"The relief of Wake Island" Topic

The Military History Channel (oddly available in my local Comcast market only through the Sports Entertainment PAckage…) has been running an old one on the Battle of Wake Island, right after Pearl Harbor.
Admiral Kimmel immediately put together a plan to relieve Wake Island, but we needed a scapegoat. Admiral Pye withdrew the plan, abandoning the Marines to their fate.

What was the plan to relieve Wake Island?
The Japanese got there first after the inadequate force assigned to take it had failed.

So, from a gaming perspective, "what if" the two forces collided? Waht forces were involved?

without going too much into it, I kind of think that had forces been equal, it would have been a disaster for the American Navy. We did not knowwhat we did not know, and Midway was a matter of luck.
Please prove me wrong.

Off the top of my head, I seem to recall that Japan diverted two CVs, Hiryu and Soryu, from the Pearl Harbor Strike Force to provide air support for the Wake invasion. Also, if I recall, the USN was contemplating sending a relief force with one or two CVs, possibly Enterprise and Yorktown. So, it could have been an early meeting engagement with 2 IJN CVs versus 2 US CVs. Good gaming possibility!

Oh, and to your supposition that it would have been a disaster for the USN, it could go either way. Two Enterprise-class CVs outmatch the Hiryu and Soryu, but the IJN pilots were much more experienced.

Oops, my error. Ignore.

I seem to recall reading that the two Japanese carriers were low on aviation fuel.

Actually, the aircraft carriers available only included the Saratoga which had been sent first to reinforce the island with aircraft, then to evacuate the garrison. Since the Sara is bigger than either Japanese carrier and hasn't suffered any attrition it could be a very good game.

I've read of it being played out with other groups. Even the land side of things has great potential. With better communications the Marines likely would never have surrendered, but they had no knowledge of some successes against the landings.

As outlined above, on the carrier side it is most likely the Hiryu and Soryu vs the Saratoga. Since the Saratoga is fully stocked and the Japanese carriers are at reduced capabilities it might actually make a VERY good game.

-Will

IIRC, this is discussed in volume III of Morrison. And I know that it's covered in Heinl's Wake island monograph and probably volume I of the USMC official history.

Tried this a few times as campaign games and yes, it can be a very interesting "what if" for carrier fans :)

Maybe:

"All great events hang by a hair, I believe in luck, and the wise man neglects nothing which contributes to his destiny" Napoelon

"Luck is the ability to use the skill acquired by training that allows you to take advantage of the unexpected elements of the conflict." Not Napoleon…

Thus it is that in war the victorious strategist only seeks battle after the victory has been won, whereas he who is destined to defeat first fights and afterwards looks for victory." Sun Tzu

My group played this out using General Quarters years ago. A very interesting and well balanced game as I recall.

Campaign game originally created for GQ 1 is pretty good. One could use any ruleset for the air/sea battles.
See 2nd section under campaigns

link

The Lexington was available too. She had just arrived off Midway carrying Marine aircraft when Pearl was hit. She was to be used as a diversion to draw Japanese attention away from the Wake relief force. She was later turned to support Saratoga, so a naval action at Wake could have pitted BOTH Lexington CVs against the Japanese force.

The Enterprise was actually returning from Wake where she dropped off VMF-211's detachment and she was in the process of sailing into Pearl. If the Japanese had been delayed for say 24 hours then they would have caught Enterprise at dock! As it was some of the Big E's scouts were hit and shot down over Pearl during the attack. IIRC, a SBD from Enterprise actually scored the Navy's first air-to-air kill in WWII over Pearl when a tail gunner drilled a Zeke that was lining up a shot. The Big E did move into Pearl a day or two later and only stayed for 24 hours to restock supplies. She may have been available for operations as well at Wake.

