this month in history, april battleships

intro: although my motivation was trivial, to see which brit battleships were by ganges river region in april 1942, i publish now for the reason now its april. the game correctly did not give a battleship marker there, despite 3 ba' southwest from india due to the retreat westward on april ninth.

the source for these facts is:

selected from http://www.naval-history.net/xGM-Chrono-01BB-Resolution.htm

and same site warspite in "force A" as detailed below.

   this month in history: now april. what happened in  april 1942 in the battleship war?
4 jap battleships escorted warplane carriers=w.c. and chased out 3 brit battleships as explained.

big br' ba'  *RESOLUTION=res' was by Ceylon south from india and ganges rr.

april 4 res' got warning of approaching jap warships. a scout plane sent the message before jap zero-s shot it down. the japs were by 83e and equator.
5th its group including WARSPITE hunted for the japs.  Japanese Fleet in position 5N, 78E. no battle.
7th, r' got warning 2 submarines were approaching, already reaching 75e [passing the tip of india and only 2 degrees of sphere from the base in maldives, southwest from india's tip]. ergo it moved by a circuitous route for an "unexpected approach" so its group steamd for Addu Atoll,  the south end of the maldive chain just south of equator. 
the Admiralty warned that diplomacy faild and that "your force was inferior to the Japs."
interpretation jap ba' speed 30 knots [33mph] so faster than brit fast warspite 24 knots.
8th a patrol aircraft reported  seeing Japanese battleships (we now know had 4 there). res' and the british force fled.

9th, "Force A=Force A comprising WARSPITE" and its group steamed toward Bombay, arriving there on 13th, on india's northwest coast.)
9th,  *RESOLUTION,  *ROYAL SOVEREIGN and its group named "Force B" left Addu Atoll westward. 73e, south-WEST from tip india but near equator.

the pair res'+r.s. operated together by nile continent as follows.
  May
23rd,  RESOLUTION and its group, including 7 troopships, steamd toward Mozambique channel. spring it had fled from ganges rr. jap moved east for midway battle.
end of may and june res' escorted convoys and returnd to kenya each time.
  August
brit' ba' including battleship *WARSPITE did exercizes and afterward returned kenya except  minor carrier ILLUSTRIOUS to Tanga.
29th w'+res' steamed from Kilindini, kenya southward along East African coast.
30th both operated by 6S, 41E=south from mombasa kenya (4s). After nightfall returned to Kilindini.
   September by kenya until feb' 1943. not return to ceylon. 
end selection.

may 1942, lexington lost; the huge floating airport

on May 8, 1942, the huge floating airport lexington, that carried 91 warplanes, got sunk. it  was nearly 900 feet long. what was its story?

u.s. had been nutral during the years, from 1937, that japan was conquering more and more of china. it also was nutral when italy conquered ethiopia. it also did not send soldiers when nazi and soviet conquerd poland. the policy of u.s. government was: soldiers lives should not be risked unless danger to itself.

on dec' 7, 1941 japanese warplanes attacked american warships anchored in hawaii isles.

was lexington there? nope. by the seventh lex' had ALREADY left hawaii on a mission to carry warplanes to an isle named midway. this category of ship was named "aircraft carrier" for carrying warplanes.

after several missions that were not battles, lex' steamd toward a jap air base on a small isle north and near fly river isle cald new giunea. meanwhile u.s. troops, defending wake isle, surrendered on  Dec' 23.

on feb' 20, 1942 two jap warplanes, searching for u.s. warships to provide location for battling, flew near lex'. warplanes from lex' shot both down.

later 17 jap bombers "eighteen enemy planes" attacked lex'. they knew the location from the patrollers who had sent a radio message. during the battle, lex' warplanes shot down all nine of the first group. 

some were shot down, "five were downed." splashing into the sea and others damaged, jap lost 15 as only two of those bombers returned, one seriously damaged. only one intact. [18-17 shot]. 

on march 10, 1942, lex' launched warplanes to prevent the jap invasion of fly isle. they fired at the invading warships. jap started conquering the north coast of that isle. during April, Lexington and her fighter groups repeatedly thwarted Japanese ships and planes.

