WesWorld

Quoted

13/07/1935
At 09:16 while in a thick squall heading east Force G runs into the 1st Division of the 5th Scout Squadron consisting of the newly replenished RSAN Hammer and the heavy cruiser RSAN Ladon with two destroyers from the 10th Destroyer Flotilla, the RSAN Longsword and RSAN Rapier. The first to spot the enemy is the Heroina some two miles ahead of the main body of Force G acting as the scout. Hidden by a snow squall she is able to position herself on the port quarter of the RSAN force heading northeast. As Vice Almirante Bouchard reorganises his forces (line astern Pampas, Almirante Brown with the Peron at the rear and the destroyers Hercules and Mendoza on the starboard flank and the destroyers Contra Almirante Barbera and Simon Bolivar forming a diversion further to starboard trying to link up with Heroina) a Snider Type 24 "Shark" bomber flew over the ships at around 500 feet and soon entered a cloud bank before the Argentine ships could open fire. Minutes later the Heroina heard this plane fly over to land on the carrier RSAN Hammer.
At 09:29 Force G exits the squall and just to port sees the Hammer and her cruiser escort at a range of 15,000 yards. Vice Almirante Bouchard quickly issues firing orders. Pampas is to aim on the carrier and the two cruisers on the RSAN Ladon. Vice Almirante Higgins aboard Heroina is ordered to draw off the two destroyers and to stand-by to finish the enemy with torpedoes.
By now Hammer's after 150mm casemates had opened fire but they scored no hits. With the rough seas Pampas could only bear B, X and Y turrets but her secondaries also fired. The first three salvoes overshot but two 152mm shells hit above the main belt. One was a dud but the other exploded against the funnel uptakes inside the ship sending splinters into the lower hangar. A large fire broke out which quickly spread along the starboard side of the lower decks. The fourth salvo straddled the target, one 12in shell ripped into the carrier's hangar just above the hangar floor and it ended up near the foreward boiler room and splinters entered this compartment. The fifth and sixth salvoes fell short as the Hammer changed position further to starboard to throw off the aim. The seventh was a straddle but no 12in hits were observed but one 152mm AP shell pierced the main belt but caused little damage inboard. RSAN Hammer had begun to slow as steam pressure was lost from the forward boiler room. The eighth salvo scored another hit which entered the hull some 3m above the main belt and it also pierced the armoured box around the after portside turbine set but it failed to explode and only three crewmen were injured by splinters. A 152mm shell hit right aft but ricocheted off the steering gear armoured box and exited the other side of the hull. The ninth salvo scored no hits but the tenth did. Two 12in shells tore into the hull forward of the island entering the hull at the main deck level and exploding deep inside the ship causing massive damage to the workshop and mess areas and killing or wounding some sixty sailors. The main petrol lines to the main hangar were torn open and petrol vapour began permeating the lower decks. The after casemates were still firing and one hit was scored on Pampas right aft but little damage was caused. Another three 152mm shells and two 12in shells found the mark within the next five minutes but the main belt was only holed once and mainly the AP 152mm shells only caused splinter damage.
Two large explosions erupted from the lower hangar forward of the island shortly after the final 12in hit, obviously the hit forward had ignited the petrol vapour in the lower decks and the hangars soon became conflagrations. Writhed in flame and smoke the Hammer had begun to slow as the crew decided to get up top and the hull was evacuated. Some fire parties stayed below but all perished before the ship sank. She stopped firing and was obviously doomed and was now drifting in the swell at only 5kts speed and therefore Vice Almirante Bouchard ordered his guns to train on the Ladon which was giving the cruiser Almirante Brown problems. Some five minutes later a massive fireball erupted through the flight deck and the Hammer was finally abandoned.
The RSAN Rapier shortly before this had raced down Hammer's port side laying a smokescreen but being rewarded by two 100mm hits aft and one 152mm wrecked A gun and splinters blasted the bridge wrecking the DCT and killing the helmsman in the wheelhouse below. She waived but got around Hammer's bow and instead used her smoke to screen Ladon.