Here's what Wikipedia has to say about the relief of Wake:

USN relief attempt[edit]

The projected U.S. relief attempt by Admiral Frank Fletcher's Task Force 11 (TF 11) and supported by Admiral Wilson Brown's TF 14 consisted of the fleet carrier Saratoga, the fleet oiler Neches, the seaplane tender Tangier, the heavy cruisers Astoria, Minneapolis, and San Francisco, and 10 destroyers. The convoy carried the 4th Marine Defense Battalion, the VMF-221 fighter squadron equipped with Brewster F2A-3 Buffalo fighters, along with 9,000 5-inch rounds, 12,000 3 in (76 mm) rounds, and 3,000,000 .50 in (12.7 mm) rounds, as well as a large amount of ammunition for mortars and other battalion small arms. TF 14—with the fleet carrier Lexington, three heavy cruisers, eight destroyers, and an oiler—was to undertake a raid on the Marshall Islands to divert Japanese attention.

At 21:00 on 22 December, after receiving information indicating the presence of two IJN carriers and two fast battleships (which were actually heavy cruisers) near Wake Island, Vice Admiral William S. Pye—the Acting Commander in Chief of the U.S. Pacific Fleet—ordered TF 11 to return to Pearl Harbor for fear of losses.[12]

And the Big E's operations at the time:

Pearl Harbor[edit]
Enterprise was at sea on the morning of 7 December 1941[3] and received a radio message from Pearl Harbor, reporting that the base was under attack. That evening, Enterprise, screened by six of her Grumman F4F Wildcat fighters, put into Pearl Harbor for fuel and supplies. The aircraft were fired on by anti-aircraft defenses, and one pilot radioed in, reporting that his aircraft was an American aircraft.[4] She sailed early the next morning to patrol against possible additional attacks in the Hawaiian Islands. Although the group encountered no surface ships, Enterprise aircraft sank Japanese submarine I-70 at 23°45′N 155°35′W on 10 December 1941.

During the last two weeks of December 1941, Enterprise and her group steamed west of Hawaii to cover the islands while two other carrier groups made a belated attempt to relieve Wake Island. After a brief layover at Pearl Harbor, the Enterprise group sailed on 11 January, protecting convoys reinforcing Samoa.[2]

Larry Bond's Command at Sea: The Rising Sun has this scenario in great detail. This book is all you need. It has everything from December 7th to the last naval actions at Guadalcanal. It's a perfect reference for any rules. Tons of great detail and OOBs plus maps. Easily worth the $12 USD with shipping that's being asked:

auction

Wake was indefensible. It was within air attack range of Japanese planes and 2000 miles from Pearl. Once the Japanese moved long range Zeroes to the Marshalls, the game was over. The Saratoga could not have arrived in time to head off the Japanese. Also, it only carried a dozen Wildcats. The marine air group was not trained for carrier operations.

However, an evacuation of Wake, without waiting for the Saratoga, could have been attempted a few days earlier if Kimmel had sent the Enterprise and Lexington. They could have conceivably arrived about the time of the second Japanese attempt. Two carriers against two would have been very interesting. Lots of dive bombers on the two US carriers.

CampyF stated a point I wondered about today – "Why hold Wake?" Was it defensible? I doubt it was strategically defensible then.

What purpose did it hold for winning the war besides pride? IIRC, it's being retaken more of a emotional thing than a strategically necessary invasion.

It was not retaken until after the war was over.

In Dec 1941, Wake was effectively too far away for either side to hold. It essentially was in that vast 'no man's land' of the Pacific. Once the US counter offensive started, Japanese occupied Wake became a backwater. Later, however, it would serve a valuable service for the USN; as forces would head out of Pearl heading west, they would 'tune-up' their air units by pasting Wake enroute.

It was not retaken until after the war was over.

That says it all – no one needed it during the war.

Midway, Wake/Wilkes, Guam were all stepping stones for the Pan Am Clipper air service to Asia. The strategic value of these was the protection of US economic interests. As stated above, Wake was bypassed as it wasn't essential to the military advance across the Pacific.

A couple of minutes of what Wake/Wilkes islands looked like in the 1930's is right after the Gooney Bird portion of this clip. (The narrow gauge RR is interesting)
YouTube link

How and why these island bases were developed is interesting historical data. About 3:25 minutes in is specific info on the Pacific crossing.
YouTube link