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The Battle for Tulagi

History

The No. 1 class of auxiliary mine sweepers was born from the experiences of the fighting in China. There, the Chinese used drifting mines on the Yangtze River. So also classic minesweepers were damaged by the drifting mines, and they wanted to use small and light ships. The japanese navy already used fishing boats for this, and so they developed on the basis of this the class of auxiliary miner sweepers. However, ultimately, all were deployed in the Pacific and not as planned on the Yangtze.

Of this class 22 ships were built. These were 33 m long and had a displacement of 215 t. The armament consisted initially of a 76.2 mm L / 23.5 anti-aircraft gun and a 7.7 mm machine gun. This was later reinforced by 25 mm AA guns. The auxiliary mine sweepers Wa-1 and Wa-2 where launched on the 9th November 1941 at the Osaka Ironworks shipyard. At the beginning of 1942 both ships were put into service and took part in the landing in Tulagi in May.

the destroyers Kikuzuki and Yūzuki, the Okinoshima miners, and Kōei Maru, Hagoromo Maru, Noshiro Maru No.2, Tama Maru, and Azumasan Maru and the U-hunt boats Toshi Maru No.3 and Tama Maru no. 8th. The Australian troops on Tulagi were evacuated before the arrival of the Japanese association and the Japanese were able to occupy the island on 3 May 1942 without a fight.

Also involved in the landing where the destroyers Kikuzuki and Yūzuki, the Okinoshima miner layer, and the transports Kōei Maru, Hagoromo Maru, Noshiro Maru No.2, Tama Maru, and Azumasan Maru and the subchaser boats Toshi Maru No.3 and Tama Maru no. 8th. The Australian troops on Tulagi were evacuated before the arrival of the Japanese association and the Japanese were able to occupy the island on 3 May 1942 without a fight.

However, the next day the Yorktown launched a bomb attack. The Yorktown and the Lexington have come to defend Port Moresby. The first attack wave consisted of 12 TBD Devastator torpedo bomber and 28 SBD Dauntless dive bombers. The Japanese are surprised and helpless, because the ships were at anchor and so defenseless. In the first attack, however, only the Kikuzuki was damaged, but so hard that it had to be grounded to prevent the sinking. In the second attack wave with the same aircraft, the two mine sweeper Wa-1 and Wa-2 were sunk. The Tama Maru was also badly damaged and sank two days later.

The battle for Tulagi

The kit comes from FiveStar Model. Because of the small size of the ships you get two models. With the supplied parts you can build several construction stages. And that still leaves a lot for your spare box. But again the kit is unfortunately not complete. It is missing the small cutters, but I fortunately had two 6m cutters from Tamiya. Likewise, the main armament is missing. Sadly there is no alternative available and so I have made myself the guns from remaining parts of FiveStar's76.2 mm L40 flak and brass pipes. Also there are no flagpoles in the kit and I had to supplement these by ones from Rainbow Model. Regardless of this, it is an ideal kit for between.

I used figures from 3D Model Parts, these were quite good, but they break very fast. So I had to prepare several more to put two on the ship. To make the scene even more lively, I added two SBD Dauntless from Trumpeter. For the painting I took besides Tamiya's Sasebo Grey and Vallejo colors. The water was done again happened with Vallejo's water effects. For the waves I take cotton again this time. This was fixed with clear lacquer. Subsequently, several layers of NOCH's clear model water came over it.