the next battle involved the boili mount isle chain. jap soldiers conqurd some isles there east from fly isle, and prepared an air base for warplanes. lex' joined a u.s. force  that separated and attacked it, on isle tulagi in that isle chain. then a warship from australia separated to prevent  jap invading the south coast of fly isle. 

lex' sailed near the south-east edge of fly isle.

on may 7, 1942, warplanes from lex sank the shoho a minor jap warplane-carrier. two huge jap w.c. were in that region and 27 of their warplanes attacked. lex' warplanes destroyed nine 9 of them until the rest retreated.

on may 8, 1942, u.s. warplanes attacked and severely damaged the huge jap w.c. named shokaku. 

meanwhile, jap warplanes attacked lex'. 2 jap torpedoes damaged lex'. jap dive bombers dropd bombs and 3 bombs exploded on lex'  further damaging lex'. fires spread so the crew and planes moved to other ships, to evacuate. a u.s. warship sank lex'. it was the first huge aircraft carrier lost. cv16 same name replaced this one.

RESULT: shokaku steamed back to japan escorted by its group including w.c. zuikaku. those two huge w.c. was inactive for many months and also during all 1943and part of 1944. when we add the damage to jap w.c. in the battle midway, u.s. sank four more huge w.c. that totals six of ten removed from action tipping the scale to favor u.s.

warspite part one 1939

 why warspite? i start with warspite among the big battleships due to its battle against japs. immediately i hit an obstacle.

if somebody reads a story "on 10 april british warships sank 3 nazi destroyers and damaged 5 which were scuttled. on 13 april  british warships sank 3 nazi destroyers and damaged 5 which were scuttled." whoa! that seems to be the same story... not sinking six total! in addition to selecting the important events and improving sentence structure, i summarize the story of this big warship... only isolating the big ones kuz many small ones were active too.

brit ba' warspite: September 1939 until January 1941

   Warspite,  "fixing ww2db" from September 1939 to January 1941.

here we see a flaw was the battle 10? or 13? repeat? or total 6 sunk?

note: YAY i found a reliable website and BOTH guesses were wrong !!

"on 13 april warspite fired by norway. its group sank nine german destroyers" source:
HMS Warspite - A Personal Account - Historic UK (historic-uk.com)

"nine German destroyers were sunk and the port facilities were badly damaged."

intro:   for the story about ba' w' facing a jap force by bay of bengal: when was its first battle after September 3,  1939, when brit' "declared war" on nazi? 

on April  13 (10 wrong at wiki and ww2db) 1940 by Narvik, Norway,  Warspite "fired at nazi forces." its group sank three German destroyers [on 13th?]+ plus six more. [counting five caused scuttled and one?]

on April 13, 1940, its torpedo bomber bombed a German submarine U-64 which sunk.  its group [with 9 destroyers] sank 3 destroyers,  and damaged 5 others. the nazis damaged three British ships. after germans sank their own damaged ships, 2,600 German sailors served as land troops.

later, w' went thru strait of gibraltor eastward.

on July 9, 1940, south of Italy, w' damaged Italian battleship Giulio Cesar. an Italian convoy met a British convoy. British battleship HMS Warspite hit Italian battleship Giulio Cesare at the range of 26,000 yards, 24 kilometers.  Italian ships withdrew. soon,  Italian warplanes fired at the brits, who retreated. a few days later w' survived a bombing run. in october w' escorted a convoy from egypt to malta isle. in dec' w' shelled italian soldiers in albania. end year. u.s. still avoided war.

  Dates

on July 12, 1940, in nile Sea, Italian bombers attacked British battleship HMS Warspite and cruiser HMS Liverpool. they missed w' but a dud bomb hit Liverpool. it killed 1 and wounded 2. a brit warplane shot down one Italian bomber.

on Oct' 8,  1940, w' and its group escorted a supply convoy from Alexandria, Egypt to Malta isle. 3 ba'  and two minor aircraft carriers [Eagle, Illustrious, carried around 30] 12 cruisers, 16 destroyers, and 6 submarines, escorted four British transport ships.

on Dec' 19, 1940 British battleships HMS Valiant and HMS Warspite shelled Italian troops in Albania when Greek attackd.

 end year. u.s. still avoided war.

