Ideas for a military fiction novel which i am writing?

[M1Brams]

I am possibly thinking of writing a 2 part story that covers time travel within a military group, based on the movie The Final Countdown where the Nimitz supercarrier, out on a training exercise in 1980 is transported together with several F-14A Tomcats and a E2C Hawkeye back to Pearl Harbour in WW2 after inadvertedly passing through a strange phenomenal storm.The crew realise it is 1940 and the Japanese are planning the attack on Pearl Harbour, debating whether to use the power of the Nimitz to quell the attacking Japanese fleet and change the course of history but are transported back to the present before they can eradicate the Japanese fleet

Much like the movie, i would like to focus on a detachment of combined armed forces from the Singapore Army deploying to a nearby country in naval waters on a training exercise who are transported back to January 1942, a month before the Japanese invasion of Singapore.Instead of holding back, i would like to go all out, defending Singapore from the Japanese invasion and maybe even toying with the idea of an invasion with Japan. What would be the most feasible units that could be used?

I also have a possible problem regarding supplies.. Would there be a problem regarding supply replenishment in friendly bases(ammunition) and technological transfers of the CDF to the USA which would be later used for an invasion of Russia in 1945 ( the second part of the novel)
in a scenario where Truman sort of knew that the Russians were developing the nuclear bomb and wanted to gain the upper hand before they could fully research it.

 

[Bonza]

I am possibly thinking of writing a 2 part story that covers time travel within a military group, based on the movie The Final Countdown where the Nimitz supercarrier, out on a training exercise in 1980 is transported together with several F-14A Tomcats and a E2C Hawkeye back to Pearl Harbour in WW2 after inadvertedly passing through a strange phenomenal storm.The crew realise it is 1940 and the Japanese are planning the attack on Pearl Harbour, debating whether to use the power of the Nimitz to quell the attacking Japanese fleet and change the course of history but are transported back to the present before they can eradicate the Japanese fleet

Much like the movie, i would like to focus on a detachment of combined armed forces from the Singapore Army deploying to a nearby country in naval waters on a training exercise who are transported back to January 1942, a month before the Japanese invasion of Singapore.Instead of holding back, i would like to go all out, defending Singapore from the Japanese invasion and maybe even toying with the idea of an invasion with Japan. What would be the most feasible units that could be used?

I also have a possible problem regarding supplies.. Would there be a problem regarding supply replenishment in friendly bases(ammunition) and technological transfers of the CDF to the USA which would be later used for an invasion of Russia in 1945 ( the second part of the novel)
in a scenario where Truman sort of knew that the Russians were developing the nuclear bomb and wanted to gain the upper hand before they could fully research it.

You might want to go and look at John Birmingham's World War 2.0 series before you dedicate time and effort to writing this. From what I understand it's pretty similar to what you're describing, except the central plot concerns a near-future battlefleet rather than a 1980s one. In any case have a look, because it sounds very similar (in overall feel and theme) to what you're describing.

Don't want to discourage you from writing anything, just making you aware of other similar writings.

 

[M1Brams]

You might want to go and look at John Birmingham's World War 2.0 series before you dedicate time and effort to writing this. From what I understand it's pretty similar to what you're describing, except the central plot concerns a near-future battlefleet rather than a 1980s one. In any case have a look, because it sounds very similar (in overall feel and theme) to what you're describing.

Don't want to discourage you from writing anything, just making you aware of other similar writings.

Its alright.. i plan to continue writing..Thanks for the heads up though. Instead of the task force scattering like in the trilogy, it would be together.. Im not very sure on military units used so any help would be appreciated!

 

[M1Brams]

Here is the full list of the task force(which i changed from a CAF)

I am not sure of the maximum number of quantity that each unit can be transported.. but i would want the maximum possible.




