Page deleted. problem is, I can't remember what it originally was, though it was certainly something about the Oslo Report.
@fester may remember, afraid I can't.
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@fester may remember, afraid I can't.
Story 0714
August 10, 1941 near Kiev
Map counters disappeared in the morning.
The northern flank of the salient was under intense pressure. At least three fascist panzer armies were hammering regiments and divisions that were merely figments and fragments of imagination now. The Southwestern Front was resisting but the tanks it had lost at Ulem deprived the front of a concentrated counter-attack force. Instead infantrymen dug in and held until they were rooted out and Panzer units were allowed to pass into fire sacks as the hidden defenders waited to engage the German foot infantry that had to hold open breaches.
During the late afternoon, the lines had stabilized as over 1,000 guns had been able to be turned onto the spear point. In under an hour, 100,000 shells landed on the German spearpoint, breaking the lead elements and forcing them to find cover.
Story 0714a
August 10, 1941 1905 Chicago
Pitcher Charlie Root felt the ball in his hands. He rubbed his fingers together, and scraped the ball with a small wedge of sandpaper so that it would jump a bit more in the night time air. This was not supposed to be his start. The lights were supposed to have been up in July, but labor and steel shortages had delayed the installation. The last check had been approved on Wednesday so tonight was the first night game at Wrigley Field. And he waited for the umpire to squat and the Red’s batter to enter the box.
“Play Ball….”
Pitcher Charlie Root felt the ball in his hands. He rubbed his fingers together, and scraped the ball with a small wedge of sandpaper so that it would jump a bit more in the night time air. This was not supposed to be his start. The lights were supposed to have been up in July, but labor and steel shortages had delayed the installation. The last check had been approved on Wednesday so tonight was the first night game at Wrigley Field. And he waited for the umpire to squat and the Red’s batter to enter the box.
“Play Ball….”
Story 0714b
August 10, 1941 west of Manila Bay
The slow, obsolete aircraft continued to fly in a straight line at 10,000 feet. This was the only thing going right in this exercise.
USS Houston and along with the destroyers USS John D. Ford and USS Pope had been on the firing range for the morning. The surface gunnery training was adequate at best. Houston’s salvos were widely dispersed and straddles were seldom maintained once achieved. The two destroyers were firing slowly, the ammunition loading procedures were inefficient and the crews had not spent enough time going through the motions to make them smooth.
The anti-air training was atrocious. Each of the destroyers had a single 3 inch gun and a pair of twin 1.1 inch guns as well as a handful of unauthorized but useful .30 caliber machine guns. Both 1.1 inch mounts broke down on Pope within ninety seconds of firing. The destroyers' 3 inch guns were firing low and below the towed target consistently. The fire control equipment was arthritic but at least the shells exploded roughly when expected. That could not be said for the shells carried aboard Houston. They worked roughly as often as a pitcher reached base safely.
The three ships were heading back to Cavite. Every officer responsible for anti-aircraft duties was being chewed out and corrective action plans were being demanded. Cables were being prepared to request new 5 inch shells fresh from American factories.
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David Flin
Gone Fishin'
On the plus side, at least they knew the target was being towed and not pushed. There's at least one case where the gunners confused plane and towed target. Fortunately, neither were in any danger.
Possible typo but wouldn't it be new 3 inch shells instead of 5 inch shells ordered?
3 inch shells from the destroyers were working fine. The issue was the crew skill but the equipment was good (enough).
The 5 inch shells from Houston were not working right. There were still crew skill issues but the shells would still render the entire action chain to be useless as even a good shot to the right spot would not lead to a potential kill if the shell did not explode.
You're assuming the shells are going roughly where intended ... they could just be really, really, really far off
The Houston carried 8 x 1 x 5"/25 caliber Antiaircraft guns, which were also capable of surface fire, good, but not as good as the new 5"/ 38 caliber dual purpose guns on the modern destroyers, and cruisers, launched after the New Orleans class, and early Brooklyn classes.
A while ago people were discussing the Asiatic fleet moving to Singapore, and someone mentioned that the British said they wanted Illustrious to be repaired in the United States and said Singapore did not have the facilities to repair her. Was this actually true? I find it hard to believe, since Singapore was supposed to be the main base for a Far East fleet.
I had made a post in the fall of 1940 that Wrigley was getting lights. In this timeline, a much weaker Recession of 1937 leads to greater attendance to Cubs games and moves up the order for lights from 1941 to 1940 and thus the material was not taken up by the war effort. This is a tiny little butterfly of a slightly different world.
https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/keynes-cruisers.388788/page-75#post-14373268
Be safe from Irma.
Yes, Illustrious was repaired at Norfolk in both TTL and OTL. Singapore was just coming online as a major base in the spring of 1941 and did not have full repair capacity.
OTL, Hart had moved a large number of the heavier bombs for the PBY's, to Singapore, probably 250 or 500 pounders.
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