Astern the cruisers Almirante Brown and Capitan Peron duelled with the RSAN Ladon at a range of 17,000 yards. The Almirante Brown took three salvoes to get the range and eventually they were rewarded by two hits. One 190mm shell hit the main armour some 40mm from the top of the belt but the belt held, the second hit the main deck and exploded, there was a small hole and the remains of the shell carried down through a hatch until it hit the 105mm magazine where it did no serious damage. Another hit on the belt was repulsed but the backing plates were buckled or broke lose in the area of the hit. The light cruiser Peron let loose two fifteen gun broadsides despite the water rushing over her bows. It made a spectacular sight and the crew were rewarded by five hits by the fourth and sixth salvoes (the fifth falling some 500 yards short). One 150mm shell hit B barbette which withstood the impact and the deformed shell ricocheted but did not penetrate the main deck. Two more failed to dent the main deck armour but caused local fires and happened to wipe out circuit boards for the secondary armament and the fans supplying draught air to the boilers and ventilation air for the crew spaces below. This would have severe consequences later. The other shells hit the superstructure but few casualties were caused. The RSAN Ladon could bear B, C, X and Y turrets (A turret was too washed out by the heavy sea) and her guns aimed at the Almirante Brown. The thin deck armour of Almirante Brown was holed by four 210mm rounds from Ladon's seventh salvo at a range of 17,500 yards. Each hit went through to explode either on or below the deck armour and this sent splinters and deformed shell remains deep into the boiler rooms and the forward turbine room was abandoned when half of the engineering crew were killed by two hits.
Another 210mm shell found the foreward starboard 100mm magazine after passing through the main deck armour and the decks below that before exploding. Without any warning the hoist crews were killed by the flash which went up through the hoists to the S1 100mm mount and thorough the hull to exit near the funnel. A pillar of flame 60 feet tall shot up from the cruiser the shock ripping the hull plates open and warping the main belt. The rangefinders were thrown off aim and the S2 100mm mount was showered with splinters cutting down the gun crew. Ladon at 09:47 was hit by another 150mm shell from the cruiser Peron's tenth salvo which caused more internal fires near X turret but the armour held.
The Almirante Brown was slowing down and she hauled out of line to port so as to get out of the Peron's way. Her final salvo scored one hit on Ladon at 18,000 yards which entered the decks just abaft C turret and it managed to pierce the main deck and exploded just above the 210mm magazines. Splinters did not enter the magazine but a large fire was started.
By now the Ladon had lost speed (now around 17kts) and the numerous fires below filled the ship with smoke and without ventilation air most of the upper decks had to be evacuated and the repair parties were withdrawn. However the guns were still operable. The Capitan Peron now just ahead of Ladon's beam fired another three half broadsides which scored two hits and two near-misses (one of which hit the bottom of the main belt with little effect). One 150mm shell hit the roof of B turret just behind the joint between the roof and faceplate. The plate did not break but the join did and splinters wiped out the left-hand side gun crew and the right gun jammed in elevation. Wisely the gun crew abandoned their post. One 150mm shell smashed apart the P1 105mm mount which was soon washed overboard by a large wave and the third shell hit the base of the forward funnel where it exploded sending splinters through to the starboard side.
Still the RSAN Ladon focused on the Almirante Brown and they widened the range to 21,000 yards as they passed behind the wrecked Hammer, by now being abandoned as she blazed from stem to stern. Ladon fired two more broadsides (now A turret came online) which hit Almirante Brown twice, one 210mm shell ripped the roof off B turret igniting some cordite charges which wiped out the gun crew but failed to reach the magazines. The second 210mm shell plunged through the decks and exploded inside the forward boiler room wrecking it and the boilers groaned and exploded causing more flying debris within the hull and ripping open fresh holes below the waterline. Without steam the pumps failed and the cruiser slowed to a halt as the repair parties tried to get No.2 boiler room working again (which they did some three hours later).

Vice Almirante Bouchard abroad the Pampas ordered his guns to bear on RSAN Ladon and the fourth half salvo found the mark and one 12in shells ripped into the hull. The 12in shell entered the hull abeam B turret where it pierced the main deck armour and exploded against the lower barbette armour which was ripped open and splinters entered through several hatches to enter the shell magazine which survived but two crewmen were killed. A large fire forced B and C magazines to be flooded and the Ladon turned away to widen the range. Pampas's next two 12in salvos fell short but the seventh scored one hit amidships which exploded just ahead of the after boiler room causing only a few causalities, but destroying the funnel uptakes and more smoke therefore entered the hull and once again the repair parties were forced topside.
By now covered by her own smoke the RSAN Ladon reversed course to escape but Vice Almirante Bouchard ordered Vice Almirante Higgins to attack with his three destroyers. The cruiser Peron fired a few more shots from her rear turrets but no hits were observed.