Land Vehicles

SSPH Primus

Bronco 120mm Mortar

Leo2SG

Bionix 2/Bionix 2 AVLB

M113A2 APC


Light Strike Vehicle

HIMARS
SSPH Pegasus

Skyblade UAVs
Broncos


Infantry weapons

SAR-21 AR(M203)
M16S1 AR

FN P-90 PDW

Ultimax Mk4 SAW

MP5N SMG
SIG P226 pistol

AWP L96A1 Sniper Rifle

Matador Anti tank Launcher
Spike ATGM


Air

AH-64D Apaches
Gulfstream G550 AWACS

F-15SG

F-16D Block 52+ Fighting Falcon

Sikorsky S-70 ASW

Chinook CH-47D

Naval

Formidable-Class Frigates( RSS Intrepid RSS Supreme, RSS Formidable ,RSS Stalwart ,RSS Tenacious )

Challanger Class submarines(RSS Centurion,RSS Chieftain)

Archer Class Submarines (RSS Archer RSS Swordsman)

RSS Vengeance Corvette

RSS Endeavour

RSS Endurance


Infantry SOF, SAF troops

 

[My2Cents]

I also have a possible problem regarding supplies.. Would there be a problem regarding supply replenishment in friendly bases(ammunition) and technological transfers of the CDF to the USA which would be later used for an invasion of Russia in 1945 ( the second part of the novel) in a scenario where Truman sort of knew that the Russians were developing the nuclear bomb and wanted to gain the upper hand before they could fully research it.

As far as getting supplies manufactured in 1940-1945 for modern equipment – forget it. Technology transfer is even worse.

The problem is that the tools to build the tools that will make the machines that create your equipment do not exist yet, and all you have are samples of the finished products. You are so far up the tech tree that you cannot see the ground from there. And you can be pretty sure that none of your people know how to build them.

Some examples:

• Ultra large scale integrated circuits -- The transistor will not be invented until 1948, the first large scale production in 1954. The ultra-high purity materials needed for their construction are beyond the current technology until after the Manhattan Project, and large scale production decades more. Then there are all the problems of nano-scale fabrication, you need things like excimer lasers (lasers have not been invented yet) and clean-rooms with sub-micron filtration (failure to steal this technology is one reason the USSR was so far behind the US electronics for so long). At least the modern electron microscope has been available since1939, but the resolution needed even begin to understand your chips is at least a decade down the road.
• The rest of the electronics is not much better. Most of it is hand wired, printed circuit boards are in their infancy and multilayer boards are a couple decades off. The highest frequencies they can handle are around 300MHz. The magnetron and klystron are being/have just been invented.
• Jet engines – The good news is they understand the principles, the bad news is that there are an incredible number of details that have to be found and solved by trial and error. The Chinese have been trying to duplicate Russian engines for 50 years, and are still around 20 years behind.
• Titanium construction is unheard of. Aluminum production has barely started construction in the US. Most other modern materials are virtually unheard of. Plastic is limited to PVC and nylon.
• Smoothbore ammunition – Precision manufacturing in those days is ±0.005”, not good enough. As for mono-crystalline tungsten or uranium penetrators, forget it. Fortunately you probably don’t need those until at least 1944. They probably cannot forge replacement cannon barrels, or reproduce the alloys, either.

These are just a few items, the list is endless.

 

[Lostfleet]

I love that movie, I was really disappointed when the aircrafts were ordered to return to Nimitz, I would love to see the dogfight of couple of hundred of WW2 aircraft fighting with two squadrons of F-14s. After all the missiles dispensed, I think it would be still challenging to tackle all Zeros at a gun fight as Zeros are very slow and thus a bit hard to intercept ( I might be wrong at this)

Of course, sinking the IJN Carriers and their escorts would be interesting as well, I wonder what anti-ship capabilities did A-6 and A-7s had in the 80s?

M1Brams - After watching this movie, I always wanted to write a similar story, where war machines of different eras fight with each other, had couple of ideas but never started.