big guns u.s.s. april 1942

in april 1942 u.s. had four big battleships in amazon ocean. note: same as no marker for 4 in nan equaly no marker for u.s. HOWEVER combining these with the four by temz rr... each alone no marker equal to nan rr... but together if no marker to u.s. then justify one together like midway battleship group. four in temz alone same as nan but add the four of washington deserve one marker in temz for convoys.
during spring u.s. added one battleship in atlantic, the north carolina which stayed in atlantic in spring 1942, so the game correctly does not give a marker for battleships in atlantic due to "on the time border" during spring season and combining it in the brit marker. still better... no battleship marker just include them in transport marker kuz transports needed them.  later n.c. went to gaud' in boibi mountain region.
wa' also had six in sea beside whitney mountain region. justifying the marker, in spring all by april first active.
GROUP ONE for spring use "his" by spring=march 21. ergo indiana and n.c. 55 "after" kuz train til june or april 30.
 whitney mr april 1>4 v
Colorado   lv v wh' ap1
Maryland ap1 624v whitney mr +1 atl'
Mississippi v
New Mexico v
Pennsylvania even before may >4.
Tenn' feb' wh' deserve marker same as "midway for jap" but better include in transport.
  GROUP 2

in response to the game which differed, despite its officially "proclaimed goal spring 1942" differd both in borders and gibraltor battleship marker in contrast to nan river region, both unjustly empowering u.k. brits...
of 26 battleships listed in the "very thorough" database, ww2db, five were commisiond AFTER april 1942 and as above one on the "time border" during spring. others later. activity after=8 kuz indiana april 30 after "by spring" and n.c. june 10.

the separated ones are: category "after" and shorter: 4 more were shorter... differing from later u.s. ba' and from jap ba' so not truly "big guns."  2 listed were cruisers so 2+4+5=11 which i will separate kuz after or shorter. 15 remain to group.

GROUP 3

four in amazon ocean as explained and 8 at hawaii.

in december 1941, 8=et were at hawaii four sank others damaged and not usable until after spring.

the four that sunk before are separate:  B=sank before 4, 4 from 8 so 4 only damaged.

Arizona   lv sank 41, California 1939v sank, Oklahoma, W.V. the 4 shorter ones were named "nevada, new york, oregon, Texas". 6 by west coast as above. 6+4+2+4+5=21 so five remian to group.
after time border 5 and "indiana".
before sunk= 4, shorter 4+2 cruisers. 15 plus six at west coast total 21 of 26.
in atlantic four and the one on the time border north-carolina.

 amazon ocean: mas', s.d., washington +n.c. but due to indiana after april, correctly no marker for u.s. battleship in the ocean called atlantic but as above "tipd" the four of brits to deserve one but not a second in gibraltor. better no marker for battleships just include in transport considering that each transport needed battleships.
the story in amazon ocean was simple, escort transport of weapons to briton and soviets... facing submarines that sunk much material... for what? to help british? wrong the british already won the air war "battle of briton." for french? the ones who shot at u.s. when u.s. came to liberate morocco?? and remove the ruling nazis.

the STRATEGIC priority was responding to the jap attack... all resources could be for that direction but the president... the same democrat party that today stifles free words opinion and at that time separated negroes to separate schools... refusing to integrate then, and wants "government money" to pay the negroes for the dnc evil policy decisions instead of from dnc own pockets... that president divided u.s. power also to east in these convoys... where much was lost both material and human lives at sea and in french africa, when objectively, truly not even one u.s. soldier was warranted in that direction instead objectively all efforts were warranted west to respond to the japan attack. consider the only reason u.s. ended nutral status was when jap attacked.

so my focus will be on the six by whitney mountain region not the four or five in the amazon ocean escorting convoys and facing submarine risks. indeed i started with those six and the ones that sank and were not repaired were "before the war".

   alphabetical

Alabama 1942 after v

Arizona lv v sank 41 b'

California 1939 v sank 41 before=b

Colorado lv v wh'  h

Indiana end ap' '42 com' after commision training later with ent' by boili isle.

Iowa lv a'

Maryland v 624v whitney mr 

Massachusetts lv com' may '42 atl'

Mississippi v lv wh' nm class lv

Missouri 1944 a

Nevada < 

New Jersey af'

New Mexico lv v wh'

New York <

North Carolina  a' boili mr training til june 10 entered pacific.

