• Today in 1943 Battle of the Komandorski Islands - one of the last pure

    From a425couple@21:1/5 to Jonathan on Tue Mar 28 18:41:38 2017
    From elsewhere:
    Today in 1943 Battle of the Komandorski Islands
    - one of the last pure gunnery duals in naval history

    "Jonathan" <Write@gmail.com> wrote in message...
    "Because of the remote location of the battle and chance
    encounter on open ocean, neither fleet had air or
    submarine assistance, making this one of the few
    engagements exclusively between surface ships in
    the Pacific Theater and one of the last pure
    gunnery duels between fleets in naval history."

    Battle of the Komandorski Islands
    from Wiki

    The Battle of the Komandorski Islands was a naval battle between
    American and Imperial Japanese forces which took place on 27 March 1943
    in the North Pacific, south of the Soviet Komandorski Islands. The
    battle was a daylight surface engagement in which air support played a negligible role and in which the inferior force escaped complete
    destruction mostly by luck.

    As Samuel Eliot Morison says,
    "No operations in this region of almost perpetual mist and snow
    accomplished anything of importance or had any appreciable effect
    on the outcome of the war. It was a theater of military frustration.
    Both sides would have done well to leave the Aleutians to the few
    Aleuts unfortunate to live there. ---
    gunfire at ranges of 8 to over 12 miles ---

    0910: Salt Lake City was hit by an 8 in (200 mm) projectile fired by
    Maya. The starboard observation plane caught fire and was jettisoned.
    0920: Salt Lake City was hit by an 8-inch projectile fired by Maya. Two
    men were killed.
    1010: Salt Lake City was hit by an 8-inch projectile fired by Maya.
    1059: Salt Lake City was hit by an 8-inch projectile fired by Maya.
    1103: Salt Lake City was hit by an 8-inch projectile fired by Maya. Salt
    Lake City transferred water to correct a list caused by flooding.
    1152: Salt Lake City was hit by an 8-inch projectile fired by Maya.
    1153: Salt water entered a fuel tank in use and extinguished Salt Lake
    City's boiler fires.
    1154: Salt Lake City slowed to a stop. Bailey, Coghlan and Monaghan approached the Japanese cruisers for a torpedo attack while Richmond and
    Dale made smoke to shield Salt Lake City.

    Then as Morison says,
    "what looked like a miracle occurred. Admiral Hosogaya broke off action ---- Hosogaya really funked out. He was anxious to get home: smoke
    concealed from him Salt Lake's deserate plight, and he feared that
    American air bombers ----
    It is no wonder that this Japanese admiral was shortly put on
    the beach."

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Komandorski_Islands

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