If you don't mind I just want to give you a small advice, when you are preparing a list of tanks, ships, planes and equipment that will go back in time, don't make it perfect. Don't make it in a way that matches exactly for your defense mission against Japanese. If you have perfect number of planes, tanks and ships then it will be too obvious, too easy.

For replenishment, I think as My2Cents pointed out, you should forget everything, your task force should be sufficient for a short but critical fight, otherwise even getting appropriate fuel will be problem.

But good luck, I hope you'll share your story when you are done,

( oh by the way, if you are going back into 1941, please take care of HMS Prince of Wales and Hms Repulse while you are there )

 

[My2Cents]

On the subject of introducing future technology into the past, I would recommend a short editorial by John W. Campbell called No Copying Allowed published in Analog magazine’s November 1948 issue (back then it was called ‘Astounding SCIENCE FICTION’). It is also available in the book “John W. Campbell, Collected Editorials form Analog”. In it Campbell sets out to show the ridiculousness of the standard genre assumption where the hero easily copies some stolen piece of alien technology.

The editorial/story, set in 1920, is about the investigation of a drone aircraft send through time from 1950 while collecting fallout samples from a nuclear bomb test, and belly lands at an American Army Air Base “90% intact, and 100% impossible”. It is mostly a list of the things that they can understand but not duplicate, can identify but not understand, cannot even identify, or know to be flat out impossible according to current science. The worst part for the investigators is that it has Army Signal Corp markings and serial numbers all over it, so they cannot claim it is from Mars or Venus! In the end they conclude it must have originated from several centuries in the future, and the only thing they manage to learn from the investigation is how to build carbon resistors.

Now that is for a 30 year leap, you are proposing to go over 70 years.

 

[StobieWan]

I love that movie, I was really disappointed when the aircrafts were ordered to return to Nimitz, I would love to see the dogfight of couple of hundred of WW2 aircraft fighting with two squadrons of F-14s. After all the missiles dispensed, I think it would be still challenging to tackle all Zeros at a gun fight as Zeros are very slow and thus a bit hard to intercept ( I might be wrong at this)

Of course, sinking the IJN Carriers and their escorts would be interesting as well, I wonder what anti-ship capabilities did A-6 and A-7s had in the 80s?

M1Brams - After watching this movie, I always wanted to write a similar story, where war machines of different eras fight with each other, had couple of ideas but never started.

If you don't mind I just want to give you a small advice, when you are preparing a list of tanks, ships, planes and equipment that will go back in time, don't make it perfect. Don't make it in a way that matches exactly for your defense mission against Japanese. If you have perfect number of planes, tanks and ships then it will be too obvious, too easy.

For replenishment, I think as My2Cents pointed out, you should forget everything, your task force should be sufficient for a short but critical fight, otherwise even getting appropriate fuel will be problem.

But good luck, I hope you'll share your story when you are done,

( oh by the way, if you are going back into 1941, please take care of HMS Prince of Wales and Hms Repulse while you are there )

Biggest single hit to the war you could make would to be bring back a couple of decent laptops. The decoding efforts went well with analogue machines - imagine what they'd be like with decent multicore processors. Anything you can bring back by way of guns or missiles will pale by comparison.

 

[My2Cents]

Biggest single hit to the war you could make would to be bring back a couple of decent laptops. The decoding efforts went well with analogue machines - imagine what they'd be like with decent multicore processors. Anything you can bring back by way of guns or missiles will pale by comparison.

You got that one right. But the decoding efforts used all digital machines, when they used machines at all, but only a couple would have come close to being actual computers. Analog cannot handling discrete I/O elements like letters, and have to be essentially built for a specific task, they cannot be programmed. But the machines were only used for brute force solutions of the daily rotor settings for Enigma and Purple by exhaustive search.

The really important work was mostly done with pen and paper, and some sneaky commando raids.