Oklahoma v sunk 41 b'

Oregon <

Pennsylvania lv v wh'

South Dakota lv com' mr' '42 phil'

Tennessee v lv 624f wh'

Texas <

Washington lv may 41 com' convoy brit

West Virginia v sank b'

Wisconsin a 1943

impeach 46

 we need to "get to the bottom" of  the situation and start IMPEACHING 46 (biden).

history, the french battleships

FRANCE had 4 long and 3 shorter battleships.
Bretagne shorter<, Dunkerque  700 feet 210m, Jean Bart  newer  v, Lorraine <,  Provence <, Richelieu  v
Strasbourg v.

by size order:

the two longest were j+r 800 feet, both battleships fired at the allies.

French battleship jean was in morocco. on nov' 8 '42, jean FIRED at u.s. who sank jean. similarly in june 1940 when france surrendered,  French battleship Richelieu, went to a port west coast of nile continent (africa.) soon in july 1940 brit bombd rich' there n it sank but... refloated. in sep' 1940 rich' SHOT AT brit  ships as ordered by vichy french under nazi.  brits expected this and acted: in july 1940, the british attacked french battleships in algeria:

  summary of story fixing ww2dbase Dunkerque 
after french surrendered to nazis, in june 1940, the French battleship Dunkerque and  Strasbourg were docked in Algeria. On 3 July, 1940, British fired at dun' and sank it. meanwhile, Strasbourg escaped and steamed across the sea to Toulon on the french South coast and rested nutral. they re-floated dun' and made critical repairs. it steamed there too. 

on 27 Nov' 1942, nazi troops and tanks came ergo the french crews exploded bombs to sink  Dunkerque and Strasbourg at Toulon. later Strasbourg was refloated. similarly, shorter battleship provence, after damage in algeria steamed to toulon. when french sank it, nazis refloated it and reused one of its guns.

the othe

big guns brit, italy, nazi

Groups: brit battleships. 
brit scattered their battleships in contrast to japanese use in battle midway.
note: after publishing i discovered new info about resolution so i deleted the month "may" an dfixed the list: see
https://thinkforyourselfn8.blogspot.com/2021/04/brit-battleships-spring-1942.html
throughout the war brit used 15 but before spring 1942 2 sunk and 3 were not active until after:

BEFORE=2 sunk
1, barham sunk nov' '41  "before".
2, prince sunk 1941 "before" by jap
  AFTER=3 after may 1942 only realy 10 to regroup.
3, anson "after".
4, howe after
5, val repairs so "after".

for the ones active in 1942 see link above.

the service of brit ba' was generally to escort convoys in nile sea called "the med" or convoys in the amazan ocean called atlantic or to india most of the war months.  
they were scattered in many locations
ganges rr one. for name see at link above.

gibr' one

kenya [east coast] 2
NILE delta 2. 

temz 4 total ten active spring march 21.

by names:  brit 15 where?

anson "after" march 21.

barham sunk nov' '41  "before".

cent' with queen by nile river northern coast

duke 1 convoy so temz 

howe "after" 

king temz

malaya temz

nelson gibraltor for malta

prince sunk 1941 "before" by jap

queen by nile river delta

res' ganges rr on march 21, spring but soon fled westward

rodney temz 

r.s. ganges rr on march 21, spring but april 9 fled westward with res'

val' repairs orinj rr

warspite southwest of ganges rr then in april north-west coast of ganges rr.

PART 2

  NAZI 4 big battleships? nope 2 smaller:

schlesien smaller 400 ft not 700 feet long not truly ba' class. it sank in may '45

s.h. similar.brit bombers damaged it so crew destroyed it in  1944.

big ba'=2

bis' it sank may 1941, so "before" 1942 brit ba' rodney also shot it

tirp' it sank nov' '44 only one real ba' in 1942 [far from 4 of japan in nan rr, no marker.]

PART 3

italy 6 big but some not repaired or not built until after may 1942 
group "after" 3:

impero incomplete like roma

roma it sank sep' '43 by nazi

vit' repairs til june.

conte it sank nov' '40 before, two more sank [source naval history website] but were repaired later as above.
two big active by malta and their home:

giulio 1

lit' 2, surrenderd sep' '43 same as vit'

less than 4 same as jap no marker in nan rr but later active til surrender.