The destroyers Mendoza and Hercules chased off the African destroyers in the beginning of the action but the heavy seas made gunnery almost impossible and few rounds had been actually fired and no hits were observed by either side. As Pampas continued her assault on the Hammer the RSAN Longsword worked her way around the stern of the Peron unnoticed and she came up on the Almirante Brown on the port quarter. The destroyer Mendoza spotted her and turned 90 degrees to port to catch her but in the head sea could not bring any guns to bear. RSAN Longsword fired four torpedoes at the Almirante Brown but scored no hits, her guns gave the Mendoza a hard time and splinters hit the bridge wounding two officers. Hercules joined in the chase but scored no hits, one 115mm shell from Rapier did hit just aft of Q gun but caused little damage.

The Almirante Brown by 13:10 was underway at a speed of 6 kts and was able to withdraw with the Hercules as an escort. Most fires were out by 12:00 but the flooded foreward spaces were not under control and emptied until the evening. Around 90 crewmen had been killed and another 60 wounded.
Vice Almirante Higgins in the Heroina with the destroyers Contra Almirante Barbera and Simon Bolivar close behind attacked the RSAN Ladon from the starboard side. None of RSAN Ladon's guns on this side were damaged but only X and Y turrets were still operational but still trained on the enemy cruisers to port. The 105mm battery soon spotted the three destroyers pushing through the high seas at 23kts and opened fire at 10:17. The rate of fire was slow owing to the need for manual re-supply of shells since the hoists had been abandoned by the smoke below but the fire-control equipment was intact and the firing was accurate.
Heroina's A turret was washed out but her B turret was able to fire a few shells in response but with the wild movement of the ship no accurate fire was possible. The destroyers Contra Almirante Barbera and Simon Bolivar have enclosed 115mm DP mounts and these were able to offer rapid but poorly-aimed fire. (The latter two destroyers were still firing astern on the RSAN Longsword and RSAN Rapier) One 115mm shell did hit Ladon just above the main belt causing some casualties on deck from splinters. The foreward turret on Simon Bolivar suffered a leakage of seawater and the electrics fused during the battle and some water entered the magazines.
At 10,000 yards facing a hail of accurate fire (Heroina was hit aft and the wheelhouse on the Contra Almirante Barbera was destroyed by a lucky hit which passed through the ship without exploding) Vice Almirante Higgins ordered a turn to starboard in line astern to fire torpedoes. Three 21in and six 23.6in torpedoes were fired. Two more 105mm shells exploded inside the Contra Almirante Barbera knocking out most electric power and forcing B turret's right-hand gun off its gearing, jamming it at an elevation of 23 degrees. At least four torpedoes hit the RSAN Ladon amidships and she soon began to list. A secondary explosion aft was witnessed shortly afterwards.
A final hit on Heroina hit X turret blowing off the roof armour. The flash reached the magazines and the stern from the aft tubes was blown apart. The bows leapt upwards clear of the sea and then she capsized taking all but 60 of her crew.
The RSAN Longsword and Rapier managed to rejoin each other and after a quick duel in worsening conditions with the Simon Bolivar, they decided to break-off contact fearing other Argentine destroyers may be astern of them, and decided to concentrate on saving the sailors of the Ladon and Hammer

[Note] Only ten survivors from the Heroina were picked up. Vice Almirante Higgins was not among those saved. Like her mythical namesake the Ladon had fought to the end, a fine dragon. Her crew was saluted and Simon Bolivar dipped her colours in salute to the African ships before departing to the south under the cover of a snow squall.

At 10:39 Vice Almirante Bouchard radioed his victory news to Naval HQ. The RSAN Hammer although well ablaze forward refused to sink for another two hours until RSAN Rapier scuttled her with eight torpedoes. The RSAN and Rapier picked up around 680 sailors from the Hammer.
RSAN Longsword followed Force G until nightfall when she lost them and the RSAN Rapier made an aborted torpedo attack against the Almirante Brown just before dusk. RSAN Rapier was able to follow them and directed RSAN submarine support to intercept the crippled cruiser.

[Note] The CO of the Destroyer Force, Commodore Frankenberg, was relived of his command for his failure to co-ordinate an attack on the crippled cruiser and for failing to adequately protect the RSAN Hammer and RSAN Ladon. Court-martialled he was dismissed from the service in November 1935.