 

[M1Brams]

You got that one right. But the decoding efforts used all digital machines, when they used machines at all, but only a couple would have come close to being actual computers. Analog cannot handling discrete I/O elements like letters, and have to be essentially built for a specific task, they cannot be programmed. But the machines were only used for brute force solutions of the daily rotor settings for Enigma and Purple by exhaustive search.

The really important work was mostly done with pen and paper, and some sneaky commando raids.

Thanks for the replies my2cts.. So the only solution is either to hit and run(back to present time) ? Is there a way to have a long term engagement while researching techs? i would want to seek a alternate timeline(while introducing 21st century techs) to the forties without returning to the present .

I have it planned like this

The task force while deploying to a country, gets sucked into a time storm and is transported back to the forties, off the coast of Kuantan.An A6M Zero is spotted overhead flying to a destination which turns out to be the HMS Prince of Wales and HMS repulse getting attacked and the task force engages the A6M Zeroes and the G3M bombers.
After successfully engaging the task force, the HMS Wales and Repulse dock at singapore where the task force identifies itself from the future to General Percival and they warn of the 1942 invasion by Japanese forces, requesting local ammunation factories to retool (with templates for the 5.56 bullets and the 7.62) to prepare for the japanese forces.




I am not very sure of military directives regarding task force so any help would be appreciated.

 

[ADMk2]

I love that movie, I was really disappointed when the aircrafts were ordered to return to Nimitz, I would love to see the dogfight of couple of hundred of WW2 aircraft fighting with two squadrons of F-14s. After all the missiles dispensed, I think it would be still challenging to tackle all Zeros at a gun fight as Zeros are very slow and thus a bit hard to intercept ( I might be wrong at this)

It would take an amazingly crazy effort on behalf of the Zero's just to keep coming through the onslaught even 2 Squadrons of Tomcats would launch against them. Kamikazee's are one thing, but being slaughtered in the dozens each time a flight of Tomcats reaches you, when you are still hundreds of miles away from your target is something else entirely. Assuming each Zero just kept coming on when dozens of aircraft around them were slaughtered on each pass, let's look at just how much damage two squadrons of Tomcats would cause...

Each Tomcat Squadron had 12-14 fighters. Each Tomcat on an air to air mission would carry between 6-8 missiles. They could carry up to 6x Sidewinders and 6x BVR missiles, but that would be an unusual scenario.

For ease of sums sake, let's assume 2 Squadrons of 12 fighters, carrying 4x AIM-9L Sidewinders and 4x Sparrow AAM's.

Launched in waves of 4 aircraft, cruising at an efficient 450knots, still twice as fast as the maximum cruise speed of an A6M Zero, the Tomcats could afford to fly right into the most effective NEZ (no escape zone) of their missiles and yet still be far out of range of the weapons available to the Zero's. Because of the close range of the missile launch and the inability of the Zero to defend against a supersonic missile launch (no counter-measures and no ability to change vectors and attempt to outrun said missiles) the probability of kill of these missiles would be at least 0.75, whilst the Zeros would have no ability to return fire against the attackers, nor ndeed turn and run. All they could do, is start jinking and hope the fuses on the missiles coming at them malfunction.

Assuming then that the Tomcats, per wave of 4 aircraft are going to shoot down 6 aircraft per Tomcat from 8 missiles launched as a conservative figure, the attackers are going to likely lose 24 aircraft per wave of 4 Tomcats, without even considering gun kills from the Tomcats.

2 squadrons worth of Tomcats are going to able to launch dozens of flights each of 4 aircraft sorties (as an example) in a critical wartime surge requirement, however even a mere 10 sorties of 4 aircraft are going to see 240 Zero's shot down according to the conservative math above.

Depending on the available supply of air to air missiles, that attacking Zero force is going to have a VERY rough day out...

A more modern Hornet/Super Hornet force with better missile load carrying capability and more effective Sidewinder and AMRAAM missiles would fare even better.

