dutch navy

I could at last try the Netherlands East Indies 1942 scenario I had written for the HALSEY campaign rules of Sam Mustafa’s NIMITZ set. I controlled the ABDA, and my old partner in games Patrick was commanding the IJN.

There was however a misunderstanding as he’d used the older version of the campaign to plan his deployment, but we had an enjoyable game nonetheless. He should have started all his forces between D1 & D3 on the 1st day’s 1st phase, but his main force made an appearance but on day 2 in C6. You will find a copy of my campaign here :

The Fall of Java 1942

And before people ask, yes, there is a discrepancy between the published map and the playing board. On the board, you can go from A6 to B5 as the peninsula doesn’t reach up to the square’s border. This is after all still a work in progress, and furthermore, mere handwork.

So, with this in mind, this the way forces were deployed. The IJN force in D3 is mostly a diversionary force, meant to be a sacrifice in order to allow the passage of the main body. It consisted of 4 transports (the campaign has a small land combat module, so these soldiers carried have an important role) with 6 destroyers. On the ABDA side, there are but few options, in fact, no good option, the least bad one being to have as big a force as possible to engage IJN formations, which is why I gathered 4 light cruisers (including the Boise) and 9 destroyers, using the last remaining 6 destroyers to create 2 diversions beyond the 2 decoy counters I was allowed.

With all ready, we started the game. You can see on the following map the moves of the 1st day. Given the presence of transports, the IJN moved only in the night phase, while I sent forces from Tilatjap in 2 directions.

The IJN failed a first detection roll, and I sent my B17 on a raid to Bandjermasin, losing one, but destroying 2 Lily bombers on the tarmac. A revenge raid by the Bettys on Tilatjap failed to do damage, but the remaining Lily bombers from Bandjermasin took out both Bleinheims at Surabaya, halving my bomber force. The Blenheims from Tilatjap then sank the 1st IJN transport of the game.

Day 2 was the day the naval decison was made. Things started extremely well for the ABDA, which managed to catch the detected IJN diversionnary force in square C4. This was a true massacre, as the Allies destroyed te remaining 3 transports as well as 3 destroyers for no loss. IJN Kates however crippled Boise in 2 successive attacks, and the cruiser had to drop out of the Task Force.

The night phase saw the big battle take place, as the transports had anchored and were still with their escorts, giving the ABDA a great advantage. This is why, despite te unbalance of forces, I decided to attack. I still had 3 light cruisers (De Ruyter, Java & Marblehead) & 9 destroyers  in my formation) and I could hope to deal a lot of damage to the IJN force (8 transports escorted by Nashi, Haguro, Myoko, Sendaï, Jintsu, Nagara, Aganon & Yubari with 14 ! destroyers, as the other force escorts had joined). I won initiative & decided to play 2^nd, for the sake of the positional advantage.

The battle itself was something most inelegant, actually more a brawl than and organized fight. When the IJN heavy cruisers advanced, I could position 4 destroyers to try to torpedo them. But I paid a heavy price in the gunnery phase, as the IJN rolled so well, both for hitting and damaging, that 8 of my destroyers were crippled. In return, I sank a single IJN DD. In the torpedo phase, I rolled for a single destroyer, and missed. The second turn saw the slaughter of the cripples, while the 3 light cruisers escaped the battlefield.

All hope was not lost though, as I had mauled the landing force previously. With but 5 days to go, and an equal number of counters, I could still hope to hold Java. In fact, I was still confident enough to allow a single counter to evacuate in order to get VPs… But the dice gods had decidedly turned against me. Submarine attacks on the IJN heavies resulted in the loss of 6 ! submarines for the ABDA (special rules in my campaign to allow for this), and the land battle went swimmingly for Japan. In the end, Java fell by the end of day 7, after an astounding number of excellent dice rolls for the IJN. Meanwhile, the Japanese Air Force found the 3 retreating cruisers and sank the poor USS Marblehead (De Ruyter & Java escaped).

In total, the IJN scored a great 106 VPs (with 30 due to the excellent ASW performance) vs 39 for the ABDA. The butcher bill was somewhat more balanced though, with 15 ABDA infantry counters, 9 destroyers, a light cruiser sunk, a light cruiser crippled (the Boise escaped after all !) against 6 IJN destroyers sunk and 11 infantry counters destroyed. I also lost all my planes (4 Blenheim, 6 P40, 3 Buffalos & 3 B 17) but killed 4 Lilies, 2 Bettys and 2 Vals, 2 Kates and 1 Zero.

In the end, a result close to what happened then and a very enjoyable game. I’m doing some adjustments to the victory conditions, in favor of the  ABDA, and am looking foreward for playing the IJN next time.

The refight of our previous game, somewhere North of Java, some time at the end of winter in 1942. Here are the opposing sides, 2 fairly evenly matched forces. In the previous game, the Long Lances had availed the IJN of a crushing victory, sending both  Houston to the bottom, alongside with a Clemson class DD 1 box from sinking. Would it happen again ?

