Dream In Orange

 

The convention season is coming up on us fast. I'll be attending Mayhem and Huzzah. I'm running a two part mini Campaign Called a Dream in Orange Part 1 & 2.  

From National Park Service

I wanted to create a battle using the US Standard class battle ships as the main battle force.  So I have imagined a scenario were the Pearl Harbor attack happens but the results are significantly different.  I'm assuming better communication between the US Army and Navy so that when the Sub is spotted off the harbor entrance... and then air craft are spotted on radar the US command in Hawaii sounds the alarm. So the Battleships are at action stations, their gun are manned, the ammo is distributed, most importantly the ships are buttoned up with watertight doors closed.  Smaller ships are building steam or moving, and few aircraft are on patrol or taking off.  

From National Park service

Japan still hits pretty hard,  West Virginia, Oklahoma and Arizona still sink, the other Battleships take only superficial damage.  Still with all the fire, smoke and wreckage from ships and both sides aircraft the Japanese believe they did significantly more damage (They think they did as well as they did historically).  The rest of the Japanese plan for the initial phase of the war goes off as it did historically, Singapore falls, Force Z sinks, Bataan is besieged.  

By March political pressure to do something about the Philippines has hit a boiling point, between American anger and the impassioned please of MacArthur and Quezon have forced Kimmel to commit his force sailing West.  The hope is that Supply ships can get to Bataan from Australia while the Fleet keeps the Japanese fleet busy.   Both sides are confident they can win a surface action and hope to get one.  The US carrier force is dispersed suppressing the air fields on Japanese held islands and the Japanese carrier force is in the Indian Ocean playing tag with a smaller British fleet. 

The battle will start with session one a night action between the Cruisers and Destroyers, followed by session two where the survivors will support their respective battle lines.  The USN has an edge in numbers but Japan has an advantage in night fighting.  When the Battle Fleets meet Yamato will get a shot at the battle she was built for. 

Yamato 1941 from Wikipedia