Carrying up to 8 AIM-9x and 2 AMRAAM would see a PK rise almost to 1 but let's not give increased modern missile reliability the benefit of the doubt and consider the same PK of 0.75.

With 30 Zeros now destroyed per flight, it would take would require only 8 sorties to drop 240 Zeros, assuming missile stocks allowed...

Not sure writing such a scenario would be worth the effort, except for all the Tomcat/Hornet/Super Hornet aces you'd have to create along the way...

 

[StobieWan]

I'd be really cynical and say hit the carriers after they'd launched. Let them get in a first wave, but splash all the carriers immediately they passed point of no return.

That takes out the entire IJN strike force in one pass because they've no place to land and no alternates.

It's a bit rough on battleship row but speaking as a UK citizen, I'm kind of dependent on Hitler declaring war on the US and thereby saving Europe (we'd rescued ourselves from invasion by then but there was no hope of us getting into continental Europe without the arsenal of democracy plus unstoppable horde coming to the party.

Ian

 

[M1Brams]

It would take an amazingly crazy effort on behalf of the Zero's just to keep coming through the onslaught even 2 Squadrons of Tomcats would launch against them. Kamikazee's are one thing, but being slaughtered in the dozens each time a flight of Tomcats reaches you, when you are still hundreds of miles away from your target is something else entirely. Assuming each Zero just kept coming on when dozens of aircraft around them were slaughtered on each pass, let's look at just how much damage two squadrons of Tomcats would cause...

Each Tomcat Squadron had 12-14 fighters. Each Tomcat on an air to air mission would carry between 6-8 missiles. They could carry up to 6x Sidewinders and 6x BVR missiles, but that would be an unusual scenario.

For ease of sums sake, let's assume 2 Squadrons of 12 fighters, carrying 4x AIM-9L Sidewinders and 4x Sparrow AAM's.

Launched in waves of 4 aircraft, cruising at an efficient 450knots, still twice as fast as the maximum cruise speed of an A6M Zero, the Tomcats could afford to fly right into the most effective NEZ (no escape zone) of their missiles and yet still be far out of range of the weapons available to the Zero's. Because of the close range of the missile launch and the inability of the Zero to defend against a supersonic missile launch (no counter-measures and no ability to change vectors and attempt to outrun said missiles) the probability of kill of these missiles would be at least 0.75, whilst the Zeros would have no ability to return fire against the attackers, nor ndeed turn and run. All they could do, is start jinking and hope the fuses on the missiles coming at them malfunction.

Assuming then that the Tomcats, per wave of 4 aircraft are going to shoot down 6 aircraft per Tomcat from 8 missiles launched as a conservative figure, the attackers are going to likely lose 24 aircraft per wave of 4 Tomcats, without even considering gun kills from the Tomcats.

2 squadrons worth of Tomcats are going to able to launch dozens of flights each of 4 aircraft sorties (as an example) in a critical wartime surge requirement, however even a mere 10 sorties of 4 aircraft are going to see 240 Zero's shot down according to the conservative math above.

Depending on the available supply of air to air missiles, that attacking Zero force is going to have a VERY rough day out...

A more modern Hornet/Super Hornet force with better missile load carrying capability and more effective Sidewinder and AMRAAM missiles would fare even better.

Carrying up to 8 AIM-9x and 2 AMRAAM would see a PK rise almost to 1 but let's not give increased modern missile reliability the benefit of the doubt and consider the same PK of 0.75.

With 30 Zeros now destroyed per flight, it would take would require only 8 sorties to drop 240 Zeros, assuming missile stocks allowed...

Not sure writing such a scenario would be worth the effort, except for all the Tomcat/Hornet/Super Hornet aces you'd have to create along the way...

What would be the scenario where squadrons of F-15SGs and F-16Ds
mixed it up with a Zero/G3M Betty?

If i did my research properly, there were 88 Japanese aircraft during the attack on HMS repulse and POW

 

[M1Brams]

I'd be really cynical and say hit the carriers after they'd launched. Let them get in a first wave, but splash all the carriers immediately they passed point of no return.

