22 Nov 1941 (X-16)
Groups of gunmetal grey ships gather in Hitokappu Bay in the Kurile Islands, the northern most group of the islands that make up Japan. Far away from population centres and any prying eyes, a fleet gathers in secret. Each of them flies the naval ensign of the Imperial Japanese Navy, a Rising Sun, offset to the lanyard side.

9 destroyers (DD), the fast, manoeuvrable ships with notoriously short legs (range) built to escort their larger cousins guard a pair each of heavy cruisers (CA) and battleships (BB). 7 of them of the new Kagero-class, the largest and most modern class of destroyers the IJN had at that point in time. The CAs Tone and Chikuma are representative of the workhorses of any naval fleet, fast enough to put themselves into and out of harm’s way, armored and heavily armed enough to see off all but the heaviest warships, the CAs are armed with main batteries sporting 8 x 20cm guns. The battleships Hiei and Kirishima, are even more well protected and more heavily armed with 8 x 35.6cm guns, they represent the modern day first rate ships of the line.

Impressive as this collection of ships was, they were subservient to the real power of this fleet. 6 ships, each with a full-length flat deck built to launch and land aircraft were the centrepiece. Their names would soon go down in history. Just 38 years after the Wright Brothers’ first flight and 23 years after HMS Argus became the first ship to launch and recover aircraft, the 6 aircraft carriers of the 1st Air Fleet (also known at various times as Kido Butai or Mobile Force) were the world’s largest aircraft carrier group. From the decks of these 6 aircraft carriers (CV) flew nearly 400 combat aircraft. A mixture of fighters, torpedo/level bombers and dive bombers that fought as one cohesive unit, it’s size and strength would not be surpassed until 1944, when the US Navy’s Fast Carrier Task Groups came to dominate the Pacific.

In one of the ironies of war, the IJN’s air arm had depended heavily on the Royal Navy in its formative years. Royal Navy pilots had not only trained their IJN counterparts but had also provided technical know how when it came to the design and operation of naval aircraft and aircraft carriers. The lessons the IJN had absorbed in the 1920s and honed over China in the 1930s would soon be put into practice against a modern naval power.

The carriers were named Akagi, Kaga, Hiryu, Soryu, Shokaku and Zuikaku. The first two were originally to have been built as a battlecruiser and battleship respectively but were completed as CVs due to restrictions imposed by the Washington Naval Treaty. Their names would reflect this, battlecruisers were named after mountains, thus Akagi, named for a volcano in the Kanto region. Kaga as a battleship was named after a province. Their relatively slower top speeds as compared to their counterparts would also reflect their heritage.

The second pair, Soryu and Hiryu, were sister ships, built from the ground up as CVs and fairly new, completed in 1937 and 1939 respectively. Carriers would have some form of flying creature in their name. Thus, Hiryu (Flying Dragon) and Soryu (Blue Dragon). Together these 4 ships made up Carrier Divisions 1 (Akagi and Kaga) and 2 (Soryu and Hiryu). Their crews and aircrew were the varsity of the IJN’s naval air arm, having trained and operated together for years.

The last pair, Shokaku (Flying Crane) and Zuikaku (Auspicious Crane) formed Carrier Division 5 and were only commissioned just a few months ago, in August and September 1941 respectively. They were large, modern and had the endurance to complete their upcoming mission without refuelling, unlike the Soryu and Hiryu. Their aircrews, like the ship crew were fresh and unblooded. Their first combat mission would also be their shakedown cruise.

So I'm scheduled to guide a bunch of Aussie kids who will be visiting Singapore next year to mark the 78th anniversary of the Fall of Singapore as well as commermorate Anzac Day. In the lead up to that I'd thought I'd dig up some #otd type posts which I did a couple of years back on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the Fall of Singapore so as to provide some context to the the campaign and since I'm posting in a private group there might as well copy and paste here for those interested.

We begin with an event that happened 78 years ago, posts will where possible include time stamps (local unless otherwise stated).

​19 November 1941, 280km SW of Carnavon, WA, 1925hrs (UTC+8)
HMAS Sydney, one of 3 modified Leander-class light cruisers operated by RAN, disappears over the horizon from Kormoran, the German merchant raider that has for the past hour traded shots with her at point-blank range. It is the last time that any human will see her afloat.

Earlier at 1655hrs
HMAS Sydney had been returning to Fremantle after escorting a troopship that was headed to Singapore. She sights a lone merchantman at around 1655hrs, heading north. She will close to investigate.

1815hrs
Sydney will have closed to within 1,300m, her guns and torpedo tubes trained on the merchantman which had yet to identify herself.

1830hrs
The captain commanding the Kormoran, Theodore Detmars, gives orders to drop her disguise and reveal her heretofore hidden armament. Both ships have engaged each other at distance where they could not possibly miss.

Both ships fire nearly simultaneously but with very different results. Sydney's salvo will either miss or go through the thin sides of Kormoran. Kormoran's return fire will destroy Sydney's bridge and director tower (the part of the ship that directs the fire of the ships main guns) very early on in the engagement, severely reducing the effectiveness of Sydney's return fire. The range is so close that secondary armaments on both ships would be brought to bear on the other.

1835hrs
Kormoran will fire at least 10 salvos and 1 torpedo into the side of Sydney, wrecking the latter's upper superstructure. Kormoran's fire is so accurate that 5 mins after the engagement began, Sydney would slow and turn south, mortally wounded. Kormoran would not escape unscathed, Sydney's X Turret will land hits on her engine room, crippling her.

1900hrs
Both ships now 10km apart and heavily damaged, Sydney limps away from Kormoran, which is dead in the water.

1925hrs
Sydney disappears from the view of Kormoran. Detmars orders the crew to scuttle and abandon Kormoran.

2300hrs
The glow from the burning Sydney can still be observed by the crew of Kormoran, this glow will disappear shortly before midnight.

HMAS Sydney will sink shortly before midnight of 20 November 1941, all 645 of her crew lost with her. It will be the largest loss of life in the history of the RAN, accounting for 35% of all RAN personnel killed in the Second World War.

Kormoran will sink shortly after Sydney, 82 of her crew killed in action, the other 317 survived to be captured as POWs. They will be the only eyewitnesses to what happened.

The wrecks of both ships would be discovered in March 2008, just days apart. First Kormoran then Sydney. A study of the wrecks will corroborate the accounts of the engagement given by the German survivors of Kormoran https://www.defence.gov.au/…/FinalR…/Report/Chapter%2012.pdf

For more information on the loss of Sydney
https://www.defence.gov.au/sydneyii/FinalReport/