscle.
And Bon Homme Richard was just the ship to do it. Unlike her older sister, Bonnie Dick's air group was one of the most capable in the Navy. Carrier Air Group 19 was equipped with F11F-1s, FJ-4Bs, F3H-2s, AD-5s and A3Ds. Whatever the mission, from air superiority to nuclear strike, Bonnie Dick could answer the call. Upon putting to sea, Bon Homme Richard would rendezvous with HMS Albion, Ticonderoga and Yorktown for, in the opinion of Rear Admiral Schoech, a thrown together exercise to hone both navies' land attack capabilities while Yorktown would screen them from submarine surveillance.
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ssgtc
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Post by ssgtc on Dec 8, 2021 0:52:13 GMT
February 16, 1959
Den Helder Naval Base, Netherlands
HNLMS Karel Doorman's planned goodwill cruise to the United States is canceled. Instead, orders are issued informing her commanding officer that Karel Doorman is to prepare for possible combat in the Far East. In accordance with this, war stocks are to be loaded into her magazines and additional spare parts are scheduled to be taken aboard. Her crew is also ordered to be brought up to full wartime strength to ensure she has sufficient damage control capability and her crew will not wear out too quickly under combat conditions. To do this, personnel will be stripped from shore establishments, training billets and other warships that are not in a fit state to deploy. Her Commanding Officer, Captain Adri van Es, reports that Doorman would be ready for sea by February 21st. He was informed that he had until the 19th.
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ssgtc
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Post by ssgtc on Dec 8, 2021 0:56:21 GMT
February 16, 1959
Over the Banda Sea, Western Pacific
An Ilyushin Il-14FK droned over the blue waters of the pacific. The photo-reconnaissance aircraft was not the most advanced aircraft in the world, nor the most capable. But it was what Indonesia had. The crew was highly trained and they had been given a mission by their country. They were to locate the American carrier task force that was operating in the Banda Sea, trail it, and report it's location back up the chain of command.
They were halfway through their planned mission time when the first observer called out a sighting. He had just seen the sun glinting off the wings of an aircraft in the distance. After giving the bearing to the pilot, the twin engined transport banked toward the contact. The luck that had so far blessed Indonesia's war effort against the Netherlands continued to be with them as the Il-14 came up behind the American anti-submarine aircraft and, hopefully, out of their sight.
What they could not prevent the Americans from noticing however, was the radio transmissions coming from their aircraft. The flight crew weighed whether to transmit or not, but in the end decided that this could very well be the best and only contact they would get on their mission. So the radio was powered up and a short, coded message was transmitted back to their base.
In minutes, the American aircraft they were trailing began a series of rapid maneuvers and their converted transport plane was quickly spotted, followed shortly after by the American's sending a message of their own warning their carrier that they had been spotted. In a measure of their professionalism though, there was no acknowledging message from the American carrier sent back to their aircraft, denying the Indonesian aircraft from getting a track on the carrier. But further confirmation would not be needed by their commanders. At an airbase in Surabaya, Indonesia's fleet of Tu-16 bombers began to spool their engines up to teach the Americans a lesson for their insolence.
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ssgtc
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Post by ssgtc on Dec 8, 2021 1:03:40 GMT
February 16, 1959
Banda Sea, Western Pacific
The tension on the bridge of USS Yorktown was so thick, you could practically cut it with a knife. Four of the air group's S2F-1 Trackers were airborne, screening the task group from any possible direction that the Indonesians might try and send ships or aircraft to harass them from. But with limited surface search capabilities and no air search radar, the crews on the Trackers were largely confined to the Mark I Mod 0 eyeball to spot any inbound tracks.
Captain Bedell was cursing the lack of airborne early warning aircraft in his air group. Fortunately for his blood pressure though, the radio began to crackle and a voice was heard over the speakers. The voice said, "Lightning 108 calling Steamboat. Lightning 108 calling Steamboat. Contact! Airborne contact bearing 090 my position. Single aircraft, aircraft type is Crate. No other contacts visible. Repeat. Lightning 108..."
All at once, the tension Captain Bedell had been feeling evaporated, to be replaced by a different kind of tension. The sighting of a reconnaissance aircraft could be a prelude to a much more unpleasant visit. Captain Bedell along with Rear Admiral Colestock had spent the last two days since the change in their orders going over the latest intelligence reports and threat assessments from the CIA and Naval Intelligence. The report that concerned him the most dealt with Indonesia's Air Force. In one of their assessments there was a report that had been supplied by the Australian SIS, it stated that Indonesia was known to have acquired Soviet Badger bombers sometime prior to September, 1958. According to CIA estimates, with the concurrence of several Air Force officers, it was not believed that the Indonesian Air Force would have yet reached operational status with their new bombers.
But judging by the results of the air battle they had just fought with the Dutch, Captain Bedell was not going to take any chances. He had all four of his air group's Banshees spotted on the flight deck with two of them already positioned on the cats and ready to launch. Rear Admiral Colestock agreed with his precautions as well. Better that they be prepared than not.
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ssgtc
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Post by ssgtc on Dec 8, 2021 3:39:15 GMT
And before I forget, I meant to add a few author's notes here.
The ships listed here from the US and Royal Navies are the ships that were in the theater in OTL. Additionally, the USN had Ranger in Yokosuka and Midway departed Pearl Harbor for the Western Pacific on February 14th. Ticonderoga was almost home when she was turned around and sent back to WESTPAC. She's making a high speed run to get there quickly. (As a side note, this also extends the life of several of her fighter and attack squadrons that were disestablished in OTL on February 23rd).