That takes out the entire IJN strike force in one pass because they've no place to land and no alternates.

It's a bit rough on battleship row but speaking as a UK citizen, I'm kind of dependent on Hitler declaring war on the US and thereby saving Europe (we'd rescued ourselves from invasion by then but there was no hope of us getting into continental Europe without the arsenal of democracy plus unstoppable horde coming to the party.

Ian

They were mostly land-based G3N bombers so it might be hard ..

Besides im not sure if the arnaments carried by a F-15SG(bombs or missles) are enough to penetrate or do damage to a typical IJN A/C or warships of the like.. like, Yamato, since any naval engagements would have to be solely done be air

 

[StobieWan]

They were mostly land-based G3N bombers so it might be hard ..

Besides im not sure if the arnaments carried by a F-15SG(bombs or missles) are enough to penetrate or do damage to a typical IJN A/C or warships of the like.. like, Yamato, since any naval engagements would have to be solely done be air

Oh, I was referring to the original Pearl Harbour strike, sorry.

I don't know what weapons the SG would carry but a GBU into the deck would probably slow most stuff up (battle ship fans say otherwise, but historically, a lot of damage was done by 500lb armoured piercing bombs so logically, a 2,000 lb should work as well,

Ian

 

[M1Brams]

Oh, I was referring to the original Pearl Harbour strike, sorry.

I don't know what weapons the SG would carry but a GBU into the deck would probably slow most stuff up (battle ship fans say otherwise, but historically, a lot of damage was done by 500lb armoured piercing bombs so logically, a 2,000 lb should work as well,

Ian

Oh i see.

F-15SGs carried JDAMs on board as well as AIM-120C, AIM-9X and the AGM-154 JSOW for anti air.. I believe they have much more?

Since JDAM are guided, does that mean the F-15 can strike from far away or in this case, high above or out of sight?

 

[My2Cents]

They were mostly land-based G3N bombers so it might be hard ..

Besides im not sure if the arnaments carried by a F-15SG(bombs or missles) are enough to penetrate or do damage to a typical IJN A/C or warships of the like.. like, Yamato, since any naval engagements would have to be solely done be air

It is a variant of the F-15E, so you can use a BLU-109 (2000 lb armor piercing bomb) with either a Paveway laser seeker or GBU-15 television guided weapon, possibly even a GBU-28 (5000 lb bunker buster laser guided bomb). Either of these is several times heavier than what the Navy used for the job in WWII.

The GBU-15 is probably the best choice, just put it down the stack. Without power any ship will eventually sink.

This is dynamite fishing in a barrel. :coffee

 

[My2Cents]

So the only solution is either to hit and run(back to present time) ? Is there a way to have a long term engagement while researching techs? i would want to seek a alternate timeline(while introducing 21st century techs) to the forties without returning to the present .

Go back to my previous post:

The problem is that the tools to build the tools that will make the machines that create your equipment do not exist yet, and all you have are samples of the finished products. You are so far up the tech tree that you cannot see the ground from there. And you can be pretty sure that none of your people know how to build them.

Knowing something is possible makes it easier to duplicate in some respects, you will probably achieve something approximating your equipment in 50 years instead of 70 years, but you will fail to produce all the spinoffs and serendipitous discoveries that would have come from the normal discover process. In many cases knowing the failures is more important the successes. One of the results will be that once they catch up with your 2012 technology development will stagnate due to the lack of experienced blue-sky researchers.

I have it planned like this

The task force while deploying to a country, gets sucked into a time storm and is transported back to the forties, off the coast of Kuantan.An A6M Zero is spotted overhead flying to a destination which turns out to be the HMS Prince of Wales and HMS repulse getting attacked and the task force engages the A6M Zeroes and the G3M bombers.
After successfully engaging the task force, the HMS Wales and Repulse dock at singapore where the task force identifies itself from the future to General Percival and they warn of the 1942 invasion by Japanese forces, requesting local ammunation factories to retool (with templates for the 5.56 bullets and the 7.62) to prepare for the japanese forces.