Starting positions were according to NIMITZ rules, and both fleets were facing each other, still out of range. 10 ships a fleet make the 1’x1’ starting square of each fleet severely crowded, making each player forced to adopt a multicolumn placement…

This left little room for niceties, as both sides understood it would be like a bar room brawl, not unlike 1st Guadalcanal. IJN won advantage on the 1st 2 turns. 1st turn saw te fleets get closer, and things started in earnest no later than turn 2. 

The gunnery phase was quite bad for the ABDA : a single Japanese DD was hit (though the crit destroyed a torpedo mount), but De Ruyter, Exeter & Van Galen were hit, Van Galen ending crippled. Then it was a festival of Long Lances. Both Myoko & Haguro, both Jintsu and Sendaï, as well as a destroyers Siratsuyu and Samidare let loose with all they had at Houston.

Surprisingly, not a single hit was achieved, taking a lot of the fangs out of the IJN’s maws.

Turn 3 saw the ABDA win the advantage roll for the 1st time, and they would do so till the end of the game. While Myoko put an end to the sufferings of Van Galen in the secondary battery phase, the main battery phase saw  2 interesting duels take place.

The 1st one pitted  Encounter and Piet Hein vs Harusame & Murasame, seeing Murasame destroyed by a torpedo and Piet Hein severely damaged, Harusame & Encounter taking moderate damage. Light cruisers of both sides, each side supported by DDs, engaged on a duel at point blank range. This saw the end of De Ruyter in the gunnery phase, but a torpedo from a Clemson  class sent Jintsu to the bottom (Renzo Tanaka will have to find a new flagship !). Haguro and Houston traded desultory long range fire, with a plunging shell from Houston scoring a solid hit on Haguro however (destroying 4 structure boxes).

Turn 4 saw Sendaï & Java keep on their duel, Sendaï taking some damage in the process. The plucky Clemsons took on the Japanese heavies, losing USS Edwards but adding 2 more boxes destroyed & planting a 21’’ fish into Haguro, which was very close to being crippled. Shiratsuyu, Shigure and Samidare finished off Piet Hein, one of them being also destroyed by shots from Exeter & Houston.

The next turn saw a decrease in the violence of the struggle, as both sides started to disengage. Java & Sendaï however were once more heavily damaged, but remained afloat. Turn 6 was the last one, both sides disengaging, trading desultory & ineffective shots. The butcher’s bill was bad for everyone : ABDA lost De Ruyter, Piet Hein & Van Galen, took heavy damage to Java, light damage to Exeter. The IJN lost Jintsu, Samidare & Shiratsuyu, taking severe damage to Sendaï & Haguro.

We agreed on a draw, and stopped the game at that point, it could have gone either way, with perhaps a slight edge to the ABDA.

Few people are aware of the tragedy that was the lot of the gallant Dutch Navy in World War 2. Indeed, the war did not stop for the Dutch after Germany invaded their homeland : there remained, on the other side of the planet, a place they had called home for centuries, their Dutch East Indies colony. As of now, this place is called Indonesia, with a booming economy & an expanding population of 285 millions people. But at the start of World War 2, it was a Dutch dominion, ruled from its capital Batavia, modern day Djakarta.

This all came to an end at the end of 1941, when Japan started a war aimed in priority at laying their hands on the mineral & energy ressources of the colony. A mere 3 months later, on 5th March 1942, Batavia fell. For Admiral Hellfrich, commander of the Dutch Navy in the Pacific, Java was home, his birth place, and he made sure forces under his command fought tooth & nail to stop the invasion.

Dutch Surface Naval Forces in the Pacific consisted of 3 light cruisers and 7 destroyers, under the tactical command of Admiral Karel Doorman. The ships were relatively good, and of reasonable age : HNMS Java, the oldest ship, was built in 1921, the most recent, HNMS Tromp in 1937. But facing the more recent Japanese heavy cruisers and destroyers, they were utterly outclassed.

This light cruiser was Admiral Doorman’s flagship. Built in 1935, it carried 7 x 150mm guns in 4 turrets (Turret B had but a single gun), but no torpedoes. It was fast enough, but lightly armored, as most light cruisers built in the thirties. It was sunk at the battle of the Java Sea on February 28th 1942, taking most of her crew, among them Admiral Doorman, to a watery grave.

Built in 1921, it still kept an adequate speed, and its armament was not inferior to that of De Ruyter, consisting of 10 x 150mm guns, the arrangement of which only allowing 7 to fire at a same target. Like De Ruyter, i twas deprived of torpedoes. And like De Ruyter, it met its end at the battle of the Java Sea under the guns of cruisers Haguro & Nachi.

The most recent ship, she was also lighter and less armored, but sported a decent 6 x 150 mm guns main battery. And unlike the other two cruisers, she was fitted with 2 triple torpedo mounts, one on each side of the ship. She was also luckier, having been damaged earlier in February 1942 and sent to Australia for repairs that were completed in May. It kept serving the A llied cause till the end of the war, to be decommissioned in 1955.

8 of these ships, with a variant, were built between 1925 & 1930, so buying both blisters available from  GHQ , 4 models each, will net you the whole class. They were very efficient ships, well designed for their time, but of course, they were hard pressed to fight  the bigger and better armed Japanese destroyers. 1 was lost in Europe, and the other 7 were lost in the campaign around Java.