On the west coast, Lexington was working up to deploy and in OTL would deploy in April. Hornet was also preparing to head to WESTPAC (also deployed in April, about 3 weeks before Lex).
On Bon Homme Richard, Captain David McCampbell was a Medal of Honor recipient for his actions as CAG of Carrier Air Group 15 during the battles of the Philippine Sea and Leyte Gulf. He took command of Bonnie Dick only eight days before this situation blew up (he relieved Bon Homme Richard's previous CO at sea on February 5th).
With regards to Yorktown, "Steamboat" was her actual call sign (it was previously "Cactus"). I was unable to find what call sign VS-37 went by. They were nicknamed the Sawbucks, but Navy squadrons rarely used their squadron name as their call sign. In this case, I appropriated the call sign "Lightning" from HS-14. If anyone happens to know what VS-37 used as a call sign, feel free to post it.
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lordroel
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Post by lordroel on Dec 8, 2021 3:45:47 GMT
February 16, 1959
Den Helder Naval Base, Netherlands
HNLMS Karel Doorman's planned goodwill cruise to the United States is canceled. Instead, orders are issued informing her commanding officer that Karel Doorman is to prepare for possible combat in the Far East. In accordance with this, war stocks are to be loaded into her magazines and additional spare parts are scheduled to be taken aboard. Her crew is also ordered to be brought up to full wartime strength to ensure she has sufficient damage control capability and her crew will not wear out too quickly under combat conditions. To do this, personnel will be stripped from shore establishments, training billets and other warships that are not in a fit state to deploy. Her Commanding Officer, Captain Adri van Es, reports that Doorman would be ready for sea by February 21st. He was informed that he had until the 19th. What are here escort going to be. |
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ssgtc
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Post by ssgtc on Dec 8, 2021 3:47:38 GMT
February 16, 1959
Den Helder Naval Base, Netherlands
HNLMS Karel Doorman's planned goodwill cruise to the United States is canceled. Instead, orders are issued informing her commanding officer that Karel Doorman is to prepare for possible combat in the Far East. In accordance with this, war stocks are to be loaded into her magazines and additional spare parts are scheduled to be taken aboard. Her crew is also ordered to be brought up to full wartime strength to ensure she has sufficient damage control capability and her crew will not wear out too quickly under combat conditions. To do this, personnel will be stripped from shore establishments, training billets and other warships that are not in a fit state to deploy. Her Commanding Officer, Captain Adri van Es, reports that Doorman would be ready for sea by February 21st. He was informed that he had until the 19th. What are here escort going to be. I'll have to check my notes in the morning. I know I've got a light cruiser in the escort, but I can't remember beyond that. |
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lordroel
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Post by lordroel on Dec 8, 2021 3:51:00 GMT
What are here escort going to be. I'll have to check my notes in the morning. I know I've got a light cruiser in the escort, but I can't remember beyond that. No problem because i assume she is not going to be alone when going to war. |
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ssgtc
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Post by ssgtc on Dec 8, 2021 3:59:57 GMT
I'll have to check my notes in the morning. I know I've got a light cruiser in the escort, but I can't remember beyond that. No problem because i assume she is not going to be alone when going to war. No, definitely not. Though the Dutch are a fair bit behind the US in terms of anti-air weaponry for their ships |
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lordroel
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Post by lordroel on Dec 8, 2021 4:02:53 GMT
February 16, 1959
Banda Sea, Western Pacific According to CIA estimates, with the concurrence of several Air Force officers, it was not believed that the Indonesian Air Force would have yet reached operational status with their new bombers. But the CIA has been proven to be wrong several times. |
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ssgtc
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Post by ssgtc on Dec 8, 2021 4:11:45 GMT
February 16, 1959
Banda Sea, Western Pacific According to CIA estimates, with the concurrence of several Air Force officers, it was not believed that the Indonesian Air Force would have yet reached operational status with their new bombers. But the CIA has been proven to be wrong several times. In fairness, that's not a bad estimate to make. Air Forces generally take some time to introduce a new type into service. Especially something as complex as a strategic bomber. 1-2 years is usually a good timeline from first delivery to IOC. |
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lordroel
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Post by lordroel on Dec 8, 2021 4:13:06 GMT
But the CIA has been proven to be wrong several times. In fairness, that's not a bad estimate to make. Air Forces generally take some time to introduce a new type into service. Especially something as complex as a strategic bomber. 1-2 years is usually a good timeline from first delivery to IOC. But this mistake could end up having a lot of american sailors killed if the Indonesia Air Force strikes the Americans. |
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ssgtc
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Post by ssgtc on Dec 8, 2021 12:51:50 GMT
In fairness, that's not a bad estimate to make. Air Forces generally take some time to introduce a new type into service. Especially something as complex as a strategic bomber. 1-2 years is usually a good timeline from first delivery to IOC. But this mistake could end up having a lot of american sailors killed if the Indonesia Air Force strikes the Americans. Which is why Yorktown's fighters are on the roof and positioned on the cats, ready to launch. |
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lordroel
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Post by lordroel on Dec 8, 2021 15:36:16 GMT
But this mistake could end up having a lot of american sailors killed if the Indonesia Air Force strikes the Americans. Which is why Yorktown's fighters are on the roof and positioned on the cats, ready to launch. The Yorktown must have radars to pick up bombers and their missiles so they can intercept any incoming thread i assume. |
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