The closest munitions work is probably in India, if there is one in the region. It will be for .303 (7.9mm) British, so retooling will extensive. Besides, the British will be short of ammunition and reluctant to convert. An additional problem will be the propellant – guns of the day used flaked nitrocellulose (single base), whereas the 7.62mm and 5.56mm need a coated double based ball powder, which has not been invented yet.

For improved weapons, see if the MP’s have any Sten Guns or Uzis in their armory. They are better suited for short range jungle warfare than the Lee Enfield or M-4/M-16, much easier to duplicate, and 9mm ammo is already available in quantity.

Besides, your people are too important to waste in jungle fighting where their technology advantage in minimized. Instead use them as cadre and set up a training program in jungle fighting, which the British did not understand at that time, they lost despite outnumbering the Japanese by 8:3. Units that deploy with the in-period forces should concentrate in the high-tech areas, especially communications.

Technological areas to exploit include:

• Better, reliable, secure, communications.
• Surveillance technology, especially drones and radar. You also have better equipment for monitoring the radio bands to catch the Japanese spies.
• Enough high tech ammunition for probably only one decisive battle in each arena (land, sea, and air).

To maximize effectiveness you need to include a psyops component in your battles. Whenever possible block all Japanese communications during the battle, and while you can take prisoners, do not permit any survivors to return to tell what happened. Singapore becomes a black hole – Japanese go in but they don’t come out. With no information they cannot plan another attack, and their troops will be terrified.

• On land the drones monitor the Japanese and British positions. Your communications will permit effective coordination and warning for infantry units, and can provide detailed direction for both your and the British artillery. Special note: If the British are using 155mm artillery at this time, that may be the only ammunition that you can readily use in your equipment.
• Your radar can supply raid warning for aircraft attacks, but never use advanced weapons unless you are in a position to destroy the attacking force entirely, and then jam their communications during the engagement. Their aircraft go in, NOTHING comes out – pretty quick no one will dare fly against you, which will help because you will be very short on ammunition.
• Hopefully you have some form of airborne surface search radar to spot Japanese navy surface units. Coordinate your attack with the British. Your ship borne radar should be capable of providing precise firing data to the British ships, exploit it to the maximum. That means engage the Japanese fleet only by surprise and at night, and preferably in inclement weather. The British battleships can take on the Japanese ones, with surprise and your targeting data they should have hits by the 3rd salvo, possibly before the Japanese can get to battle stations. Japanese night fighting is limited to the range of their searchlights, stay out of that and they are firing blind. Then while they are thoroughly distracted break the backs of their battleships with submarine torpedoes. Use your cruise missiles on the cruisers, and go gun-to-gun with the destroyers if necessary. Your OTO-Melara 76.2 mm cannon have the same range as their 4” guns, greater rate of fire (ship vs. ship, not gun vs. gun) and vaster better fire control.
  
  Be sure to keep everyone out of the Japanese torpedo range.

Remember -- If it is a fair fight you are doing something wrong. :hul

 

[M1Brams]

It is a variant of the F-15E, so you can use a BLU-109 (2000 lb armor piercing bomb) with either a Paveway laser seeker or GBU-15 television guided weapon, possibly even a GBU-28 (5000 lb bunker buster laser guided bomb). Either of these is several times heavier than what the Navy used for the job in WWII.

The GBU-15 is probably the best choice, just put it down the stack. Without power any ship will eventually sink.

This is dynamite fishing in a barrel. :coffee

i see thanks! i guess the GBU-28 would be the best. Not necessary bigger is larger but when it comes to capital ships one cannot afford to waste a second to sink the enemy ships when thier AA gets to battlestations. Advanced or not, all aircraft are prone to damage.