Pampas rated 95%
Almirante Brown rated 58%
Capitan Peron rated 95%
Heroina sunk
Contra Almirante Barbera rated 70%
Simon Bolivar rated 74%
Hercules rated 93%
Mendoza rated 93%
RSAN Longsword rated 94%
RSAN Rapier rated 93%
RSAN Hammer sunk
RSAN Ladon sunk

Quoted

April 18

Vice-Admiral Erich van der Graaf looked out over the bridge wing to view the force of strength below him on the flight deck. Ten Foller Fo 122 Mk III "Kingklip" torpedo-bombers, ten Snider Type 24 "Shark" dive-bombers and eight Foller Fo 137 Mk II "Vulture II" fighters were lined up on the deck engines roaring as they warmed up. Vice-Admiral Erich van der Graaf raised his binoculars and swept the horizon, he could clearly see the carrier Anvil preparing for launching with her escort, the cruisers Sante Fe, Ladon and Santana silhouetted by the twilight glow of the setting sun with more cruisers around them. The 4th Battle Squadron( RSAN Ophion, RSAN Hyperion, RSAN St. Denis and RSAN Iringa) were some sixteen miles to the northeast to screen them from any likely Brazilian units nearer the coast some 450km away. Their airborne fighter patrol was due to return to the Hammer within half-an hour. He began to think, this was possibly the most powerful African fleet ever assembled, and what's more the Argentines and the Brazilians were unaware of its position. His bombers had already struck several Argentine ports and were battle-hardened, now he would give the Brazilians a surprise. A full aerial assault on the naval harbour in the city of Rio de Janeiro. He knew the port was full from that afternoon's seaplane mission over the base from the Thjazi and he knew the two battlecruisers that had escaped destruction were also there. All the same he wished he had the carrier Gripper with him but his superior officers had declared such a move risky for fear of losing a carrier and anyway they felt the two carriers offered more than enough strike power. Instead Gripper was operating off Douala searching empty sea. He gave the order, "Bring us into the wind, speed 23kts". Soon after he nodded at his Chief Air Operations Officer Commodore Corteze to begin the launching. Shortly after the loudspeaker roared the stand-by order and the red pennant smartly lowered and a green one replaced it. With a short salute the leading Fo. 137 fighter pilot revved his engine to maximum power, blue flames shot out of the exhaust ports and the chocks were released and he set off down the end of carrier's bows.

The plan was simple enough, two carriers would launch thirty-six torpedo bombers, eighteen dive-bombers escorted by ten fighters to make a surprise attack on the main anchorage of the Brazilian fleet. Its genesis had been the Argentine attack on Buenos Aries, the high command of the RSAN had then decided the best way to attack the Brazilian fleet with a fair chance of victory at little risk would be a similar attack launched from two carriers. Such tactics had been practised since the early 1930s but this was one of the first major carrier-launched attacks in history. The torpedo planes were to attack any large naval warship ignoring smaller vessels like destroyers and the like but tankers were also prime targets. The dive-bombers were to act as diversionary targets laying mines in the bay and bombing the shore installations.

