Mindoro Naval Battle

Bubblehead1980 · 03-14-21, 05:46 PM

Somehow I was unaware or had forgotten about the "Naval Battle of Mindoro" in December 1944. Apparently, in response to the December 15th landings on Mindoro in the Philippines, the Japanese (in a move reminiscent of their reaction to Guadalcanal landings in 1942, except lacked the same fleet power by Dec 1944) dispatched a heavy cruiser, light cruiser, and five destroyers from Cam Rahn Bay to attack the fleet and shell the captured airfields. Allied aerial recon planes missed the the force during it's transit until late on December 26 , when the force was just hours away, and amazingly there were no significant surface combatants i.e. BB, CA, CL or large number of DD (bombardment forces had retired after the relatively easy landings as not many Japanese on the island) for 200 miles. USAAF hit the panic button and sent over one hundred planes from the captured airfields on Mindoro for a night attack on he approaching force. This mass attack caused damage but did not stop them.
Left to defend the airfields against the approaching force, nine PT boats, which formed a "line" . Admiral Kimura chose to stay outside the line and shelled from longer range, while being harassed by PT boats and planes, inflicting minor damage before retiring. During the retirement, PT-223 closed to 4,000 yards and sunk the Yagumo Class Destroyer Kiyoshimo with a torpedo hit just after 0100, 27 December.

I was surprised to read about this, really never discussed much and relatively "minor" battle compared to others but what a disaster could have been if Kimura had pressed the attack.

Anyways, figured would share since battle does not come up often. The engagement been added to the forthcoming upgrade for TMO, contact report and all, if player sub happens to be in the area, can join in. If can just get PT boats in the sim to fire torpedoes(I know there is a mod but have never been able to get it work properly)

03-14-21, 05:46 PM	#1
Bubblehead1980 Navy Seal Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Florida USA Posts: 6,922 Downloads: 550 Uploads: 42	Mindoro Naval Battle Somehow I was unaware or had forgotten about the "Naval Battle of Mindoro" in December 1944. Apparently, in response to the December 15th landings on Mindoro in the Philippines, the Japanese (in a move reminiscent of their reaction to Guadalcanal landings in 1942, except lacked the same fleet power by Dec 1944) dispatched a heavy cruiser, light cruiser, and five destroyers from Cam Rahn Bay to attack the fleet and shell the captured airfields. Allied aerial recon planes missed the the force during it's transit until late on December 26 , when the force was just hours away, and amazingly there were no significant surface combatants i.e. BB, CA, CL or large number of DD (bombardment forces had retired after the relatively easy landings as not many Japanese on the island) for 200 miles. USAAF hit the panic button and sent over one hundred planes from the captured airfields on Mindoro for a night attack on he approaching force. This mass attack caused damage but did not stop them. Left to defend the airfields against the approaching force, nine PT boats, which formed a "line" . Admiral Kimura chose to stay outside the line and shelled from longer range, while being harassed by PT boats and planes, inflicting minor damage before retiring. During the retirement, PT-223 closed to 4,000 yards and sunk the Yagumo Class Destroyer Kiyoshimo with a torpedo hit just after 0100, 27 December. I was surprised to read about this, really never discussed much and relatively "minor" battle compared to others but what a disaster could have been if Kimura had pressed the attack. Anyways, figured would share since battle does not come up often. The engagement been added to the forthcoming upgrade for TMO, contact report and all, if player sub happens to be in the area, can join in. If can just get PT boats in the sim to fire torpedoes(I know there is a mod but have never been able to get it work properly)