 

[M1Brams]

Go back to my previous post:

Knowing something is possible makes it easier to duplicate in some respects, you will probably achieve something approximating your equipment in 50 years instead of 70 years, but you will fail to produce all the spinoffs and serendipitous discoveries that would have come from the normal discover process. In many cases knowing the failures is more important the successes. One of the results will be that once they catch up with your 2012 technology development will stagnate due to the lack of experienced blue-sky researchers.

The closest munitions work is probably in India, if there is one in the region. It will be for .303 (7.9mm) British, so retooling will extensive. Besides, the British will be short of ammunition and reluctant to convert. An additional problem will be the propellant – guns of the day used flaked nitrocellulose (single base), whereas the 7.62mm and 5.56mm need a coated double based ball powder, which has not been invented yet.

For improved weapons, see if the MP’s have any Sten Guns or Uzis in their armory. They are better suited for short range jungle warfare than the Lee Enfield or M-4/M-16, much easier to duplicate, and 9mm ammo is already available in quantity.

Besides, your people are too important to waste in jungle fighting where their technology advantage in minimized. Instead use them as cadre and set up a training program in jungle fighting, which the British did not understand at that time, they lost despite outnumbering the Japanese by 8:3. Units that deploy with the in-period forces should concentrate in the high-tech areas, especially communications.

Technological areas to exploit include:

• Better, reliable, secure, communications.
• Surveillance technology, especially drones and radar. You also have better equipment for monitoring the radio bands to catch the Japanese spies.
• Enough high tech ammunition for probably only one decisive battle in each arena (land, sea, and air).

To maximize effectiveness you need to include a psyops component in your battles. Whenever possible block all Japanese communications during the battle, and while you can take prisoners, do not permit any survivors to return to tell what happened. Singapore becomes a black hole – Japanese go in but they don’t come out. With no information they cannot plan another attack, and their troops will be terrified.

• On land the drones monitor the Japanese and British positions. Your communications will permit effective coordination and warning for infantry units, and can provide detailed direction for both your and the British artillery. Special note: If the British are using 155mm artillery at this time, that may be the only ammunition that you can readily use in your equipment.
• Your radar can supply raid warning for aircraft attacks, but never use advanced weapons unless you are in a position to destroy the attacking force entirely, and then jam their communications during the engagement. Their aircraft go in, NOTHING comes out – pretty quick no one will dare fly against you, which will help because you will be very short on ammunition.
• Hopefully you have some form of airborne surface search radar to spot Japanese navy surface units. Coordinate your attack with the British. Your ship borne radar should be capable of providing precise firing data to the British ships, exploit it to the maximum. That means engage the Japanese fleet only by surprise and at night, and preferably in inclement weather. The British battleships can take on the Japanese ones, with surprise and your targeting data they should have hits by the 3rd salvo, possibly before the Japanese can get to battle stations. Japanese night fighting is limited to the range of their searchlights, stay out of that and they are firing blind. Then while they are thoroughly distracted break the backs of their battleships with submarine torpedoes. Use your cruise missiles on the cruisers, and go gun-to-gun with the destroyers if necessary. Your OTO-Melara 76.2 mm cannon have the same range as their 4” guns, greater rate of fire (ship vs. ship, not gun vs. gun) and vaster better fire control.
  
  Be sure to keep everyone out of the Japanese torpedo range.

Remember -- If it is a fair fight you are doing something wrong. :hul

Regarding tech transfer, it would be most advisable to totally deny any tech transfer? Or gradually let some be sent to London for testing?

Regarding ammunition supply, would the MP5N carried by the SAF SOF
be eligible for the 9X19 ammunition the British carry? as well as upgrading the Sten/Uzis? what could be done to the Sten/Uzis?

So any Jap POW taken would be indefinitely held in Singapore or executed?

So in naval engagements, hit with everything the task force's got, literally?