Flt. Lt. Piet van Hossen was the commander of the first wave of torpedo bombers, he was well muffled but the slipstream whistled around his head and the throb of the engine was vibrating his whole body. Ahead he saw the dark outline of the coastline and the Sugar Loaf Mountain and now it was dark the bright lights of the city shone out like a beacon guiding his bombers into the naval base. In the basin were the ships of the Brazilian Navy. He tapped his pilot, Flt. Off. Dieter Breuer, on the shoulder and told him to descend and the attack code word was soon tapped out "Mousetrap". Then as the got closer puffs of AA fire burst ahead of them. The surprise had been lost but van Hossen told his crews to press on. Two Kingklip's to starboard dropped flares which bathed the harbour with an eerie golden light. By now all the lights on shore had gone out and searchlights were probing into the night sky. Van Hossen noted the AA bursts were about 3000 feet too high. As they crossed the harbour at only 200 feet Flt. Off. Dieter Breuer went even lower until they just skimmed the wave tops to line up for his attack. To starboard one Kingklip's port wings were ripped off by an explosion and the hapless wreck crashed into the sea. By now the light AA guns aboard the ships were firing wildly with yellow and red tracer fire zipping all over the harbour hitting others ships and making lines of spray in the water. Van Hossen was crouching low, well aware the only protection between him and the bullets was a thin layer of doped fabric! Breuer shouted "Torpedo gone!" and as he flung the biplane to starboard several machine gun rounds hit the fuselage killing the gunner and the engine coughed and stopped. The impact into the water killed Breuer but van Hossen was thrown clear and later taken prisoner. Another Kingklip was shot down shortly afterwards attacking the battlecruiser Rio de Janeiro, all three crew managing to swim to shore. Breuer's torpedo hit the cruiser Bahia in the foreward magazine and she exploded and quickly sank. Two torpedoes eventually hit the battlecruiser Rio de Janeiro which slowly sank as her pumps failed without steam pressure. The two last Kingklip torpedo bombers aimed for the cruiser Abreu last in the line of heavy cruisers and was hit once right foreward and she settled onto the bottom by dawn. Two Shark dive-bombers bombed the oil tanks which soon were ablaze and another two bombed the seaplane sheds with some success. The final pair of Sharks bombed the submarine tender Ceará tied up at the dockside which was damaged. An oil tanker was also hit by a torpedo aft and she burned for six hours before her crew abandoned ship and she founded.

Half an hour later the second wave of eighteen torpedo bombers, four dive-bombers and eight fighters arrived over Rio de Janeiro. Flt. Lt. Hardi Kumenhauber was the commander of this wave in his personal Snider Type 24 Shark. The blazing fires ashore lit up the whole harbour and he brought the aircraft lower further out to sea to avoid detection. The torpedo bombers had just started their attack runs when the AA fire began once again, most of it flew uselessly over the biplanes and they could manoeuvre to get in among the ships to reach the two battleships in the outer basin in line astern. One hit was observed on the portside of the battlecruiser Rio de Janeiro (which hit above the now submerged main belt causing severe damage) and one hit was observed on the Sao Paulo near B turret. The dive-bombers dropped a few flares and then concentrated on the battlecruiser Recife in the main dry dock. Three 500kg bombs hit the ship and under the assault the blocks broke and she crashed to the bottom of the dry dock causing widespread damage to not only the dock but holing the hull in three places and wrecking the starboard rudder. One bomb had penetrated the deck armour near B turret and another had wrecked the main steering gear. It would be many months before she left the dock. The fighters met no enemy fighters and added their firepower by strafing the shore AA gun emplacements and one made a pass over the Sao Paulo. The slow elderly Kingklip biplanes had fought well and only one was lost in the second wave. For a loss of only four aircraft the Brazilian fleet was now all but crippled and effectively out of the war. There would be a huge party once the aircrews got back to the carriers.

As the second wave returned triumphant without any losses on the bridge of the RSAN Hammer Vice-Admiral Erich van der Graaf and Chief Air Operations Officer Commodore Corteze were having a heated argument. Corteze argued a third wave of bombers should leave to take advantage of the darkness and the confusion ashore to clear up any missed targets and to destroy the dry docks to ensure the Brazilian Navy was crippled. On the other hand van der Graaf felt the mission had already been completed at that the now alerted defences would make a third attack very costly. He did agree to send two WB IX "Sea Dart" seaplanes from Thjazi to determine the damage caused. Only one returned some five hours later but the photographs showed widespread damage. Vice-Admiral Erich van der Graaf had his way and the Hammer detached with the 9th Scout Squadron to return to the Southern Atlantic and the Anvil and the 6th Scout Squadron went further east into the Atlantic away from any potential air or submarine attack.

Brazilian losses were later determined to be;
Battlecruiser Rio de Janeiro sunk (rated 35%)
Battlecruiser Recife damaged (rated 58%)
Battleship Minas Gerais damaged (rated 70%)
Cruiser Bahia sunk (rated 0%)
Cruiser Abreu sunk by flooding (rated 30%)
Battleship Sao Paulo one torpedo hit (rated 80%)
Cruiser Amazonas (rated 96%)
Destroyer Piauhy (rated 95%)
Destroyer Sergipe (rated 94%)
Civilian tanker Petronas 5,650grt sunk

Quoted

Originally posted by Desertfox
One thing you are forgetting, is that WW warships tend to have heavier AA batteries than comparable OTL ships. A WW equivalent of WWII could well see airstrikes be massacred by AA and naval battles be resolved by the battleship's big guns.